Nikholas "goo" F. Toledo A cry filled the room. "Milady, it's a girl." As the child was lowered to her mother's waiting arms, her cries turned into a smile. A feeling of serenity enveloped the room. However, this heartwarming moment was shortly outlived when an armed guard suddenly burst into the room shouting. "They're here - I don't know how they found us, but they're here. We must get the queen and the child as far from here as possible!" The nun beside the queen retorted. "The queen just gave birth, she is in no condition to be moved." "Sister, we have no choice - if they found her or the child, they would surely perish. I'll carry the queen and you take care of the child. Is there a backdoor out of here?" "Just follow me," answered the nun. Due to a sudden rush of adrenaline, they were out of the room in an instant. Smell of burning cloth and flesh filled the hallways. Shouts echoed from every corner. Sounds of cold steel hitting bones amidst shouts of mercy mixed with demonic laughter prompted the group to run as fast as they could. With their vision limited by the thickening smoke, they got separated when they reached the courtyard. Panic reigned all over. The soldier found a way out of the convent. He looked at the queen and saw her crying, calling for her daughter. The soldier looked back at the convent and saw it crumbling into a pile of ash. This wasn't supposed to happen, he said to himself. Nobody outside the royal family, some of the royal guards and some of the nuns in the convent knew that the queen was here. There is a spy, and he or she should pay dearly. Forward eighteen years. Inside a room, a young lady sat in the middle of the room. In front of her was a table and on the other side of the table sat a nun. The young lady looked very lost. Her clothes didn't exactly fit her, as if they weren't her clothes. "Where am I? The last thing I remembered was blacking out along a dirt road somewhere. Before that, I was wandering around aimlessly. I haven't eaten for two days. I don't know who I am, why I was travelling, where I was from or where to go. I just let my feet lead me to some place where questions in my mind might get answered." "I was coming from the city when I saw you half-dead along the road. I just came from some business of the church. It was quite fortunate that I was the one who found you and not some beast. I brought you here a day ago and you just woke up this morning. By the way, how was your meal and bath?" "Thank you, sister, for the meal and the bath - I really needed it. And thank you for the clothes; the one I had is filthy. Thank you for all the help, but I really need to go now. There are still answers to be found and I have no idea where to look." "My child, I think you can find some of the answers here. There is somebody here who wants to talk to you." The door slowly creaked open to reveal a humanoid figure hiding in the shadows. The mysterious figure slowly entered the room. She was clad in very elegant clothes. Her skin was as white as snow. Atop her head was a crown, signifying that she was of royal blood. The young lady froze for a moment. What she saw boggled her mind - the person who entered the room looked like her. The resemblance was so striking that the nun also froze at her place. "Don't you remember who I am? I'm your mother," the older woman said in between sobs, while hugging the younger woman. "It has been a long time since I lost you, and now you're back and we are now a whole family again." The younger woman just froze in her place, not knowing what to do. Chapter 5 Fire and Ice The princess slowly woke up from her slumber. She felt the need to get out of her containment. In her mind, she laughed on how her life was always determined by some other people: one minute, she has no idea who she was; the next minute, she was the heir to the throne; the minute after, she found herself being held prisoner by someone who wanted the throne that was going to be hers. Ten years ago, there was a deep void in her mind - and now it was overflowing with information. She felt that something was wrong with her life; it was as if she was living some other person's life. It is as if she took a wrong turn somewhere and exchanged paths with another lost soul. She shook off those thoughts for she had something more important to do. She had to get out of the room - she wanted to go home, the home she knew for the past ten years. As she looked outside her window, she saw that the moon was nearing its full strength. Below her window, armed guards passed by like ants. Now was the time to enact her plan. During most of the afternoon, she searched every inch of the room, trying to find any means of escape. Something almost escaped her eyes: there was a trap door hidden under tons of dust beneath the bed. Being of a lithe stature, she didn't need to move the bulky bed to open the door and slip into it. Before she descended, she took with herself candles, just in case. As she descended, her heart began to beat rapidly, anticipating the nearness of her freedom. The tiny flicker from one of the candles showed her where she was. She was in a corridor - both walls were stone, along which were unlit torches. She lit one of the torches and used it instead of the candles. With a bigger light source, she began to see more of the place. The corridor began to branch left and right at seemingly regular intervals. Cobwebs almost completely covered the ceiling, and there were signs of something heavy being dragged along the floor. Thoughts ran in her mind - those marks told of somebody or something that had been here. As of now, there was complete silence. All she had to do is to find a way out of this maze and hope that no one was currently using it. *** *** *** *** "Ryouga." A sweet melodious voice echoed within Ryouga's ears. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared in disbelief as he found himself not in the inn. He was standing amidst a grove, in a clearing surrounded by innumerable blue roses. He closed his eyes again and opened them again, yet he was still there. "Ryouga." That voice kept on calling him. It was as if the voice was coming from within him. "Show yourself!" Ryouga shouted at the top of his lungs. A gust of cold wind brushed past Ryouga. Goosebumps began to form on Ryouga's arms. Colder, howling winds filled the air. From a group of rose bushes, a small spiral of air rose upwards, bringing with it some rose petals. Within the spiral, a humanoid outline began to form. As the winds died down, the petals that were in mid-flight slowly tumbled down. This revealed a robed figure within the now-gone spiral. Her robe was of a very bluish hue; her hair was that of the morning sky - her eyes... her eyes of were the coldest blue that Ryouga had ever seen. She stared directly at him: her stare was as cold as ice. Ryouga froze from where he stood, as if her stare made his muscles turn into chunks of ice. Slowly, she approached him. Ryouga saw that it was as if she was never touching the ground yet she was still nearing him. Suddenly, she stopped at the edge of the clearing. Ryouga regained his composure