PREFACE- TRAPPED
PREFACE
TRAPPED
I felt trapped. Trapped in a horrifying nightmare. I wanted her so badly to tell me that she was being humorous, making an awful joke. I wanted it all to be untrue, but I knew the answer. That much was clear. The fury within her eyes told me it was all, true.
I was a murderer. A killer. “How could it be?” I thought, wrapping myself around the leg of the wooden table that I’d fallen alongside.
She slowly kneeled down beside me, eyes now staring intensely into mine. She was searching, that much was visible. Her gaze was cold and piercing. I turned away, afraid now for my own life.
When I looked back up at her- I was greeted by an outstretched diamond hand. I examined it closely and carefully. She had become unrecognizable.
Her skin sparkled and glistened. What once was chalky pale white skin had been transformed and now covered in diamonds. The gold ring around her finger, with the red stone in the center, began to turn a fiery reddish, orange color. Every few seconds, an electric current would quickly circle around the ring.
Her eyes burned the color of the ring. Her entire body now sparkling and gleaming like beautiful rare jewelry. Not just any jewelry, but fine, ancient jewelry. The kind that doesn’t exist anymore or never existed in the first place.
The kind that you’d find only in these unknown worlds, where monsters were real, vampires did exist, the night-watchers were real, the outerverse was real, angels and demons were real. All the myths and legends were true. It was all, real.
That would explain the woman before me with skin made of diamonds. I must admit, she or it was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen, I couldn’t think of anything more beautiful and or colorful.
My tears slowed, eventually drying completely. I contemplated reaching for the diamond hand. Those piercing eyes, burning like the sun, encouraged me to do so.
“Take my hand,” a voice spoke softly pronouncing each word carefully and slowly. I ignored it, burying my head between my legs while maintaining the death grip that I’d placed on the leg of the wooden table.
“I’ll show you the way. Accept what you are, my dear Juliet. Accept your destiny. Accept your throne.” The voice spoke again just as soft, except this time with more urgency.
I snapped my head in either direction, searching for the owner of the mysterious voice. I couldn’t quite distinguish the gender of the voice. It was neither male nor female. It was just a sound, softly echoing throughout the room.
I knew for sure it didn’t belong to the diamond statue, because her mouth hung open, and golden rays of light escaped outward.
We were alone in my bedchambers. I turned my head back to face the diamond beauty, now glowing- projecting a light, more colorful than a rainbow and brighter than the sun.
I watched in astonishment as she gleamed and sparkled- something so beautiful was obviously hand crafted by God and the angels. This too made it all much more believable.
If I were to die here in their world against my free will, I wouldn’t be going silently. Not without a fight.
Dying for a cause that I hadn’t decided upon for myself didn’t seem fair. This was never my intention, being a Queen and ruling the Region’s Capital, where both, Gods and monsters lived. I was fine in Central Peak. Why didn’t she just let me die along with the others? I didn’t have to come here. No one ever asked my opinion. I never agreed on being part of their world.
I wanted to go home, for it all to be over. Sadly, the truth was, I had no home to go back to, no place of belonging after Midgard was invaded and destroyed.
I felt like I should have done more. I blamed myself. If it were not for me, they would all still be alive today. I’m not exactly sure if I was the only survivor, though, I wouldn’t call being locked away in a castle actually, surviving.
I couldn’t allow myself to die so helplessly, with my head buried and my tail tucked. I knew that if I wanted to live, I would have to fight to stay alive. Because without a doubt, they were coming, and when they found me, I knew that they would take my life.
That realization alone pushed me to a nomadic place, a point of madness. I was in survival mode, a mode I never knew I had. I guess it wasn’t something I’d ever needed up until this point.
Before I could stop myself or second-guess my decision, I went for it in one motion, grabbing the outstretched, diamond hand awaiting me.
I flinched upon contact, pulling my hand back and inspecting it thoroughly, expecting burns or bubbling, blistering skin. Her palms were on fire like I’d stuck my hand into a furnace.
Surprised and equally relieved, I discovered my hand to be just as I’d last remembered it, without a single trace of the burning pain I’d experienced only moments ago.
I was positive that there would be some sort of damage, but there was nothing. I massaged the center palm of the hand that should have been burned with my free hand, looking up at her.
My next move shocked me. I’m not exactly sure what prompted it. I believe it to be a mixture of all things considered; curiosity, rebellion, fear, acceptance, the new life that awaited me, and death that now haunted me. The nagging thought that death was after me, which made me terrified and brave, somehow.
I knew that if I wanted this, if I wanted a true chance at freedom, I would have to kill again. “I would need mother’s help in doing so.” I thought, warming up to the idea.
“It is time, that you accept your journey, my dear Juliet. This is your destiny. You have magic inside of you. One does not choose the crown of life, it chooses you, and with it my dear, we are capable of doing marvelous wonders. We will hold all of the world’s powers within our hands with a single crown,” she said, extending both hands, finally breaking her silence. She still glowed and sparkled, as the colors of the rainbow danced freely with the golden rays of light.
There was something different about her voice. The tone was different. There was a pleading in addition to a fierce viciousness, both asking and demanding at once. I knew what she was capable of. I knew if I didn’t agree to help her now, I would regret the decision later. I would not only have to fear Natalia, and the Dark Army wanting to kill me, but my mother as well. She’s made that obvious from the start.
Figuring it was much easier with her rather than without, I leapt out from underneath the wooden table, taking the gleaming outreached hands into mine, pressing my palms firmly against hers. I closed my eyes, anticipating the burning sensation that never came.
I waited before I opened them again. I wondered if the burning I felt earlier was my imagination. I went on with that theory for awhile- half believing it, until unfortunately for me, that thought was interrupted by the burning fire that was now slowly creeping throughout my entire body. The same fire I’d felt previously but worst. I felt like I’d been torched or like I was the torch. I tried screaming, but there was no sound. I was mute.
Her mouth parted into a wicked, yet pleased smile as the diamonds began to spread from her skin onto mine. I screamed and cried in silence, as my body burned in the fiery furnace.
In disbelief, I witnessed my flesh being burned, melting away as diamonds replaced the skin- revealing solid gold underneath. I couldn’t comprehend any of it. I watched as the gold and diamonds intertwined with one another, becoming one until the gold was completely covered in diamonds.
After awhile, I began to drift off. I felt myself weakening, my head spinning, and my heart slowing. I thought I might vomit from the dizziness the spinning was causing. It wasn’t long before everything was a blur, and I felt nauseous. The taste of copper mixed with blood in my mouth returned. I was helpless at this point.
“That’s it Juliet. Accept your truth,” my mother said, catching my collapsing body into her arms. The gold ring around my finger, with the green stone in the center began to light up. I felt the sting of fire circling my finger. The ring turned that same reddish orange color as mother’s with the familiar electric current circling the ring religiously.
This puzzled me, as the ring was unfamiliar. I’d never seen it before in my life. It sat on the exact finger in which I’d received my wedding ring from King Romeo. The rings had been swapped. Without asking, I already knew the answer.
My eyes shut tight in agony and paranoia…
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