The Delusional Prince

"Hey Nicolas"

Finding himself in a dark space, he heard a familiar voice, "Alisa?"

"What? you look like you've seen a ghost."

He wondered for a bit as he squinted his eyes before rubbing it, "It's— you— you're," he held his forehead trying to recall what happened the day before. "Never mind, it was just a dream… an awfully long dream. Thank goodness…". He got up from his bed and inspected the view outside the window. "Thank goodness it really all was just a dream" he sighed. His smile as clear as the blue sky above.

"What was your dream all about?" Alisa asked in curiosity as she stood beside the window.

"Nothing, never mind it now. What matters is that everything is fine and normal. Should we play outside?"

"Sure"

Walking down the stairs, their footsteps echoed in the hall. Laughter can be heard as they began their usual chaotic play time. The maids and knights just watched the two of them, everyone has a smile on their faces.

"Wait, what day is it again?" Nicolas asked as they descended.

"Why do you ask? it's Thursday," the girl replied.

"Thursday? did I sleep through your Birthday?"

"Birthday?"

"Yes, your birthday," he smiled as he reached the ground floor first.

"Never mind that, it's fine, it's not that big of a deal," replied Alisa following him just a few steps back.

"But it's your birthday, it is highly important—," he suddenly came to halt when he noticed something familiar next to the paintings. "Vase?" placing his hands on the lid, he got a feeling that he had seen this porcelain vase somewhere before. It was a green vase with a yellow flower design, it's large size is enough to contain numbers of flowers and is probably used for decorations. "Don't tell me that was also just a dream."

"Dream?" Alisa asked pulling the vase from Nicolas's hands, bringing it in the middle of the corridor and circled it with inquisitive eyes. After two turns, she frowns and sighed, "It wasn't a dream," she whispered.

"What?" Nicolas wondered upon hearing just a murmur.

"Did you really think you can escape your sins?" Alisa yelled upon placing her hand on the prince's shoulder and pushed him away. Looking down on Nicolas she projected a grin. Rather than a grin it was a wide devilish smile. "It wasn't a dream nor a nightmare," Alisa pushed the vase off balance.

Nicolas anticipated the sound of a shattering porcelain vase, but it never came. Once it met the floor, The Prince could not calm his nerves as the vase turned to flames. He blinked and it's starting to spread. Another blink and everything's on fire. Another blink and the girl standing in front of him is combusting alive.

"How many lives have you claim this time," she continuously yelled while laughing in between. The surroundings slowly crumbled and eaten up by the fire, it is hellish, it is a nightmare. All the pain came back to Nicolas, headache, burns, bruises, and every single feeling of hate, anger, and agony.

"No, this couldn't be—," he thought as he squealed, hands grappling him on his every limb, as they forcefully dragged him down, sinking to the blood flooded floor. The high pitch laughter of the burning girl drilled deeper and deeper into his mind. The sight of the girls smile is the last thing he saw as everything finally went blank.

Dripping in sweat, panting, his feet on his pillow as his head rested on the other end of the bed. Tears skidded down his face as he sprawled out. The feeling is still there, his heart clearly remembers the horror he saw, and his mind is repeating the scene as long as it can.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he tried to calm himself down, his hand shaking as he placed one on his chest. Taking a deep breath and a long sigh, feeling the meditation failing him as the sheer headache he had always felt as a child tried to resurface. Without sparing a second, he ransacked his still packed belongings from the trip and found the tiny box he so treasured. With it, he avoided falling into panic.

"That dream again," he uttered to himself as he recollected himself. The blood in his hands from the day before still engrained in his mind, refusing to be washed off no matter how much soap and water he pour into them.

He's ungrateful for the bitterness it brings him but there is no denying that it gives him a light to guide him towards a goal. The one he saw just before he lost consciousness, the blue light. After finishing all his classes and training for the day, he immediately head for the library.

"If there's any place in this castle that might give me an answer, it will be there."

Full of hopeful thought, he marched down the halls with haste, leaving Anton to clean up the mess and halfheartedly greet back the aids of the castle. No one except for casual academics that had been given permission to visit the castle library, only the royal family and the maids that occasionally cleans uses it. It was one of those days where visitors are most likely absent so he knew he could take his time.

All that's left for him now is to make sure his father who's usually in the throne room, directly opposite the library's entrance. He peeked at the throne, to the left then right, even the office lounge on the far left, making sure the devil wouldn't be able to surprise him. With everything clear, he slowly backed away from the door and slowly to the library, his eyes still glued to the throne.

"Thank goodness, he's not here," he sighed in relief.

