Chapter 2:
Enchantcia Castle.
Roland had finished his conference with his council and was having a little downtime with his family. They had been relaxing playing a simple board game when a guard came rushing into the room. "Your majesty your presence is needed in Dunwiddle Forest!"
"Calm down." Roland placed his hands out in front of him calmly. "What is happening?"
"Your majesty just now a young girl by the name of Jane let some guards in Dunwiddle know that right now Carol of The Arrow is facing off against the monster that has been killing these people!" Everyone eyes went wide in shock.
"We need to go help her dad!" Sofia pleaded, she was still great friends with Carol and didn't want to think of the idea of Carol being killed.
"We will." Roland shot up to his feet. "How many guards do we have in Dunwiddle?"
"Nearly 15 sir and all have gone to help Carol of The Arrow Subdue this monster." Roland nodded his head.
"Alright, I'll be down in five minutes get two more flying coaches ready and send down more members of our guard. This could be our only chance at getting this creature." Roland was about to leave when Sofia grabbed his hand.
"Let me come with you dad." Roland shook his head. "Why not?"
"Sofia you are the protector of the Everealm so I need you to stay here and watch over the palace while I'm gone," Roland explained.
"Dad as protector of the Everealm I need to go and help you out." Sofia countered.
Roland glanced towards Miranda who gave him a small smile and nodded her head. "Alright Sofia, but stay near me at all times."
"Thank you," Sofia answered as she ran out of the room to quickly change.
"Well be back as soon as we can." Roland rushed out of the room as well. "Just be fine Carol."
Once the two of them were ready they got into the flying coach and were about to head off. When the door suddenly opened and Tilly climbed in. "I heard what had happened I'm going to come with you."
Roland nodded his head, "coachmen take us to Dunwiddle immediately!" The coach took flight and they headed to Dunwiddie.
Dunwiddie Forest.
Carol was taking heavy deep breaths as she dropped to one knee holding her shoulder in pain. Her bow was broken in half, and the only weapon she had left was a small dagger she kept in her pants leg. She was currently terrified, she had watched this monster of a girl pull two arrows out of her stomach and showed almost no damage.
"Please just close your eyes and this will be over." Carol looked up as she watched the red-eyed girl walk towards her. Her fingers nails were pointed and very sharp on the ends. "I didn't wanna do this, all I wanted was to eat and go away again."
"You kill that man," Carol coughed out and slowly rose back to her feet. "I cannot allow you to get away."
Carol looked in the girl's eyes and watched tears roll down her face. "Just stop it already! Either you die or you never say I was here!"
"Put your hands up!" The girl turned around and watched as armed guards came all around quickly surrounding the girl. "Listen to me you have nowhere to go, you need to come with us quietly."
"No." The girl with black hair and tattered clothing look back and forth frantically.
"Ms. Carol are you ok?" Two guards kneeled by the adult woman.
"I'll be fine, just hurt my shoulder during that battle," Carol answered with a grimace.
"We can handle things from here Carol." The head guard of the palace was named Matthew Johnson. Matthew looked towards the panicked girl, "listen to me little one. Just calm down and slowly drop to your knees."
"Please just let me leave and no one will get hurt!" Matthew held his hand up.
"Easy," Matthew replied firmly. "We just wanna bring you in for questioning. We have reasons to believe that you have been killing people." Matthew slowly began to walk towards the frightened girl. "Listen to me ok. We do not want to hurt you, we just want you to stand in the court of law for the crimes you have caused."
"Stop it!" The girl slowly backed up. "I don't wanna kill anyone else. Just leave me alone!"
Matthew nodded towards his guards in the back that began to creep up on her, "listen to me. Just keep calm and we are gonna figure this out." Matthew watched as this child hung her head down, and slowly her hair became snow white. "Get her now!"
Two guards rushed forward and right when they were gonna grab her, the unthinkable happened. Both guards let out screams of pain as two tentacles shot out of their stomachs. Blood splatted across the green grass, those tentacles pulled out of their stomachs and both guards collapsed onto the grass dead. "I warned you…. I warned you." The girl slowly lifted her head and a sick sinister smile was on her face. "I told you all that would happen but no one listened!"
"Take her down!" Matthew ordered as he draws his sword. "Get Ms. Carol out of here now!"
"Come with us madam," Carol took one glance back before following those guards.
Matthew took a deep breath, "fire at will achers!"
"You're all gonna die!"
7 minutes after Matthew ordered his guards to attack.
"We're here!" Sofia cried out as the coach landed in front of the path to Dunwiddie's woods where Carol was resting against a tree. She had ordered the two guards to go back and help their captain. "Carol!" Sofia quickly exited the coach and ran towards her friend. "Are you ok?"
"Carol", Roland and Tilly were right on Sofia heels. "What happened?"
"I was doing a patrol in the woods, I could hear something was eating and when I found the sound. I could make out that some kind of human was eating another human. I snuck up behind her and ordered her to put her hands in the air. We began to fight and this kid is unreal." Carol explained.
"Wait she is a kid?" Asked Roland.
"Yes, she cannot be older than maybe 11." Roland looked absolutely shocked at this news.
"What happened next?" Tilly pressed on.
"She was a monster, I shot all my arrows at her, she dodged them all with such speed and then when they did connect. She would just pull them right back out and threw them down. One kick from her almost broke my shoulder." Carol explained.
