4. Sanctuary
Once upon a time, there was a lord. He was a collector of poisons, one who stuck his head into mysteries and mysterious things. They called him the Earl who Courts Death.
The image of a young, teenaged boy with raven black hair appeared in front of Cassandra through the white mist. He sat on a chair, drinking a cup of tea and savoring it with a gentle, mocking smile upon his face.
He had a loyal servant, his head butler, who had been completely honest and faithful to him. Even better, he made the best tea that the lord could ever have.
An older man with short, silvery hair appeared beside the lord, a small smile on his face as he poured another cup of tea for the teen. The younger grinned, before drinking the tea.
Hidden from each other, however, was a secret longing, a gentle longing for the two to be together. The servant worried about what his lord might think, for it was deemed taboo by society for the master and his servant to be in such a relationship; but...all the lord worried about was whether his servant had the same feelings as he did.
The scene transitioned to the teen, looking at the older man silently and sighing softly. While the teen wasn't looking, the servant looked at him, bit his lip anxiously, and looked away with a little sadness written on his face.
One day, they couldn't hide it from each other anymore.
"Lord Cain..." the servant trailed off awkwardly. "Um...I have something important to tell you."
"The same goes for I as well, Riff." the teen (Cain) responded, blushing a little. "I..." he sighed. "I can't...express it in words."
"Nor can I." Riff admitted.
The two were silent, before Cain pulled Riff into a kiss.
The two ran away together, and they found themselves at what seemed to be an abandoned castle. They entered the place, looking about when they encountered the prince and his lover.
The scene transitioned to Cain and Riff, the two looking about with lanterns in one hand, and their free hands clasping onto each other tightly. Riff let go of Cain's hand and slowly pushed a door open, to see a man with long, silver hair and a shorter man with short, blackish hair.
After being told of what had occured, the prince and his lover decided to let them stay. The four lived in that castle for the rest of their lives, and past that as well.
"So...you decided not to heed my warning."
Cassandra turned after putting the music box away on the shelf, to see the ghostly figure from before, with short, silvery hair. He pulled out a knife and pointed it at him.
"Don't come any closer..." Cassandra trailed off, too frightened to say another word.
The figure just chuckled a little bit. "That knife is useless to you against me; I am already, for lack of a better word, dead. I'm just a mere spirit that wanders this place." he walked towards Cassandra. "I'm surprised that you haven't gone mad, nor as frightened as all the ones that wandered into here and had their souls locked up into the music boxes..."
"Hold on a moment." Cassandra closed his eyes briefly, thinking. That man looked familiar...from the music box vision just now. "You're Riff...aren't you? Riffael Raffit."
Riff nodded. "You are right." he admitted. "I am. That music box you looked at just now; it truly did happen in reality. Cain and I loved each other very much, and...you know the rest." he glanced at all the other shelves, full of even more music boxes. "Some of the stories in these music boxes actually happened in reality. Others did not, like the first two you looked at."
"Am I supposed to be seeing visions every time I open up one of these?" Cassandra asked, glancing at the music boxes as well.
"Precisely. Jizabel did love stories and music boxes to the point that he dabbled in a little magic to put the two together." Riff explained. He looked at the music box on the desk. "You haven't looked at that one."
"I know..." Cassandra trailed off. "I...assumed that since there wasn't any words on the box like all the rest, there wasn't any music...or a story."
"Anyone can fabricate such a fantasy if they simply think about it, and the same goes for music. Why don't you try it out?" With that remark, Riff faded away from view.
Cassandra looked at the blank music box on the desk and walked over to it. It was a simple music box, in a simple rectangle and light brown. There were no words on the lid. He thought about what Riff had just said. Maybe he could try.
With that resolve, he opened the lid.
Author note: This chapter is inspired by a music box version of 'Sanctuary' from the video game series Kingdom Hearts.