A.B.C... (Closed)

Alexander sat on his bed, gazing out his window. The rest of the castle had settled down leaving the sleepless Prince of Dreams to his own devices for yet another night. He sighed as he leered up at the stars jealously. He was happy that he got to travel to other worlds as he did, but it felt hollow. He wasn't explicitly doing it out of defiance- he had gone to at least one world prior as an ambassador. All the others he stumbled into, though.

In fact, seldom did those worlds ever come to him. He loved adventure and exploration, but after last time there was a worry- what if one night, he simply never came back to castle? Would people worry? Would they be afraid for him, or sad over him? Alexander didn't want that. But he hated being confined! It was constricting and abrasive, and his nightly romps were his only reprieve from the princely duties he constantly exercised and carried out during the day- not that he minded the doing, but he needed a break. His adventures were just that.

But worry constrained him from venturing out this night. At least, at the current hour he refused to go out since last time had ended with him being locked in a supposed life or death struggle. Something so off putting is not something one would care to repeat. He also worried over his bride-to-be. He still had yet to meet this young maiden- had something happened? It wasn't that he loved her. After all, they'd never met. But... still! One should be concerned for their fiance.

The thoughts swam in his head like fish in a bowl, moving in circles and without a clear resolution. Finally submitting he leaned back with a sigh, still in perfect position to see the moon out his window. Two more days. There would be a new moon in two days. He inhaled sharply, and held it for a minute before letting the breathe escape his lungs. That would be a very bad day for him. New Moons were always bad days. They were the only days he slept.

Raising up he looked back out his window and let his eyes falter to the ground. That moment was all it took- the red orbs in the darkness of the wood gazed up back at him and he felt a shiver travel down his spine. He was frozen by his fear and refused to look away, wanting to keep what had to be nothing other than eyes in plain sight. A few seconds passed. The red lights died out, and Alexander could hear a faint and soft thud of feet running into the Castle grounds.

Oh no. Alexander's heart sank into his stomach. Fear gripped him and squeezed his abdomen. He started to tremble as he lept out of bed, arms wrapped around himself. He grabbed the doorknob, and tried to twist it. The handle was locked from the outside, and his eyes opened wide. Somebody must have noticed his absences in the night and taken steps to constrain the young boy. He was not trapped in his room, and that thing, whatever it was, knew exactly where to find him.

From the other side, the doorknob rattled. Alexander leapt back in fear as he released it from his own grip and staggared to the floor, hitting the ground with a hard thump. The rattling continued with greater intensity. "Prince Alexander?" The voice came from Helga, one of the servants.

"Helga?" Alexander's panic was still evident but had mostly subsided to confusion.

"I was just coming by to make sure you didn't get out of your room tonight," she stated. "Melvin had a fit at us last time."

A surreal contradicting feeling of calmness bolstered by the stress of urgency washed over Alexander. "I- I'm sorry, Helga. Helga-"

"It's quite alright Prince Alexander," came her quiet voice from the other side of the door.

"Helga, listen! There's somebody in the Castle! We have to warn the guards!"

Silence.

"Helga!" Alexander shouted at her, but no sound came. Then, suddenly, he heard a thump outside of his door. Something vaguely familiar. Something that, somehow, he was able to immediately identify. The sound of a limp body hitting a marble floor. He stared underneath his door as blood trickled out from beneath it and into his room. He whimpered as he stood to his feet, scrambling towards the window as the thing dug a blade through his door. The sound of cracking wood made the young man yelp as he tried to summon his concentration.

"Make a gate," he commanded himself as he held out his hand. "You've done this before," he wheezed as another strike of the sword cracked the door even more. From the other side, Alexander could see a red orb glowing through the slivers and cracks. He exhaled, trying to calm himself, and with that a strange, light blue gate opened before him. He grinned. "Yes!" He shouted this quietly, nervously, withdrawing his outstretched hand into his ribs as he dashed through the gate.

He rolled out in front of the castle, somehow way undershooting his destination. His eyes looked up as he sat outside of the Castle of Dreams, and immediately his gaze fell upon the light in his room. There was a since of dread. He wanted to leave the world, but instead had only managed to travel a few hundred feet! The New Moon must have been affecting his powers. He was snapped back from that train of thought when he heard the door to his room splinter from all the way down on the castle. And then the light went out. In the room he could see the glowing red orbs moving excitedly about the area, scanning it fervently. It's eyes fell over him once. Twice. Three times, but it continued to search his room. It didn't see him outside! He had made it from the creature's sight, but he couldn't go back in the castle and wake up the guards.

