The Heir Of Dreams And Curses

Where I start to doubt everything I've done before

"You look terrible," Nia told me in the morning.

When she understood she was getting no reply, she added, "You kind of look like Edgar when I first met him. He had that same expression on his face. But someone had just dropped a bucket of cold water over him, so it was justified."

I wanted to let him know my sadness was justified as well, but I felt too weak to talk about it.

"What do you mean?" I only asked. "We've never been there. I told you before, surely, haven't I?"

"But you were --- maybe it was a different you. From another world. The first time I met you, you were eight years old," the knight's voice sounded almost endearing. "In this world, we are divided in social classes by our magic. Edgar, as a hybrid with freaky powers, was treated as a servant. You were welcomed as a Prince. But, one day, you made up your mind that you would have to take a look at the outskirts of the palace. When you went to check on them, you asked to be accompanied by a knight, and I went. Back then you didn't know they were servants. Until you noticed one of your royal guards trying to wake up a young boy of about your age. To wake up the young ones, they would drop buckets of ice-cold water on their faces."

"That's horrible," I said.

The knight nodded. "You talked to Edgar. You told him you had no idea servants were treated like that. He said he worked at the palace, but you kept your mouth shut because you had never seen him. Maybe, you thought, you had seen him and didn't notice him. But that would have been impossible. You later told me he was really good looking and clever. You started talking to him, and you talked for an hour."

"It wasn't us. It wasn't me and him," I said.

"When you traveled alone to a world you knew nothing about, you must have known this could happen --- hearing about a different version of yourself. It would be tragic if you did indeed met the different you, though. Anyway, talking to him was a mistake. One of your guards whipped him later, for having had the boldness to speak to the Prince. You were ashamed of yourself. You see, you did not tell him you were the Prince. Edgar was cunning but he had a good and honest heart. You thought he wouldn't want to see you again. That might have been better for him, all things considered."

"Why was he catalogued as a servant?" I asked. I wished she would stop referring to that other Ryan as you.

"Those with freaky powers are, so they don't become too powerful," the knight said. "Servants don't have power. Besides, Edgar and you were both different. You're hybrids. There are no hybrids in this world."

"No hybrids?"

"Did I tell you that story about the King from the Torres family who wanted to harm the rebellious civilians? I might have withold that he killed all the humans, first. You see, they wanted to burn us at the stake! This world you see no longer has humans in it. But don't you want to hear the end of the story? One day, you approached Edgar at the palace and started treating him like a friend. You never parted from each other. You even went to the ceremony of the name change together."

"But if there are no hybrids in this world," I muttered. "And the Edgar and Ryan she met were hybrids, just where did they come from?"

She didn't reply, and when Edgar came back, I told him the whole story.

"This is so confusing," he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, to avoid a headache. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"In my dream?" I nodded. "It is just as I feared. To be able to break the curse you have to feed its bloodlust," I said. "Absorb most of Set's power. Things like that."