《The Light Bridge》 Prologue He looked through the window of his room, admiring the view. The sun was just dipping into the horizon. The light refracting into the water, causing a walkway of orange light to seemingly solidify in the sea. Leading towards the center of the sun. He thought to himself, ''what if I were to walk on it? Would it be possible?'' He sat there for a while, letting his imagination wander, leading him through a vivid string of dreams. Each one took him across the bridge to the sun, but then it would all go white and end. He wished to see what was beyond the sun. As if in a trance he climbed up and stepped out of his window, walking towards the bridge of light. Unaware that he was walking on air, descending towards the ground. He walked until he reached the shoreline. Upon putting his foot in the sea, the cold feeling of water in the early spring shocked him out of his trance. ''Holy sh** that''s cold!'' He jumped back, bristling. ''Wait, h-how did I get here?'' He took a moment to look around. Expecting a line of footprints through the sand, he looked back the way he came. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. He was shocked to see that they had only started a few feet back, seemingly disappearing beyond that. His gaze moved up to his window and he stood in wonder at the fact that he''d just walked from his window, to the ground, on thin air. Not feeling so sure about his curiosity now, he stood in fear of what could have possibly caused him to levitate from his window to the ground, claiming his consciousness to such a degree he didn''t even know there was no ground beneath him. He looked at his bare feet and made a decision. He would wait until the next day. If he was claimed by the water again, so be it. He found himself awake at dawn, staring out into the waves, slowly taking steps to the sea. This time, as his feet hit the chill, he continued walking. Slowly, he walked along the bridge of light he saw before him. He reached out, touching the light so close to him. He stood there with his arm outstretched, thinking. ''The sun was never this cold...Or this close. Wha..what is this?'' He stepped forward into the light, engulfing him completely. As he stepped forward, he felt a vague sensation of falling, but he couldn''t see. He felt himself hitting the ground. Everything went black. Chapter 1 "The young master has awoken! Hurry!" I woke up to the sounds of scurrying and hushed chattering. And a pounding headache. ''Ughh that hit was harder than expected.'' I tried to open my eyes, but they appeared to be covered by something. I tried to reach up to my face and take off the mask, only to find that my arms were bound to the table. "WHO THE HELL TIES UP THEIR MASTER?!" I yelled, hoping to bluff my way out of this mess. They''d called me a master, might as well play the part, right? "I-I-I''m so s-sorry young m-master. Please, l-let me u-unbind you." A soft voice from my left managed to stammer out before beginning to unbind my arms, and apparently my legs too. When she¡ªis it a she?¡ªfinally took the bandages off my eyes, I sat there shamelessly staring. "You...you''re not human...?" I trailed off. Before me stood a fox, well, sort of. She had multiple tails, about nine, I think. With a beautifully angular face that told of sentience beyond that of your regular fox. Her silvery fur shimmered in the sunlight that filtered in through the windows lining the walls. She was definitely larger than your average fox, seeming to be the same height as a short human when she stood on her hind legs. The way her eyes seemed to bore into my soul when she looked¡ªglared¡ªat me. I couldn''t help but gawk at the sight before me. "If you''re wondering, my name is Fleura Argentis. Now put your eyes to good work and find your way out of bed. I''m not helping you." She strutted out of the room, leaving me to sit there in shock. Something about the soft roll throughout her speech and the sway of her tails drew me in. It made me want to see, to hear, to know more about her. ''Dude! You''re not a furry what are you doing?!'' I quickly pulled myself out of bed. Big mistake. I imediately collapsed back in bed, feeling incredibly dizzy from the sudden movement. Clearly I''d sustained more damage than I''d thought. "Tsk. Why must you be so delicate, young master? Always falling unconscious at the most unnopportune of times." I woke up to more chatter. It was a different voice this time, far deeper sounding. Most likely a man. I opened my eyes to see a coppery fox, with less tails and more rugged features. Definitely a male. "I did land on my head." "Ah, yes, you did, didn''t you. How does your head feel?" "It still aches." I groaned and laid back on the bed. "Can I have some food?" "Ah, yes yes. Some food for you, young master. One moment." He scurried out the door, leaving it slightly open behind him. "And also a drink!" I yelled after him. I wasn''t drunk enough for this. Sentient foxes? I had to be dreaming. I laid there for a while, looking at what was surrounding me. It was a large circular room with a dome shaped roof. The roof was mostly made of fogged glass, coloured to make designs and pictures, but I couldn''t understand what. There were veins of silver throughout it, separating the colours and pieces of glass. It was...elegant, there was no other way to describe it. Now that I had looked around, most of the room was made up of tinted glass, letting the sun filter in. Colours danced across the bed I was in. It was then that I noticed the sheets were white, and so was everything else in the room. My head was still pounding and I was still kind of dizzy, the light hurt a bit to be honest. I probably had some level of a concussion, considering I''d landed on my head from who knows how high...and I''d passed out from standing up too fast earlier. The door creaking slightly caught my attention, my gaze snapping towards the source of the sound. I saw a curious snout poke out from behind the door, tembling slightly. Their paw held onto the side of the door for support to keep them from tumbling into the room. "Well hello there, intruder." My voice dripping with malice. I heard a small squeal and saw the snout and paw disappear from where they were poking out. There was more scurrying down the hall shortly after. The fox who had left to grab me food and drink nudged open the door, looking over his shoulder as he walked in. "Enjoying scaring off the young''uns are you? They''re simply curious about who you are. You see, they''ve never seen someone of your kind." "Wait, you mean there''s no humans here? Actually, where is here?" I looked around the room, realizing now that I couldn''t still be on Earth, in the same universe even. "Well, that depends. You can be here or there, up or down, alive or dead, really. There are most certainly humans, though none have stepped foot here in a number of decades, which makes you an anomaly." He focused on setting the platters of food he''d brought