"Who's he?"

He slowly turned around, "You know, the—," he felt as if lighting hit him, meeting the person he's trying to avoid in the most undesirable way. "Goo— good morning father, w— what brings you here?" he has no excuse.

"I never knew the King is forbidden to do his research inside his own library. It would be most suited to ask you that question," Frederick gentle patted his head with a black covered book.

Was he still dreaming, he thought that by now he should have been scolded for negligence, but to his surprise, the king is mysteriously and eerily in a good mood. "Are you feeling unwell, father?" he asked just to make sure.

"No, what makes you think I am."

"Aren't you supposed to be angry."

Frederick just stared at him, as puzzled as he is, "Do I have a reason to?" he continued to the throne door and headed for his office. Waving the book on his hand, he added, "Leave now before I find a reason to scold you."

"Weird," he whispered to himself before finally entering his sweet haven. "Good day garden of knowledge, I hope you can help me find the answers," he yelled with a smile before delving into his detective spree.

If there's someplace better in Gregoria than Algernon, it would be their library. Glamorously housing thousands of books accumulated ever since the establishment of the Castle. Stretching from the ground up to the glass ceiling providing a natural flow of light, everything is filled with books, even the stairs that reach different levels.

Folklore, legends, novels, he gathered everything that caught his attention as long as he feels that its somewhat close to what he was looking for, although he himself is unsure what the thing he wants to know. In addition to this, the sheer volume of the books he had gathered is not for the faint of heart, but that's not his problem, he's more than okay to swim with the books for the whole day, getting distracted by the plots and unnecessary information is what hinders his progress.

Creating only a mess and finding no answers, Nicolas only noticed that he's too far gone when the sky above started to turn grey, dampening the entry of light. "Most of this are about killing gods, saving the world, absolute cliches. It's a shame that I can't find anything about restoring lost memories but this is still a great find," he picked out one of the books, "You however will be moving to my personal collection, reincarnation, interesting."

He gave up, putting his arms to the table, leaned, and rested his head over them, his eyes drifting to the part of the library he only visited once and never again. "Romantic books, just remembering the thing we read from them before makes my spine shiver. They're still here but you…," he sighed, lifting his head back up, "Never mind."

Rolling up his sleeve and freeing his collar, continuing his endeavor. Running his finger through the shelves, he can't help but laugh. Most of the shelves are dusty, sparkling if you'd day, but this particular part of the library seems to have been neglected, collecting dust for maybe a decade. All the books except for one.

He opened it to a random page and read it. He could only question himself what he was doing as his face was painted red, "I see, the maids must have been reading this one," after a little more skimming through the book, he quickly closed the door and slammed it back to its rightful place, as if it will burn him if he hadn't let it go. "Steamy… I mean, a waste of time."

Turning his attention to the other shelves, one in particular caught his attention for an entirely different reason. Half-filled but covered in a century worth of dust. To sooth his curiosity, he opened one of them, this time dyed by confusion. Aside from its distinct black cover, it had nothing but a pentagram caged by a circle in red ink on the first page. "Are these cursed?" he tried another, then another two, until he had seen everything. No luck finding out what they are.

"Come to think of it, the other shelves has one or two of them, probably misplaced," he walked around, taking note of each on, and after a whim, he decided to gather them all, cleaning the shelf at the same time.

Up and down the stairs he go, climbed up the ladders to reach the ones at the top, reading them one by one to make sure nothing from the presumed black pages hides something interesting. The sky already pitch black by now and the moss lamps are the only thing illuminating the place. Thunder and lightning made their existence known as rain started to pour, dripping vigorously to the glass skylight, it made the library cold but it only delighted Nicolas's heart as he placed the last book he could find on the shelf, leaving one single space to be filled.

"One more and something magical might happen," he paused his arms crossed in front of him before laughing, "As if there's something like that, I'm already too old for that kind of thing. The last one must have been the book father is carrying earlier, there is nothing I can do with that," he sighed, turning around, giving up his conquest. "Might as well enjoy the rain outside—"

Starting to carry the other books he read to their shelves, he was halted by a creaking sound. It was gentle at first, a soft whisper that's gradually raising its volume each passing minute into a scream. Nicolas dropped the books back to the table as he frantically searched for the source, up and down the stairs, to the ladder, and the glass skylight. There's nothing out of the ordinary until he went back in front of the table.

As the lightning illuminated the room, it finally dawned to him the old and decaying wood of the black book's shelf. The creaking is directly yelling in his ears as he hastily tried to remove the books, but with an ear ripping thunder cried, a loud thud told him he's too late, and the shelf sunk in, losing the first bottom shelf, dislodging half of the books he placed to the floor.

