Darkness was all around her, slithering over her legs and arms, engulfing her in its scorching warmth.

  No. It wasn’t darkness.

  Dark flames engulfed her. She called on her powers to protect her. At first, they did. A sheen of ice spread over her skin, extinguishing the black flames. The two powers battled over her broken body. The fire consumed, and the ice soothed. She was so focused on defeating the flames that she failed to see him. He materialized before her, his red eyes glowing like a simmering bonfire.

  Those eyes… she had seen them before. She had looked into them once and thought they were beautiful. Once, they had brought her comfort. Now, they breamed with hatred and a deep, seething agony. He didn’t utter a word as he plunged his dagger into her chest.

  Daliya startled awake with a gasp. Her hand flew to her chest, trying to staunch the wound, but there was no injury. She frowned when her fingers came into contact with the softest silk instead of the rough texture of her Pijama.

  She took a deep breath to ease the tremors that traveled all over her frame. She squeezed her eyes shut as bright light assaulted her sensitive eyes. She counted a second, then two, and peeled one eye open, blinking furiously to chase the haze of sleep from her mind and banish the last tendrils of the dream that clouded her vision.

  Was she still dreaming?

  Then came the sounds–a cacophony of harsh whispers beyond whatever door separated the room from the gathering crowd.

  She sat up so quickly that her vision swam around her.

  What was happening? Where was she?

  But no matter how much she tried, what greeted her wasn't her old and dingy room but a vast and much more luxurious one than Daliya had ever seen. To her right, a floor-to-ceiling window revealed a white expanse of mountains and a gray sky.

  Her eyes roamed around her surroundings, a gasp escaping her lips at the lavish furniture that littered the pale, bluish room. It was extravagantly furnished–all in the colors of a pale winter sky.

  She stood on shaky legs, wincing as hot pain shot up her limbs. She reached for the nearest mirror in the room–a gigantic glass panel covering a whole wall. What greeted her wasn’t her dark brown curly locks. In the mirror stood a young woman appearing close to her age, barely a couple of months over her eighteenth birthday, with long silver hair falling to her waist like a silken curtain woven with threads of light. Instead of her brown eyes, a pair of soft amethyst orbs stared back at her.

  She slowly touched the mirror, uncomprehending. The reflection reached back, its face frozen in fear.

  She was still trapped in the dream.

  She startled as the door clicked open. A young woman with a long dark blue dress under a white apron entered, pushing a food trolley. The woman stilled as her eyes locked with Daliya’s.

  "You’re awake, Your Highness." She squeaked and bowed deeply, nearly folding in half.

  "I... eh.... Good morning?" Daliya waved awkwardly at her, unsure what else to do or say.

  "I’ll get the healer," the woman said, then hurried out of the room like an Ifrit was hot on her heels.

  Daliya stood there, listening to her retreating steps.

  Soon enough, the door burst open. An old man barged in. He stopped at the sight of her, panicked eyes roaming over her.

  Was he the women’s–the one whose body she was residing in–father?

  He schooled his face into a neutral expression and walked forward, stopping some distance in front of her before bowing.

  “Your Highness, I’m glad you’ve awakened.”

  Daylia settled on a nod.

  So, not the princess’ father. Good. She could rest a second longer without fearing being sniffed out.

  It wasn’t long before the healer arrived–a fidgety man with deep wrinkles born out of stress rather than age.

  "Your Highness is expected to make a full recovery in a few days," the healer said, his eyes cast to the ground. No matter how many times Daliya tried to meet his eyes, he shifted away, avoiding her gaze. As soon as he was permitted to leave, he flew out the door faster than an old auntie looking for gossip.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Daliya leaned back on the bed. Its welcoming soft sheets and feathery pillows drew her in. She closed her eyes and willed herself to relax.

  Who knew… maybe she would wake up in her bed in her tiny old room.

  But when she woke up the next day, she was still there.

  And the next.

  And the next…

  Daliya sneaked out of her room, avoiding the head butler’s watchful eyes. Getting past the other castle servants was the easiest–they were avoiding her as much as she was avoiding them.

  She stepped outside, wearing a long white dress with light blue stitches depicting snow crystals. The original owner must have been quite obsessed with anything icy and snowy. Despite the cold, she had yet to wear any warmer clothes. Their absence from the princess’ walk-in closet was initially alarming, but she had yet to feel cold. Strangely, despite the frozen weather, she felt a warmth she never felt even in her old life. It was as if the ice pitied her and decided to grant her this little gift.

