3 A Walk In The Garden

I figured: how do you walk when you can't stand.

And this is why I have begun attempting my legs and feet to stay still and steady. I gripped onto the wooden rails of the crib and urged to stand. I took a step. Then another. But I slipped because of the soft comfy pink blanket that I couldn't sleep without. Regardless of my hardship, I fell back, plopping onto the bed.

I screamed. Lilian and Arlene immediately came at my call. "Oh, Princess, what is it? Are you hurt?"

I can't learn how to walk here. I need space. I need motivation. And whenever I need that and a pinch of inspiration, my feet would always bring me to our garden. It was a habit I created back when I was still living in my world.

I babbled, pointing to the outside door. They only stared and smiled at me. Except for Lilian who talked to me, "You cannot go to the garden, Princess."

Let me outta this cage! I screamed inside my head but a cry blew out of my lungs until a tear formed.

"Your Highness, please don't cry!" startled Arlene, shaking a purple teddy bear in front of me.

Hihi this is my chance to get what I want. Time to activate Alique Cuteness Power #1—The Crying Princess!

I shrieked so many times. I could feel my lungs and vocal cords about to break. Tears flowed down my cheeks.

It was really a good thing that I got dragged by a classmate to Theater Club years ago. It paid off, phew! As a matter of fact, I never got to see that classmate again. Not because I am here, but because he went missing last year and still hasn't been seen as per se the last time I was in my own world. I do hope he has been found now. I wonder we he went? Or was he kidnapped? Stop thinking this negative thoughts, Alique!

Back to my marvelous acting, apparently the tyrant of my father heard my loud shouts and eventually came inside the room without me noticing. "If you were to act, might as well make it more realistic, Alique."

What? He saw through me? That just isn't possible, mister. Can't you see my non-stop flowing river of tears?

He crouched down. I was startled and tried to retreat. My father cupped my cheeks then wiped my tears with his thumb.

"Crocodile tears," he muttered in front of me. The king balanced on his feet and found his way out of my room. But before he left he smirked, "Give her what she wants. You might be surprised by what she does."

Was it possible that he could read minds? Nah. Aldean from the novel could act like a tyrant sometimes but as said, it was just an act. He is a powerful mage for sure, but no information was told in the novel that he could read my thoughts or anyone elses, for that matter. Unexpectedly, he is a good king and a good father. However, one day Aldeanous Richmond Pagillian, I will be much more powerful than you! And you can't see through my acting again, wahahaha!

P.S. Cue the evil laugh?

By the time we reached the garden, I took in the smell of fresh air that mixed with the fragrance of roses and wild flowers. Lilian brought me down to the mowed lawn and I tried to regain balance.

So far so good. I walked three steps then went off balance. This day will be Alique Pagillian's day when she learned how to walk!

Suddenly, I was pulled in by the wind. Not too hot, not too cold. The temperature of the breeze was right and I kept on walking with balance as I followed the breeze around the garden. I thought that the maids would stop me if I go any further away from them, but at the moment, I don't hear them. Nor do I see them. It was as if the wind blinded my senses and kept on pulling me wherever they would go.

The breeze lifted me up and I was unable to touch the ground. It pushed me higher until we soared up the sky. The wind was still with me, and retained my balance as it helped me float more up high the blue sky and fluffy white clouds.

Until I caught a glimpse of darkness. Up above the clouds, there was a dark hooded man riding a black horse. His face was unclear, but the breeze constantly protected me from his aura that suppresses my heart. I gulped.

I am just a child, as of this form. I was just a normal girl months ago. I don't exactly know what's going on. Only that there was a hint of nostalgia in the presence of the breeze as it lifted me until shadows hindered that strange feeling.

The wind couldn't hold back the darkness anymore. And soon, it touched my peach skin. I swallowed the pain. I was trying to release myself, but the shadows were chains binding me to that man.

I gazed it him. Looked at him beneath his hood, hoping to meet with his eyes. Then it glowed red, like a ferocious beast about to capture ahold of its prey.

The darkness moved to my face until it reached my hair. A part of my night black hair was ridiculed and replaced with a streak of fury ruby red. I felt this warm intensity in my heart like it was about to shatter into a million pieces.

This wasn't in the book. What? Why? I haven't even done anything that could change the future yet. Just what is going on?!

"Eighteen years," growled the hooded man. He lifted my chin and narrowed his eyes towards me. "Alique Pagillian, do not play dumb with me. Inside you are not a meek child. You wanted to be reborn. I allowed you to. But the price must be paid." His face was near mine, but the shadows became his mask and they do not allow me to see him clearly. "Eighteen years, or your fate will be the same."

The man instantly disappeared along with the burden my heart carried and the shadows that restrained me. My heart raced unlike before. I slowly am losing consciousness while I felt the winds dancing with my hair. The last thing I saw was the green mowed ground and the roses nearby the castle I lived.

This was definitely not in the book. Well, it started of with introducing the characters as a baby, especially the female protagonist's life. But from what I read, nothing told me about Alique's encounter with a horrifying man that smells like death.

Argh! Just what is going on?!

I did not know what happened next but from what the Lilian told me: I disappeared out of thin air from their sight, the Queen found me near the flower bushes, Lilian and Arlene were punished, then I did not wake up for the next few weeks. Nothing much changed except for the red streak on my hair as the mark of Ezollus.

Funny... that is strangely familiar.