Building a kingdom in the dark

Darkness

Stephen woke up but decided to keep his eyes closed for a little more, small pieces of his dream still playing in his head. He smiled; what a strange dream, getting hit by a car and waking up in another place. As the boy turned he noticed that his blankets were thicker than he remembered, he didn't pay too much attention to the details though, Stephen rarely slept in his bed so his memories were probably just messed up.

Someone knocked on the door of his room, alarmed the boy and made him listen more closely, before standing and walking towards it. As he did so, he felt on his skin the texture of clothes different from his usuals. He stopped in his tracks, feeling the dress with his hands and he felt a far smoother cloth. 

He glanced around, noticing how dark the place he was in was. Bringing a hand close to his eyes, he noticed that he was completely unable to see it. Sighing, he simply decided to go back to his bed before mumbling something like: "come in, I'm up"

As someone entered the room, he heard clearly the footsteps of a woman walking towards the windows which were at his right. Wait, how did he even know that? As he thought about it, Stephen simply came up with no answers, he simply knew it as if it was already written in his mind years before. 

"Good morning young master" a feminine voice said. Yet, he didn't know the person who had said it; it sounded like the one of his mother yet it reminded him of the voice of his elementary 

school teacher. How funny to think about that woman right now. 

"Good morning..." he said, his voice sounding far more different from the last time he had heard it.

Usually, Stephen's voice was rather high and girly, his voice never changed and, for how much he hated it, he still sounded like an eight grader despite his height. Yet, right now, at that moment he sounded, well, he sounded like a british man. Not that he had something against british people yet, the boy didn't think that once grown he would talk with a thick english accent. He lived in America and came from Korea, he didn't exactly had the chnce to pick it up.

Stephen's voice was rather deep with a thick british tone and a good impossibility to say the letter R correctly. 

As who he assumed to be a servant headed towards the windows, Stephen stood up again, his feet automatically leading him towards his wardrobe. Though, as the servant opened the windows with a rather harsh movement; the boy saw no difference. It was still dark as night and he still couldn't see anything. 

"What hour is it..." he started to ask a question just to realize that he had no idea what he was talking to. It wasn't like the windows thing in which he actually knew where the windows were located; because he had no recalls about the identity of the woman. 

"You could call me Lauren, young master, and it's almost 9am" she said kindly. 

The man kept silent as he simply dressed, without thinking too much about it, he grabbed some clothes following his instinct. 

"Are this... clothes alright?" Stephen asked, playing it cool.

Honestly, he was panicking so much in his head; yet something was preventing him from showing his concern. It was as if his face was completely blocked, he was acting so naturally it spoke to him. 

"Yes young master, allow me to help you" she asked as she went nearer.

"wait, it's alright. I'll come to breakfast in a few minutes" the boy said as he dismissed her. 

As he heard the door closing, he gave in a long liberating sigh.

"Just... what the... am I still dreaming?" He said, his voice sounding so good yet so unfamiliar. It wasn't his, it was wrong and sounded like it. 

He couldn't see at all; Lauren had said that it was 9am, yet, it looked as if it was literally midnight. Was that a dream? A nightmare perhaps. As he pressed his hands over his right cheek, he braced himself for a moment before slapping himself. The jolt of pain was probably enough to wake him up, yet he didn't see more clearly, nor did he wake up. Stephen mumbled something incoherent, a mix between: "that f*****g hurt" and "God damnit what the..."

Quickly dressing up, he noticed that his arms were both covered in bandages; yet, he didn't feel pain. Sighing almost dramatically he simply walked towards the door towards the exit, deciding to play along with that sick dream of his mind. 

He was sure that, if he couldn't wake up in that moment then; he was going to wake up once he would fall asleep.

As he swung the door open, something rather heavy fell over his feet, making him jump in surprise. Bending down and picking up the object, he let his fingers run over the object; it was rather long, and heavy as well. It wasn't as cold as something like iron would be, Stephen assumed that it was a long cane of some sort of wood. Thinking as it is, blind people did have canes to feel the world around them.

Some decorations were carved over the cane, as he enjoyed the feeling of his fingers tracing them, he decided that they were flower decorations. It didn't even sound that wrong as the incisions were curvy and full of all those twists and turns he couldn't quite picture in his head. 

Yet, the weight was off. Honestly, Stephen wasn't an expert in woodcraft; he was a hacker and messed with computers, not with trees and all those natural things that made guys manly. He wasn't even near the definition actually. But, Stephen wasn't stupid and knew that, well, wood is supposed to be much lighter than that. 

Placing his hand over the handle, he felt as if it belonged to that cane; as if he had passed so many years holding that specific object. It was a funny sensation, something he wasn't supposed to feel at all because it was a dream.

When was the last time he had felt that way? probably when he still attended middle school, when getting hugged was socially accepted and he still didn't hate his parents. As he held the cane with his right hand he let the left one slide until he found a sort of recess, something that appeared because of constantly passing the hand in that specific space. Then, illumination struck, a genius idea appeared in his mind. So, this whole thing was a dream right? Then, if it was a dream, it meant that; one, he could control everything since it happened in his mind. And, two, since that place seemed to be a fantasy film or something, then, swords inside canes are definitely a thing right?

