Suddenly an Empress

VII: Lost

I grabbed the opportunity to escape through the underground tunnel while everyone else was still traumatized by the solar eclipse just now, they were so disturbed that they did not even notice me swiftly pass through them. I also realized that the people outside the colosseum still have not heard the news about the pink haired goddess so I quickly grabbed a clean towel at the sides, probably for the gladiators to wipe off their blood, and used it to cover my head before leaving the area in a hurry.

If the townspeople saw my hair without seeing my grand performance in the arena, for sure they would gather around me and assume I am a witch or something, it was really a good thing to claim myself as a Goddess just in case I get captured they would treat me with respect and not with pure spite.

"The gods did not forsake us! The sun has returned!"

As I pass through the crowd unnoticed, I hear them cheering and raising their hands skyward as if to offer themselves to the sky. Their gaze was all fixated on the blinding light from the sun so I ran, no one would suspect that I just came from the colosseum anyway.

I ran and I ran, passing through buildings, marketplaces, riversides, until I was back at the entrance of the city with the same giant arched entryway, and right before I take another step, I took a complete stop. I have no idea where I am going and what is waiting for me out there in the open. All I see where fields and it stretches until the horizon and I do not know what goes after those. Desert? Villages? The sea?

I have to go home. . . but how?

I gasped lightly when I remembered that the empress's necklace was still around my neck, but when I tried to pull it out from beneath my clothes, I was only wearing the cord and the glimmering blue crescent moon was missing.

"No. . . no, no, no, no, no!" I panicked, trying to feel through every part of my nightgown to see if it was stuck somewhere but I could not find it. It must have been broken and fell off when I was running through the chaos of a crowd.

"The only thing I know that can possibly bring me back to my original timeline. . . gone," I plopped down on the ground, feeling all sort of hope get drained from my body as I too stare at the sky like everybody else back at the colosseum.

Will I be stuck in this place forever?

"Young miss, are you hurt somewhere?" My vision of the vast and blue sky was suddenly blocked by a face of a man who was peering from behind me.

"Gah!" I leaped forward to crawl away from him and stand up to recollect myself, brushing the dust off of my clothes.

"Oh, I apologize if I gave you a scare." He seemed genuinely concerned about my well being as he raised his hands towards me when he noticed that I was wobbling, I guess I looked extremely disheveled and worn out when I was plopped down on the ground like a child.

"I, I am fine." I hurriedly looked away, waiting for him to move on with his day but he stood still in front of me even after I ended that small talk already with a hint that I do not want to talk to him.

He tilted his head at me, possibly wondering why I kept trying to fix the towel wrapped around my head that kept all of my hair together. It would be a problem if he saw my pink hair, he would make a big deal out of it.

"You seemed to be wary of me, I guess we got on the wrong foot." He placed his right hand over his chest and bowed elegantly at me.

He was wearing a decent-looking white toga that almost resembled the ones that the prince was wearing.

"Uhh, what do you want from me?" I took a step back from him, he noticed that and only smiled thinly at me.

"You see, a caravan would be passing through here a few minutes from now and it is my job to clear out the road so that the travel would not get interrupted, and when I saw you sitting at the middle of the road I was compelled to come and inform you about this. . . oh, and ah, speaking of the caravan, it is finally here." He turned around and faced the city. Coming out from there was a a huge vehicle towed by four mighty looking horses. I squinted my eyes to take a better look at them from a distance and saw that two men were seated at the front, while the wheeled vehicle behind them was just like a plain old carriage so I could not really see what was inside it.

"Would you like to come with us?" The man then became domineering with his sudden obstinate body language and stepped towards me. It seems that the presence of the carriage made him act faster as if he needed to get me to come to him before it passes us.

"Erm, no. I have to look for something back at the city." I clenched the cord around my neck, missing the brilliant blue crescent moon. I have to look for that before anyone else picks it up, I will lose my only way of finding out how to go back home.

He ignored my answer and just glanced behind him to see that the caravan is nearing us so he immediately grabbed my wrist so tightly that made me yelp in pain.

"Hey! Let me go!" I had no energy left to fight him off because of what happened back at the Arena so I was easily, once again, captured.

The carriage stopped in front of us and the two men who were seated at the front, jumped down and grabbed both my legs as they carried me to the back.

I tried to scream but they immediately covered my mouth with a cloth.

"We got her! Let's go!"

When I was finally and completely tied down inside the carriage, one of them went outside and began driving away.

My head was spinning and it feels like it was split open from the scorching heat I felt in this place. Come to think of it, when was the last time I drank water or ate something?

"So it is true, her hair is like the color of the flowers." one of the men pulled off the towel that was covering my hair and revealed it to themselves.

The look in their eyes looked like they were filled with greed, the hair I have is money for them.

"Do not worry little miss," The man who first grabbed my wrist, caressed my face but I kept moving away so that he won't be able to touch me with his filthy hands. "You are in good hands, that kind of hair is loved in the Southern lands."