Briseis

03 The Castle

...

"Mom...? Why are you crying?"

"No, sweetheart. Nothing."

"Where's papa and Lucia?"

"Papa's... gone with Lucia. Now I will take care of you. I will always be with you..."

...

"Queen Elena! Queen Elena!"

"Oh, sorry. I just thought of something."

I finally remember it. But... Lucia died when I was only 3. She was gone with Papa. How is it possible that Lucia was the queen of this place?

"Hey, phoenix. I think you're mistaken. Lucia died at the age of 5. Though I was only 3 back then, I clearly remember it. You've found the wrong person. Now send me back to my house."

"No, no. I'm not mistaken. I'm sure you're Queen Elena. If you are actually the wrong person, it's not me who's mistaken, it's the blue light that's mistaken. Now, let me lead you to the castle..." The phoenix drags me.

"No! I don't want to go! I don't want to stay here! Let me go to my house in New York! I don't even know where this place is! I don't know any of you! I don't even believe in this fucking phoenix!"

I shout.

"New York...?"

The phoenix stops dragging and paused for couple seconds. Then it starts to drag me again.

"No! Stop! Let me out of here! I wanna go home!"

"You human bitches are assholes. Shut the hell and follow me."

I know I can do nothing to escape from this world. But I still want to find a way.

"Where's that blue light? Get me the blue light!"

"The blue light's gone somewhere! Don't ask me! I said, follow me!"

"No!"

"You are such a dick just like your sister. Get on my back."

"No!"

"Well then. I'll have to force you."

"No, no! Fine, I'll get on your back!" I shout as I climb on the phoenix's back.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

As soon as I reply, phoenix opens it's red wings and flies into the sky. Cold wind blows against my cheeks. It feels awesome. But I feel bad again.

'If they think I'm the Queen, why is he so disrespectful to me? That's why I hate mythical creatures.'

...Wait, mythical!

"Yes! This is all fake! It's all just a dream!" I shout with joy.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing."

...

The phoenix glide through winds and clouds. I feel awesome, though I think it is a dream.

"Do you like Briseis?" The phoenix asks, as if he is a different phoenix than before.

"Yeah, pretty much." I answer. I try to ask why he was mean, but I stop.

"Briseis,... It is a world of phoenix. There are no buildings, it's all forest. Oh, and there's one huge castle in the centre. That's where you'll live. I'm taking you there."

"...Okay. What's your name?" I say, not caring about being the queen.

"Jasper. Call me Jass."

"Ok, Jass."

"..."

There is awkward silence.

"How long have you been here?" I ask, trying to break the awkwardness.

"I don't actually know."

"How many queens were there?"

"Queen Lucia was the first one. You will be the twenty-first."

"First? So before Lucia came, you didn't have any queen?"

"Nope. Just us."

"Wait, then what about the castle? How did you build the castle?"

"We didn't build it. It was there when we first came here."

"...that's weird."

"When we saw the castle, we thought we need a king or a queen. And that's how Lucia became the first queen."

"How did Lucia come here? No, how did she become the queen?"

"...She wanted to."

"No, you're lying. Why would she?"

"She did."

"..."

There is the awkward silence again.

"Lucia was the best queen ever. We loved her. She loved us. It was so peaceful until she died." Jasper says.

"She died here? Then how was she the queen? She was the queen at age 5?" I say with shock. Then I realise it is a dream, and dream has nothing to do with the reality. "Oh, never mind."

"It's been 5 years since she died." Jasper says, ignoring me.

"That long?"

"5 years is nothing to us, phoenix. We can live up to 5000 years. Age 100 in phoenix age is 2 in human age."

"How old are you?"

"1700 years old."

"Then you are 34 in human age. I'm 23 years old. That means I'm 1150 years old in phoenix age. Interesting."

"Yeah."

"Hey, is that the castle?"

"Yeah."

The castle is gigantic. It is way bigger than what I had imagined. It has really light pink, almost white walls. The rampart is also light pink. Beige coloured edges are lined on the corners and edges. There is a huge garden in the backyard. There is a river around the castle. The castle is like the ones from princess movies.

"That's where I'll live?"

"Coronation, sleeping, eating. You will do all that in that castle."

"Cool. I feel like I'm the queen."

"You are the queen."

"Yeah. Though it's only a dream, it feels realistic."

"It's not a dream, I'm alive right now."

"You're alive in my dream."

"But it's not a dream."

"Sure."

As we speak, Jasper lands in front of the giant castle door.

"There. Go inside."

I grab on the metal handle and push on the heavy door.

The big wooden door opens with a loud squeak.

I take a step forward.

I walk around the castle.

The inside of the castle is just like the ones from fairytales. In the middle of the castle, there are giant stairs leading to the second floor. Behind the stairs is a hallway, leading to the Royal Seat for the queen. On the left and right there is a fountain. Second floor isn't as big as the first floor which was used for coronation and parties, it has normal rooms like bedrooms, kitchens and toilets. And behind the red curtains is a wooden door that is locked.

"What is this room?" I ask, pointing the locked door.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. It's like... a storage." Jasper answers. "Don't go near it."

"...Okay."