Sealed Within

by Shroomkin

Chapter ???

Allow me to paint you a picture of a world lost long ago...

One often seeks those that one cannot obtain. It matters not who they are, for they will try as hard as they can to grab and hold onto it. Whether through the intervention of fate or sheer chance, those who do become known as legends. However, it is only through the vision of others that they become the said legends.

However, our story does not speak of legends. It speaks of uncharted lands and mere optimistic dreams, once honored by many, now lay forgotten at the hands of time. Our tale follows that of a young princess, a fair maiden upon the wretched and tarnished lands.

Ancient tomes speak of a land ruled by a mighty king of Commonfolk nature. And with a mighty ruler, a prosperous kingdom lay untouched by the hands of those who sought to tarnish it. And with a mighty king, there stood a benevolent queen. The two rulers partake in their own accords, each ruling in their own way. The king frequently attends to his armies, whereas the queen stays with her people. Two sides of a coin.

They were blessed with three children—two that hold the light of the kingdom, while the other held pity. Evidently, these two were pampered by their peers, engulfed with treasure upon treasure, hoards of gems upon their own liking, while the other merely existed.

Eleir and Mythir were the brothers' names, with others addressing them as the Sun and the Moon. Though not related to the celestial bodies of the sky, the two were honored as such because it is their namesake. Their sister, however, is merely known as her namesake, that of which is the sky. They are not pantheons nor champions of such, they were simply given those names to please and honor the Primes who gave them their own land to rule.

While the two got whatever they wanted, she simply indulged in the normal things in life, refusing the gifts given to her. One particular place she loves more than anything else was the calming and serene gardens of the castle. There she would sit and cry about whatever troubles her at that time.

She found solace in such a place after her mother's passing, which wasn't long after her third birthday. With the passing of their queen, the kingdom began to be torn on what to do. As such, the princes came forth and filled the role of their mother, and became the light for their people. With this, they had less time to be with their younger sister, and as such, she was left to wallow in her own isolation and despair. And with all of this happening around her, the young princess withdrew herself from everyone.

Showing a moment of weakness, a lady dressed in red wandered through the kingdom grounds, in search of the princess. Her face, vivid with life, saw the princess within the garden and struck her with a powerful curse before cackling like a mad hyena. Without anyone even noticing, she left the castle grounds, proud of her work. The princess, on the other hand, panicked and tried to tell anyone, only to find that her voice was missing. She tried desperately to speak and utter a single word, yet none came out. The wicked witch in red took her voice and casted it into the unknown, forever binding her in silence.

The king, upon learning of this, summoned every single doctor within his lands to cure her of her sickness, yet all failed to do so. Because of the princess, their credibility as doctors and healers dropped, and they blamed her for something she never caused in the first place.

On her seventh birthday, instead of receiving gifts, her friends decided to play a cruel prank on her, one that involved snakes and mud. They dunked mud upon her hair and shoved her within a pit filled with the illusions of snakes. Not even her brothers helped. Instead, they laughed at such a thing. She cried and cried, missing out on her own birthday party.

On her tenth birthday, when her brothers found her on the garden, they decided to desecrate her flowers that she ever so lovingly gave her best to grow. Despite trying to fight back, and desperately telling her father of their wrong doings, their father merely brushed it off as a simple problem, paying it no mind.

The bullying only got worse.

And by the time she reached her eleventh birthday, she has had enough. She left the castle grounds and ventured to a nearby forest. In that forest, she has encountered wolves and owls, beasts she never recognized. Fear encroached her entire body. In her attempts to leave the "safe haven" of her home to avoid her would be oppressors, she has reached a place of no return. Will she die here? Why did she even do this? It was all she could think of. When a hungry wolf came by, she tried to run away. She ran, and ran, tearing her cloak and a piece of her dress. When the wolf was about to reach her, she tripped and fell in a pit and into an unknown clearing.

When she awoke, she cried. She cried because of her own stupidity. She cried because of her mistakes. She cried because of the pain. The pain of it all, living as someone never understood her, living that her mother is no longer there to comfort her, living...

It was because of her crying that she met two individuals residing in the forest. She looked at them, she feared them, and decided to crawl away. She crawled and crawled, eventually reaching a wall. She closed her eyes, awaiting her own death, only to be surprised when one of them simply wiped her tears away. She was... surprised, baffled even.

The being then spoke, told her his and his companion's name. Apparently they were brothers. When he asked her of her name, she tried to speak, only remembering that she can't. She looked away, embarrassed at the situation. She feared they would make fun of her, just like the others. Instead, when she looked upon them, all she could see was worry. Worry from such strangers...

The boy with the horns simply drew a circle on the ground while the boy with the hat whispered something on it. To her surprise, the circle glowed, and with it, some liquid substance was made. The boy with the horns then scooped the liquid and rubbed it in her throat, chanting once more. He told her to speak again, but she was too afraid. What did they do to her? Was that magic? So many questions, yet she couldn't even ask them. With nothing to lose at that point, she began to speak, only to hear such a raspy voice. She coughed and coughed, and then spoke again. Her voice was back!