and slapped himself hard - he felt pain yet was still there. "Who? What? Where? Can you explain why I am here?" Her lips slowly began to move. "When the time comes you shall choose and your choice will decide the fate of this world." Every word that came from her mouth felt like cold gusts of wind. "Huh?" was the only thing that Ryouga could say. "When the time comes you shall choose and your choice will decide the fate of this world." *** *** *** *** Seconds felt like hours, minutes felt like days. The princess methodically went through the maze, keeping track of where she came from by making markings on the wall and keeping to one side of the wall if possible. Yet, she felt like she was going in circles and questions on the size of the labyrinth flooded her mind. How could anybody move through here? Her muscles were in a lot of pain, but she had to move on. It was fortunate that she hasn't bumped into anything larger than rats that were as large as cats, even bigger - but a flaming torch could keep them away, hopefully. At some points of her exploration, she heard voices atop her, especially at points where there was a trapdoor that looked used. She was definitely still under the castle. As she rounded and marked the next corner, she heard footsteps and saw light coming from a torch. She quickly extinguished her torch and hid in a crevice along the wall. She was hoping that nothing would come near her, not the source of the footsteps and definitely not rats. As the footsteps began to get louder, she couldn't help herself to look. It was the prince. Questions filled her mind. "What is he doing here? Do they know that I have escaped? Are there any other people in here?" Panic filled her mind. Not knowing what to do, she ran in the direction opposite to where the prince was going. She would not be caught that easily. Adrenaline surged throughout her body - without any source of light, she blindly ran throughout the vast corridors, trying to get as much distance from him. Minutes passed and she had to stop. Half-delusional, she sensed something she has never sensed for what seemed a long time, fresh air. She looked for the source and heard flowing water. Was she nearing a possible exit? From a corner, she saw light. It looked natural, not from torches or candles. Her heart pounded with anticipation, and felt a new surge of energy flowing through her. As she rounded the corner, she found herself on an arch leading to a huge dome shaped room. The top was open, letting moonlight in. At the center of the room was a fountain - around the fountain were rocks forming seats. Rose bushes lined the edges of the room. Directly across from where she stood was another archway, completely engulfed in darkness. From out of the darkness came a voice. "Welcome to my sanctuary." From the shadows emerged a humanoid figure. The princess recognized the figure as Prince Malcolm. Her heart pounded like crazy - she had been found. She tried to run but he was faster, and he caught her arm. "Don't try to run away - you cannot escape from here. This is the only place here that you can actually see the outside world. This labyrinth was constructed so that people in the castle can surreptitiously disappear and appear at different rooms. All these corridors will just lead you to one of the many rooms we have in the castle - or worse, you could accidentally go to the dungeon. We don't want that, do we? It hasn't been visited by a living soul for a very long time, some of my men say there are undead there, want to try to find out?" The prince slowly let go of her arm. "How did you know I escaped?" asked the princess. "I had no idea you escaped while I was up there. You weren't fast enough in extinguishing your torch and, besides, my people don't need markings on the wall to determine where they are, they know this place like the back of their hands." "So why didn't you just try to catch me?" "Why bother - you'll just end up here sooner or later." The princess slowly walked towards the fountain and took a seat near it while saying, "Do you go here often? It's quite peaceful here. It doesn't look like anything that you can find in a dictator's castle." The prince slowly approached a rose bush and delicately plucked out a rose and took out all its thorns. "I go here as often as my schedule permits me. It is really peaceful here, especially at night. Since this castle was built, this place served as a place of rest for all nobility. The corridors were not that gloomy years ago." He slowly approached the princess and gave her the rose, to which she hesitated for a moment before accepting it. "Thank you," she said, stuttering a bit. He sat next to her. He asked, "do you think the moon is beautiful?" "I do. It gives light to a gloomy evening. You can look at it and marvel at its beauty, not like the sun. They say that the moon is the place where the dead went to determine if they will go back here or to go to the land of the dead. And you?" "I don't. The moon is a fraud. It is like a human being. It hides its true self under a mask. We don't see it as it really is." "But if it is not its fault it wears a mask?" "We are governed by our destinies, we can't do what we please. We are worthless puppets, controlled by something unseen. We don't want to wear a mask, but we have to." The princess muffled a giggle, then said, "It's so weird, from the things I heard from many people I had the impression that you were a bloodthirsty, cold-blooded killer. I had no idea you had this deep thinking side." "Nobody really knows anybody anymore - even themselves." *** *** *** *** The image of the woman in blue slowly faded into nothingness. The wind died down in unison with it. The blueness of the roses slowly melted away to reveal a reddish hue. The air slowly heated up, replacing the iciness that was once there. "Ryouga." Not like before, the voice had a commanding and frightening tone to it. Suddenly, a rose bush burst into flames. The fire rose up in a great column. Within this column of fire a humanoid figure began to form. The flames died down to reveal a woman clad in a red flowing gown. Her hair was as red as the roses around her. Her eyes were like balls of flame, full of power. She approached Ryouga, and he saw that, like the first one, her feet never touched the ground. "When the time comes, you shall choose and your choice will decide this world's fate." Every word that came out of her mouth increased the temperature around Ryouga. Beads of sweat kept on forming. "Ryouga!" *** *** *** *** "Ryouga!" a male voice cried out. Ryouga opened his eyes and saw that he was back in the inn, and his surroundings were on fire. He quickly sprung out of the bed, gathered his things and rushed out to the smoke filled corridors. It took some time before he could get out, due to the smoke and the panicking people. When he finally got out, he saw Bevier, Kalten and Tyr talking to a strange guy. He was lightly built and across his chest was a leather strap containing daggers. His dark hair was neatly tied back. Ryouga approached them. Tyr was the first to talk. "Ryouga, this is Robyn Blackblade, your guide."