Chapter 9

I was floating in a vast space of blackness. Nothing around, not even a drop of light, just me and an endless stream of blank thoughts. I liked not having to think, to just be able to simply exist. And then something appeared in this empty void, a small white glowing orb now floated here with me.

"Hello child, I see that you're no longer enjoying your new life, well I should say our new life." It said.

"Who are you?"

"I am you silly" It said.

"But how is that possible, only I am me."

"It's possible because I am the you from all of your past lives."

"Really?"

"Yes" It said, the orb slowly morphing into a person that seemed to be made of light itself. "I know that you are hurting my child, and I apologize for that. You see it's my fault."

"How? This isn't your life, so how is it your fault?"

"You are not the only version that has suffered, they all have at varying levels. I'd like to tell you a story about how our soul was cursed, and it all started when a man and a woman fell in love."

The world in which my story takes place is one where magic existed, but it was not all that common in humans at the time. They lived in a time where those in power were people who held tremendous amounts of magic power. The prince of their country had recently come of age, and he had chosen the woman to become his bride. She didn't want to marry him, but she had no say in the matter, and she had no real reason to refuse him. He whisked her away to the palace, and she lived there while they planned her wedding to him.

The woman loved cherry blossoms and she frequently visited the garden to watch the petals fall around her. The man was a guard at the palace, and one day while the woman was in the garden, he spotted her. He thought that she looked so beautiful sitting in the petals as they fell around her. He fell in love with her on the spot, but she was already betrothed so he knew that he could never share his feelings with her.

But fate is a cruel thing. And that night an assassin had snuck into the palace to try to kill the prince and his future bride. The attempt failed, but from that point on the queen wanted guards by their sides 24/7, and the man was unfortunately chosen as her guard. And being around her only made his love for her grow stronger. The woman's body was fragile, and she was often in poor health. She was also clumsy, and the man would always offer a kind hand to help her up, unlike the prince who would let someone else help her up for him. The woman soon began to notice how much kinder he was compared to her future husband, and soon her heart began to grow found of him.

One night the woman awoke from a terrible nightmare, causing the man to awaken as well. She had started crying and so he went to check on her, and asked her what was wrong. She told him that she was scared, and that she didn't want to marry the prince, and… that she loved him. The man said nothing as he tucked her back into bed. And when he went back to sleep her heart was broken and she quietly cried herself to sleep.

The next morning the man requested an audience with the prince. He told the prince "I would like to request a transfer sire. Though saying this may get me in trouble, as your loyal subject I believe that I should tell you the truth and nothing but it. I have fallen in love with the future princess, but that itself has not affected my ability to do my job. Sire I believe that she may be falling for me as well, and I think that it would be best for everyone if I were to transfer to another station. I do not wish to interfere with your happiness sire."

The woman was ecstatic and saddened at the same time. He loved her too, but he wanted to leave her here with the prince.

"So, what I'm hearing is that you tried to seduced my woman, and when it actually worked you realized that you don't have the balls to steal her away from me. And so now you're trying to run away with your tail between your legs." The prince said.

"No that's not it at all sire. I truly want you to be happy with your princess. I never meant for her to return my affections, I truly thought that it would an unrequited love."

"Yes, well my happiness was broken the second you said that she loves someone else. But your request for a transfer is granted and I'll send you somewhere far away from here-" The prince said, but then the woman cut him off.

"What about my happiness! Why does no one ask me what I want!? Because I never wanted any of this! I don't want to marry you, and it's not just because I'm in love with him! I never wanted to marry you! There were dozens of women falling at your feet, so why did you have to chose me, the one person who didn't want you! You don't care about me, you never have! Every time something was wrong you let someone else take care of me instead of trying to help me yourself! Maybe I would've fallen for you if you had just been nice to me, instead of being the cold heartless monster that you are! I'm not some object that'll sit there and look pretty for you, I'm a human being who has feelings! I hate you!" She cried.

"I've heard enough" The prince said. "Guards take my princess back to her room and make sure she stays there; it seems that this guard has tainted her mind. I want him sent to the worst guard station possible, he'll be leaving in the morning." The prince said coldly.

"No! Let me go!" The woman cried as guards began to drag her back to her room.

The man watched helpless as they dragged her off, unable to help her as he himself was dragged off. He deeply regretted confessing his feelings for her to the prince. He now knew what his prince was truly like, and his loyalty to him was now gone.

That night the man managed to sneak out of his room and to the woman's chambers thanks o the guards on shift that night that pitied him. He quietly snuck into her room and saw her lying in bed crying, curled into a ball, a chain around her neck.

"You're to late" She whispered between sniffles.

"What did he do to you my love?" He said, rushing to her side.

She pulled the sheets closer to her, and he noticed that her clothes lay in a tattered heap on the floor.

"He made me his, no man but him would want to marry me now. But it's not like he'll let me go anyways." She said as she cried.

"I still want to marry you, I don't care about that, all that matters is that I love you. I came here tonight to ask you to run away with me, and that plan hasn't changed, so will you come with me?"

"Why didn't you just ask that from the start, then we could've left without him ever knowing, but now I'm like a caged bird. I so badly want to leave with leave with you, but if we do, he'll eventually catch us and then you'll be… killed."

"I don't care about that; I just want to be with you. If I die then so what, at least I would have been able to help you out of this place."

"I… I don't have anything to wear, he ripped the clothes that I had on, and they keep the other ones somewhere else."

"Is that a yes" He said excitedly.

"It is, but I can't run around naked."

"You can wear some of my clothes" He said, holding up a bag he had brought with him.