She hugged and thanked the two of them, only for her smile to falter as her body ached from the sudden movement. She was still in pain. The boy with the hat cocked his head and simply smiled. He then told her to calm down, and that they will take her home, not without healing her, of course.

When she returned home, the king and her siblings were worried. For the first time in forever, her own kin is worried about her safety. She giggled and laughed, surprising the king and her siblings. The sound of her voice, ever as bright as the day she lost it. She smiled and wholeheartedly hugged the three of them, speaking for the first time. The king, stunned and amazed by this, decided to hold a feast for his daughter. She was, however, sad that her new friends didn't enter the castle. They did say that they needed to get home. How they could get home is beyond her.

When night came, and she was within the confines of her room, she twirled around and laid upon her bed, smiling that the curse has been removed by two that she can call her friends, strange as they may be. A knock by the window distracted her from her musings. Confused, she looked at her window, only to find the boy with the weird looking horns, sitting in a tree branch near her window. When she asked how he knocked, he simply said that he knocked.

"I never got your name, milady," the boy said, clearly annoyed at the instance. He really wanted to get inside and maybe grab a few meals on the way.

"Miri," she stated. "It's Miri," she said, smiling at the boy.

The boy simply smirked as he stood in the branch. "Well, you best remember our names too, okay?" He said as he jumped down, waving at the girl by the window, only to hit himself in the face with another tree branch.

She giggled as she stared at her friend's antics. She waved him goodbye, still giggling at his embarrassment. "Goodbye, Thaly!"

Upon regaining her voice, she began to be happier. Happier that she can follow in her mother's footsteps as a humble artist in the ways of song. Happier mostly in the arms of her true friends, those two boys who came by in a mere coincidence. Happier was she when she finally got the recognition from her father. Happier in living. Yet, it still troubles her that the ones who she calls her friends refuse to come with her inside her own home, only ever visiting her in the gardens. The only time they ever got inside was due to sneaking in; their magic was great with a power to warp into her room by a summons in the form of a magic circle, one that she begged to learn so she can have someone to talk to. She only managed to do it once.

Upon learning that she can do magic, she asked her father for a tutor that dabbles in the arts of magic. Her father agreed, as his sons were asking for one as well. She, along with her brothers, got their own tutor, allowing them equal opportunity to learn magic. Out of the three of them, she was the only one who managed to grasp the full concept of the scholarly art.

A few years went by as quickly as the seasons. Little did she know that she would ever fall for one of her friends. On her thirteenth birthday, she saw the two boys, now teenagers, dressed in royal suits, sitting on the balcony's edges while holding their own plates. To her surprise, they were there of their own accord. However, as she knows how things happen, she was expecting something from her other friends. In some ways, it's sinister. However, the moment her friends came by to initiate the prank, she was suddenly grabbed by none other than the boy with the horns. To her surprise, however, his horns were gone.

He slyly smirked as he held her hand, inviting her to dance. She had the time of her life. She enjoyed seeing the both of them pulling pranks on her would be pranksters, grabbing food and placing it in their "pouch of infinite things", and generally being with her in the castle grounds for the first time. When the party ended, they decided to go to the gardens, spending more time with each other. She knew for sure that this was love. Love at the purest form.

Her heart was beating faster, and her face was flushed as red as a rose. She could not take it any more. She could not hold this feeling anymore. However, she herself was surprised when the boy with the horns confessed his love for her. She did not know nor did she see the signs, her naivety to blame. She only thought of it as him being him.

The boy with the hat simply shook his head at the sight of it all. His two best friends, fluttering about all skittishly. He simply sighed and told them to say what they want to say as he will simply warp back home. The boy with the horns, annoyed by this, simply swatted at his brother. Miri laughed at their shenanigans, loving every single bit spent with these two. They filled the void that she thought would never be filled. No longer was she in isolation and despair.

When the moon rose high in the sky, she decided to go home and part ways with her friends. Upon reaching her room, she looked upon her wardrobe. Before undressing, however, a knock by her window can be heard. There, in the open window, sat the boy with the horns.

"Pray tell, he who walks unseen, do you plan on striking the branches with your face, again?" Miri mocked, smirking at the boy. The boy simply smirked back. "No, but I do plan on hitting the rock once I jump down," he said, earning the laughter of his dearly beloved. "Chaotic, it is, when two hearts beat as one," the boy with the horns said as he walked near her mirror, inspecting it while cocking his head to the side. Miri simply blushed at this, hiding her own face with her hands. "Don't hide, you're cuter that way..."

The moment she looked at him, he was gone. She turned around, only to feel a gentle press upon her lips. Shocked yet curious, she gently pushed him away, touching her lips soon after. "W-what?" she said, looking at him with caring yet bashful eyes. "Well, you best remember this day too, milady," he said as he smirked, waving his hand as he jumped off the window, walking away with his brother.

Wanting to scream at him for his actions, she found that she fell silent, lost for words for what just happened. In truth, she wanted this. She simply looked outside the window, her childhood innocence gone. She looked at him dreamily as she sighed, "Goodbye, Thaly..."

Author's Note:

End of Prologue

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End of Prologue

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[Shroomkin]

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Oh thanks for spotting that!