Chapter 4

Kalyssa

Recap: Where empty space should have been were large butterfly wings... "What's happening to me?!" "My poor daughter.... you're one of the Aranai."

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"What's the Aranai?!" I screech as I feel myself growing taller, more serene, taking on the features more like an elf than a human, my stature well over seven feet, my ears pointed, my eyes blazing gold, and above all the 30 foot wide wings, with golden tips and silver in the middle. "They are winged people, living in a world parallel to ou- mine, the land of the wild winds." I moan in pain as my skin becomes pale and my wings grow another 10 feet, my body elongating more and becoming another 3 feet taller (In the middle A/N: The Aranai are a race of nine-to-fifteen foot tall people with wings and the features of elves, as well as gold eyes and ankle-length hair of any color.) and my scalp prickling as my hair shimmers down around my ankles, the color not akin to my normal brown, but shimmering silver. My head nearly brushes the ceiling, though I am quite thinner than I was since I didn't really become a giant, wide as they are tall, all that junk. Basically I'd just become thirteen feet tall with forty foot wide silver and gold wings with gold eyes and ankle length silver hair. Just a normal day.... not. I moan. "How the crap will I go out like this? Where will I go? Where will I sleep?" My mother looks at me sympathetically. "I'll open a portal... I have a special gift for it." She raises her hands and chants, and glimmering purple light appears out of nowhere and consolidates and coalesces into a doorway about twenty feet tall. "I can enter myself since I am of another race than human." she says as her eyes turn silver and she grows fur, claws, cat ears, a cat tail, and her feet and hands turn into paws. "I am a Tigran, and all races are welcome in the Land of the Wild Winds." I look at myself in wonder as my normal black skull hoodie and jeans transform into a shimmering golden gown, falling around my shins, tighter in the middle, flaring out around the knees. "So.. we just go through?" I ask, even though it's kind of a stupid question. "Yes.. it will lead you to the palace, where your true parents are, the king and queen of the land."
"Hold up, royalty???"
"Yes, no Aranai has gold nor silver wings without royal blood." I nod at this assumption and step through. It is kind of a free falling sensation, then I feel a jolt in my long, long legs as I hit solid ground before the gates of what is obviously the palace. I look around, and my 'mother' is there, still in all her cat glory as she says, "Just let me handle this."
I nod and look around at the lush, green land filled with flowers, trees, and small cottages that must be where the citizens live. Meanwhile, the Tigran is talking to a guard, who nods curtly. Tigris (what I've decided to call her) motions me forward and leads me through a maze of twisting hallways to a large doorway, gilded with iron and gold around the edges. Tigris motions for me to knock and I give a sharp rap on the door.
"Come in," says a rough male voice I somehow recognize. I open the doors and see a man in his early forties, with pure gold wings, a royal crown, silvery hair and a look of surprise on his face as I step inside.