"But what about the chain, if you break it someone will hear, and the key is around his neck."

"I'll just have to break it and hope that no one but my guard friend outside hears."

"Please be careful" She said, her body trembling.

"I will, but I won't be able to cut close to the collar without the risk of hurting you."

The man pulled out an axe from his bag, and swung it down onto the chain. The link shattered, leaving about two feet of chain hanging from her neck.

"That was scary" She said.

"And loud. Hurry up and get dressed." He said, walking over to the door.

"What are you doing in there" Someone said from outside.

"You didn't tell me that he had her chained up like a pet. So, I had to break the chain."

"Alright, but hurry up before we get caught."

The man had given her one of his guard uniforms in an attempt to help her blend in, but it was to big on her. It was obvious that she wasn't one of the guards, especially with the chain around her neck that clanked and rattled.

"This will have to do. Now come on let's get out of here." He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along the escape route he had planned.

They ran down the hallways of the castle trying to be as quiet as possible. They hoped that they would make it out without getting caught, but the woman knew deep in her heart that it was just wishful thinking. And she was right, one of the guards that weren't on their side had caught them when they reached the garden where they had first met.

The guards dragged them to the throne room, where an angered prince sat waiting. The guards pushed them forwards, and the woman hid behind the man as they stood under his enraged glare.

"Just yesterday you told me you didn't want to interfere with my marriage, and now I find you with her, trying to escape, right after we consummated our marriage. You aren't loyal, you're a conniving pig, you aren't even worthy of licking my boots. But, if you willing come back to me my dear flower, I might be compelled to spare his pathetic life if you were to lick my boots like the good girl you are. Come back and be my pet."

Silently she stood up and started walking towards the prince. But the man grabbed her hand, trying to stop her.

"What are you doing?!" He said, his voice panicked.

"It's okay, everything will be alright. In the year that we've know each other I have learned to trust you, now please trust me to do the right thing." She said, letting go of his hand as she continues to walk towards the prince.

"That's a good girl, come back to me." He said, arms out stretched like he was expecting her to fall into them.

She stopped in front of him, and then in a twist that he wasn't expecting, she slapped him across the face.

He sat there shocked, and then he said "You… you slapped, you hit my beautiful face, how dare you!"

"I will never act like a dog just so I may live, you are not my master, and I refuse to do tricks on your command. I would rather die with him than live a life of hell with you. You do not always get what you want just because you are royalty. So do not expect me to roll over and lay at your feet."

She turned and started to walk back towards the man, but the prince grabbed the chain attached to the collar around her neck.

"I will not let you go so easily, I refuse to let some woman chose a lowly commoner over me, a prince who has everything!"

"Oh, I see why you chose me" She said coldly. "You had everything but me, I was the only single woman in your little kingdom who didn't want to marry you. I was just a prize that you thought you could win by forcing me to be with you. Well guess what, you don't have everything, you have nothing." She grabbed the hint of a gold chain at his neck, pulling on it while at the same time slapping his hand away.

The thin chain snapped and he cried out in pain.

"I'm leaving with him and you're not going to stop me. And it by some horrible miracle you manage to force me back, then I'll kill myself the second I get the chance to. So find some other girl to torture with your love, because that girl will never be me."

And with that they left together, holding hands as they walked away. But fairytales don't have happy endings, because there is no such thing as a fairytale romance. The prince may have let them leave, but he placed a curse on their souls. Their souls would be reborn again and again, together forever for all of time. But as long as they were together, they would suffer. The woman dying at a young age if she was with him, and the man would always die shortly after, usually because he killed himself.

And ever since then the curse has held true. The woman grew sick and eventually died, the man killing himself a month later. Each and every life after that holding true to that so long as the two souls were together.

The vision of her story slowly fading away, and I opened my eyes to see her looking down at me. She had my head in her lap, and she was stroking my hair.

"My tale is a sad one indeed, tis it not. I apologize for my selfishness my dear child. I have unknowingly ruined our lives, causing you all to suffer just so that I could live one short life of happiness. But I truly do love that man whose name has been forgotten by time." She said.

"You don't remember his name?"

"No dear, I can't, not anymore. After living so many live my soul can't remember my name, let alone his. We are just simply a man and a woman lost in the endless bounds of time. But I still have the memories, not only of my life, but of every life he and I have ever lived. They are carved into the very definition of my soul."

"How do you remember his lives?"

"Because of you my dear. In your last life your soul temporarily fused with his at the moment of your death, causing my memories to be fused with him."

"Why are you telling me all of this now?"

"Because you're the only one that I have been able to communicate with. And that I'd like to set your path straight again. Sweetie I know that you're hurting right now, and because of that you're closing yourself off. But you can still be strong while letting other help you. But please don't push that man away, we have been waiting for such a long time to finally be able to be happy with him. He won't hurt you, and just like you he's confused about why he has these feelings. And you will need him by your side in the near future."

"Why should I be with him, when you just said that he's the reason we've suffered in so all of our lives with him. And why will I need him? I can take care of myself; I don't need anyone's help."

"I see that you've reached the point in your life where you can finally stand up for yourself. You never really reached that point in your last life. Events are brewing on the horizon my dear, ones that will change the course of history in this world. And if you do not let him back in, then more people will die than if you were with him. Your friends will die for you, and he is the only one that can make it out of what's to come alive. He is the only one that can save you."

"Why him! Why can't I just save myself!" I cried out as she started to fade away.

"When the time comes you will see why. I hope that you will have made the right choice by then."

And then she was gone, leaving me to fall through the darkness alone once again.