Rose struggled to her feet, shocked at what she was seeing. Above her was the sky, bright and blue. But below her was not her bed—or her room.

She was completely surrounded by flowers.

It stretched far out—making it difficult to see where it ended. But with how surreal it was, Rose began to immediately panic. Her breathing became heavy, and her knees started to tremble.

As she tried to catch her breath, a soft gust of wind blew in the opposite direction Rose was facing. Trying to get her hair out of her face, she turned round, but saw something unexpected.

There was an extremely large and bulky tree in the middle of the flower field. It was the only other object present in the field, and had a long path or road stretching from it to somewhere out in the distance. The sight of the tree was frightening to Rose at first, but it’s bright pink flowers began to look rather pleasant to her.

Eventually, Rose began to make her way to the tree as it was only a few minutes away. After walking a fair distance, there seemed to be a wooden carriage parked next to the path—close to the tree. But when Rose got closer, a noise suddenly startled her. It was the neigh of a horse, attached to the carriage at the front.

This being the first time she had seen a horse in person, Rose was shocked by the sheer size of it. She did like animals in general, but this was still a frightening experience for her.

Suddenly, a second noise came from atop the tree.

When Rose looked up, she noticed something on a large branch high up in the tree. It was a person sitting, wearing a large pink hooded cloak with a white mask covering their face. In front of them, was a large bag with a heart shaped lock, or it at least seemed large at first glance.

Rose realised the stranger seemed to be physically on the smaller side. Probably even smaller than her.

But seeing as that was the first person she had come across, Rose contemplated on calling out to them. Maybe they would know where she was, and be able to explain how she got there.

However before Rose could call out to them, a third noise came from the base of the tree.

Noticing an entrance at the tree’s root, Rose watched as a woman walked out from within it.

“Perhaps it’s time to warn them,” the woman quietly said as she walked forward with a worried look.

A few seconds later, the woman was now face to face with Rose. They were both speechless, and stared at one another. While Rose looked somewhat confused, the woman looked quite bewildered. The woman then took a careful step forward.

“W-Who are you? How did you get in here? The guardians didn’t alert me of your presence,” the woman said as she slowly took another step forward.

It seemed her guard was up, as Rose began to feel a sense of cautious hostility from the woman. Rose attempted to take a step back, but was frozen in place by fear as the woman approached.

“I-I…I,” Rose stuttered, but was unable to get any words out.

With how frozen and nervous Rose was, it seemed the woman decided to take advantage. She slowly began to circle around Rose, inspecting her up and down. Eventually, she stood in front of Rose once more.

“Be calm girl,” the woman said with a softer voice. “Now tell me, how did you get here?”

After getting over her nerves, Rose proceeded to tell the woman exactly what happened. There wasn’t much to tell though—seeing how she was only just in bed a few moments ago.

“I am familiar with strange things, but that’s quite a strange tale,” the woman said. “Perhaps you ate something in the forest on your way here. Not really a wise thing to do…”

She then looked behind her at the masked person sitting atop the tree and then back at Rose.

“I’m not used to this many visitors,” she said, after a heavy sigh. “Okay. Can you point to where you woke up?”

Rose turned round and looked across the flower field. It was hard to figure out where she had walked from seeing as everywhere—but the tree and the road—looked the same. Eventually, she nervously guessed and pointed in a general direction.

“I think somewhere there—”

But the woman had suddenly come up from behind her and touched her shirt. Rose stumbled back in reflex, surprised by her sudden appearance. The woman then rubbed the tip of her fingers, the same ones she used to touch Rose’s shirt.

“Quite clean. So I suspect you’re not with the bandits then,” the woman said. “Of course not, I’m sure they wouldn’t dare wonder here.”

Not sure what to say, Rose stood there silently.

“Oracle.”

A voice came from behind the woman, approaching from the tree. Rose—who wasn’t sure what the woman had been talking about—looked over her shoulder. There was a man in a large fur coat with long pink curly hair walking toward them.

The woman he called ‘Oracle’ turned round to face him. “Are you taking your leave?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, as he walked up to her. “I may not return for some t—”

He then noticed Rose in front of the woman. But just like the woman did initially, he stared at her without saying a word.

“I seem to have a visitor,” the woman said.

“A visitor?” he said, as he snapped out of his trance. “I wasn’t aware you was expecting another.”

“I wasn’t,” the woman said. “It’s a rare thing, but it seems she lost her way and ended up here.”