"Is it that old?" he tried to laugh it off, his arms frozen in the air, trying to reach for the books he failed to catch.

With his spirit in rock bottom, the books started to glow a familiar light, painting his face and the surroundings with the shade of blue. Before he could even comprehend what is happening, they floated into the air, arranging themselves in front of him before flipping their pages open. "It's time," a phrase appeared on every page before the shelf that he thought is broken, opened into a dark passage he had never seen before. "Now, bearer of my blood"

Still frozen in disbelief, the awe started to thaw his joints. The worries he had been harboring just a moment ago evaporated in this exciting turn of events. With a tickle in his bones, finally, the thing he had only read on the thin sheets of paper had come to life. Sparkle filled his eyes, a warm splendor in his heart that he thought he'd never feel again, he can't even make out the words for what he is feeling but he knows it was genuine.

The prince did not question the situation and followed the path. His first step echoed through the walls before the bookshelf on his back reverted to a normal display on the library walls. It left him in the dark, but he's too far in cloud nine to feel distressed, instead, he inched through the passage, feeling the walls as he navigated the place.

There are some occasions of something squeaking and lurking lose to his feet but he paid it no attention, as various ideas flowed into his brain on what awaits for him. Will it be a monster or a mysterious sword, the thought kept him occupied until he stumbled on an elevated floor. Placing his hands on top of it to try and recognize, he felt its rough surface stretching to another elevation, "Stairs?"

It did not take long for his eyes to catch a small glimmer from above as he ascended, occasionally coughing as dust and cobwebs tried to stop his advance. Arriving in front of a dead end, he immediately scanned the wall, knowing that there is no way that is the only thing the place could offer. With the help of the light seeping from the corners, he located a dusty knob. He grinned as he turned it and pushed it open.

A small room greeted him as his eyes finally adjusted to the light. There is nothing much it could offer but a single table paired with a single chair. Placed in the middle of it is a black book, on its side is a dried ink of bottle and a quill, covered by dust and cobwebs like the moss lamp on the side.

"That kind of book again," he reached for the book. "Let me guess, It's also blank—," he could only beam in awe as his expectations were happily debunked. He found the same pentagram with only one addition, "Emmanuel Gregory, isn't that my great grandfather?" he browsed through the pages and was amazed by the sheer number of drawings of places painted on it along with a small description of everything. Places he had never seen before nor heard as if a treasure of knowledge buried underneath the dark walls of the castle waiting for him.

As he went deeper and deeper, the words slowly started to glow like before, configuring to create a different kind of text to convey. The radians enveloped the entire room, overwriting the moss lamp.

"If you're reading this, then congratulations. You have found the delusional prince's last testament, and along with it is some news I don't think you'd like," it wrote on the pages.

"And what might that be?" Nicolas asked.

"By the way, this is prewritten and I can't converse with you. I just figured you might try so this is a head's up, don't make a fool of yourself."

Humiliation painted Nicolas in a red hue, he already made himself felt like an idiot trying to converse with the book. Taking a deep breath, it turned to another page.

"Going back on topic, I have some news for you. You might be smiling now, this is cool isn't it, I think so too when I discovered this mysterious power. Since you're here, chances are you have the same ability as mine. Don't ask me why, I don't know either."

He leaned in closer, taking a close look at the pages as he sat on the chair.

"Thrilling isn't it, but with this power comes with a price. In my case, I lost parts of my memories, there are things my brother told me that I can no longer recall," Nicolas's eyes went wide.

"It's not all bad thing though, cause in return, I can see a glimpse of the future. Although the problem is, I don't know when exactly it would happened but one thing I am certain, due to this, I wouldn't have that much of a future. Probably you are too since my left-over power granted your entry to this place."

"Enough with the blabber and tell what it is," Nicolas flipped through the later pages, itching to know the answers he is seeking.

"You can't do that boy, this book is set to tell you everything, no skipping. This is more important than any of your royal classes," The prince is already at the end of his patience, gripping the sides of the book with anger until the book rejected his hands and floated on its own.

"I don't want you to waste your life but Gregoria is not built on solid ground and not even the moat surrounding it would be able to stop its destruction," Nicolas's anger dissipated thinking he knows where this is going. Holding his breath, he wished that he was wrong, "In my vision, Gregoria will be plunged in a sea of flames. Death will come for our citizens and aspirations, and all of it will be centered to a girl and a prince along our bloodline."

