1 The Beginning

Skylar Alliyah Levi's POV

I put on my jacket and headed outside the bar. But before anything else, let me introduce myself first.

I'm Skylar Alliyah Levi, I am an orphan. My parents left me outside an orphanage and left a letter saying I am two months old and my name should be 'Skylar Alliyah Levi'. It's been 21 years since that happened and the letter is still with me. I took the best care of that letter since it's the only thing I could since it's the only thing I got from my parents. I only know my mother's handwriting and nothing more.

The orphanage closed when I was 14 because they can't take care of the kids anymore. With my best friends Leslie Lim and Julie May, we lived on our own. We applied everywhere to survive. We got to go to high school because of a scholarship someone offered us. We worked part-time and right now, we are planning to go to college.

We live in a very small apartment since it's the only one we can afford. We work in a building. Waitress. Right now, I am heading home. We nearly have no time to meet each other at home since their duty is at night while mine is during the day. The bar is a cafe during the day, the place is divided into two parts, the cafe for the day and the bar for the night. So I work at a cafe and sometimes work in a bar. It's 9 pm which is not my normal time of going home, I needed to work overtime for more money.

I was passing the streets with my bag hanging on my shoulder and my hands in my pocket. It's a very cold night, the streets are quiet and calm. I continued walking but I stopped when I got into a dark alley that I don't remember that it was there. I looked everywhere and I was certain I went the right way.

I started trembling a bit but I still moved forward to get home right away. Everything is quiet and I couldn't hear a single sound aside from my footsteps and my heavy breathing. I walked faster when I felt someone looking at me. It was as if someone was staring at me from the corner of the place. It creeped the hell out of me, making my hair rise because of nervousness.

I felt like my heart stopped beating when I heard somebody's footsteps. I have never been this scared all my life. I feel like I'm about to fall. I stopped walking because of nervousness, which I never should've done. I regret it and attempted to walk as fast as I could to get out of the dark alley, until..

"Stop." my eyes widened when I heard a man say that. I stopped as he said and slowly looked back. I saw someone standing behind me, he was wearing a long cape with a hood. He looks like some kind of cult. He didn't move a bit and just stood up right there and seems like he was looking at me intently.

"W-who are you?" I asked him. He didn't answer right away. Then slowly, he took off the hood and revealed his face. I have never seen him before. His gaze is dark and very mysterious. "Who are you? W-why are you doing this to me?" I asked him but he didn't answer again.

Suddenly, he disappeared and the next time I knew was that he was already behind me. I attempted to shout but he covered my mouth. That's when I got scared for my life the most and I thought I would never see my friends again.

"You're coming with me." He suddenly whispered. I saw black smoke covering us. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, we were somewhere else. Not the dark alley but in front of a big tree. We are not alone together, I saw four other people who are also wearing capes and putting their hoods on.

What are these persons? Are they human? Is this real magic? How did we get here? Who are they? Why are they trying to take me? Do they know me? Where are they taking me?

Suddenly, a black circle suddenly appeared on the tree. My eyes widened. They are taking me in! I tried to move and escape from his arms but he only gripped me tighter so I couldn't move. I wiggled and tried everything to escape but seconds later, they went in. WITH ME

We went in and that's when he let me go. "AAAAHHHH!!!" I shouted and went away from him but when I looked everywhere, we were in a room. A very weird room. "Where am I? Why are you doing this?" I asked and faced him. He took off his cape and looked at me.

"I saved you," he said. he was wearing a prince-like outfit. It's out of trend but I admit that it still looks good on him. I looked around and saw that this room was like what I see in movies. It's where the prince and princesses live, in a castle.

Brick walls and flowers everywhere. I was quite certain it was the night just a few minutes ago. And when I opened my eyes, the light flashed right into my eyes. It was as if we moved to another country, another world rather.

"Where are we?" I asked him. "I need an explanation. Why did you bring me here? What kind of people are you? Did you just teleport earlier?" I asked him but seems like he was not bothered at all.

"This will answer all of your questions," he said and in a blink of an eye, he was right in front of me and he held my hand. Feels like he entered my system and it made me fall onto the ground. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I am in a different place again. It's all pitch black but yet I could still see myself. Something lit up out of nowhere. I looked at it and it seems like another world opened. I went there and I saw a lively place. People dancing and smiling at each other, banners hanging everywhere, and a lot of food was being displayed on the street. "What is going on?" I asked as If someone is going to answer me.

