Her tired eyes scanned her face reflected in the mirror. The smooth skin looked plum and healthy like butter but to the touch, it felt rough and raw. She ran her fingers over her red lips. They looked so soft like a petal but it contradicted what she felt at her fingertips, they were chapped and dry.

She had just returned from her morning ride with Dirt and had a soothing bath all ready to dress for the day. She tried remembering what happened the day before. But nothing of significance came to mind.

Her walk to the dressing room with a brand new set of dresses to choose from made her slightly dizzy as if her lavish meals did nothing in terms of nutrition to her body.

The castle by the East was one place she had always wanted to return to. But now that she was in it, free from her duties, and unable to pinpoint the reason for her visit, she felt it be quite forgetful. She didn’t remember much of the castle at all. In fact, she found it almost changing its form every day ever so slightly.

The dresses she had to pick from today had intricate detail all over the yards of cloth. There was one in deep green, detailed with blue stitching. Another in subtle yellow caught her attention. Beside it was a plum dress with gold lining its neckline. She picked the purple dress and sat in a corner to call for help.

She was determined to get to know the servant who had been helping her get ready for almost a month now.

Vanya watched as the servant scurried in. She waited patiently as they helped her and suddenly, without a warning, the servant had vanished leaving her alone by herself. She could not remember anything at all, not even a faint memory of the person that helped her.

She sat back in the corner puzzled at the thought of it when she dug into her pocket to surprise herself finding sand in it.

She remembered then the moment from yesterday when she fainted only a few steps before reaching the balcony to view the waves. A moment later, memories of it happening over and over flooded her mind, as if that was not a one-time occurrence, as if she had been fainting over and over ever since trying to reach the edge.

Her fingers sifted through the silky sand, holding onto it like it was grounding her with the reality she seemed so far away from. At one point she wanted to turn her pocket inside out and dump the sand on the floor out of annoyance of her situation. But she quickly simmered down letting it continue to be in all the pockets of her dresses which it seemed to magically find itself in all the time.

Vanya heard lunch being announced. A part of her suddenly remembered a small soft woman with dark hair who would say the same words, not in this castle, but elsewhere. Her memories of things and what she was, were beginning to fade away. She stepped to it, leaving her quarters, and entered the vast hallways that were usually painted white but were somehow carrying a yellowish hue today.

The dining table was long and covered an entire hall. There were all types of food, quite outrageous looking at one point with a giant pig in the middle of the table with candles stuck on its skin. She was mildly confused but she moved on from it even quicker.

She ate her lavish meal while listening to the tunes of a violin ensemble that was nowhere to be found. Though the food looked appetizing, the taste was quite awful. Strangely, she felt hungrier after finishing her meal.

The rest of the afternoon she had spent looking for her horse, Dirt. But she could not get anyone around to help her at all. They all seemed too busy to even pay attention to the princess.

She was on her way back to her quarters when suddenly she heard the sound of waves again. It was as if they were calling her name, wanting her to find them, see them in all their grandeur.

Her eyes diverted to the balcony that had somehow hidden its opening behind a wall of a corridor. Her instinct was to leap to it, go capture the views outside. But she halted thinking to herself,

It’s going to happen again…I’m going to wake up in my bed with a headache again…

With pain in her heart, she looked ahead and continued walking to her room.

That night, she forced herself not to fall asleep. For some reason, she thought she would maybe be able to get a glimpse of the sea once the castle had fallen quiet and no one was around her to stop her from getting to that balcony.

But her hopes were crushed as she tried to open the doors to her chamber and it was locked tight with no wiggle room. She thrashed the knob as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her body had realized it faster than her mind; she was trapped in the one place she was supposed to have felt free.

Her back to the doors, she slid down coming to a seat on the floor while her hands cupped her eyes that were bawling in tears. She wondered if she had ever cried like this before, if she had already known that she was trapped in the castle but a new day brought her lesser memories leaving her assuming she was fine and well.

Just then, she felt something heavy in her pocket. She dug into it to suddenly widen her eyes in shock. The silky sand that was always accompanying her had turned solid.

She pulled it out instantly to knit her brows looking at the orange seashell laying on her palm. She felt something sting in her mind as a memory of someone handing her the seashell flooded her mind. She remembered their eyes, very pale and overcome with a tinge of gold.

Her heart started racing and her palms sweating profusely. She forced her eyes close and pinched herself before opening her eyes to see the orange seashell still on her palm. It lay there with its soft waves adding texture and depth to its structure as Vanya traced them one by one.

Her eyes instantly jumped to the window that had been drawn closed by the heavy curtains next to her bed.

Why do I need a balcony when there’s always been a window right here?

She thought as she stood up, placing her valuable seashell back in the safety of her pocket, and walked to the window.

She pulled the curtains open to reveal a large panel with textured glass behind. The moonlight shone into the room in fractures. The sounds of the waves outside intensified but she only saw everything in a blur.

The lock on the window was difficult to find. It was almost as if it was made with no intention for it to be opened. She hesitated before her will strengthened and she looked around her room for something solid.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Her eyes caught the fireplace poker sitting by the edge. She picked up the metal piece and gripped it harder. Her eyes locked in on the window as she ran to it and thrashed the metal edge to the glass. To her surprise, it bounced back. But with another try to the edge of the glass, the window shattered open leaving pieces of glass showering her face.

It was as if she had broken through her own glass box. The wind from the outside rushed into her chambers. She felt the saltiness of the air caught her attention at once.

She threw the metal rod aside and caught the edge of the window to look below feasting her eyes on the world outside. It was dark and gloomy with a thick forest in front of her. And unlike she thought, her chambers were never high up in the sky, it was very much on the ground level.

Suddenly, there was a loud lock on the doors to her chambers.

“Is everything alright?”

