A Strange Place

"Kya!"

"Make sure no one leaves the banquet hall!"

"Stay still!"

The voices faded away in her head.

The cold marble floor against her skin and warm liquid trickling down her lower lip. The pain she was going through was much less than the pain she felt when she died, however, compared to the pain, her mind was muddled. Voices that came and faded away at intervals, and her limp body laying on the cold floor.

Lily could swear that she was sitting on the chair a few seconds ago. She could distinctively perceive the sweet smell of pineapple juice. It seemed the glass of juice fell close to her face.

Slowly just like the voices in her ear, her consciousness faded away.

                            * ~ *

Perez panicked. Blood trickled from her lips, her red lashes fluttered slowly as the blue gem-like eyes slowly lost the light in them.

"No!" He yelled at the guests who hurriedly tried to leave the hall, "No one leaves!"

"Make sure no one leaves the banquet hall!" He yelled again, this time at the Knights who stood outside.

Glancing at the third queen who was dumbstruck, he ran towards her and grabbed her by her shoulders, "Snap out of it, Your Majesty. Lily needs your help."

Without waiting for her response, he ran back to the princess and picked her up, "Come on, Lily. You know how much the second queen would mock you for this."

"Bring a physician here, right now!" Queen Hannah who had awoken from her stupor marched to Perez, screaming at the King's aide who hadn't moved an inch from where he stood.

He glanced at the king and only left when the king waved him off.

"Take care of the first princess and make sure no one leaves until they are interrogated and thoroughly searched." The king ordered, leaving the banquet hall to the surprise of the many guests.

"Who would dare to poison the princess at a place like this?"

Their suspicions were divided. Some pointed at the third queen, after all, the first princess was the daughter of her enemy, the second queen. Most eyes lingered on Perez who was holding his unconscious sister's body in his arms, though they may seem close, they were rivals after the throne anyway, anything was possible. A few suspected the king for his cold attitude while others simply pointed fingers at each other.

The tenth birthday of the first princess was such an eventful day, one that would not be forgotten for ages to come.

                          * ~ *

Meanwhile, Lily had opened her eyes. However, the sight in front of her was unfamiliar. A vast forest, plants of various types, colours, and tall trees.

Four days passed, the sun never set, hence she could only count the number of days by how many times and how long she had slept.

Nobody came by, not a single sound was heard, however, there were trails everywhere which was evidence of people passing through frequently. But no matter how long she walked, all she saw was a large expanse of greenary and no matter how loud she screamed, not even her own echoes answered her.

She was poisoned just a few days ago at the banquet, however, what was this. She felt neither pain nor the muddling feeling that plagued her mind. It was like she was in an entirely new world, and she was surprised that she hadn't lost her mind yet.

-Tap! Tap! Tap!!

The heavy tappings of a person's footsteps resounded in the vast forest. It was the first sound she heard since she woke up here, and it even echoed; nothing echoed in this forest, not even her voice.

Moving in the direction of the sound, she ran as fast as she could and just then, a dark silhouette ran past her eyes.

Lily gulped, "Hello!" Her voice didn't echo but the trees around her shoke lightly.

The silhouette appeared again, this time from a much more woody area. It slowly stepped away from the dark canopy of trees, into the light.

Gasping at the horrendous sight in front of her, she slowly backed away. The being clearly had human legs, however, from its knees up had feathers, it was a large vulture-like bird on human legs, a long snake-like tail protruding from its back and its eyes seemed to give off a purple glow. It was a monster, more precisely a basilisk, these monsters were nothing more but story tales with scary illustrations in kid's books, however, people claimed that they once existed even before the kingdom was founded.

Lily stumbled on a tree branch and fell lightly on a tree. How was she supposed to defeat that thing on her own. The dark-feathered monster that stood on human legs glared at her with its fog-like purple eyes, staring viciously into her eyes.

Lily bent down slowly and just then, the monster charged towards her. She picked up the fallen branch that she had stumbled upon. She couldn't take the risk of running, since its large long legs could easily catch up to her.

She swung the branch at it, mustering as much strength as she could, however, all were for naught as the monster speedily caught the branch with its white-scaled tale.

For whatever reason, she could hear a faint heart-beat and it clearly wasn't here's because the heart in her chest was beating faster than the rhythm of the heartbeat she was hearing. Willing to take the chance, she turned around, pulling the branch from its tail and striking it on the tree. Without sparing it a chance to retaliate, she shoved the broken branch in the area where she could hear the heartbeat.

The monster's legs quivered like a shuddering human, moving backwards slowly before it toppled over, devoid of any movement.

As easy as it seemed, Lily's heart was pounding in her chest. She hadn't felt such fear in both of her lives. She pressed her hand on her chest and felt a pair of unfamiliar but very familiar moulds. Looking down at her figure in a hurry, her head almost fell off. This wasn't the body of a small child, she sighed.

Now, everything was slowly beginning to feel like a dream, but her large palms that hurt from striking the branch on the tree said otherwise.

"What in the name of God is all this?"

She couldn't possibly be hallucinating. What kind of hallucination affects one's sense of pain? Only witches could handle such hallucination spells.

Lily, however, glanced at the basilisk to make sure it was dead before moving towards it. She wanted to run away but who said others of its kind were not out there. She placed a leg of its wing and pulled out the branch from the chest.

The end of the branch that was stuck inside the beast was broken in half and the in the middle was a small circular purple gem with a dim glow.

Unhesitatingly, she pulled the gem out and wiped the blood from it, bringing it closer to her eyes as she inspected the strange gem.

-Flop!

The monster moved slightly and Lily jumped in response, "Irk!"

However, it was just the head falling to the side.

"Ah! Goodness."