Lysander Takes the Fall

“The carriage! Quickly, we have to get the duchess and the children to safety!” a guard screamed, his suit of armor splashed with mud and dirt alike as he made a run for the carriage that teetered dangerously at the edge of the cliff. Only moments before, the cliff side had quiet with only the pitter patter of the rain enveloping the land around them. Disaster struck when a rock slide occurred, almost burying several guards and the carriage along with it. The carriage narrowly swerved out of the way, but at the cost of losing control and almost flying right off the ledge. Now, a noble family's future hung in the distance as even a single step might cause the carriage to overturn and sway into the abyss below. “Get any mage with an affinity for earth magic and order them to keep the cart up or it’s their heads on the line!”

Within the cart, a family of three sat curled up around each other at one corner of the carriage. They were attempting to counterbalance the cart until it stabilized, but the fear within their gazes was all too noticeable. It was their lives that hung in the balance. The oldest of the three, appeared to be an older lady with thick, black hair and striking blue colored eyes. Her skin was so pale that it might even make the moon jealous. The two children that remained with her were almost an exact copy of each other with thick black, curly hair and golden colored eyes that seemed to glow slightly even in the dark of the carriage. And unlike their mother, sun kissed skin that looked almost warm to the touch.

They clung to their mother’s dress, gripping tightly and both of them appearing in a disheveled state. The smaller one cried outright to their mother as she looked up toward her. Brightly colored hues begging for her make everything alright, but her mother could do nothing more than carefully lift her daughter into her arms and reassure that the knights would save them. The other child clung to his mother’s skirt while burying his face into it and though his voice sounded strained from cries his eyes were dry.

‘This is it! This is the scene I’ve been waiting for!’ he thought to himself as his grip only tightened to his mother’s dress. He knew what was supposed to happen here; after all, this was the series to a book he’d read far too many times when he was teenager. This scene was when Clemmie would fall to her supposed doom with the carriage after having told her mother to go with Lysander as he was both younger and not wanting to release their mother. Truly, a crying mess of a child and though he understood why that Lysander would be scared for his life, he was not.

The sound of the door creaking open as knights and mages alike worked to open it filled their ears. The knight that had been barking out orders held out his hand, but dared not enter the carriage as even now he could feel how unsteady it was. “Mama, you take Clemmie first. I’ll go right after,” Lysander said, slowly releasing his mother’s dress; however, the woman seemed reluctant. She didn’t want to leave her son in this carriage, but Clemmie refused to let her go and only cried louder until finally she moved forward to take the knight's hand.

He was quick to grab her and yank her out of the cart along with Clemmie. Just as quickly as they escaped he reached his arm back into the cart directing Lysander to take it slow and steady.

The sound of someone cursing from outside followed by a loud crashing sound as the carriage seemed to slip. The knight’s arm was thrown against the carriage door unable to reach Lysander before he was tossed around the inside. The sounds that followed were a string of different panicked sounds as several mages lost their hold on the earth that kept the carriage from falling. And then finally, the sound of his mothers screams as the carriage plummeted into the abyss with him inside.

This was exactly what he wanted though! In the series, Clemmie would survive this fall and begin her amazing life as an adventurer! Lysander on the other hand would be forced to follow in his father’s footsteps as a Duke learning about the politics of the world and not being able to take a single step without thinking about how it might affect the image of his family. Something was a bit weird though. From what he remembered, didn’t Clemmie beg for him to find safety first? Wasn’t she the one who hadn’t cried?

He supposed that didn’t matter now though, especially when he was falling from several hundred feet in the air. And only now did he begin to panic and wonder if he’d make it out alive from this. What if this world had designed it so that only Clemmie would have survived the fall? What if something had changed in the several years he had acted as himself instead of Lysander? The real Lysander loved chocolate and would hide it away in his room while he, the fake, loved strawberries and had no need to hide chocolate from his parents. It was little things like that, but back home there was a concept known as the butterfly effect. That even small changes could bring about significant changes.

His breathing became more labored. The seconds seemed to drag on and he could feel his afternoon snack starting to come up. There was no turning back now. All he could do now was try not to vomit as he glued his eyes shut. And then the carriage suddenly came to stop in midair only a few feet from off the ground. A faint white light glowing around it for a brief second. Lysander opened his eyes just in time to see the light disappear and then feel the carriage plummeted the last few feet causing him to painfully toss around the carriage once more.

He groaned in a bit of pain as he rolled over from his stomach to his back. He was pressed into the door on one side of the carriage while the other door, still open, hovered above him. He couldn’t see the point of the cliff he had fallen off of, but he knew no one would come for him. They’d mark him as dead on impact from the fall and even if they thought he could have survived entering this forest was strictly forbidden. If the monsters within didn’t kill you then the king would surely have you executed if he discovered you made it out. He closed his eyes as he tried moving his arms and legs only to discover some pain, but nothing seemed broken.

A few cuts and bruises from what he could tell. Slowly, he took a few breaths before attempting to stand up. He quickly scrounged up a few things from within the cart and tossed them out through the open door above. A blanket, a waterskin, and a few snacks he and his sister had taken for the journey. And then the hard part. He needed to climb up, which was easier said than done. Stacking some luggage that had come out from under the seats of the carriage he pulled himself on top of it. Careful balance himself as he stood up to reach for the edges of the carriage door. His fingertips just barely touched the edges though. “Okay, gotta jump,” he muttered to himself before silently counting to three and then jumping as high as he could. The few suitcases he had stacked fell out from below him as he did so, but thankfully he had managed to grab hold of the ledge.

Slowly, he pulled himself up until he stood on the side of the carriage. His gaze taking in the surrounding forest as the sound of rain pattering around him filled his sense of hearing. He had to be careful with monsters lurking at every turn he knew he couldn’t afford to misstep; thankfully though, he knew where to go. Golden blood and bright white feathers laid out a path for him to follow just like it had for Clemmie in the books.