“What a surprise. I wasn’t aware the guardians could be so charitable,” the man said.

He then walked up to Rose, towering over her while gently lifting her hand.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, as he kissed it.

Rose blushed and looked away as she was too flustered to respond. There was something extremely charming about the man, and she couldn’t help but admire his noble like aura.

He then walked pass her and toward the horse. “I’ll be leaving her in your care then.”

The woman’s face softened as her attention went back to Rose. “What might I call you?” she asked.

Rose visibly swallowed her nerves. “R-Rose. I’m called Rose.”

After hearing her name, the woman’s eyes widened. “…Rose?”

“Rose…”

Rose turned as she heard the man also repeat her name. Just like the woman, his eye’s were wide open as well. But his surprised look soon relaxed as he seemed to quietly compose himself.

“I will be travelling past the nearest town on my journey,” the man said.

He then walked up to the horse. “You are more than welcome to travel with me until we reach there.”

Rose nervously looked toward the woman, as if for reassurance.

“Are you sure?” the woman asked the man. “You haven’t travelled with anyone since—”

But she stopped her sentence as he passed her a calm, but almost serious gaze. The woman paused for a moment, but then smiled and nodded at Rose—signalling her that it was safe to go with him.

“O-Okay,” Rose said.

When Rose walked up to the carriage, the man gently helped her onto it. He then walked to the horse and gently rubbed it’s face. As he then climbed on top of it, the woman approached and looked up at him.

“There’s many in the Kingdom with that name now,” she said. “Surely it’s just a coi—”

“Coincidence,” the man said, as he finished off her sentence. “Yes….yes I know.”

“And about what we discussed earlier. I hope you’ve reconsidered your decision,” she said.

He looked down at her, with a now more obvious serious expression.

“It is my decision to make,” he said.

The woman took a step back and smiled. “Of course. Safe journey to you both.”

As the horse set off, Rose looked back, but the smile from the woman’s face had faded. She also then realised atop the tree, that the mysterious person with the bag was no longer there.

Rose wondered where they might have gone.

Their journey across the flower field was kept on the small road that extended to somewhere off into the distance. Rose wasn’t quite sure where the path was taking them, as she couldn’t see anything nearby. But after several minutes of travel, something in the distance became viewable.

It became clear to Rose that the area seemed to be encircled by a vast forest.

As they got closer to it, Rose couldn’t believe what she was seeing. At the front of the forest, were two majestic looking deer—with a faint glow surrounding their body. They approached—with each one going to a different side of the carriage.

They then started to follow it, with Rose shrinking deeper into her seat as they walked beside her. The man then peeked over to her, but promptly looked ahead again.

After some time, she slowly emerged back up as they didn’t seem as frightening to her anymore. It then looked like they passed a glance at her, but she thought maybe she was just imagining things.

Each deer soon walked up to the horse and began to travel alongside it. It seemed like they were guiding the carriage through the forest, which no longer had a road to follow. The man on top of the horse didn’t seem to be controlling the horse any longer, as it looked like it was just walking together with the two deer.

“Judging by your reaction, it doesn’t seem you’ve encountered them before,” he suddenly said as he looked at her. “Did you not come through here then?”

Rose nodded her head to say no.

“Hmm. Well there’s no need to be scared,” he replied. “Without their help, it’s rather difficult to find one’s way through this forest.”

He then looked at Rose’s sleeveless arms.

Rose looked at them too. “I’m sure I changed when I went to sleep,” she whispered to herself.

“Put this on."

When she looked back up, he had thrown his large fur coat at her. She awkwardly caught it and was surprised with how soft it felt.

“T-Thank you,” she said. “B-But I’m not really cold.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” the man replied.

The two deer suddenly began to depart. They walked backwards and met Rose’s gaze. When they left, the carriage continued forward—revealing a road ahead out of the forest. But as the path opened up, there was a sudden change in the environment.

Everything ahead was covered in snow.

As the temperature abruptly dropped, Rose quickly put the fur coat over her as she began to shiver.

“But how?” she asked.

The man—who was now controlling the horse again, did a quiet chuckle.

“I’m now sure of it. Young lady, you aren’t from this Kingdom are you?” he asked.

“No,” Rose replied. “I’m not really sure where I am.”

“Then where are you from?”

Rose gave a brief description of her hometown and where she lived. She could tell that he was listening, but was unsure if he was believing anything she was saying.

“How odd. There are many other Kingdoms oversea, but I have never heard of one such as that,” the man said. “That land is of a mystery to me.”