The prince could only stare at the floating book as he faintly laughed. Eyes wavering as his laughter slowly rose in volume, not long before his body fell limp onto the chair, it stopped. His gaze blankly staring at the moss lamp before he uttered, "We're too late gramps, it already happened and I am powerless to stop it, A— Alisa, I— could not save her," he clenched his fist. Hammering it down the table, it disturbed the stagnant air and dust, making them restless like the beating of his heart.

With his heart more hopeless than when he started to search for answers, the book presented itself to him once again. "As I said, this will me my final testament, or at least when I fail. As much as I don't want my brother to shoulder all of the duties for himself, this is something that only I can do, no, only we can do. This book would have never activated in the first place if I succeeded, and incase my demise had come true, I need your help."

Despite losing the spirit to continue, Nicolas continued to read, "I'm going on a journey to find the reason behind this power. My visions had also shown me places that I have never seen before, but I figured that they could help me understand this mysterious power. Hopefully knowing its source can help prevent our kingdom's downfall."

The prince could only laugh once again, "Liar, your just a coward. A coward who left his duties for your own selfish desires… Freedom huh— such extravagance, lucky you, you had a brother to carry everything."

Pages once again flipped, showing the illustration and explanations etched within them, "Written here are the places I saw and a little bit of descriptions I took note. In case I never come back, I want you to carry on my journey. The decision will still be in your power, I won't be forcing you to do so, but please I am begging you. This is for the sake of our beloved Gregoria," the book finally fell back to the table.

"This last part has no connection to my request but a message in case my brother is the one who found this book, if not you can disregard it," Nicolas let it do its job as he noticed the blue light it's emitting is starting to fade. It flipped into the last page of the book, leaving a showing a message in the format of a letter.

To my brother, Immanuel Gregory,

How are you, I'm sure you're having a hard time because of me. For that, I apologize. You must have been angry at me now, suddenly leaving without a word. I don't care if you wish for me to burn in hell or being fed to the crocodiles but please understand your delusional brother. I can't guarantee my return but I am doing this for this is something only I can do.

I know father had always been harsh with the two of use, comparing us with the other all because we are twins, but you don't have to be like me, you don't have to be perfect, you just have to stay as my cute little brother and shut everyone up with your own strengths. Mother will surely cry for my departure so held him tightly for me okay.

If someday, somehow we can meet again, I will make up for it even in the afterlife. Take care of my future nephews for me. You know what, resent me all you want, you don't have to forgive me. Whatever happens I will always be grateful that you are my brother.

The delusional prince,

Emmanuel Gregory

With all of contents finally being spell, the blue light relinquished itself, giving the reign back to the gentle glow of the moss. "Hypocrite, you've left everything for him to shoulder and you think he'd be happy," he slammed the book shut, his eyes finally calmed and quickly shifted to anger. He was just about to lay waste to the table when loud knocks came from above, calling his name.

Upon closer inspection, behind the cobwebs and the dust hides a ladder beside the door he entered earlier. With the knocks getting louder and louder, knocking in an unwanted familiar ensemble. With haste, he quickly climbed the ladder and found a plank blocking the path. He pushed it once, he pushed it twice, until finally with his third try, it let him pass. Moments later, he found himself swimming with his clothes, trapped behind his cabinet door as he finally recognized the voice.

"NICOLAS, OPEN THIS DOOR THIS INSTANCE," it was the King, finally cured from the peculiar behavior he was having earlier.

Opening the door and revealing his sweaty face and dirty clothes, Nicolas immediately felt the storm that the big bag wolf had been blowing. "What is it father, is something the matter?" he could only hide the book behind him as he asked.

"CLEAN UP YOUR MESS AT THE LIBRARY," Frederick roared before leaving with nothing else to say.

"That's more like it," he thought, "It wouldn't be a normal day without him scolding me for the slightest of things. Just the right amount to keep reminding myself why I hate you," he closed the door and examined the book once again. "This on the other hand had already loss it's use," he sighed before angrily throwing the book into the ground. To his annoyance, it stopped a few inches from the floor, hovered for a few seconds, before putting itself down gently onto the floor.

With the veins in his head almost popping in irritation, he picked it up again, "You're getting on my nerves, why don't you just—," opening it and preparing to rip it's pages off, his attention was caught by his reflection in the mirror.

Nicolas froze, dropping the book damage allergic book to hover on the floor as he walked closer to check his reflection. Trembling from head to toe, he lift up his fringe and get a closer look. His pupils are radiating the same blue hue the book was emitting before. Feeling a chilling wind in his spine, he could only grin.

"Well, would you look at that, gramps. I guess we're both cursed after all."