The roof of the castle is the perfect place to go when one's soul longs for peace and tranquility after a long, stressful day at the office – or finding out that they were murdered in their sleep. It's from there one can allow their thoughts to consume them and to wallow in pity without interruption.
/I can't believe I'm actually dead! How?! Why?! According to what I heard, a man infiltrated the castle, slipped into my room, and killed me in my sleep, but that can't be true, can it? At the risk of sounding like Wolfram, everyone loves me. Well, except for King Lanzhil and his cronies, but here in Great Demon Kingdom... one of my own subjects! That can't possibly be right./
I furrow my brows thoughtfully and rack my brains, trying to make sense of what happened.
/It's clear someone wanted me dead. The question is '"Who?" King Lanzhil has always wanted me dead, but sending someone after me in my sleep isn't exactly his style. It had to be someone else, but who?/
I close my eyes and think about everyone I've ever met. I see their faces and hear their voices in my mind and think about their personalities, but no matter how hard I try, I can't think of anyone who would want to harm me more than King Lanzhil. Except it can't be him. I open my eyes and frown.
/I'm missing something, and whatever that something is, I'm not going to find it, wallowing in misery, on the roof. The only way I'm going to get to the bottom of this is to investigate and to find out the truth for myself, and the best place to start is in the castle dungeon./
I stand up and, determined to find out the truth about my death, go back inside and head straight to the dungeon.
I float past several cells before finding the one housing the suspected murderer and stopping to peer in at him. The man's old, frail appearance makes me thinks he isn't capable of committing such a crime, but looks can be deceiving. Fortunately, he's laying on his back, sound asleep, on the bench in his cell. It's the perfect opportunity to see if what I've heard about ghosts being able to enter a persons mind and visit them in their dreams is true or not.
I float through the bars that would prevent a living person from entering or leaving the cell and stop at the man's bedside and stare down at him. I'm about to attempt something I never imagined myself doing in a thousand years so I can only hope I do it right.
/Alright. Here, goes./
I close my eyes tight shut and focus on getting inside the man's head. More specifically, his dream. Suddenly, I'm surrounded by a dense gray frog. I raise my left hand in front of my face, but I can barely see it.
/I suppose it would be hard to see my hand considering it's the same color as the fog./
The second the thought crosses my mind, the fog starts to lift. I look around and see the market place just ahead and start walking. Since the shops patrons are just dream images, I don't worry about how they'll react to seeing me.
I reach the market place and just like I expected, the patrons go on about their business as if I'm not even here. I continue to walk until the sound of a man's voice catches my attention. I stop walking and glance to my right and see the man who's dream I've entered servicing a patron. He hands the patron a sack of grain, which the patron takes and rests on his left shoulder, before smiling and waving him off. The second the patron walks away, the man is approached by someone wearing a brown colored cloak with the hood pulled up. The cloak is covered in dirt and has patches where it was once torn. I can't help but think I've seen that cloak somewhere before.
The person wearing the cloak says something to the man that I can't understand, but judging by the expression on the man's face it isn't something good.
The cloaked figure raises their left arm until it's level with their chest and raises their hand as if they're making the sign for "stop." An eerie black-green mist shoots from the palm of the cloaked figure's hand like a laser and encompasses the man's head. The expression on the man's face, which reflected fear and confusion seconds earlier, suddenly goes blank and he nods mutely as if he's nodding along with something the other person said. Even though the other person hasn't said anything.
Despite the uneasy feeling that's formed in the pit of my stomach, I step closer and try to get a better look at the cloaked figure.
Suddenly, the sky turns pitch black, the shop's patrons disappear, and the buildings start to crumble and come crashing down around me. I cry out in alarm and bring my arms up to protect myself from the falling debri.
/Someone help!/
{…. business!}
The commotion ends as quickly as it began and the word 'business' echoes in my head. Confused, I slowly lower my arms away from my head and open my eyes and look up.
/What?/
{Didn't you hear what I said? I said, state your business!}
A soldier looms over me and stares impatiently at me. I open my mouth to speak, intent on telling him what happened to me and about what happened in the market place just now, but the words that come out of my mouth aren't the words I wanted to say.
{I need to speak with his majesty, the king. It's urgent.}
/What?! Why did I say that?! Further, what's wrong with my voice?! I sound like a tired old man!/
I bring my hands up in front of my face and gasp in shock. My hands are wrinkled and pale and covered in dirt and grass stains as if I've been digging the ground with them. I look around for a mirror to confirm my suspicions but all I see is the water floating lazily in the castle moat. I crawl to the edge of the drawbridge and peer into the water at my reflection and gasp in alarm.
/WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! I LOOK LIKE THE ASSASSIN!/
{Sir?}
The soldier from before calls to me in concern and I move away from the edge of the drawbridge and look up at him, feeling calm suddenly.
{Gomen. Please, may I see your king?}
{Yes. This way.}
The soldier escorts me inside and I look around as I follow him. Everything is exactly as I remember it. The corridors are all made up of the same blue-gray bricks and have the same arched ceilings they've always had. The doors leading to the different rooms and the windows in the walls opposite of those rooms are all right where they should be. Yet, instead of the warm, welcoming feeling I should be experiencing, I feel uneasy, as if something terrible is about to happen.
The soldier stops walking and says something I don't quite catch before turning and going back the way we just came and I nod and bring my arms up to hug myself.
/Something isn't right. I should feel safe and at home here. Instead, I.../
All of sudden, my mind goes blank and my legs start moving on their own. I don't know where they are taking me or why and I don't care. My legs take me down one corridor before stopping in front of a large double door. A voice inside my head says it isn't too late to stop and to turn back, but another, stronger voice says to open the door and go inside. Shaking, I open the door and step inside.
On the other side of the room is a four poster bed with a green curtain drawn around it, shielding the person sleeping on it from view. It is that person whom I've come to kill. It isn't what I want, but I have no choice. I reach to the side and pluck one of the decorative swords off the wall next to me and walk over to the bed.
{Shinou forgive me!}
A/N: After reading Chapter 8, you're probably wondering at what point did this turn into a dream sequence and when did it end? The dream sequence started when Yuuri couldn't see his own hand through the thick fog and was still going at the end of the chapter. Also, I used brackets "{..}" to show that the characters in the dream were talking.
This chapter was very difficult for me to write. Not because I felt for Yuuri or the old man (Fred) or because the whole chapter felt somewhat depressing, but because it unepectedly triggered my anxiety a little (and not in a good way). I didn't know if I'd be able to finish it. Thank goodness I can now get to work on the next chapter!
Thanks for taking the time to read this chapter. :)