The Palace, Midnight, Illea
As much as he hated his older sister, Prince Maximillian Schreave couldn't help missing her. She had been an outright she-dog when she was alive. She had been petty, self-absorbed, and narcissistic, but she still didn't deserve to be kidnapped and shot on camera in front of all of Illea.
Slightly shivering in the cold air, and wrapping his jacket closer around him, Max took another look through his telescope at the sky, spotting the constellation Orion. The stars were bright tonight, even more so with the cold, and he could see them twinkling into view. He had been reminded of his sister because of the cold, and because of the girl sat besides him, her dark brown hair flapping in the wind. Max still wasn't sure why he had invited her up to watch the stars with him, but his little sister had always seemed to be a much better person that Madeline had been.
"Max, is that a constellation? The Pegasus, right over there?" Missy, 16 years old and a certified genius, had tilted the instrument towards her eye, and was now squinting into it.
Following her gaze to where she had pointed, Max laughed and shook his head.
"That's an airplane, sissy," He said, watching the blinking red and green lights flicker as they interrupted their view of the night skies. Missy blinked and laughed with him, reaching into her pocket to slip on her reading glasses in the process. Her hazel eyes reflected the stars, and he could see the faint sliver of the crescent moon in them. Max turned his own face to the moon, and could barely see the darkness against the inky black of the sky. It was almost peaceful, up on the roof, or at least it was until a large bang startled the two siblings out of their silence.
Missy jumped, her glasses sliding off of her nose onto the roof. She reached out and grabbed his hand, looking around wildly for the source, tugging on him gently while staying silent.
Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to spend some time stargazing when a prominent terrorist group was still active in Illea.
"Shit. Missy, wait here. If anyone shows up, whack them with the 'scope. Got it?" Max whispered into his sister's ear, and gently patted her shoulder. Missy, her large eyes widening even more, moved a smidge closer to the telescope, a hand gripping it with all her strength.
Max carefully climbed down the rickety ladder that had let them see the stars from the palace's roof, and descended into the darkness of the drafty hallway, a bright gleam of light from further down making him squint and realize that he didn't have a weapon. Hadn't General Collins told them to be armed at all times? Cursing his forgetfulness, he bent down on the ground and picked up a loose brick he had tripped on when he had originally went up to the roof with the telescope.
It felt harsh and rough in his hand. Max crept forward, treading as quietly as possible, moving closer and closer to the light with every tentative step. Five feet. Four feet. A yard. It was much too close for comfort now, but he knew that the ladder would be the only way up to the roof, and he was between it and whatever this threat was.
He paused, knowing very well what might await him, and drew in a sharp breath that was louder than he had hoped. Another mistake, for the light turned around and shown in his eyes, revealing the fleeting figure of a man not much older than Max himself, wearing strange clothing with gears and a top hat, thick kohl lining his eyes.
"My condolences, your highness," The stranger gave him a grin, his eyes flashing like a predator's, before he gave a mock bow that made Max want to tear the stranger into shreds.
The man darted into a passage without a thought, causing Max to start and instinctively move, not realizing that a strange feeling was starting in his stomach. It was like he was slowly changing into something else, like his brain was turning on, like he was-
Oh. This was a dream, and he was waking up.
The Palace, Morning, Illea
Max woke up in a cold sweat, and rubbed his head. It had been a dream, and a rather strange one at that, but he supposed he could blame his own subconciousness for it. He'd taken Missy out stargazing last night anyway, so he understood where it had come from, but the appearance of the stranger puzzled him.
Feeling his sheets pressed up to his chin, Max wiped the sleep from his eyes and pulled back his covers, clambering out of the bed with the grace of a drunk mammoth. The clock said it was only 8:30, but he knew that his alarm was going to sound at any second, and any chance to turn off the beeping monstrosity would be welcomed. It was on his nightstand, and he whacked it to disable it before turning and flopping back down on the bed.