For a few seconds, neither said a word as the man continued to ride the carriage across the snowy road.

“See the pouch beside you? If you get hungry, you’re welcome to eat what’s inside,” he said. “There’s a drink in there also.”

“O-Okay,” Rose said, as she looked at the pouch on the seat by her side.

She however was too nervous to even think about eating anything at the moment. Everything that was happening was still unbelievable to her. It all felt too real for it to be a dream. The smell, touch, everything. But with how real everything felt, Rose couldn’t help but feel sleepy after a while of travelling.

The coat she was given was truly warm. So warm in fact, it eventually caused Rose to fall asleep in the carriage. The contrast between the cold weather, movement of the carriage and the warmness of the coat made for a cosy experience.

But the cosy journey came to an abrupt end when the carriage suddenly stopped. The sudden halt woke Rose from her sleep.

“If it isn’t Sir Romance himself.”

Rose peaked over the carriage, still laying under the fur coat. They were surrounded by half a dozen rough looking people.

One—who appeared to be the leader—was at the front of the horse. He went to stroke it but it threw a small tantrum before being calmed down by the pink haired man. The leader then looked up at him.

“So the rumours were true. You’ve been riding out here alone,” he said. “You had us all convinced you were still cooped up behind that gate.”

“That look’s like an Aoser horse to me,” one said.

“Means the townsfolk are a bunch of liars,” said another.

“Why is your group this far out?” the pink haired man asked. “Do you wish to anger the Oracle?”

“No no. We were simply going for a walk is all,” the leader said, causing the others to laugh.

The pink haired man tightened his fist. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s time to leave, Baron.”

“Oh ho. Still remember my name do you?” the leader said in surprise. “Guess you’ve always been good at that. Remembering everyone’s names…”

The man then began to circle the carriage, and then noticed Rose inside—who then hid back into the carriage. The man then walked in front of the horse and faced toward the pink haired man again.

“Who’s that you got over there? I thought you spent your time alone these days.”

He then rubbed his chin and smirked. “A replacement perhaps?”

The pink haired man didn’t respond, and instead looked back at Rose.

“Stay low and close your eyes.”

Not knowing what was going to happen, Rose did as he said. She could then hear him climbing off his horse and landing on the ground.

“What?” the leader said. “Have I upset ya? Well boohoo. You’ve upset more people than I ever could.”

There was a brief silence.

“Cover your ears too,” the pink haired man said.

Rose did just that.

For a minute or so, there was no sign of anything happening. However, the carriage suddenly began to rock and shake. The suddenness of it startled Rose as she did not know if she was in danger or not. She was scared that next time she opened her eyes that she would be greeted by one of the people that stopped them.

But even with that fear, she did as the man said and remained where she was. That was until the carriage somehow fell to it’s side and she rolled out of it. However, she didn’t land on the snowy ground.

When she opened her eyes, she was in the arms of the pink haired man. For the first time, she got a closer look at his eyes. Even though they were beautiful and kind, Rose also felt a sense of sorrow from the mans gaze.

“Sorry,” he said, as he put her back on her feet. “Everything's okay now.”

Rose immediately noticed the people that stopped them were nowhere to be seen. Also, it seemed the horse had been set loose and had run away. But she then moved her feet and accidentally kicked something. Before she could look down however, the pink haired man stopped her.

“How about you keep your eyes on me for now,” he said. “Here, take my hand.”

She did as he asked and held his hand while not looking down. He walked her over to the other side of the carriage and looked down the road.

“One of them had a horse nearby and got away. I don’t think he’ll be coming back. But it’s worrying for bandits to be so close to the Sanctuary.”

Rose wondered if he had fought off so many just by himself. She looked up at him as he scanned the surroundings and noticed there were no obvious signs of injuries on him. He then collected the pouch from the carriage, which was now on the floor—and gave it to Rose.

“Come. We will travel through the forest,” he said. “Their camp must be nearby. Let us take shelter there.”

But before they went off, he quickly picked up two other things from the floor nearby. It was a bow and arrow one of the bandits were carrying. Also, he picked up and gave Rose one of their fur coats after taking back his own. The man then guided Rose toward the snowy trees.

As they set off into the forest, Rose couldn’t help but glance back at the carriage. With a tree blocking most of the view, she saw just an arm flat against the snowy ground, poking from behind it.

But the snow next to it was red, and was indented with what seemed like an oddly large foot print.