The Twelve Kingdoms

It's Ok To Be Afraid

/// Red Riding Hood

Electric Kingdom ///

It was quiet in the dome forest. It always was and that's what made the atmosphere so eerie. It gave the feeling of wearing sound proof earmuffs. The straight cobblestone path led right through the middle of the greenery to the gray cement structure in the center of the dome. Queen Elair's private working quarters.

Her granddaughter, Princess Euria, hastened up the path through the semi-darkness caused by the thickness of the tropical trees. She clutched a small metal box to her chest. She's only been here 2 times in her lifetime, each time to deliver something or other to her grandmother.

As she got closer to the foreboding building, she heard a faint muffled scream.

Euria stopped in her tracks, electricity racing through her veins. It was silent again, as if nothing disturbed the silence in the first place. And after a minute of listening to that continued silence, Euria almost believed it.

She eventually reached the entrance and was greeted by a stone-faced maid, who told her to "wait in the second room on the left, fourth floor, Your Highness."

These visits to the dome forest became a lot more frequent, the main household maid of the main palace giving her another metal package with the order from her grandmother the queen to deliver it.

Euria never asked what was in them; she didn't want to know. Her grandmother has always secretive, and Euria suspected it wasn't for good intentions.

***

A whole month and a half later, during her seventeenth delivery, Euria stayed overnight at the dome forest building. She wasn't able to fall asleep in the unfamiliar simple gray room no matter how much she tossed and turned.

Even though the whole dome structure, including the building and the forest, still made her a bit uncomfortable and wary, she decided to leave her room and walk around until she got tired. Outside the building, everything was green and the moonlight coming through the glass dome overhead shed enough light to look around. The spot where Euria walked out to was abundant in dark red rose bushes.

Walking a bit further down the path in her white nightgown, she looked like a ghost with her long pale silver hair. The forest was lit in a bluish-greenish glow, silent as ever, but strangely calming.

Down the winding cobblestone path she heard the quiet murmur of two voices breaking through the dead silence. She stopped dead in her tracks, sucking air into her lungs. The voices stopped abruptly.

After a tense second, Euria decided to take another step to turn the corner. She looked up with baited breath to meet the gazes of two equally bewildered boys.

The three of them stood motionless and silent for a good half a minute, taking each other in.

One of them, the shorter one with faded golden hair and pale skin, had light yellow and lavender bruise marks around his neck and wrists. The other one was much taller with gleaming fire-red hair and burn scars ripping his face into ugliness.

They didn't look to be much older than their late teen years, but the hollow haunting look in their eyes spoke of a time that couldn't be measured in centuries.

Both of them wore the same set of gray pants and shirt. The moonlight cast shadows on the whiteness of their skin, making angles too sharp and contrast too dramatic.

"Who are you?" she whispered first, tone a lot more accusing than she intended.

"There are more..." the shorter one breathed, his hands beginning to shake.