Tiny snowflakes dotted Simina's cheeks in an icy kiss. She looked up and saw a gray, cloudy sky full of snow clouds. The temperature must have dropped since earlier. Though it's only autumn, it can still get cold enough for snow.
Simina watched each flake flutter down like blue ice crystals. The snow here on Zormonia is different from Earth's. Instead of being white, the snow is a bright, icy crystal blue. Carrying her basket, Simina headed for the market. She was upset about her father. Simina didn't see what the big deal was: It's only a book! An old, lousy, stupid, fictional book meant only to entertain and scare its readers!
Her father always told her that all that stuff wasn't real. If it's not real, why is it so bad to read? Gregory never read books anyway. He only read nonfiction books, like autobiographies, biographies, and documentaries of things that have actually happened.
Simina didn't like all that stuff. She thought it was boring and pointless, and reading boring books gave her headaches. She wanted to be entertained.
Simina reached into her pocket and pulled out the list, then reached into her other pocket to make sure she had her money pouch. Simina always keeps her money pouch in her cloak pocket. She looked at the list. It read:
● 1 Loaf of bread
● 3 Fish
● 1 Bag of orange-flavored grass
● Bottle of Sweet Wine
● 10 Frost apples
Simina nodded. She should have enough for all that. The frost apples weren't too expensive.
I know the items on the list sound odd, but you are an earthling. Zormonia is different. On this planet, there are fruits called frost apples, which grow in colder areas and are icy blue. They taste just like regular apples, except they leave your mouth feeling cold, like a mint, but ten times better. The clashing combination of sweet and tart provides an unforgettable sensation dancing on your tastebuds.
The grass on this planet changes colors with the seasons. In autumn, it's orange; in winter, icy blue; in spring, it's magenta; and in summer, it's green. On Zormonia, the grass is edible and harvested in grass farms, each color having a different flavor. The orange grass tastes like oranges. Blue grass tastes like ice blue raspberries. Pink tastes like strawberry and green tastes like limes. The grass can be walked on, but before being harvested, it must be cleaned and sterilized before consumed.
Once Simina arrived at the little marketplace vendor, she handed the list to the salesman. He nodded and turned to give her the requested items. Simina placed her basket on his vendor stand, waiting patiently with her hand on her money pouch. She watched the little odd-looking man place her requested items into the basket.
Two yellow antennas poked out of his head. Large, round eyes stared back at her, popping out more so from the glasses he wore, which gave him a buggish look. Simina smiled, admiring the man's oddness. She thought it suited him well.
Once he'd placed three fish, a loaf of bread, a bottle of sweet wine, a bag of orange-flavored grass, and ten frost apples in her basket, he adjusted his glasses and fixed a blinky, buggy stare on Simina.
"That'll be seventeen zyros," the man buzzed, his voice high-pitched and nasal. Simina took out her money pouch, untied the string from it, and began to count out the zyros. Absent-mindedly, she picked up the basket. Zyros are the Zormonian form of currency. Zyros are only the coins, while zyro dollars are paper money. The zyros are pink, round coins with an odd person's face stamped on it, though we don't know who. Other Zormonian coins of greater or lesser value are blue or purple. The paper money on Zormonia is pink, blue, and purple, depending on value, instead of just green.
Holding the basket, Simina counted seventeen zyros for the man. In the middle of her counting, she heard a puppy yipping. It sounded close as if it were only a few feet from her. She did not look up, though; she was too focused on counting out the zyros and did not want to break her concentration because if she did, she'd lose count and have to start all over again.
"...fifteen, sixteen, seventeen," Simina finished counting and handed the money to the man. The puppy yipped, jumping up and down at Simina's feet. The little fella caught a whiff of her fresh fish, and its bitty little nose wiggled. He stood on its hind legs, nose reaching up toward Simina's basket of goodies. Simina didn't notice, however, she was preoccupied with talking to the salesman. One fish's fin hung over the basket's side, just within the puppy's reach.
The puppy barked, "Arf!" and lolled out its tongue with satisfaction. It pounced, grabbed the tail fin of the fish, and pulled. Simina didn't notice the puppy was there until there came a tug on her basket. Beside her was a stray puppy with its jaws locked on the tail fin of one of her fish. Simina attempted to swat the puppy away.
"Shoo! Go away!" Simina waved her hand at the puppy, but it didn't listen. Instead, it yanked on the fish, pulling it out of the basket. Simina tried pulling it away from the pup but only worsened it. The puppy tipped her basket over, causing everything in her basket to tumble out all over the ground with multiple thumps going everywhere. The pull of the puppy's jaws was so strong that it pulled the entire basket and its contents out of her hand and onto the ground. Her two other fish fell to the ground with a loud splat. Simina screeched, all of her goodies falling onto the ground. Both hands flew to each side of her face. She gasped.
"Oh no! You bad thing!" she scolded the puppy, who still held the fish in its mouth. The salesman rushed over to help pick up her goods.
"Oh dear," he mumbled nasally. Wagging its tail, the puppy turned and hopped off with her fish. Simina growled.
