The Fallen Throne

Chapter 19.1 ✦ Nightmares

The day before the new emperor is crowned, they travel east, back towards the Kingdom of Theia. When Theia is in view, they settle in the forest atop a small hill nearby that overlooks the kingdom from afar.

The sun is setting by the time they are done with the preparations, and the kingdom blends beautifully with the orange sky over the horizon, just like a painting.

When night seeps in, Alaina becomes nervous. Perhaps she should have already felt so the moment she left Theia and made her choice to go against everything she's every lived for, but she hasn't. Yet now, standing on top of the hill and overlooking her home, she is struck by nostalgia and is suddenly unsure of herself.

"We have already come this far," Lancaster had said to her earlier. "Do not think too much about it. Whatever happens... happens."

Then, bitterly, she remembers her father's words.

"You fight for what you believe in."

Her father, who had done something she never in her life thought that he would. Her father, who had loved her with all his heart, no longer sees her as his very own.

She shuts her eyes, allows the cool wind to beat against her skin. As the sky darkens, she forces the thoughts away and flushes them down an unknown dark tunnel inside her, hoping they never return. She turns, her back against her very own kingdom, and leaves. Alaina doesn't look back.

*****

Her sleep is uneasy. Alaina tosses and turns, finding herself waking almost every minute in cold sweat. Her palms are sweaty, her vision blurry as she stares into the dark. She can't see anything, but she hears her heartbeats loudly and clearly, drumming against her ears.

Through rapid breaths, the images of her dreams creep slyly back into her memories.

Fire. A clash of weapons and armour. Soldiers. A battlefield.

A red flag falling to the ground, burning into ashes and nothingness. On the flag, a symbol of a flying horse. A Pegasus?

She isn't sure.

There was a cry in the distance in her dreams, and she wakes as if the scream is her waking call.

Dreams? No, more like nightmares. Because what kind of dreams make you feel so uneasy and unable to fall asleep again, with an ominous feeling that something great is coming your way?

Refusing to take any more of this torture, Alaina clambers out of her thin bedroll and out of the tent quietly, into the dark forest. Her bare feet kiss the grass beneath her, her skin cool in the night wind as it whistles in her ears and rustles the dark trees. She shivers. The temperature is low in the night.

Thinking about the next day – which, technically, isn't really the next day as it's dawning upon them in a few hours – hurts, but Alaina's mind insists on returning to that thought. Tomorrow.

A day that will change history.

It is funny how a day is different for everyone. Like how maybe one still has a string of tomorrows, but beyond anyone's knowledge, perhaps for another person tomorrow's their last day. Tomorrow, at dawn, the future emperor – not like Alaina is about to let that happen – believes he's to be crowned the one and only ruler of Asteria. Tomorrow, Alaina is to win back what she's believed in. Yet for others, it's only an ordinary day, if they do not see any meaning into the installation ceremony.

Back on top of the small hill over Theia, Alaina lifts her head to look up at the still dark sky. No stars, only floating clouds.

She hasn't a clue what time into the night it is, but she's far from the dream world now. It is difficult to go back to sleep when nightmares are waiting at your doorstep.

Alaina finds a tall lone tree and settles herself beneath its dark shade, although from what, she isn't really sure. It's not sunny, but she feels somewhat secure beneath the rustling overhead leaves watching over her. Still, even with her imaginary protection, it doesn't stop her from shivering. She brings her knees close to her chest and cuddles herself, embracing the cold weather in the night.

Closing her eyes, she tries to relax, but the vision she sees is yet again the red flag with the Pegasus burning to the ground. She has never seen anything of this sort in her life, and she begins questioning herself why is such a thing insisting on staying with her.

A shift in the woods ultimately catches her attention. A movement. Alaina sits still, slightly thankful that it has brought her thoughts back, away from the meaningless nightmare scene.

A situation like this, where she's all alone late in the night, with a funny sound around her within the dark woods, she is supposed to be afraid and alert. She knows she is supposed to feel so, yet she doesn't. In fact, she feels a surge of relief for it for bringing her mind back to where it's supposed to be.

But that isn't the scariest part – because she knows, somehow, what is coming.

Or actually, who.

"What are you doing, Kai?" Alaina turns around and squints her eyes in the dark where she's expecting him. But no, instinctively, she looks above her.

There is a clumsy shift in the tree, and few leaves fall over her head and are stuck in her hair. When the rustling in the tree increases that one shall know it's obviously not made by the wind alone no longer, Alaina shuts her eyes and shields herself protectively as if something will fall on her.

Something – someone, does appear. But he doesn't fall on her.

"How did you know it was me?" He looks her in the eye, upside down when he's still hanging on the tree. He appeared so suddenly that Alaina perhaps would have screamed if she wasn't already expecting him or already somehow knew he was coming.

Their faces are only an inch apart.

Alaina stares blankly at him, at his upside-down face who appears to be staring right back at her. Dishevelled, messy brown hair, as usual. Several leaves stick out from his hair.

A funny feeling conquers her conscience. She continues to stare at him, as if she will be able to find the answers just by looking at his puzzled, confused face.

Familiarity.

Yes. But it's not of Kai's face, rather, of the scene that's unfolding before her.

Déjà vu? That'll be the most logical explanation. It happens sometimes. Yet she swears this is all too familiar. Too oddly familiar as if it isn't a simple déjà vu. But what would it be, then?