Worlds Apart

By Lisa Williamson

There are worlds just a step away from the one we live on. Worlds filled with magic and lycanthropes who fly on world ships. If you like short stories that give you a look beyond this world, this is for you.

 

This collection has been edited and revised. There are new stories  to give you a Moments pause.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lisa Williamson
• Release date: May 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524252489

Lisa Williamson

Lisa Williamson is the author of The Art of Being Normal and All About Mia. She also collaborated with other bestselling and award-winning young adult authors in Floored.

Book preview

ALL THAT THERE WAS © 2012

This odd little tale first came to me after watch a marathon of anime. As a fantasy author I find inspiration in many things. Haven’t we all wished that we knew what trees where thinking?

She looked up and her eyes widened. Floating just above the peak was a total oddity. Encased inside a clear crystal sphere was a tree. From where she stood Alessa could just see the buds that covered the branches. The tree was majestic, the branches upswept and strong.

Without really realizing what she was doing, the young mountaineer scrambled up the slope. Something was calling to her. Pulling her upward

toward the tree in the glass ball. As her feet brought her to the top of the mountain, the sphere started to drop. As she reached out a hand, it stopped, a bare inch from touching ground. Her fingers brushed the crystal and a chime filled the air about her. Whoa, she thought. That was beautiful.

Enter, a soft voice filled her mind.

Alessa spun about and saw there was no one around her at all. She had gone climbing alone, mostly because she wanted to be, alone. Her climbing partner was most likely just waking now, down the mountain and wondering where she was. Who?

Come forward, seeker, the voice still came from inside her. She shook her head, trying to clear it out. Once more the voice spoke and this time she shrugged and took a step forward.

Surprised, she found herself sliding through the crystal. That was strange.

Greetings, seeker. The voice was now outside of her. It seemed to come from the air about her.

Alessa looked about and reached out. She gently lay her fingers on the tree's bark and walked about it. The bark felt very alive. She could almost feel the sap running inside of it. Are you talking, tree? She shook her head. How could you be talking? You're just a tree.

Am I now, seeker? Is anything just anything?

Alessa pulled her hand back like she had been stung. You are talking! She started to walk backwards, trying to distance herself from the tree, but was stopped by something. Darting a look over her shoulder she saw that it was the crystal holding her in. What is this? She turned back and glared at the tree. Was this some type of trap?

No, seeker. There is no trap here. As the voice spoke the globe started to lift up into the sky. More a sanctuary.

Alessa watched silently as the ground dropped away from her feet. With a little whimper she sank down and curled up, her knees to her chest. Where are you taking me?

A root snaked out and gently wrapped about her wrist. To the past.

Alessa felt her eyes closing against her will, her body being stretched out into a more comfortable position as the tree soared away from the mountain. The darkness closed about her thoughts as the gentle voice sang her to sleep.

SHE AWOKE TO A GENTLE hand on her face. Opening her eyes she looked up into the softest brown eyes she had ever seen. Smiling in an automatic

response to those gentle eyes she blinked, trying to bring the rest of the face into focus. After a long moment she did. Sitting next to her was a

child-like woman figure. She was dressed in a green dress that had been patterned to look like leaves and her hair fell in waves of deep mahogany past her waist. Her skin had the deep tan of one who spent all of her time outside.

Where am I? asked Alessa, trying to sit up. The being helped her, with a hand behind her shoulders. You are here, answered the voice from before.

Alessa started and looked around. She was still inside the crystal globe with the tree, only now there was another being inside with her. Looking

past both the tree and the woman she could only see clouds about them. Not normal white and grey clouds, but ones touched with pink and blue.

They caught her attention, made her feel strangely like she was at a beginning. What where?

The woman smiled and gestured. Alessa turned her eyes to where she gestured. The tree had changed its root configuration so that they were

formed like low chairs. Alessa got up from the floor of the crystal globe and moved gingerly to the tree. As she settled into the root chair she found it was very comfortable. She sighed in relief and then looked to the woman. Okay, who are you and why did you and this, she gestured upwards, pretend tree kidnap me?

I am this pretend tree, the woman's voice held a hint of both amusement and of regret. "I am sorry I took you away without your permission, but I

needed you. As for a name, you may call me Adoette."

Adoette?

Yes, it is what the people of this land long ago called me.

Alessa thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. Well I guess you can go by what ever name you wish. She studied the woman for a moment. How can you be the tree? Are you some type of dryad?

Adoette smiled and shook her head. "No, those beings that history called dryads where separate beings. They lived in your trees, protecting them

from your ancestors."

Not my ancestors, Alessa softly retorted. She knew the family history for generations. They had been conservationists and before that nature priests and priestesses. They did their best to protect the wild