His pillow smelled like sweat, and having his nose buried in it wasn't enjoyable, though he needed the darkness and smothering feeling of it to think about last night. The rooftop, but stargazing had gone well, and the two had only gone inside when Missy had nearly fell off the roof from being half-asleep. No mysterious strangers had showed up, but he did remember breathing in some strange dust, perhaps an after-effect of the recent meteor shower that had graced the Angeles skies a few days previously.
Scientists had accused it of causing strange hallucinations in dreams, and weather forecasters had called for an odd bout of chilliness, but it hadn't seemed to cause anything to happen to the palace.
Max tapped on the bed with his hand, face still buried in the pillow, and came to a conclusion. The scientists had been right, which was troubling. He had faith in it, of course, but he had heard of something of this caliber happening once before, which gave it new proof.
He sighed and pulled himself out of the pillow, wanting to throw some clothes on and get breakfast. Max knew he was loud in the morning, and Missy was bound to complain about the noise later, but he couldn't help the fact that his room naturally made him trip on piles of clothes. The maids had been neglecting cleaning it.
A look in the mirror showed his eyes with deep circles underneath. His hair was a mess, sticking up at points and in frenzied curls, and he looked a bit skinner than he had yesterday. Sweat dripped down his chest, thankfully falling off before it got down any lower, and Max could conclude that he looked like an absolute mess. Nightmares always did this to him, and the best cure for that was food.
After he untangled his hair and actually put his clothes on, since it wasn't socially acceptable to walk around palaces naked, he threw open the door of his room and nearly ran into a sleep-deprived Missy, scowling with dark bags under her eyes.
His little sister had her reading glasses perched on top of her hair, done in twin fishtails that trailed down the back of her "But First, Coffee" shirt that was three sizes too big for her, and her sweatpants were rolled up to reveal lime green bunny slippers.
"You, giant idiot, make more noise than stampede of elephants!" She complained, pointing an accusing finger at him while trying to stay upright. It began clear that the coffee had not been consumed before this interaction.
"Sorry, Sissy. Hey, how did you sleep?" Max grinned at her and pushed her finger away, putting a hand on top of his sister's head. It was a genuine question in concern out of her dark circles, and not until she started talking did he realize he wanted to know whether she'd had a strange dream.
"Fine, but I had this really weird dream. It was before we went to bed, we were stargazing, yeah? Well, there was a strange noise, and I walked downstairs to go and see what it was. A women, she was middle-aged, she appeared out of nowhere and curtsied to me before vanishing again. Mom said she had something of the sort, what about you?" At this, Max was relieved and also slightly terrified. They had shared a dream. The scientists had been right.
A/N: Hello! This is the start of a selection SYOC, set in a world disconnected or in the far future from the reign of the Schreaves. It might take some explaining, but stay with me!
A solar eclipse has brought a virus to Earth that invades the mind, and the dreams of those it infects. Unknown to the royals, the palace is a dangerous source of the virus, and the selection is going to bring a whole host of new feeding areas for the virus. The virus warps the mind's perception of dreams and sends the infected person's conscious to a dream dimension where they live as a different person, without realizing it. The dream dimension is often full of fantasy and things not possible in reality, but plays off of real life enough to create a parallel selection.
In the dream dimension, another selection is created out of the girl's other identities, but they have no clue who they are in the dreams. Dreams are hardly ever remembered, and it might just happen that true love can be found in both worlds. The Dream Selection, instead of provinces, takes the girls from different time periods in the dimension.
Since having 70 characters would be too many to manage, only 20 spots will be available for each selection. It's recommended that you do a girl from the other dimension and Illea, though the real world identities of each character in the dream dimension will be randomized and will only be revealed once the selection is full. The girl who wins the selection in the dream dimension will disappear from the real world.
It's two selections in one, and the form and everything is up on my profile, along with information about the story and the monarchs. I'd love it if you submit, so check it out!