"Where is the guard now?" Carol pointed towards the woods. "Still fighting my king but….. I do not think they can win. She changed from a panicked child to something eviler, she stabbed right through two members of the guard in seconds. She had these weird tail like things coming from her back."
"Did you see what color?" Sofia suddenly asked.
"Yeah… a weird mix of red and black." Sofia's eyes went wide.
"A ghoul….", Roland and Tilly turned towards the stunned princess. "That was a ghoul".
"What do you mean Sofia?" Roland questioned.
"I had a talk with Mr. Cedric about ghouls and the reality stones. He told me that a ghoul can create any weapon it wants by using its own blood as a power source." Sofia explained. "Carol, did you see her eyes?"
"Yes…." Carol shook a bit as she thought back to it. "She had black eyes and blood red pupils."
"That matches what Mr. Cedric said." Sofia turned towards Roland. "We need to go in stop this somehow."
"Right you are Carol can you move?" Carol shook her head.
"Sorry, but my pain is too much." Roland nodded his head.
"I'll have my guards watch you." Two more coaches landed and in everyone, 6 armed guards came out. "Two of you stay with Ms. Carol, the rest of you following me."
"Yes, your highness." Roland the charge as the group went running down the path into the woods.
The closer they got the more fear seemed to pour into Sofia's heart. Screams and the sickening sounds of blood splattering on the ground. "What is going on?!" Sofia thought. The came to the opening in the forest and everyone stopped moving and jaws hit the ground at what they were seeing.
The grass was covered with blood and the original guards that had been sent there were dead. Except for Captian Matthew, who was still standing but was in horrible shape. His armor was shattered in places and blood was running down his arms. "Captain Matthew!" Roland shouted out.
"Finally reinforcements." Matthew dropped to one knee.
"There she is." Tilly pointed towards the white-haired girl standing under the moonlight. The group watched as her snow-white hair slowly began to fade away. Replacing it with black.
"I don't wanna hurt anyone else today!" The girl dropped to her knees and put her head in her hands. "Just leave me alone please."
"Let me talk to her," Sofia said calmly.
"Absolutely not Sofia," Roland answered firmly. "Look at the destruction she just caused."
"Dad trust me my amulet will protect me." Sofia took a deep breath before walking out to the young girl. Slowly and carefully until she came to a stop in front of her, "excuse me?"
"Just leave me alone." Sofia could make out the clear sound of sobbing. "I just wanna go away, I don't wanna lose control." Sofia was a bit on edge as the child looked up at her with normal brown eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm Princess Sofia, can you tell me what your name is?" The girl shook her head. "You don't have too." Sofia kneeled down on the ground with the girl. "Having a bad day huh."
"You can't understand me." Sofia's heart broke for the girl. "Just let me go free and you won't see me ever again."
"We want to help you," Sofia spoke calmly.
The girl shook her head, "no you don't everyone says that and then they capture me and lock me away in a cage, Torture, pain, suffering is all I know I don't wanna kill anyone…. But I have no choice."
"Can you look up at me?" Sofia asked, The girl nodded her head and looked up at the princess. "I have no idea what you've been through… but I can promise you that what I am saying is no trick, and no lie. What I am saying is the truth, no one is gonna hurt you we want to help you."
Sofia reached out and gently took her hand, "please just come with us, we can get you cleaned up, and a nice bed. We just have a couple questions to ask you."
"Always starts with questions and ends with pain." The girl took her hand away.
"That won't happen." Sofia pushed herself back a bit to give the girl some space. "Just let me help you."
Sofia offered her hand to the girl, "come on and let me introduce you to the king. He is very nice and very wise he won't let anything happen to you I promise."
With a bit of hesitation, the girl reached up and took her hand. "Who are you again?"
"Princess Sofia, but you can just call me Sofia." Sofia gave the girl a soft smile.
"She's grown into the quiet the little queen hasn't she," Tilly praised as they watched Sofia's performance and saw that she was bringing the young girl over
"She has," Roland proclaimed proudly. "Guards hang back, we don't wanna scare her."
Sofia walked forward with the young girl behind her. "This is my father King Roland the Second." The child hide behind Sofia, "you don't have to be scared."
"Good evening young lady… I am King Roland pleasure to meet you." Roland spoke gently and calmly to the young girl. "We are gonna take you back to the palace and ask you a couple questions".
One guard stepped up with a child-sized pair of handcuffs. "We need to put these on her, you're highness."
"NO!" The girl snapped her and out of Sofia's grasp and backed away. "You said I wasn't gonna be locked up!"
"Calm down your not gonna be locked up," Roland answered. "We just need to put these on you for our protection."
"No no no!" The girl backed away and held her head in distressed. "Leave me alone! You're just gonna capture and torture me like all the others!"
"No one is gonna do that to you." Sofia reached out and grabbed her hand only to be pushed away. "Please listen to me."
"Quiet!" The girl snapped. "You're a liar, everyone is a liar, you just wanna hurt Ember again and….".
"Sleep," Everyone turned and looked at Tilly who surprisingly had a wand out. A small line of magic hit Ember in the chest and she collapsed to the ground asleep. "Sorry about that Sofia… I didn't want to do that after seeing you do so well."
"It's not your fault," said Sofia. "Dad what is gonna happen to her."
"Well, for now, she needs to answer some questions, then we need to figure out what to do with her," Roland answered truthfully. "Guards be very gentle with her and do not lock her in a cell give her a spare room in the castle and get her some soup waiting for her."
"Yes, sir!"
Sofia watched as the guards lifted the limp body up to her feet and carried her away.