"Hey! You come back here with that!" she shouted and began to chase the puppy, dropping her basket. By this time, Simina had already disturbed the crowd of villagers. Everyone stared at her as she ran, pushing through the throng of people and merchants, chasing after the dog. The salesman got on his hands and knees and started putting her items back in the basket. He also supplied her with another fish and decided to leave that one free. He picked it back up and placed it on his stand, leaving it there for her when she returned.
Meanwhile, Simina shoved through the crowd, running after the pup. Her breaths puffed heavily into the air, forming little white puffs. Cold, bitter air blew against her cheeks, flushing her face pink.
The little mongrel! Simina thought with great disdain.
"Give that back, you wretched beast!" Simina shrieked. She chased the small dog to the outskirts of the village, into the Snowy Hills at the edge of the Snowy Woods. A terrible wind blew, snow billowing around her in a wild, violent torrent. It wildly blew Simina's hair about her head, hood flying off, cloak flowing out behind her.
Panting and shivering, Simina stopped, ankle deep in snow, feet standing on something slippery and firm. But when Simina arrived here, she didn't see the puppy anywhere. It was gone. She only saw her fish lying on a mound of snow like it had been dropped, and puppy paw-prints ran into the woods in the other direction. Simina shook her head. That wretched thing! A howling wind made her teeth chatter.
Simina was about to turn around and head back home, but something odd caught her eye. A few feet before her, she saw a trail of wispy, glittering dark purple smoke. Her eyes followed the trail to what it led up to. Standing at least ten feet away, she saw the figure of a man, standing tall and sure, his back turned to her.
Squinting, Simina took two steps forward to get a better look. Snow crunched under her feet. Who is that? Indeed, it was a man. From what Simina could see, he wore all black. He wore an expensive-looking trench coat that fell to his ankles but did not touch the ground. His hair was also black, ruffled by the wild wind.
She stared curiously at him, wondering who he was and why he was standing out in the middle of a mini snowstorm. Simina reached out a hand toward the glittering, dark purple mist, trying to touch it. Her hand went right through it. Oddly though, it wisped and curled around her right index finger, like a swirl. Simina's jaw dropped and quickly took her hand away. She looked back at the man.
She saw his head slightly turned, and the man moved. In one swift movement, he turned and faced her. A pair of glimmering, purple eyes met hers, and Simina froze. She swore her heart stopped beating.
He had such a beautiful face that his beauty was simply indescribable. His skin was a pale olive complexion, and he had a sharp, curved jawline with a prominent, striking jaw. Long, black lashes swooned over his eyes, giving him a beguiling look.
Simina knew of only one person with purple eyes. Her eyes widened in fear. He wore all black, had black hair, and skin as pale as a ghost. Lavishly purple eyes...Simina fell in love with his eyes at first sight but shook herself out of it to keep herself thinking straight. Yes, sure, purple smoke explains everything. He looks exactly like the drawing in the book.
Simina had already thought about the words before she said them. Her lips moved to form the words.
"Dark Prince..." Simina breathed out in a gasp, fear choking the breath out of her lungs. And much to her chagrin, he was, like the book said, quite handsome. Quite, however, was an understatement.
The Prince stared curiously at Simina, wondering why this girl was out and about in these parts. He'd never seen this girl before, though he usually never saw anyone out here. He observed her keenly. She looked young, with wavy, chocolate-brown curls blowing about her head in the wind. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, eyes popping open wide in astonishment and fearful.
The Prince was used to that reaction. He just didn't think a girl so pretty could look so scared. He wanted to know her name.
"D-Dark Prince..." he heard her say a second time. Simina was completely freaking out. The Prince blinked at her. She knows who I am, he thought, how intriguing. Simina raised her arm, pointing a finger at him.
"Dark Prince! You're the Dark Prince!" she shrieked over the wind's howling. An amused smile slightly lifted the corners of his lips. The Prince stepped toward her. Simina jumped backward.
"Don't you come near me!" Simina shouted. Fear shook her body from top to bottom.
The Prince stood still. He stared at her with intense intrigue. What is she so afraid of? The Dark Prince wondered. I'm not going to hurt her. Her entire body shook, chilled to the bone, teeth clattering and chattering.
She'll get sick if she stays out here any longer in this weather. He looked down at her feet. The Prince noticed she stood on a thin sheet of ice, and a small crack formed up the middle. He pointed at her feet and spoke.
"You're standing on ice. It's cracking," he said.
Simina almost failed to hear him speak. He'd only just stood and stared at her, giving her odd looks and now he speaks? She didn't think he could speak.
Simina, however, did look down at her feet. She was standing on ice that was cracking and splitting in two between her feet. She looked fearfully back up at the Prince, who smiled strangely at her.
"You should move," he told her. With a leap, Simina jumped off the ice and into a pile of snow, falling onto her knees. The Prince watched her. She was entertaining to watch. Struggling and in a hurry, the girl flung herself up in a weird way, slinging snow about, and took off in the opposite direction, running like hell.
The Prince watched her run away and moved his eyes back to the spot she'd previously been standing. He cocked his head to the side, staring at the cracked ice and disturbed snow.
"That's odd. Why did she run away?" the Prince said aloud, not talking to anyone in particular, but rather, asking it to the spot where the girl had previously been standing.