  As she neared the huge garden behind the castle, she glimpsed a group of women talking. At first, she didn’t pay them any mind. She hurried to cross to the other side of the garden before they noticed her and started bowing to her and acting like she had their lives in the palm of her hands. But as she neared them, she noticed they weren’t having quite the civilized meeting.

  Three young maids were ganging up on a poor girl who looked younger than them. The two maids flanking her pushed her hard. Losing her balance, she fell to the ground, taking with her the washed linens.

  “Oh dear. It looks like you should redo your work.” They laughed, their laughter making an annoying, grating sound that irked Daliya even more.

  It seemed that no matter the world, there would always be those who preyed upon the weak.

  Daliya had had enough. “What’s going on here?”

  The brunette turned snarling lips at her, ready to snap at her. But as soon as their eyes met, the maid cowered back, stumbling in her haste to widen the distance between them, and fell to the ground hard.

  The others didn’t fare better. They fell to the ground, kneeling, mumbling apologies, asking her to spare their lives.

  “Please, your Highness. We didn’t see your arrival. Forgive us!”

  “Is this what people here do for a hobby? Bullying others?”

  They stumbled over one another, trying to justify their actions. With a wave of her hand, their mouths clicked shut.

  Daliya was kind of impressed with what she could accomplish without uttering a single word. Being a princess wasn’t that bad after all.

  She regarded the girls. She could hear their silent gasps as they tried to stifle their tears. She felt bad for scaring them, but she had to stop them. From their clothes, she could see they were all maids. Daliya never understood how people looped in the same fate could turn against one another. If they didn’t help one another, then who would?

  Daliya sighed. This whole thing was giving her a headache. “Get up from the ground.”

  They stumbled to their feet, still, their backs were still bowed.

  “Just… don’t do this again.”

  “Of course, your Highness!”

  “Whatever your Highness desires!”

  She shooed them off, then turned to the girl still on the ground.

  “You okay?”

  The girl nodded so fast that Daliya feared her head would fall off.

  “Alright. Let the head butler know if they give you any more trouble.”

  She frowned. Wasn’t this one of his duties? Were people in this castle slacking off?

  The maid nodded. At Daliya’s dismissal, she hurried away but not before thanking Daliya at least twice.

  Daliya trudged through the thick snow, avoiding the main area in front of the castle where the workers were busy clearing the snow, and headed to the frozen forest.

  The naked branches, grey and faded, reached for the sky. They flanked a narrow path leading to the castle’s other side, away from prying eyes and tending hands if the fallen dead branches were anything to go by.

  Armed with curiosity and a strong desire to avoid any human contact for the remainder of the day, Daliya followed the path.

  She wondered what she would find on the other end as she walked on. A cemetery? or some hidden building where some obscure experiments were conducted?

  But what greeted her was a garden. White flowers jutted from the snow, glinting under the pale light of the grey sky. It was magnificent–a jewel amongst these wastelands. Daliya wondered whether the flowers were real, some kind of rare and mythical plants. This world already had some kind of superpowers, so mythical flowers weren’t something farfetched.

  The flower beds formed a set of seven circles, and within each intersecting pair, a bed of cyan flowers lay. At the center of the arrangement stood a massive statue of a woman in a long cloak. The statue was so massive that she was certain it would be visible from the castle. Her face was obscured under a hood. One hand lay on her chest, over her heart, and the other was outstretched forward as if expecting the visitor to reach back.

  Daliya inched closer, sidestepping the flower beds and heading straight for the statue. She sat at the woman’s feet, her gaze lost amongst the ethereal scene before her. She didn’t go back till the darkness had set its veil over the place, and the moon peeked down at her lone form. He found the old man, the head butler, still awake and waiting for her return. She didn’t miss his sigh of relief as he glimpsed her. She nodded in greeting, smiling, hoping he would get her silent apology for worrying him with her short disappearance. He paused, his old sharp eyes seeming to look through her, to see her for who the impostor she was. She hurried up the stairs and closed her chamber’s door behind her, sealing her secret away from his discerning eyes.

  She wondered how long she could keep the truth from the other occupants of the castle and what could happen if they ever found out. Hopefully, she would have found a way back to her world by then.