The Crown's Obsession (WN)

One moment Madeline was standing and talking to Calhoun, and the next moment, she was somewhere in an unknown place, not in the castle. The village she was standing in was empty with no one around. The sky looked almost pink and red with traces of purple filling in it.

Was she dreaming? She was, thought Madeline to herself. Moving her hand forward, she called, "Calhoun?" But it didn't seem like he was here.

Madeline felt something tickle the side of her feet, and she looked down to see soft grass on the ground. This was not right. She wanted to get back to the castle right this instant! But how was she supposed to go back? She closed her eyes, hoping to return to the castle, but when she opened, she saw the same empty streets and houses in front of her.

Standing here was not going to help, and Madeline decided to take a look around. As the wind blew, the longer blades of the grasses moved in the direction of the wind. While she was still walking, she saw someone passing by the alley, and Madeline quickly tried to follow the person. Maybe she could catch hold of that person and ask how she could get back.

Her feet quickly pressed against the ground to catch up with the man who was in his white robes, "Excuse me!" She called the person.

But when she came near the man, he didn't respond. It was like he didn't hear her. For some odd reason, it felt like she had seen this person before, but she wasn't able to pinpoint where.

"Hello, Sir?" she called again but nothing. The man continued to walk, and Madeline stretched her hand to stop him, but her hand only passed through the person's back.

"Oh no," said Madeline. Was she in someone's memory lane?

Turning around, she found no one. Seeing the man making his way out of the village and towards the forest, Madeline followed him. From a distance, she could hear the glugging sound of the water and when they reached a stream of water, it was then that she caught sight of a woman who appeared to be waiting by the stream.

Madeline had stopped walking, and she watched the man go and hug the woman, who returned his hug. She could hear the continuous flow of the water, and even though their lips moved, not a single exchange of word was heard by Madeline. Then something happened, the white wings appeared from the man's back while the woman stared at him and tried to say something.

Suddenly he caught hold of the woman's neck.

"NO!" Madeline screamed when the woman burst into ashes.

Madeline woke up. Sweat covering her body, and she saw herself sit upright on the bed, "Nightmare?" asked Calhoun. Her head snapped to see Calhoun, who placed a book on the table as if he was reading it. He walked to come and sit on the bed near her.

"What time is it?" asked Madeline as the curtains had been drawn over the window.

"It is past eleven. How do you feel? You had a small nap," said Calhoun, snapping his fingers for the fire in the fireplace to increase.

Madeline caught sight of the blood on the corner of Calhoun's mouth, "What happened to you?" she asked him in return, a frown on her face.

"I was having a ball in the room, and thought I would have some blood while waiting for you to wake up," he gave her a bright smile. Madeline stared at him, gauging Calhoun's face.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked because his answer had not been direct.

"Not that I can recall," hummed Calhoun, and he ran his tongue over the corner of his lips, "What did you dream about?"

"A man turning a woman into ashes," came the unenthusiastic reply from Madeline.

"Well, that doesn't sound fun," commented Calhoun and Madeline couldn't agree less.

Madeline had no idea what was spoken, or whom she saw in her dream. It wasn't something to brush away, as while she was still speaking she had turned unconscious and pushed into dreamland, "It looked like he was an angel."

Calhoun stared at her, "Do you think it is Paschar?"

"Possible," she whispered.

Calhoun was glad that Madeline was alright. And testingly, he took hold of her hand that didn't give out any harmful energy now. He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "Do you know what he looked like?" If they knew how Paschar looked, it wouldn't be too difficult to narrow down where this man was.

Madeline tried to remember, but for some odd reason, she couldn't recollect. It was as if her dream was evaporating from her mind. She pursed her lips before shaking her head, "I don't remember anymore."

"That's absolutely fine," replied Calhoun, and he leaned forward, "I missed you," his nose touched hers.

"Me too," she replied because she had felt lost in her dream and she wished Calhoun was there with her. Knowing he would have a solution for a problem.

"Please keep speaking," Calhoun's face was full of interest, where he shifted the mood and Madeline smiled, "What else?"

Calhoun must have been here in the room the entire time, waiting for her to wake up while also making sure nothing would go wrong, thought Madeline in her mind. It was always the little things that affected them.

Madeline brought her left hand to her lips, licking her thumb that got Calhoun intrigued with what she was going to do. She then brought her thumb towards his face to rub below the corner of his lips where he had missed a spot earlier.

"Did it hurt?" she asked him, and Calhoun knew she was speaking about the blood he spat.

He shrugged his shoulder, "It was tolerable."

She tried to remember the person in her dream, trying to recollect the man who was possibly Paschar, the angel. Would she remember when she would come face to face with him? But she felt she had met him in the past.