She heard a deep voice sound out. She gasped.

This is my only chance…

With one more look at the rattling door knob, she leaped out the window with full force, letting herself fall head-on as the side of her shoulders crashed to the ground beneath.

She didn’t dare shout in pain. She heard the door thrash open as she got to her feet and started running straight toward the thick vegetation in front of her eyes.

“No! Wait!”

She heard the same voice shout at her. She looked behind for a moment to realize the large castle she always thought she was in was only a shoddy worn-down house hidden in the shadows. She tore her gaze away unable to comprehend what she was seeing before she disappeared into the forest barefoot and cold.

***

Vanya had not realized she was this unprepared until she stopped halfway heaving for air while plucking out some thorns that managed to embed into the soles of her feet. She was looking down at herself only to find her not wearing the plum dress lined in gold at all. She was wearing an old grey dress barely keeping itself together with her hair in a messy braid and her skin feeling like it had not had a bath in ages.

She calmed herself while listening to her surroundings. The voice that was following her had died down. Yet the ominous feeling that someone was right around the corner ready to catch her did not leave her once.

Her memories started flooding back in droves. She remembered the castle in Esmeth, her life as the crown princess, her maidservant and best friend Joan.

Suddenly she heard a ruffle in the bushes at the edge. Her feet acted faster than her mind and she was on the run again but this time she was running towards the sound of the waves.

With each step, she felt the waves get louder and louder. And suddenly her dreary dress caught on a branch and pummeled her to the ground. She fell with a loud thud. Her hands and feet scraped, and her forehead began to bleed. She only barely stood up when she felt a hand grab her shoulder pulling her around.

She saw it then, as clear as day. Her eyes widened in shock as the same figure that chased her out of the castle in Esmeth, the same night she was found floating on the shores of Shalom, stood in front of her. He was a shadow, a mere shadow with no features, no face. His fingers suddenly grabbed her neck and pulled her closer to whisper to her ear, “You’ve misbehaved, princess. You will die if you don’t come with me now.”

Vanya’s eyes teared as pain engulfed her throat and soon she was heaving for air. Her arms were slowly getting paralyzed making her body unable to move. She felt her legs be next when she pushed through and lifted one knee to kick the shadow in front of her. To her luck, her knee drove through its hips and the shadow belted out in pain before releasing her.

Without a second thought, she began to run the other way faster than ever, listening to the waves drawing closer.

She turned her neck to check on the shadow that seemed to have disappeared when she felt her feet reach the sand. Right then her body crashed into something. She found herself stationary before she looked up to see a figure in front of her. She panicked beginning to run the opposite when it caught her arms and pulled her closer.

“It’s me, it’s me, Rhohaz.”

It took her a moment but that name made her calm instantly. Memories of the name’s owner flooded her mind filling her with so much emotion she never knew she had ever felt. He turned to the moonlight so she could see his face. His face felt so familiar. Her fingers reached his cheek touching it ever so slightly as if a person from her dreams had manifested in front of her.

Yet she pulled back in fright.

Rhohaz saw the confusion on her face. She looked frail and disheveled. She was bleeding from cuts all over her body. He pained seeing her this way but especially when she looked at him so frightened.

Suddenly, dark smoke reached her and enveloped her whole.

“Vanya…” he called out before he reached into the smoke. His eyes adjusted to the lack of light to suddenly find Vanya being strangled by a hand holding her by her neck. Her body rose as her feet lifted off of the ground. She heaved for air as he caught onto her legs and tried desperately to pull her down.

“No!” he shouted seeing her turn blue. She was on the brink of it all.

And suddenly, the hand disappeared leaving her falling to the ground before Rhohaz caught her in his arms and fell to the sand beneath.

He looked around to see Timmie and Taru holding onto a man by the end of the beach. Roza shoved the man’s face to the ground before thrashing his head with a rock. The man fell unconscious.

“It’s over,” Roza said to Rhohaz baffled by the sight of Vanya breathless in his arms.

He looked back at her while cradling her shivering body. Her eyes were forced shut, her hands shaking in fear as she sobbed in pain. He wrapped his hands around her to hug her closer, sharing his warmth with her, hoping he could heal her little by little as they lay there under the moonlight reunited in the dark.

***

Rhohaz did not leave her side for one moment. He rode on his horse with her leaning against his chest while the others followed him to the nearest town where they could take refuge.

They stopped at the first inn they could find. Rhohaz held her close throughout the entire night while she slept peacefully for the first time in a long time while in his arms.

Roza offered several times to assist him in placing Vanya into a bed. But he only waved her off to settle himself into a large chair and let Vanya listen to his heartbeat while she slept.

He was far too relieved to have found her alive and standing than to have her dead and gone, that he did not mind the pain striking his back while sitting so uncomfortably if it meant he had her closer to him.

There were many moments while on their way to Vanya following the guidance of the energy of the seashell that he thought would all end with nothing of significance. He felt as if they were being led nowhere. He was beginning to lose hope before he remembered how Vanya had mentioned she used to reside in the East. It was then that he relentlessly followed the trail till the end to finally find her falling into his arms out of the blue.

He caressed her face as she cuddled closer to him. She looked much better. The shivering had subsided and her furrowed brows had relaxed.

He felt her pulse go back to normal as let his thumb caress her wrist ever so gently. He let his head rest on the wall behind him while he felt his energy deplete. He was slowly healing Vanya, step by step. Her cuts had already healed by the time they reached the inn. But he found that healing a calloused mind was an impossible task. Her dreams and her nightmares intertwined with reality so much so that he was surprised by how she had managed to somehow escape without losing her mind altogether.

He shot his eyes open hearing her whimper.

He pulled her closer to him while placing a soft kiss on her forehead to whisper, “Shhh...You are safe with me.”