"Hail the king and the queen!" a man shouted and everyone chanted it over and over again. King and Queen? suddenly, I heard trumpets blow from somewhere and when I turned to where they came from, I saw a huge carriage. There is a family inside. The father, the mother, and a baby covered in pink cloth. It must be the king and the Queen. Everybody is cheering on them as they pass on the street.

Where are they going? Unconsciously, I followed them and I saw a very huge gate, I know they are heading there. I followed them, and people stopped following the carriage and started waving their hands goodbye wishing for a safe trip. Looks like no one can see me because they ignored me following the carriage.

My body felt controlled. It was as if someone was dictating my movements and all it was saying is to follow where this family was heading to.

The gates opened and a portal appeared. It's the portal we went in earlier. Is this the way out?

I am right, we went out and I saw that familiar big tree. They went out walking, and the carriage disappeared. They both looked at each other and nodded. A lady dressed in formal clothes appeared. She's also holding a baby covered with matching pink cloth too. She smiled at the king and the queen.

"Is she your baby? the queen said excitedly as if they were close friends. The Lady smiled and nodded. "Oh what a beautiful baby you had," she said.

Everything went black and when the light came back, we were not in a forest anymore. We're on the road. I looked everywhere and realized that the place is familiar. My eyes widened when I saw the orphanage. It's the same orphanage where I grew up! The king and Queen are no longer here. All I could see is the woman walking towards the door of the orphanage. She left a basket with the baby. It's covered with the same cloth and a letter. I fell down when I realized who it is. It was me. I looked at the lady, she was running away as fast as she can. I noticed that she seems very scared. I looked at the baby and stepped forward to see if it is really me, everything went black again and when it went back we were not in front of the orphanage. We're in a room. The Lady is exhausted and bleeding.

"The Princess, please take good care of her. The King and Queen were killed by the demons." everyone went silent after she said that. A lady took the baby from her hands and hushed it in her arms, "Please take care of her. She's your only hope. Whatever happens p[please take care of that baby. " she said faintly before she stopped talking and fell on the floor. My eyes widened and tried to process everything. She's my mother? That baby is the princess and she left me in the orphanage? Wait. She's my mother? Did she just leave me like that? She left me and died? My tears started falling. Is even this true?

She's dead! My eyes widened when I realized things. Am I connected to these people? I looked around and saw the little boy standing in front of me. He's familiar and I am certain he's that guy.

A few seconds, someone opened the door loudly. "Arnold." the King called him. he looked at the lady and the Princess first and then the King. "The core was stolen by the demons," he announced while looking at my mother laying on the floor and the baby in the queen's arms.

"What?!" the king said and went out. Seems like everything went worse. The Queen hushed the baby in her arms while everyone is freaking out about that core.

"The western part of the kingdom was being eaten by the dark smoke! We need to stop them!" someone shouted. Core? Everything went black again. When it came back, I saw a dark smoke moving. It's eating everything! The soldiers that are not able to get away from it are now a statue! They became a statue! The smoke made them turn into stone.

As I stood there, I could also feel the chaos. I felt everyone's fear and worries about the upcoming dark smoke eating everything on its way.

The king suddenly came. He opened his hands and light went out from his hands! He is fighting with the smoke! He is able to stop the smoke but it is fighting and want to keep moving! The king is struggling and shouting. The guards wearing blue and light gray armor cannot do anything but watch him and do nothing. The king started taking steps forward. He's heading to the smoke!

Everything went intense. My eyes widened when the smoke became darker and I saw the pain on the King's face. He's struggling.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I heard him scream. He's slowly losing. The smoke touched him and his feet started to become a stone slowly.

"No," I said. The wind blew harder and the king is struggling even more. He kept shouting. His limbs are now stone and it's slowly taking over his whole body. "No."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" The king screamed once more and took all his strength to defeat the smoke taking over their whole kingdom. Everything stopped and white smoke covered the whole place, when the white smoke started to disappear, we saw the king. His hands open wide and his face shows his pain. He defeated the smoke but he didn't survive. I covered my mouth and tears went out from my eyes.

The worst happened in a short period of time.

I opened my eyes like I am having a very bad dream. I tried to catch my breath and looked everywhere. I am in the room again and when I turned to the side, I saw the guy there. We both looked at each other and then he looked away.

"Why do you have to take me here?" I asked him. I tried to get up but it feels like I am so tired so I stayed on the bed and processed everything. My mom was killed by the demons? Is this even possible? How could this happen?

"We need you," he said shortly. I looked at him.

"Why? I asked him.

"We need to get the core back."