before me when he''d finished speaking. I looked at him in confusion. "How can you be opposites such as life and death at the same time?"If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He smiled. "That is a question even the wisest cannot answer, now eat your food. You need it." The delicious smell of the food he had brought, stole my attention and thoroughly distracted me from any further questions I might have had. There was quite a variety of food, actually. A lot of which I didn''t recognize. I could make out some different meats and pastries and a collection of what I think was fruit. ''No time to be picky! Who knows how long it''s been since I''ve eaten.'' I decided to start with the pastries, since they seemed to be the safest. I bit into one that looked like a spongey bread with some cheese melted onto it. ''Hey, this is pretty good, though it could probably use some more flavour, hmm...'' I decided to match it with a slice of meat that I liked the smell of. Spicy and sweet with a hint of salt. Kinda like salami. ''Oohh yeah, this is good. Wait a minute, I don''t even know the name of this guy.'' "Hey, what''s your name?" I turned to the coppery fox. "Is it a French-Latin name too?" "French-Latin? Are those languages where you come from? Wait, how do you know our names?" He looked at me suspiciously. "Oh, the pretty silver fox lady who woke me up earlier''s name is Fleura Argentis, so I assumed your name would be similar." I sat there innocently. "Hmm, observant." He nodded thoughtfully. "Here, we have a tendency to name things after their colours. This building is named Agathi Candous. It was built entirely white with many coloured windows so that the light shining in would colour it. And as such, we named it white purity. My name is much less extravagant, for it is simply Cuprum Veter." "So are there different dialects here, or do you guys speak English?" "If you''ll notice, you haven''t been seaking English since you got here. It''s just an interesting thing that happens when your kind are sent here, you''re fluent without any guidance or prior learning. You don''t even notice you''re speaking a different language." I sat there in shock, I hadn''t realized that the words coming out of my mouth weren''t even English. Yet I spoke it as mindlessly as I had with English. "H-how does that work? I''m terrible at learning languages." "That is simply the way it seems to happen here, young master. Now finish eating, you have work to do. We also have to see to your head injury, though it should heal in a couple days." I went back to eating the food he had brought me, every piece of it was far better than anything I''d tasted at home. Then again, cups of ramen weren''t the healthiest or the best tasting food, so I wasn''t surprised. ''Wait, I have to do work? Nooooo!'' I slumped back in bed a bit, disappointment clearly written across my face. Cuprum chuckled knowingly. When I''d finished eating, I downed the glass of liquid he''d brought. ''Darn, water. But I guess it''ll help with my headache.'' I slowly got out of bed, trying not to trigger any dizziness spells that might be caused from my concussion¡ªatleast I''m sure it was. ''Holy crap this floor is cold!'' It felt like my feet had hit ice the moment they touched the floor. For some reason I''d expected it to be warmer, like the rest of the place felt. Then again, it was some sort of white stone...quartz maybe? Probably a pure white marble. I''d ask about that later. Right now, I had some numbing of the feet to get used to. "What kind of work would I have to do around here?" I asked, wondering why me, someone who fell from the sky a couple days ago, would have a job already. "Well you see, you are the master of this estate-" "The master of what?! I mean no disrespect, but I fell through the sun, after walking across a bridge of light and you tell me that I own an entire house with servants and work?" I almost entirely lost it, simply because of my confusion. Well, sort of. The look he gave me after was just salt in the wound. "You will learn soon. Now, follow me, and I will introduce you to everyone." I rolled my eyes at the back of his head, he turned and narrowed his eyes at me. "Those mannerisms are not befitting of you, young master." ''Suuuure.'' We made our way through a very long hallway. It was decorated very much the same as my room, floor-to-ceiling windows on either side. Where there wasn''t windows, it was pure white marble with minimal, yet elegant designs engraved on the walls. The floor seemed to be a solid white, not marble, yet it seemed to be just as reflective and glossy as the walls. The hallway was designed in such a way that it felt much larger than it was. Looking forward, it was so flat that you could just barely see the ending, but it never seemed to get any closer. After a while he turned into a side room, holding the door open and bowing slightly as I walked past. The room was entirely circular, with half the wall made entirely of glass, but when you tried to look past it, you couldn''t make out anything. All you could see where the colours of sunset. "This is the room in which you will spend most of your time, young master. You have requests to look at, and bills to pay. Most importantly, your servants need to be paid as well." He smirked at me and motioned towards a considerable amount of paper on the desk. "Most often you will have someone here to help you look through these and give you advice, help you decide on what to do with the papers, but today, everyone is busy. You are on your own. The best of luck to you." And with that, he left the room. I didn''t know how this place worked, so I located the nearest pen and grabbed the top piece of paper, thinking over in my head whether I should actually read it or not. I decided against it and looked for the ''write signature here'' thing. Chapter 2 "-ster! Wake up, young master!" The yelling pulled me from my sleep and caused me to jerk my head up in alarm. "You fell sleep! And not even after getting much done either." day, like, month and day, maybe year?" Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. fox people to find a way to send me back." ''I guess I did end up falling asleep for a while. I wonder when I''ll be able to get home.'' I let my mind wander as I walked, eventually arriving at a door to which I hoped was my room. Where is the kitchen? I shook my head to help me snap back to reality. I decided I might as well take a shower since Cuprum told me to freshen up. I wonder if they even have showers here...Oh well, there should be something of the sort. I looked around my room, taking in everything again. It really was majestic, the crystalline walls and ceiling somehow scattering the light in all different colours. How does it present itself as an opaque substance though? I''ll have to ask about that. Steaming hot baths are the next best thing right? I stripped down and let myself be enveloped by the hot, relaxing water in the bath.