Rukiyo let the tears fall as a flood of emotion washed over her.
Sobs wracked through her body and she quickly buried her face in her hands, letting the fear and confusion pour out of her.
She stayed afloat in the endless white sky, surrounded by clouds, and just let it all out— she didn't even pay attention to the way her shoulders trembled with each shaky inhale, making her wings droop behind her.
It takes a few long minutes before her crying slowed down into a pitiful sniffling, the tears drying into sticky tracks down her cheeks.
Rukiyo sniffled pitifully, swiping at her wet cheeks with trembling hands.
She tries to convince herself that everything will be okay— that she can find her way out of this like she has out of countless other scrapes and messes.
The thought was reassuring, albeit shakily so. It didn't make her forget about the fact how she's stuck in a new world though.
Rukiyo took a deep, shuddering breath and squared her shoulders.
She can do this. She's smart, she's strong.. And she damn well won't be defeated by some weird magic bullshit that she created when she was just a teenager with unstable thoughts of ending herself.
Yeah.. She won't be defeated.
To hell with that won't be defeated bullshits! Rukiyo screamed in her mind, her hands clutching her hair out of frustration.
How do you expect me to survive in this world?! I don't even know where to go—
Her train of thoughts comes to an abrupt halt when Rukiyo looks down and sees that the view that greeted her was just a shifting mass of white clouds, as far as the eye can see.
She can't make out any distinct shapes or landmarks, just.. Just endless, white cottony clouds.
Her heart clenched anxiously in her chest when she realizes just how disoriented and lost she really is. There's no sign of land or civilization— just her, suspended in the sea of cotton-soft whiteness.
Rukiyo swallowed thickly, her heart thudding in her chest. "W-Where do I go?"
She felt a little helpless and she could feel herself slipping from her composure once again, but as quickly as the feeling arose, Rukiyo shook her head to get rid of it.
"Stop feeling like that." She hissed at herself and instead, forced her eyes to glance back at her wings to focus on it.
It's better to keep one's attention somewhere else when they're feeling lost and panicked, so Rukiyo studied her wings instead— to make sure that she won't drown in her thoughts.
She watched her wings as they fluttered, her eyes tracing their shape and size.
Yup, they're definitely dragon's wings, no question about it. Rukiyo thought, observing the leathery texture, the bat-like shape.. All of it matched the descriptions she had written in her book.
Looking away, she swallowed hard once more, her stomach twisting in a tight knot.
To see her own writing come to life is still mind-bogglingly strange, making her question everything else she had written back then— what kind of nonsense did she make Rukiyo go through? What else in that book is real? And what does that make her now that she's inside it as a character?
Rukiyo exhaled slowly, forcing her panic down into something manageable. Okay. Priorities. Panicking won't solve anything— she needed a plan.
Step one: Get down.
She glanced back at her wings again, still flapping steadily, and frowned.
Flying is.. Surprisingly instinctive even though she's a human, but landing? That seems to be another story.
Rukiyo tried to angle her wings downward, letting gravity pull her into a slow descent and she couldn't help, but bite her lip when she tilted forward.
She inhaled sharply and stopped her wings from working altogether, which caused her to start falling.
The clouds whip past her, cold and damp against her skin, as she begins her rapid descent— hoping against hope that she doesn't plummet face-first into whatever awaits below.
Rukiyo's nervousness spiked as she continued to plummet down through the clouds, her heart feeling like it was lodged in her throat at how anxious she was.
Her wings trembled with the strain even if they were idle behind her, so she tried to spread them wider, but as the clouds started to thin, her gaze zeroed in on a sight below and her breath hitched instantly.
A dense forest sprawled out below her, a mix of green and brown that seemed to go on for miles.
It's definitely not the same open field from earlier— this is a completely different location, a lush and wild forest.
Right before she could fall farther down the sky line, her wings spread wide open, then they started fluttering wildly to stop her descent and by doing so, she was left suspended in the air once again.
Rukiyo peered around from her position, her gaze scanning the forest below.
To make sure that the elves that will cause her downfall won't be able to plot anything against her, she will need to blend herself in with humans.
Humans are not afraid of elves. Elves are not afraid of humans, but the two races are against each other's existence due to the war that broke between them centuries ago.
If she were to hide herself away from the elves, then it would be best if she's going to blend in with the very race they are against.
So, she looked around for any sign of civilization— houses, smoke, movement.. Anything that would indicate human life, but all she sees are trees, trees, trees, and just more trees.
It was just an endless, thick wall of green.
The forest looks thick and impenetrable, and there's no sign of any villages or towns in sight.
Anxiety creeps along her spine, making her wings tremble. How in the hell is she supposed to find civilization in all of this endless wilderness?
"No, Ru.. You have to think positively." Rukiyo mumbled, her voice trembling as she continued to look around from her spot in the air, scanning the forest meticulously for any sign of civilization.
Seeing no sign from her spot, she decided to move forward a little, searching for smoke rising from a campfire, or the glint of sunlight that got reflected from something below, or even the distant sound of voices.. Seriously, anything to indicate the presence of people.
But still, all that met her gaze was the unbroken expanse of trees, not a single trace of human existence in sight.
Frustration builds in her chest.
Seriously? She wrote in her book that the world is filled with small towns of humans here and there! It's the human realm, after all! There should be at least one town somewhere!
Despite all that though, the forest is vast and sprawling, and she has no idea which direction to go.