The Amorous Mate

Chapter 16: Dream

“H-Hey, where am I?”

Chelsea surveyed the aberrant surrounding she was currently standing.

She does not know how or why was she in the middle of a place so mysterious she had never seen before.

Her eyes travelled around the place in search for someone, or something she could use so that she could learn where she was situated.

She seriously had no idea how come she had been in this peculiar place. The moment she opened her eyes, she just found herself there, standing lone.

To her dismay, she could not find any clue that might help her. What lies in the surrounding were peculiar plain: a lake, thick fog, field of flowers, and black sky.

Yet, though plain if it was going to be described, this place could be of another thing: enchanting.

The color of the lake was enchantingly mysterious because it was as white and silver as the color of the bright moon.

The field of flowers were composed of white-colored roses, and each of them was surrounded with sparkling glitters as if it was their auras. The thick fog, she could not help but not to ignore, because there seems to be a soothing music playing in the middle of its realm.

And the sky: it was stunning with its million shines coming from the stars.

“I have long been waiting for you, Chelsea.”

Suddenly, a woman’s voice echoed in the surrounding. Chelsea was a bit shock from it because the voice seemed loud but it did not hurt her ears. It was as if her soft voice was echoing inside her head—or perhaps in the whole peculiar surrounding?

“Who are you?” Chelsea courageously asked.

“You shall not mind who I am, Chelsea. I am just but the watcher of your kinds,” the soft woman’s voice answered.

“Huh? The what? Watcher of our kinds? What kind of ‘kinds’ are you talking about?” ever sass and confused, Chelsea asked with a mystified tone.

Because of that, she heard the woman’s voice lightly chuckling.

“What’s so funny, dude? I’m not even joking,” Chelsea said, a bit of irritated.

“Nothing. It was just that, among hundreds—or even thousands—of your kinds that I have personally blessed with my presence, you are just the only one who have talked to me with that manner.”

“Well, maybe if you would show me yourself and not just hide behind that creepy voice, I could perhaps change my way of talking?” Chelsea sarcastically replied.

“Very well,” the woman’s voice said.

Now, Chelsea was staring in front of the silver-colored lake found in the preternatural realm. From the fog that was surrounding the lake, something mystifying has appeared.

Something white. Something beautiful.

But something terrifying. Dreadful.

When she saw the real physical body of the woman she was talking with, Chelsea stepped back. She did that not just once, nor twice, but many uncountable times until she had not controlled herself but trip and fall on the grassy ground.

“You need not to be frightened, Chelsea. I have never had any intention of hurting you,” said the woman.

“Y-You would not eat me?” Chelsea asked. She swallowed the lump on her throat after asking.

From that, the voice of the woman chuckled. “Why, with such of my elegant form, would I dare try to eat humans?” she answered.

The woman in Chelsea’s front was in truth, not a woman.

She is an enchanting creature.

She is like a wolf—but slim and gracious. She has white fur that was definitely as soft as the tiny bird’s feathers. Her tail was one thing more different, because it was not just one, but nine.

She had nine tails. Now on her wolf face, she had bloody red eyes that could petrify anyone she would stare at—Chelsea is the living evidence. If a pair of an eye is not enough, at her forehead, there seems to be a slim, tiny third eye that blinks upon staring.

On her head, a crescent-shaped crown was combed through her beautifully shining fur.

Again, both enthralled and confused, Chelsea asked, “Who are you?”

The wolf blinked, and though her mouth does not move, Chelsea heard her voice inside her mind. “I am the dream messenger. The destiny’s worker. The moon’s watcher.”

None of that seemed fitting to the frightening beauty that the wolf possessed. But because Chelsea was afraid to ask for more about her real self—because it seemed she does not want to tell it—she intently left that topic.

Instead, she nervously asked; “W-Why am I here? Why did you say you are waiting for me?”

The wolf moved. From her dominating posture, she gracefully laid her body on the calm field of grass and roses. Her nine tails spread behind her, like a peacock, but seconds after, she fold and curled those tails so that Chelsea would not be terrified.

Cold wind blew. The grasses and flowers danced.

“I have brought you here because I wanted to talk to you,” the wolf said.

“T-Talk about what?”

“Your current situation.”

“H-Huh? My current situation?” confused, Chelsea asked.

“Indeed. Because, as most concerned, I am the reason why your soul was inside the body of a Princess.”

Suddenly, Chelsea—who was inside of Princess Demeter’s body—was attacked by her adrenaline. With her wide eyes, she stood aggressively and intently looked at the mysterious wolf.

“Y-You are the reason why I was in this body?!” she exclaimed.

“Indeed.”

“Well, whoever you are, if you are the sole reason why I am here, suffering inside this body, please, let me get out away from here—away from Demeter’s body. Let me live back to the usual life I have as Chelsea. I am fine with my simple and uneventful life. I never wished to be a Princess, you see. So please, let me be back to where I am supposed to be. I don’t even belong here!”

“Indeed, you may go back to your own, old life. But that will be based upon your choice,” the wolf said.

“Well then I choose to go back!”

Again, the wolf chuckled. “Don’t be in haste, Chelsea. Everything is happening according to the Destiny’s plan.”

“What? Destiny? I don’t even believe its existence!”

“You should and you must,” the wolf insisted.

Angered and irritated, she grunted as she talked to the mysterious wolf. “Well tell the Destiny to please stop whatever his or her plan is. I want my old life back!”

“Chelsea, you can only go back to your old self only if you would succeed doing one thing while you are living as Princess Demeter. It is a challenge; an entertainment for Destiny.”

“f**k Destiny!” Chelsea angrily complained. Yet then, she breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down. “What is that challenge, if I am left no choice but to do it?” she disappointingly asked, panting heavily.

“Be the Crowned Princess. Give your best until you win the Nightingale’s Throne.”

“W-What?! I . . . I have no intention of being the Crowned Princess. Nor being the Queen.”

“Now you must. Because only until it happens would then you could decide if you would still wish to come back to your old life, or not.”

“But . . . but . . . I have little idea how to become even a decent Princess. If you’re watching me, then you must have seen how I am lost to the royal world, didn’t you?”

“You could always ask for someone’s help, Chelsea. You know you can ask help to someone who knows your existence,” the wolf suggested.

“Who could it be? Is it Venida, or Vennett, or Cassiopeia, or . . .” when she realized something, everything inside her stopped functioning. She froze from disbelief and shock.

“You must wake up from this dream now, Chelsea. The morning has already rose. Goodluck with the Destiny’s challenge. Just remember that this mere wolf is watching you from this place. From the moon.”

Now, as soon as the wolf prophesied those words, everything went black and blunt. Until, she felt the urge to crease her face because of the bright sunlight that was hitting her face. She grunted as she stretched her awakened body.

When she finally had the chance to open her eyes, she found herself laying her body back inside the elegant room—the royal room only intended for the second Princess Demeter.