The Girl of Many Worlds | (Story formerly known as "Multiworldcial")

Chapter 8

I followed closely behind him as we left the room. We turned off to our right, and walked a few feet towards an opening in the corridor. There we entered a grand room. To the right of me were two fairly large wooden double doors. Together they formed an arch at the top. To my left were two sets of marble stairs, one close to us and one across the room. They ran parallel to each other and curved inwardly at the top. They both led to the same balcony, which had two exits that led to different parts of the castle.

The roof stood even further above the large arched double door. On it was a painting of a particular constellation I didn't recognize. A large chandelier hung from it—it was beyond beautiful. The reflection from the glass danced all around us, as if the patterns from the light were constantly in motion.

"This is the entrance of this beautiful castle. As you can see, your room is located fairly close to it. Not to worry, though. There are guards outside the main door night and day."

He led me back towards my room. We walked past it and to the direction of the dining room. "These paintings are all past generations of our Kings and Queens." Paintings lined both sides of the walls on top of beige wallpaper. It ran through the length of the corridor, which was already very long.

The picture that enticed me earlier stopped me once again. It was a beautiful painting of a black woman. Her hair was full, long, and curly, decorated with all sorts of beads and jewelry. She wore an elegant dark blue dress with a low cut neckline littered with a bunch of stars. They led down to the point of the v-neck where the biggest star sat. On either side of that star were crescent moons that face away from each other. More small stars lined down the middle of her dress and around her waistline. Her arms were covered by a sheer, sparkling cape. It twinkled even as a painting.

"She's beautiful," I stated. "Who is she?"

"She was Arden's mom," Zander said solemnly. His head bowed and his eyes closed. "She's no longer with us today."

My heart broke for the woman I never knew. "Why not?"

He didn't answer me. I looked next to her painting where a young, familiar face hung. His golden eyes were more youthful. Arden must've been no older than twelve when this was done.

"His father, our last King, couldn't function well as a ruler after his wife's passing. When Arden was old enough to rule, he passed on his leadership to his son. The former king lives a humble life now in one of the towns in the woods."

"Arden was handed a lot of responsibility," I said. I examined his hardened expression. "He looks way too young to look so..." I couldn't figure out the word. Stoic? Like he had been in a war?

"You'd look that way, too, Princess, if your mom was murdered in front of you." Arden's voice alongside this dark revelation sent an icy shock up my spine.

He stepped beside me, looking at his painting; his mouth was in a firm, straight line. His golden eyes traveled across the beautiful work of art until they finally landed on me.

"Was the evil person who did that to her caught?" I asked.

Arden didn't answer my question. "Continue with the tour."

We walked for what felt like forever to an opening at the end of the hall. It also was arched and led upwards. It was darker in there, not as many lights lighting the path. The stone brought a chill from the outside storm. I peered through one of the various windows to see the other side of the castle and forest. There were miles of forest past the empty, snow piled land that surrounded the castle. There wasn't another tall building or settlement to see.

We got to the landing. This area was vastly different from the rest of the castle. The wallpaper was dark red. The halls were empty of any decoration, and only had wooden doors that filled the walls all diagonally from each other. "This," Zander started, "is Arden's corridor. Obviously Arden has graciously allowed us to be here for the sake of this tour, but this area is always off limits."

The electric lights running along the ceiling were such an odd contrast compared to the stone it was pressed against; the ceiling had no wallpaper. We continued forward, Arden and Zander on both sides of me until we approached a pair of large double wooden doors. Two sets of staircases led up to these doors on either side of us.

"These are servants' quarters," Arden said. "Take notice of the steps besides us. There's no need to go through my floor to get here, if you so desire to visit."

"Why would anybody want to be in your corridor?" I questioned. Even I heard how I came across and quickly tried to rectify it. "I mean, because there seems nothing of value or interest somebody could want to steal or something..." It was truly bare. Even if I was someone who wanted to immediately disobey and see what's up here, I couldn't imagine I'd find anything of importance.

Arden eyed me and then said, "It is sacred and important to me. If you come up here without my permission, you will be executed. Understood?" I looked down at the barren stone floor and pressed into Zander's side.

"It's okay," Zander said kindly. "Would you like a tour of servants' quarters?"

"Yes, please." I practically choked on my words.

The double doors squealed open to a brightly lit hallway. The ceiling was still arched and still had lights hanging down from them alongside more wires running across them. It almost took away from the beauty of the architecture. I wanted to admire it, but Arden's surprisingly warm hand guided me forward by the small of my back. He let go when I kept in pace with him.

There were doors on all sides of me, parallel to each other against stone walls, unlike Arden's corridor, and everything was surprisingly quiet.

"Where is everybody?" I asked.

"They're working," Arden said. "Nine O' Clock is when they're allowed to come and rest."

"So, when do they wake up?" I asked.

"It's when everybody wakes up: seven in the morning," Arden said. "I try to be reasonable. My father was harder on them. They used to wake up thirty minutes past five, while the rest of us awoke at seven." I guessed that was reasonable. It was interesting how he was supposedly so fair to his servants. I always viewed kings as tyrants. But I guess presidents were not much different, just wore a different title.

We reached the end of the hall, where the bathrooms were placed based on sex (which they looked as modern as can be), and then turned back around to leave. Zander was very talkative but Arden and I remained silent. I, of course, responded to whatever Zander said to me, but if it was a general thought or explanation on how utilities worked, I didn't know what to say. We exited the floor and took the stairs by the entrance instead of walking back through Arden's "sacred" hallway.

"Shall we take her to the village, Arden?" Zander asked as we approached the main floor.

"No." Arden's voice was firm and cold. "Not yet."

"Well, our fair king has a village underground and out of the wasteland," Zander said. "It's protected by his powers and is underneath this castle. Isn't that exciting?" I nodded wordlessly.

Arden stopped our walk with a single cold look. "So... you want to know what happened to my mother?" I was nervous to answer. I didn't like this new Arden—I was kind of afraid of him. To be fair, the other Arden I met I didn't really know... who I believed him to be was mainly someone I conjured up in my mind with little facts... I liked him better the other way, still.

"Yes, I would. I think."

He gaze shifted to Zander. "It's time we take her to the simulation room."