As he held the cane tightly and pulled the handle of the object, Stephen found himself wielding a sword, and he felt like a genius for managing to understand everything.

Stephen walked down the hall confidently, showing no sign of the fact that he was completely lost. The wood staff being used more like a walking stick than anything else as he wasn't really conscious on how to use it.

At times, while passing near certain paintings or rooms, he felt as if he already knew what they were for or what was inside without even asking. It didn't happen often though, it would have been too simple knowing everything from the start , after all, Stephen and his own mind weren't definitely on good terms. 

Sighing, he took a stroll down another hall, honestly, he couldn't even tell if he was walking in a circle at this point. Mumbling some curses under his breath he walked where he supposed the right was. People who got lost in mazes did that right? ...what was he even doing? Wandering inside a dream for no reason in specific, looking like an i***t to whoever could see. 

"Big brother!" A young and loud voice could be heard, the boy was able to hear it clearly as if it was precisely behind him, more specifically a few meters behind, slightly to the left and fastly approaching.

As he turned to where he assumed the voice was, he bumped into someone; or did the person run towards him purposely? Judging by the fact that the person was hugging his waist, he assumed he was dealing with a kid. A child that said big brother so was either his little sister or brother. Thing is, he had no siblings.

Ever since he was a child, his parents categorically refused to get him a sibling, or a pet. They said that raising one child was already hard enough and that if their new kid would have become like him, they would have been so shy to not call the police if thieves break in the house; they would have killed themselves. You know, the completely normal excuse for parents to avoid giving birth to another young one.

The kid shifted slightly, probably for watching him in the eyes. He instinctively ran a hand through the person's hairs, feeling them soft and straight; near his hand he could feel something of a different texture though, he played with the object for a little before deciding that it was a ribbon. Definitely a ribbon; so, since ribbons were used for girls in a court, probably the kid was a girl; and his younger sister. 

"Good morning" He said educately, accidentally coming out as too cold. The person shifted again as he felt them leaning towards him more than he already was; their weight acted as if they were standing on their tiptoes. 

"hmmm... what's wrong? You're paler than usual" The kid said as they poked the boy's cheek playfully. As he tried to reply, he found himself at a loss of words; was he pale? How was he even supposed to know that?

Like, if he didn't even know he was pale; what about the reason for it? No idea, he wasn't never good in thinking fastly in situations he couldn't imagine the outcome of. 

"I..." 

"Oh! I know it!" the kid cut him off as she randomly jumped away, probably smiling widely as he could clearly hear the excitement in their voice. 

"You had a nightmare!! Here! This will help you out!!" She said as she started to jump up and down, were kids always that energic?

His sibling made something slide across his wrist, he jolted slightly in surprise which caused a whine from the girl along with a muttered: "Stay still". 

"What are you doing?" Stephen asked as he glanced to where the kid was, wondering what in the omnipotent grace and might of his computer were they doing.

"It's a surprise! I'll tell you later" The kid said cutely as she kept toying with his arm and what he concluded was a string of some sort. After a few minutes a little giggle from his sibling was heard. 

"Hey, what's so funny?" He pointed out jokingly as the child let him go before taking his hand. 

"Well, you know, you're a prince and I'm a princess. And father said that only princesses wear ribbons... so, I gave you my ribbon so that we are both princesses now!" She said happily as she swung his hand a little.

Her hand was warm and small; it was really nice, judging by the length of the fingers, she probably played the piano as well. He almost stopped in track as he realized what he had just thought. How did he know hands so well? 

"Hm, or maybe, I'm the princess now and you can be the prince" Stephen said softly, feeling relaxed and happy to be near the kid; usually, he didn't really liked them yet,she was a completely different thing.

"That would be so cool big brother!" She said giggling while leading him through the maze of hallways and rooms.

"Where are you taking me?" Stephen asked while smiling at his little sister. Honestly, the more time passed, the more he enjoyed his stay; it was a lovely dream actually and he was going to thank his mind as soon as he would wake up. 

The thought of being helplessly led through an unknown place could easily draw him insane; the only flaw of that dream perhaps. 

"To the dining room! Our father told me to call you; I checked your room and your study room but you weren't there so I went to the library and you were there!!" She said excitedly, the slight movement of the air indicating that she was gesturing a lot with her other hand. 

So, in the dining room; Stephen wondered if in the room in which they were heading he was going to... meet his "father". 

Meet, could he still even use that word? usually it was used to describe seeing and talking to someone unknown. Perhaps, he still could; it was a dream, so it was simply a temporary situation; so meet could still be used without breaking any grammatical rule.

Since when was he so fixated on grammar...

After some minutes of silent walk he felt the girl stop, his hand which had been held by her until now becoming colder. He somehow felt a faint sensation of loss; to get attached to someone not real so quickly, it was a world record.

The door swung open as he felt the girl becoming more rigid, he quickly did the same, straightening his back and instinctively fixing the coat he was wearing. 

It was a beautiful piece of work probably, it had decorations as well and was a little shorter than back long; a short coat, he allowed to call the cloth like that. 

A loud and energetic disembodied voice was heard through the hall; a rather low and ringing voice, it reminded him of his real own father in a way, a cold tone masked as an emotional and rich one.

"Arika, light of my eyes and Stephen, my son and only heir; I wish you two a beautiful morning"