1 Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in a far and prosperous kingdom, there was once a very young prince who had a strange dream.

That night, the moon was full and its lights splash gloriously through the glass windows like beautiful holy waters streaming peacefully.

The whole city was in deep and quiet slumber.

Inside the giant castle, the royal family slept separately in their rooms, dreaming along the villagers – the middle class, the scholars, the citizens. It was an ordinary, yet magical night for them except for the young prince who had an especially fascinating dream that entranced him for the rest of his life.

At first, he saw pure darkness.

There were no cracks of light or hope that could possibly lead him out of a tunnel-like place he was in.

Completely trapped and hopeless, he wept for what felt like hours until he heard a pretty melody from somewhere afar.

There was a piano beguiling him, so he followed the sound.

Each note took in his step, slowly, one by one until he had stepped on solid ground.

Suddenly, it smelled like asphalt and sea breeze.

The whole landscape was quickly painted around him.

There was a boy, a little older than the prince, sitting in front of the piano, playing it masterfully, completely immersed into the music that his instrument was producing.

A little later, he had finished the piece beautifully and went to a wooden-made house a few meters away.

The young prince found himself staring at the horizon where blue and gray clash against each other like some gods trying to conquer the sky.

There was no sunrise or sunset.

Just the windy breeze, dark blue heavens, and sea tides.

He immersed his feet on the saltwater, but it wasn't as cold as he expected it to be.

Staring at the view, no matter how beautiful and magnificent it looks, thinking of eternity with it makes him feel lonely.

And as if calling to that looming sadness, he heard a maiden's holy voice singing the same melody that was played on the piano earlier.

It was a bit more ethereal this time, like a goddess or a fascinating spirit singing with utter beauty.

The young prince immediately looked back, clearly expecting an ethereal ghost in the form of a human, but it wasn't.

There was a clear disappointment written on his face when there was nothing behind him but a flower.

It was strange, though. That flower wasn't there when he first came, so it piqued his curiosity.

He slowly treaded the sandy shore with the wavy sea at his backdrop. He kneeled in front of it and softly caressed its petals as if it's a woman. The flower was shaped like a rose without thorns, but had a deep dark blue color with a thick, fresh, and green stem. Its leaf was also rich and lush, making it too perfect.

The young prince fell in love with the flower.

He held it between his warm palms and gently plucked it and smelled its addicting fragrance.

It was at that moment when he had woken up and returned to reality.

The young prince was so frustrated with how the beautiful dream ended, so he desperately tried drifting back to his dream over and over, but all in vain until sunrise finally arrived.

Royal duties had come in the form of maids and butlers serving him. After his studies and extracurricular classes, he went to the garden and asked the lady in charge if there was a deep dark blue rose-like flower.

The gardener had tried giving the young prince with his specific request, but all the flowers she presented only met a quarter or half of his description.

This infuriated him, but didn't make him give up looking for it.

Each night, he sleeps, praying to dream of the flower he fell in love with, but he always ends up waking up either without a dream or with some weird, irrelevant dream.

A few weeks later, there were a group of bandits that snuck into the palace in pursuit of planning their revenge against what they perceive the 'unjust king'.

The first stage of their scheme was a success when they were able to abduct the young prince to their hideout after leaving a note to the royal family.