He couldn't risk anybody else... could he? Nobody had been risked yet. Helga had made a run for it and been fine, right? Yeah, that's exactly what happened. But who was to say that Alexander would be so lucky? He stood up, looking between the castle and the road to town... and he chose the road, bolting down the path as quickly as he could. He cast a backwards glance at the window and saw those eyes boring into him. This time, it did see him. In the same second, they were gone.

Alexander put his head forward as he ran down the wooded road. He had to make it to the town. He could find help there. The thing wasn't in the Castle to hurt anybody else... it wanted Alexander. The revelation only made him run faster.

Kia Mason's patience was wearing thin, she and a few other girls were planning to fill the private all-girls school with croaking frogs, they were going to release the frogs at the school sleepover, scaring all of the girls and staff. Except, Kia was doing all the work while the other students were waiting at the school laying in their sleepover bags, waiting for her. The Half-Djinn shivered and hoisted the large wooden crate under her left arm as she walked towards the elite school. The blonde was in an expensive white linen nightgown with cute bunny slippers that made a squeaking sound and moved it's whiskers everytime Kia planted her feet firmly to the ground, Her hair was in a low ponytail with loose strands covering her plain face as she braved the cold breeze.

The girl wasn't far from the school, and she wasn't far from the town either. It was silent in the town square, windows were shut, doors were locked, and people that had guard dogs placed them outside tied to a leash to bark away and warn the families of intruders. Kia almost flinched when she saw a guard dog walk up to her and sniff the wooden crate, The teenager avoided the dog and quickly walked away, her bunny slippers squeaking right after her. She flushed when guard dogs started to bark at the sound, Dammit, I should've left these at home! She thought, walking faster. They were a Christmas present from Abigail last year, and she has tried her best to avoid wearing them in her pajamas. She decided that maybe it was cute enough for the sleepover, agh, being a normal teenage was starting to become lame. The Half-Djinn had made a vow that she would stop going on adventures and go to school like a normal teenager, seeing that everyone she befriends are always put in danger because of her reckless drive to jump into almost anything! Hopefully, this school sleepover was going to be fun, and hey maybe she won't have to think about Tyler... Tyler, who?

"And I thought I wasn't going to think about him," She muttered, still squeaking towards the road toward the castle and the elite school. The teenager caught a glimpse of a familiar stature heading towards her...? No, the town... Who was that? Kia kept walking closer to find out, all of a sudden the figure looked familiar. The prince? What was he doing out? Was he hosting the sleepover? She didn't know about this! She was rather pissed off that the girls never told her. But wait, he looked scared... Was the masked man back in the castle!? The sleepover had to wait, "Prince Alexander!!! Over here!" Kia exclaimed, running over to stop the boy in his tracks. "Is the masked man back, What are you afraid of!? I can help! Please tell me what's going on!!!"

She may very well have been less interested in this world, had it not hosted such a random disruption of peace. Typically, so quiet a place would have gone unnoticed by the only soul living in Castle Oblivion. There were other areas to better observe the nature of the worlds, she supposed. But this would be the first where she had ever encountered some kind of conflict...

Hm, yes. So far, she had found nothing worth measuring in terms of an imbalance. Everything seemed to have been in order up to this point. There was a shift in tone that suddenly caught her attention. It was a feeling, a sensation in the chest, running down the spine, that forced her to come looking for its source. And, here she was.

It was dark, this time of night. There were millions of stars dotting the empty canvas above them, though she knew there had once been so many more. The memories were fuzzy, but still there. They had merely faded with time, with her fate. She merely accepted it as part of her mission. There was no time to dwell on the past. There was too much work to be done.
Like a veil, she passed through the town in discreet noiselessness. Her bare feet made no mention to her presence as she moved along the cobblestones, blending into the background with careful grace.

There was some manner of disturbance here...though what and why, was beyond her knowledge, at least for the moment. To begin fighting to keep balance, she would first have to understand which of the two extremes was strongest. Thus far, she had found nothing to point to either side. Perhaps in this sudden calamity, there would be some defining point to which she could begin her mission.

Then, suddenly, a noise keeping in time with that of someone's walking rhythm graced her ears.
...A squeaky noise.
She narrowed her eyes. How annoying.

Still, it was a source of movement. It was better than what she had presently to observe. Like a shadow, she moved delicately towards the origin point of the sound. What she stumbled across proved interesting -- a young blond girl, in her sleepwear, with a rather sizable crate in her arms.
And it was croaking.
She cocked an eyebrow. How puzzling. What manner of strange tradition did this world have, to be toting around frogs in the middle of the night? It was irrational and foolish, however, to make assumptions about anything without facts. She brushed any opinions out of her thoughts. Regardless of its strange context, this was the only thing she'd come across to watch. It was a step, albeit a strange one, forward.

