Chapter 29: Chapter 29

FROM THE ASHES

A FIRE SHALL BE WOKEN

A LIGHT FROM THE SHADOWS

SHALL SPRING

RENEWED SHALL BE BLADE

THAT WAS BROKEN

THE CROWNLESS AGAIN

SHALL BE QUEEN (king)

-J.R.R Tolkien

Walter P.O.V

After teleporting to the Human World. I searched her at every place I knew but she was nowhere. It was making me more worried for her. Now, I was looking in the little forest situated on the backside of her house.

I couldn't allow Annabella to hurt her. Never ever! It was a promise I made 20 years ago with myself. That no matter what I would never let her hurt.

I saw a familiar shadow of a person sitting near a tree. I knitted my brows to looked carefully and when I recognized that person, I ran towards her.

"Marie." I shook her but she remained still with open eyes looking towards a particular direction. I followed her gaze but found no one. I peeked inside her mind to which my surprise was also empty. Usually, She always had a lot of questions and thoughts but now empty...

It irked me, I grabbed her wrist making her stood and teleported back to the castle in the crystal world. Only Old master could tell us what was the matter with her?

"Something must have wrong with her." I said to no one in particular.

Everyone was already waiting for me and when I said and dragged Marie along with me in the hall, all of them snapped their heads at me.

"Now what's wrong with her?" Olivia's irritating voice irritated my ears more but I didn't say anything and stopped in front of Old master.

"She is kind of clear. No movements, no reactions, no thoughts, like....." Mona cut me, "Like she is in someone's control?"

I looked back at Marie. Her eyes were empty and her expressions were blank. While she was wearing human clothes of white and blue color. It hurt me looking at her like that.

Who controlled her? Of course, Annabella!

Master came near and placed his hand on her head. He closed his eyes and after a minute, he opened them and looked at me. "She's in hypnosis." He said.

"What????" We all shouted in unison.

That explained everything, how Annabella entered our town and where was Mike. She used her. I felt the boiling of water inside me with anger. I made a tight fist of my left hand to prevent myself from spilling out my anger. How dare she used my........

"Oh, so in this way, she unblocked the spell to enter our town." Lilly said.

"What now?" Olivia asked.

"You know how to broke this hypnosis, right Master?" Peter asked.

"Where is Mike? Is that mean he is in danger?" Snow worriedly asked and we all looked at Master.

"Could it be possible? It is the other way round with Mike?" Olivia asked.

'Mike and betrayal? No! It's not possible!' My inner voice persuaded me.

"Relax my children," Master said loudly. Then he grabbed Marie both hands and examined them. We all looked at him while I was trying to thought of a way to teach Annabella a useful lesson.

"Who gave you this ring?" Master asked, pointing at the ring in her left hand. She remained silent.

Master smiled and looked in her eyes when both Master and Marie's eyes shined at the same time.

"He was one of you." She stared blankly.

"Mike?!?!" Snow asked more like told us. Because it was obvious everyone was present here except Mike.

"When? When did he give this to you?" I asked, looking at her ring. It was a platinum ring with a middle shimmering part.

"Answer!" Master ordered her.

"Three days ago," She replied.

"He is missing for four days." Peter added worriedly.

"Should we need to take that ring off?" Olivia asked before stepping towards her, she grabbed her hand, and when she touched the ring. She got pushed by an unseen concussive force. She groaned and fell on the floor.

"What was that?" I asked shocked by what just happened. Bell helped her in standing.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Lilly asked, checking if she was hurt or not.

"I don't know. It's like someone pushed me." She said with knitted brows.

"Take that ring off!" Master said more like ordered to Marie.

"And why should I do that?" Marie stated rudely and aggressively.

"You will know once you take it off." Master said more calmly with a soft smile.

She looked at him then back at the ring in her hand then back at everyone.

'Do it or not!' Her mind was asking her.

She looked at me and I gave her an assured smile with a 'Do it' signal controlling her brain.

Good, now at least, she was trying to use her brain. I think the spell was weakening. She took off the ring and the next moment, I saved her from kissing the floor.

*******

Marietta P.O.V

"Just tell me why? Why whiteheads are so stupid?"

"Olivia! Language and words!"

"Where is Mike? Why we are not going to save him?"

"What do you think? Master is playing with Walter

and Peter with magic?"

"Olivia! She is worried."

"Yes, she is worried and I am very happy!"

"Stop it you all!"

"Oh heavens! Save me!"

They were arguing on God know what for the past many minutes like since when I got conscious. They were not even telling me how the hell I came here? What was I doing here?

I was staring at the white marble floor which was reflecting my face flawlessly. My head was caged in both hands because it was throbbing hard and I was frustrated to death.

The last thing I remembered, I left my mansion, and the next moment I opened my eyes and found myself on a bed inside the castle in the crystal world. I didn't remember anything else, but there was just the face of a woman who was still coming in front of my eyes.

Who was she?

I clenched my eyes close. God my head! It was hurting badly. I felt someone's presence beside me.

"Hey! Are you okay?" A really sweet voice asked and I looked at her. She was looking at me with concern in her baby blue eyes. Her golden hairs were falling on one shoulder and the other shoulder had a bluebird sitting on it. Her dress was an off-shoulder sky blue color gown, a crisscrossed band of bluestone in the middle of her forehead. Although, She was very cute and beautiful but she had elf's ears.

