1 The Nightmare

"Don't worry Silja, I'm here." She kissed her whole face time and time again

"I won't leave you alone... I'm always with you.." A gentle voice rang in the quiet place.

"I'm always with you…..I'm always with you…"

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"Noooooooo" a loud shriek echoed in the big chamber, coupled with another loud sound of a mirror shattering. The curtains were dropped, not letting the sunrise to pass through the room.

In the big room, a beautiful girl was laying in the bed. Her face was red and eyes tightly shut, lips trembling and forehead creased.

"Princess….. My lady, wake up…" a maid hurriedly came inside hearing the noises.

"Lady Silja… wake up…" The maid grabbed the girl by the shoulder and shook her slowly.

"Huuuuuu…." her hazel orbs were filled with unshed tears, and her body was sweating. She couldn't breathe properly as if someone was choking her, the girl moved desperately to breathe. But in reality, she was just caught in a nightmare.

With a snap, the girl opened her eyes,

'Booommmm' with a loud noise a big vase near her bed shattered into pieces.

The sound startled both the maid and the girl on the bed.

Because of the noise, she came back to reality.

Both of them could see the shattered glass of the mirror, scattered across the floor. The girl looked shocked and terrified.

"Again?" Her breathing became heavy, fear on her face.

"It's okay. I'll clean it." But the maid looked calmer than her.

Maid rubbed her back and she calmed down.

The girl closed her eyes and then opened them again.

Her hazel orbs looking around, she slowly lifted the silk sheet from her body and moved out of the bed.

Her smooth legs padding slowly on the ground.

'Whoshhhhhh' she pushed the curtain of the window aside and gazed outside. And Instantly a chilled sea breeze entered the room and hit her face. The sea of Atlanea greeted her sight.

The waves were crashing on the high castle walls and then again falling back into the sea.

The voice of wind and waves took away all her previous worries.

The horrible nightmare have taken control over the sleep of this beautiful Princess of Atlanea for some time now.

Silja Castemont

Princess of Atlanea.

Daughter of Evan Castemont and Doris Castemont.

Atlanea was a small country, prospering on the small island of Atlanea sea. Most of the people who live in Atlanea rely on the sea for food. The land was suitable for most common grains. But the sea has many more things to give them than one can imagine. The rare herbs of the island, extremely rare and priceless pearls, coral, and any other rare metals that the ocean of Atlanea gave them make them able to sustain on the Island. They exchange and sell these valuable things in exchange for their necessary items in nearby countries.

"It's done, princess." Said the maid named Mira.

Mira is an eighteen year old girl. Her mother was in charge of taking care of Silja in the past; after she died, Mira took over the responsibility.

Silja turned her head and saw the room completely clean; no trace of that small destruction could be found.

Her maid was very efficient and fast.

Silja smiled at her in satisfaction.

"Do you want me to prepare a bath for you, my lady?" Mira asked.

"Yes please," Silja replied and walked towards the bath. Two other maids prepared a bath for her and Mira helped her in bathing.

"Don't you think we should inform the king about your dreams?" Mira tried to convince her again. She was rubbing her back with fragrant liquid soap.

Silja, who was enjoying the warm water, opened her eyes.

"I don't want them to worry," complicated emotions clouded her face. She wanted to tell them, but she knew her father would be the one who would worry the most.

"What if…. What if… someone has cast a black spell on you?" The little maid of the Princess was worried about her beautiful princess.

After all, her princess was the most beautiful woman in Atlanea. Beautiful and unique.

"Or...or it can be the shadow of black water serpent?" She thought about another possibility.

"Hahahah," her words made Silja laugh. Her bell-like voice chimed into the small bathing room.

For the past month, Silja has been experiencing some horrible dreams for some time. Whenever she had a dream and got scared, something broke around her.

Today's incident happened wasn't the first. It had happened for the fourth time in past few months.

They had kept it a secret from the other people of the castle, but now the matter was making the maid worried. Of course, it was a matter to worry about, but for some reason, Silja didn't want to tell anyone. She had this bad feeling that if the matter went out, everything would be a mess.

" Okay...okay…. rein wild horses of your thoughts," Silja said, still laughing.

"You… my lady, please be serious for once," the little maid said aggrievedly.

Silja turned around and looked at her face.

"Okay, I'll talk to my father." When she saw how worried her little maid looked, she gave in.

"And one more thing… This spell and shadows of black water serpents are just a myth that adults use to scare children. I'm not a child anymore." Silja said, touching Mira's nose with her fingers.

Mira shook her head and again continued to rub her hand on her back gently.

Soon she came out of the bath, and Mira chose the dress for her.

Then, other maids helped her to dress up and do her hair.

Silja wore her hair high, and she didn't wear any jewels on herself. But her simple ocean blue dress made her look elegant.

"Hmm, Princess, I heard that there are some sailors back today from the south bay," One of the maids said while binding the small laces of Silja's dress and securing it perfectly on her body.

"Where are their camps?" asked Silja. Even though she wasn't very interested, it would be a good distraction.

"Not far away, just near the black serpent cave." The maid replied excitedly.

"Very well then." Silja stood up and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The broken mirror was already replaced with a new one. Satisfied with the appearance, she smiled.

"Come, let's go. We shouldn't waste much time." All the maids became happy. All the sailors who came from the north or south would bring many new things with them, and with the princess around, the maids could take a first look and purchase before they went to the local market to sell.