Ah. Something else approached. She couldn't make out whom or what, but the sensation from him was...peculiarly familiar. Similar to herself, even. How odd. This may prove to be of more interest than she had come to believe.
The female regarded the incoming source as a "Prince." A male, one of power and authority. She mentioned a man in a mask. That piqued her attention even more. A troublemaker in the midst, perhaps, or a rival of theirs? There was indeed more to this world than she had originally given it due...it made her wonder what things she had looked over in the other worlds she had observed with seemingly no activity.

Patiently, keeping herself at a reasonable distance to listen and stay out of sight, she waited for more information. If there was some form of imbalance between light and dark, it was plausible she would learn best of what was going on from the people who resided within the worlds themselves. Information was crucial to forming a valid understanding. Thus far, there was no need to make any action. As far as she was concerned, these two were merely innocents -- insects to be observed and studied, never prodded or pestered -- and left well enough alone. To this Nobody, she did her duties best when none even knew she'd been there.

The Castle of Dreams. A very boorish world, but one with hearts that could be snuffed out without notice, thanks to the seclusion of the town from the castle. Yet, it was also thanks to this seclusion that the young Pseudo-Heartless discovered something interesting...a figure. It was moving towards the castle. Curious, he followed it from a safe distance. The thing looked dangerous, and had eyes that were bright red. Similar to the way his own eyes glowed. He followed it all the way into the castle. The thing killed a servant, and cut its way into the room, drowning it in darkness before Rience could do so himself. There was a boy..he made a corridor of light. Rience was curious.

Using his affinity for travelling through space, he followed the boy, moving instantaneously past the creature that he had followed, making his way out of the window, a corridor of darkness open just outside of it, placing Rience perfectly on the ground just outside of the young man's line of sight. He followed close behind, ducking into shadows when needed, thankful that he had chosen to lose the white cloak before coming here, leaving just the black shirt and dark pants that he wore, along with his orange mask, which was darkened to a muted brown in the darkness of the night. He sensed the second and third hearts before he heard the squeak. He ducked back a bit farther, removing his mask and sending it away to his home in Radiant Garden. He then pushed his glasses up and walked into the clearing, clearing his throat as he did so.

No..but there is a creature unlike any other in the castle. If we run, we'd be saved from battle...but people will die. He said bluntly, looking towards the direction of the other heart his senses picked up. That means all of us. Even those who prefer shadows. He said, calling out to the nobody who was hiding from sight. Normally, he would not get involved..but this creature..it was unlike anything he had ever seen. He needed to know more.

Alexander's legs were burning. he had been running for what seemed like endless minutes with something following behind him, lurking in the darkness. He knew it was there, knew it was watching, but dared not turn around lest the fat, salty tears that streamed down his face sting his eyes and blind him. He heard a voice but dismissed it, the outside world muffled by the restrictive grip of fear. His heart beat fast. His chest was low and sore. He felt a shiver in his spine.

And then he hit something not unlike a wall, bouncing him backside down into the dirt. The initial impact frightened him as he was pulled violently from his nightmare, and he scuttled backwards before his eyes showed an almost relieved yet still fear-filled recognition. He didn't try to explain to the girl what was wrong, merely lept from the ground and grabbed at her wrist, attempting to tug at her since he didn't know about her superior strength. "We have to run," he exclaimed! "We have to get to the guards in the village!" The desperation in his voice was unbelievable.

Even as the other person appeared he went on in panic, largely ignoring yet agreeing with the man. Yet, he insisted. "We have to get to the village!"

Kia was shocked that the prince had grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards the town. She managed to not drop the now croaking frogs in her crate. "I'm a guard, I can help!" She said, trying to run to catch up with him. There were two others that had just arrived, both looking mysterious. "Come on guys!" She didn't know the strangers, she followed the boy to the village.

Behind veil and cap, her eyes narrowed. Perhaps if she still had some recollection of the emotion, she may have felt angry towards the snarky boy who had somehow so easily spotted her. She wasn't sure how she'd been so quickly discovered. There was, however, no time for petty feelings.

The Nobody said nothing. There was nothing to be said. Her expression was blank. Perhaps the others had some sense of...fear, was it? She did not. It was unwise to let fear dictate one's actions. Emotions were not weak...but it was a matter of degree. She considered what few she had to be a personal matter. Yes. Better not to show intent until the proper time.
This was simply the way she worked.

Whatever these three concerned themselves with so much, she merely felt a surge of interest. Something troubled this world. She intended to understand what. Perhaps she could then find the answer to her question.