"I don't think so, my head is hurting very badly." I said, messaging my head with both hands.

"You must be confused." She said, looking at the rest of the girls who were still arguing.

"Bloody confused." I admitted.

"Do you remember anything? Like who gave you that ring?" She asked.

We were sitting inside a big room. It was colored in white and blue decorations and furniture. With the luxurious and very expensive look of the castle peeking everywhere.

"I don't know. I think... he is one of you." I said, remembering him. But his name just flew away from my mind. I looked at my hand and there were no signs of any ring.

"Mike. His name is Mike and he is missing since then." She said worriedly and bit her lower lip.

"Oh!" I said. I didn't know what else to say. I again looked back at the floor.

"I'm Bell." She said, gesturing me her hand for a shake.

"Marie." I shook her hand and she smiled.

"What am I doing here? How did I come here?" I asked.

"Well, it's a long story." She said.

"I have plenty of time. Please, tell me." I sounded pleaded and desperate. But I wanted to know what happened.

"The Crystal world is divided into two sub-worlds. One is a guardian town and the other one is the dark world. Guardian town is where we are sitting and the dark world consists of vampires, bats, and their queen. That vampire who attacked you was from the dark world. Vampire queen, her name is Annabella and she hypnotized you by that ring which Mike gave you. She has powers and magic which is unbeatable. She used you for something worse and..... Never mind, well, that's the reason you are here!" She stopped abruptly.

I felt my eyes bewildered and a quick shiver ran on my body. What she told me, I only focused on the part someone hypnotized me. And Vampire queen!

Oh, God! Wait a minute... What did I do during hypnotism?

"Why did she hypnotized me? What did she want from me?" I blurted out bewildered.

"Simple, you're special." She shrugged.

Special! To hell with special! What did that mean? One thing was clear this world had lots of secrets and mysteries. Why the hell was I even special? Wait...why the hell was I even here?

"Her name is Snow." She said, changing the topic of our conversation. She pointed towards a girl with white hair, beautiful gray eyes, and she had a crystal horn on her forehead. She was wearing a white long gown and looking really worried.

"She is Mona," She said pointing towards a girl which was practically an example of beauty with gorgeously sharp features, amber eyes, white hairs, and green leaf crown on her head and wearing an off-shoulder green gown.

"And Lilly." She pointed towards the girl standing next to her. She had somehow familiar features like Mona. With wearing autumn-seasons leaf crown and off-shoulder orange gown, with golden hairs and strange but beautiful orange-yellow eyes.

"You know Olivia already." She said and I smiled.

"Yeah!" I said, looking at her annoyed figure. How could I forget her? She practically scared me with her arrow on the very first moment I met her.

"Have you ever saw an ant working for their food?" She asked a question out of nowhere.

"Huh? Y...Yeah." I said.

"They have the spirit of never giving up. Be an Ant." She smiled and stood up while I looked at her confused.

"And never mind them. They always bicker like that. You'll get used to it soon." She said loudly enough to hear them all and walked towards them.

"What do you mean by that???" Four of them shouted together. Bell and I laughed.

At the same time, the door of the room opened. An old man came inside followed by Peter and Walter. Peter looked worried and less scary. The way he threatened me last time he automatically became the villain of my story. However, Walter looked worried too but when he looked at me, he passed me a warm smile.

They were all worried because of Mike or because I did something wrong unknowingly?

I looked at the old man while everyone in the room fell silent and stood attentively. He examined the room authoritatively and when he looked at me, he smiled and walked towards me.

I gulped in nervousness. He was, by the look, looked in his early seventies. His facial features were Chinese with long white hair and a beard, wearing a long white gown and a thin white stone band on his head. You knew the type of old man in Chinese fantasy movies or series? He stopped right in front of me.

Well, I was standing at some top distance because the bed area had some three-step stairs distance from the floor. I was up, standing at the edge of the stairs and he was down standing right in front of me.

There was a long pause of silence. Everyone staring at that old man and he was staring at me with his calculative gaze black eyes, and to be honest, I hate becoming the spotlight person.

Walter broke the silence by asking, "Master, is she our lost heir?"

I looked at him with wide eyes and disbelieved. What did he say?

"Say what?" I gasped shocked by his question.

Everyone in this room had something in their eyes, something like fear, hope, wish, brightness. Eventually, they all ignored my question.

I felt that the beat of my heart took accelerating speed. Why? Because of the silence and suspense, they were developing. LOST HEIR!!! What did they mean?

My connection to this world. Why did I come here? What was my purpose here? The mystery behind my nightmares... No... That couldn't be happening. The thing which was coming to my mind. That could not be true......

That old man made a fist of his right hand, placed it over his heart, and kneeled on the floor, right in front of me. Then bowing down his head he loudly said,

"Welcome the Princess of our town, the becoming Queen of the Crytal World. Princess Marietta!"

Everyone followed his move and bowed down.

In that second, I felt everything stopped, the world stopped, time stopped, my lungs stopped working, hell I forgot how to breathe. Adrenaline pumped through me as I gasped with utter shock and disbelief. The next second, everything again started but the only thing I felt was my heart. My heart started to pump so fast.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD

As I heard it beat madly, as I saw them bowed in front of me, as an unknown sensation crawled on my body. I knew it was the moment when a person's life changed completely and here, began the journey of destiny.