Chapter 15

Roya Lane, London, England, United Kingdom

The strangeness of Gen's life was only certain to heighten as she set foot onto Roya Lane alongside Sophia. She'd been through the crazy magical lane a time or two, but never allowed to look around, always told that she should guard her vision from things she wouldn't understand and would overwhelm her.

When Gen accidentally came to this time period, Father Time had hoped to successfully put her back in 1426. In his attempts, he had urged her to not see anything from that time period, hoping it wouldn't color her. That was because Genevieve Beaufont was in the history books, having paved a critical path for the magical world. It was only now that they knew, Genevieve of 1426 was being played by Elizabeth Beaufont. This was Gen's time, she just had to understand it first.

Now, freely able to see London in the twenty-first century, Gen saw a world she'd never imagined possible. There were things beyond probable or conceivable notions, like transports on wheels and strange light things with no horses. Sophia had called them cars and said they were the new carriages of the world.

Then there was everything else, like the smells, the sounds, the feels that came from the busyness of the street. It was like something had taken her senses hostage and she was being assaulted over and over again by them.

And the noise… It was deafening with layers and layers that felt unnatural. The sounds of the city were so varied with loud drumming on the streets, echoes from the ground below, a growling in the distance and wailing all around her. Gen didn't know what was happening out in this world to make so much noise, but also, she strangely wasn't afraid of it.

For some reason, deep down, she knew that this was her time. And she also felt that her advantage in being here was that she didn't understand it. She was new to this world and therefore, uniquely created to make it better…somehow. In what way, she didn't know, but she suspected that it would have to do with her dragon and being a Beaufont.

"Are you okay?" Sophia asked, turning to look at her as they strode down the cobbled road that Gen didn't just know, but had established—Roya Lane. It was her and her father's vision that said they needed a hub where all magical people could find access to magical things.

Gen still remembered breaking actual ground on this road and now to look up and see what it became, well it was simply the thing of dreams. Most didn't live to see their visions come to fruition. Most never saw the legacy they left behind.

Her father, William, a Founder, saw it presently from another realm known as the Land of Chimeras. But Gen knew her experience was much different. She wasn't watching what they created. She was experiencing it.

"Why do you ask?" Gen questioned, looking all around at the strange things, none of them computing.

"Besides the fact that you're drooling?" Sophia asked, winking.

"Oh, well, it is a lot to take in," Gen said, gawking around at the sight of a male gnome dressed as a pretty woman in a tight red skirt and blouse, high heels and wearing fake long flowing red hair. Their makeup was strangely good, making him or her look beautiful and also weird because of his bulbous nose and boxy jaw. "I'm just not used to seeing so many things that…"

"That defy logic." Sophia offered.

"I used to think about the world ending and how that would look?—"

"That's dark," Sophia interrupted with a laugh.

Gen didn't. "I know but it's because I grew up in the medieval era. It's hard to explain how that makes you hard. I'm strange in the way that I never thought life would go on. I thought that it would all end because everything was so…unestablished. And then to see that it has, to know, that what my family did, created things that helped the world. It's mind boggling to know that the world didn't end, and the sky didn't fall, and well, that's the hardest part to digest. Then, I have to deal with the next part…"

"Which is?"

Gen gave Sophia a wide smile. "How am I going to adapt to this strange world, not made for me, but that I feel for some reason needs me?"

Sophia gave her an equally impressed smile. "I think you're going to fit in perfectly. You're like the best medieval modern warrior I can think of."

"You think?" Gen asked. "How should I act? What should I do?"

"Just question everything," Sophia suggested. "Tell everyone you see who does something wrong what you think."

"Won't that get me in trouble?"

"Yeah," Sophia answered with a grin. "And you're going to stir things up and something tells me that's your purpose. I was created by Mother Nature to establish peace. Something tells me, you were meant to make things anew by getting rid of all the turmoil. So, wipe out the filth. Clean it up with your brand-new attitude and perspective."

"I sort of like that idea, but I'm not sure if I know what's right and wrong in this world," Gen related.

"Sure you do, because no matter the time period that doesn't change," Sophia offered. "You see things in a different way than the rest of us. You will not be complacent with the things that are wrong. You will put your foot down to the misdeeds that we've all turned a blind eye to."

Gen glanced around at the strange, cobbled lane, seeing it not as a foreign and new place but as a human one. Suddenly the interactions were what she saw, and they had colors. Most were white and purely good, but she saw the bad ones in dark shades and everything in between.

The array of deeds was a rainbow that spread across Roya Lane and suddenly, for the first time in her entire life, Gen felt that she had a purpose. She wasn't meant to understand this modern new world. She was meant to use her vision to spot good and evil and make this new age better.