More than two decades ago, within the Kingdom of Griven..

It had been days since Arlan and the delegates of the royal family of Griven returned to the capital city of Karlin after enjoying the end-of-the-year festival in Megaris. It was before the time Esther had left her family behind.

For some unknown reason, on that particular night, the Queen of Megaris had come to the Royal Palace of Griven secretly using her powers.

Young Arlan was sleeping in his bedchamber, but he was not sleeping well and having a nightmare. He often had nightmares at night, but no one paid special attention to their content as they brushed it off as products of a child’s imagination.

Esther appeared in the prince’s chamber and found him turning restlessly in his sleep. “Poor child. Are you troubled with bad dreams? Should I help you out a bit?”

She went towards him, sitting at the edge of the bed so she could reach out and put her hand on his forehead. The moment her fingers touched his skin, she flinched.

The shocking discovery made her doubt what she found out.

‘Is it really what I think it is?’

With her hand reaching back to touch his forehead once more, the young prince gradually turned calm. However, not even a second later, the boy opened his eyes.

‘My sleeping spell didn’t work on him?’ Esther somewhat expected it after she had a glimpse of his nightmare; however, the fact that her power didn’t really work on the young boy was still a matter that was hard to believe.

Arlan could not believe that Esther was there. He blinked a few times. “Am I dreaming?”

Esther smiled and shook her head. “You are not.”

Though he was confused and shocked awake, the well-mannered young prince immediately sat up in the bed and lowered his head. “The First Prince of Griven greets Her Majesty–“

“It’s fine. You don’t need to greet me,” she interrupted him.  “This is not an official meeting.”

The little prince nodded obediently and looked around, looking for someone else. “Is Dray–I mean, Prince Drayce here?”

She smiled. “He is not.”

“Then, uhm, why is Your Majesty here in my bedchamber?”

“I had some important work in Karlin so I thought of visiting my son’s friend as well,” she explained.

“Important work?”

She nodded. “Yes, boring adult concerns a child like you need not think about. Well, enough about that. I saw you seem to have trouble with sleep. Why don’t you tell me what kind of bad dream you saw? I might be able to help you.”

“Umm…that…”

The young boy felt hesitant as no one took his nightmares seriously ever. He was also embarrassed as he had to show this side of his to a Queen of another kingdom. All he had learned was that the Princes should be strong and they should not have any weakness.

“You can tell me,” she assured as she moved to sit on the bed, her casualness allowing Arlan to relax.

“Your Majesty, I have the same bad dream over and over. It is always me on my own, surrounded by darkness. It’s…It feels scary and I want to escape it so I will run and run but…”

“But?”

“A shiny giant snake the colour of gold wraps around me and doesn’t let me move even if I cry and beg it to let me go…and…”

“Go on. I am listening,” she said as she gently held his tiny hand in hers, caressing it in a calming manner.

“And then I will realize that the giant snake has the scary head of a monster.”

“A monster? Since it’s a snake, shouldn’t the head be of a snake’s?”

“I may be wrong but…but I think it looks fiercer than a snake. Like the head of a dragon that I had seen in the books…I am not sure but I have not seen such an animal before. It has scary red eyes the size of my head and it feels like it would eat me…” Arlan’s entire body shivered.

“Why don’t you call it a dragon if it has the head of a dragon?”

“Uhm, because from the books, the dragons look majestic and proud and divine…but this one looks scary like a snake…”

Esther caressed his head. “What if you misunderstood it? Perhaps it’s not the body of a snake that wraps around you, but the dragon’s tail?”

Arlan had an expression of awe as he recalled his dream. “Oh! Your Majesty, you might be right! That shiny golden thing wrapping around me to capture me, I now remember it does not feel like a scaly snake, but the tail of an animal. Yes, it doesn’t hurt when I’m captured and I could feel it’s warm and alive…so it wasn’t a snake monster but the tail of a dragon…”

“So you’re scared of this dragon?” she asked.

He looked at her hesitantly. “Y-Your Majesty, do you not believe me as well?”

She offered him a gentle gaze. “I do believe you, but I think you should try not to feel scared. If it’s a recurring dream, don’t you think it probably has an important message that it’s trying to tell you? Try to look into your dream. You should try to face that animal, regardless if it’s a snake or a dragon, instead of feeling scared. After all, it is just a dream and you can always wake up from your dream. Try to be brave since you know everything will be gone once you open your eyes.”

“I will try, I guess…” the little guy said as he chewed on his lips.

“Hmm, how about we do it like this? I will give you something that will help you become brave so you won’t be scared when you have that bad dream again,” she said.

“Isn’t there a way to not see that bad dream again?”

“Of course it’s possible, but,” she emphasized the last word, “instead of running away from your fears, I believe it’s best for one to first try to fight and win over what scares them the most. You are a prince, Prince Arlan, the firstborn prince of the Cromwell family, the one next in line to inherit the throne of your kingdom. You will highly likely succeed your father and rule over Griven in the future. Would your people want to be ruled by a cowardly king who cannot even face what scares him in his dreams? Then how would you protect your kingdom?”

“You are right, Your Majesty,” the little prince agreed.

Esther smiled upon seeing the flame of determination in his eyes. “Do you have anything that you always carry around in your body regardless of the occasion?”

Arlan pulled out the chain hanging around his neck from under his nightwear. It was a gold necklace that had a green stone embedded in the middle. “This is a royal family heirloom and I am not allowed to remove it even in my sleep.”

“Good choice!” Esther said and closed her eyes as she held it in her palm. Something shone over the pendant and she opened her eyes. “I blessed your heirloom. This will give you the strength to fight with whatever scares you.”

The young Arlan held it closely, curiously checking if anything had changed. “Thank you so much, Your Majesty!”

“Won’t you give me anything in exchange?” she asked with a meaningful smile.

“Ah, I will,” he said. “What do you need in return, Your Majesty? Uhm, I’m still young so I don’t get an allowance–“

Esther’s laughter made him blush. “Then in exchange, I need you to keep a promise.”

“A promise?”

“A promise that you would not tell anyone that I came to see you.”

“Not even my parents?”

“You cannot tell even them,” she said.

“If that’s what you want, then I won’t,” the little prince agreed.

“I have to take my leave then,” she said and stood up. “Close your eyes.”

Arlan obeyed her. After a while, he asked, “Can I open my eyes now?”

There was no reply so he tentatively opened one eye to peek around, and when he saw Esther gone, he opened his other eye. No one aside from him was there inside his chamber.

He stepped down from the bed and searched everywhere, from the curtains to the under of his bed, but there was no one else. If not for the slight warmth from the green stone pendant in his chest, he would have thought that the arrival of Esther Ivanov was also a dream.

That night from the past was still engraved in Arlan’s mind as it had changed his life. He could forget anything but the Queen of Megaris, Esther Ivanov. The day of her disappearance was important to him as well because he wished to meet her at least once and thank her for coming to his rescue when he was scared and didn’t know what he should do.

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