Cylysce Anysia Widjaja - Short Story Writing - Preliminary Round NEO 2020

Silver Bells

In a small kingdom a young girl named, Sylvia Reign lived a life behind walls and shadows. Her life was plagued with sadness and loss.

For you see, her parents were well respected nobels, their kind hearts and fiery souls were well known across the land. Unfortunately, at the tender age of eight, the young girl held witness to the sight of her parents' deaths as a fire consumed her entire world. Leaving a scar across her left arm.

Due to their loyalty and respected name; the benevolent King and Queen, pluck the young girl off the ground and embrace her into their loving arms. Claiming her as their own and as the new princess. Within the palace she was quickly introduced to her new brother, the prince. They were both adopted after their parents untimely demise, him earlier than her since his mother died at childbirth and his father long before that.

Come morning, the King and Queen came to realise a heart wrenching truth of their new daughter. As the sun rose with the fallen moon, the princess' milky skin grew red and knobbly, the princess cried in pain as the sun kissed her skin leaving blotches of red in its wake. Without hesitation, the King and Queen quickly demanded all windows to be sheeted come every morning, engulfing the castle in eternal darkness... but despite the darkness, the castle walls were never cold for the royal family were still warm as they held each other in esteem and love.

Plagued by guilt and grief, the young princess would venture into the garden at night as she cried silent tears. For two nights she wept the loss of her parents, when a miraculous sight swept her away. Her mournful tears had given life to a peculiar flower. The young princess quickly recalled her nights with her late mother; who taught her about many flowers. With closer inspection, she quickly came to realise that the flower before her was a magnoliophyta. One of her late father's favorite flowers.

As she smiled longingly at the budding flower, an unexpected hand rested on her shoulder "Sylvia." the young princess looked up with teary silver eyes at a silver haired boy "Mercury." she smiled as she held his hand, her new brother. Despite his cold demeanour, Sylvia always had faith in his kind heart and decisive will, and despite their tragic start, both children had learned to love and care for each other. For their eleventh birthday, the King and Queen presented the children with a gift. Two silver bells, although the gift may seem small and substandard, the children still treasured it. From then on, the castle staff would call them; The Silver Bells.

Following the chimes of the silver bells, the two began to enact their duties as candidates for the throne. Although the two had learned to care and love for each other, they were still children and with siblings, coincides childish rivalry. As Mercury was knowledgeable; Sylvia was practical, and as Sylvia was clumsy; Mercury was focused. Not an hour goes by did the two siblings not humorously insult one another as they vied for the throne.

Unfortunately, once again, tragedy befell the two silver bells. Without notice the King and Queen tragically passed, their burial was held at night as to permit Sylvia to mourn them with her brother. Unfortunately, rumours had spiraled within the kingdom of the mysterious pale dame that wanders the palace grounds at night. Upon their meeting of the mysterious dame, the kingdom quickly fell for her charms. Her beauty was incomparable, her kindness knew no bounds and her smile swept everyone off their feet. Including the royal council. Under the spell of jealousy, Mercury grew cold and distant towards Sylvia as he would ignore her and belittle her with each chance he got. With the same fiery soul her late parents possessed, Sylvia did not back down from his immature jabs and taunts.

From then on, their rivalry was no longer humourous and light hearted. The halls of the castle grew cold as the young princess would quietly rise above her brother in retaliation to his cold behaviour towards her. Her subtle rise did not go unnoticed, as the royal council began to consider her a more likely candidate for the throne. Persuaded by his jealousy and frustration, Mercury set out to demolish his beloved sister's reputation. As untimely as the silver bells' prior tragedies, the kingdom fell under an unforeseen plague that swept the kingdom into chaos and mourning.

With the plague, the rumours of the mysterious flowers began to arise. Many spoke of its ill effects and that who grew them; the pale dame. As skeptical as the people may be, of their precious pale dame causing such a tragedy. A band of single minded men, collected these flowers and burned them on the hill side that overlooked the kingdom, unaware of its miraculous healing properties and proclaimed that their actions had cured a number of the people from the newly named; death flowers.

With such irrefutable proof, the people began to rise and demand the death of the pale witch that had plagued their kingdom due to grief. With the sun at its highest peak, the people marched and as strong as their knights were, they were nothing compared to the rage and grief of an entire kingdom. Exposing the castle to the sudden sunlight, the people were immediately exposed to the hidden truth of the pale dame as her skin once again grew red and knobbly. The men and women claimed her as a demon from hell as she cried under the touch of the sun.

Mercury was paralysed in his seat as men and women bombarded their home and harmed his helpless sister, without trial and without mercy. The men had dragged her under the merciless sun and tied her to the stake to be burned alive by their own hand. Mercury's screams fell silent with the people's cheers of triumph and Sylvia's begging eyes for her brother's warm embrace.

Silently, the palace guards collected their only remaining heir back to the castle as the royal council began to discuss the barbaric nature of their people. Overwhelmed, Mercury escaped the suffocating walls of the castle as he ran to his late sister's beloved garden. Her precious magnoliophyta flowers were scorched and trampled as she was. A sickening knot began to develop in his stomach as guilt ridden tears began to pour down his face. He didn't mean to spread those baseless rumours in expense of her life, how would he have known that his people would be so impulsive and coarse.

The prince heaved behind the tree as he heard a familiar chime. Focusing on his surroundings he came to the conclusion that it was the same tree he played in with his late sister as the guilt began to weigh on his heart. Dashing towards the chiming bells he discovered a hidden box amongst the shrubs, her bell tied to the box and chimed against the subtle breeze. The contents of the box had only made his guilt intensify. They were brief letters that Sylvia had written to herself. Each letter contained her truest words, how she wished to see her brother's rise to power, how she wished to watch the kingdom grow under his reign, how she was certain that the late king and queen would agree with her that Mercury was the one true king.

Sylvia had never truly vied for the throne, in fact a letter clearly stated that she had renounced her claim to the throne a week after the king and queen's deaths. Her jabs and challenges against Mercury was simply under the hopes that he would once more smile and compete against her as they did as children. With regretful tears, Mercury mourned his late sister with one intention in mind. For his beloved sister, and despite the haunting qualities the bells may represent; he had swore to wear them as his chains of punishment. He will avenge his sister.