Clash Of Worlds

by Philip Mcclennan

  “What happened to her?” asked Zeris.

  “One of the maid’s was with her at the time. She said the princess collapsed without warning.”

  Auron stepped aside and the guards opened the door to the princess’ chambers. The king looked in the room from the outside. Kara lay motionless on her bed, almost as if she was sleeping. The Warlock Rokk, the wisest and powerful magical mind in the whole of Alexandrian was at her side. He was deep in chant, bringing forth a healing spell that kept the life force inside the girl strong. A maid stood next to him, placing a cloth into a small bucket at her side and dampened it with cold water, before placing it on the princesses’ forehead. The girl’s body was burning up with a fever. The windows to the room’s balcony were wide upon and until recently, maids had been waving fans back and forth in an attempt to keep the princess cool.

  The king slowly walked into the room. A feeling of despair filled his soul. He had already lost one child, now he was mortally afraid he was going to lose another. “How is she?”

  Rokk interrupted his chanting temporarily and turned to the king. “Her soul is strong my king, like yours.”

  “My friend, do you know what is the matter with her?”

  Rokk turned back to the fallen princess. “It is strange, I sense no problems physically with her at all. It is something…elsewhere, another force.”

  “Is it the Underworld?” asked Zeris, suspecting Kanto, the king of Underworld, to have played a part in his daughter’s condition. “I’ll take his head if he has caused my daughter harm!”

  “No, my king. I would have sensed it. It is something else. Something further away troubles her.”

  Kara began to slowly move her head from side to side. It was almost as if she was dreaming. “Valentine…where…are…you?” she muttered quietly.

  A puzzled look formed on the king’s face. It was the same look that was now edged upon Auron’s face, who was observing proceedings from the hallway.

  “She’s been saying that a lot,” said Rokk, who resumed his healing spell on the girl.

  The king had a look of horror on his face; it was as if he had seen a ghost. Valentine? It can’t be…

  Although the princess lay in her bed, her soul was elsewhere. Kara walked through a large garden maze. This was much like the maze that was located on the Alexandrian palace grounds. In fact, if the princess wasn’t mistaken, this was the exact same garden maze! Large grass bushes towered over either side of her. They must have been over fifteen feet high. She walked down a small bank of white-bricked steps advancing through the maze. Kara began to hear a young female voice.

  “One…Two…Three…Four.” The voice was counting.

  It sounded as though the young voice was coming from around the next right-hand corner of the maze. Intrigued by this, Kara hurried on around but she couldn’t believe her eyes at what she saw.

  Around the corner, a small girl with short blond hair, possibly only four or five years old, stood up close to a stone fountain that was located in the middle of the area. The maze opened up and the area was much larger here than in the rest of the place. The small girl had covered her eyes with her hands as she continued to count. “Seven…Eight…Nine…Ten.” The child now removed her hands from her face. Kara gasped in astonishment for the small child was actually her, aged five years.

  “Ready or not, here I come. I’m going to find you Valentine!” the small girl shouted out. It seemed the child was playing a game of hide and seek, but the question was, with whom?

  Kara had seen this Valentine figure in her dreams before. She had no idea who he was, but he felt somehow familiar. She thought she might ask the child as it seemed she knew him. “Hey, are you ok?” Kara asked the small child. She felt it a little strange that she was essentially trying to talk to a younger version of herself. The child didn’t respond to her, though, instead, she began to look around the area for where this Valentine could be hiding. “Hey! Small Girl! Kara!” said the princess, a little louder this time. Again, the youngster paid her no attention. Kara reached out to touch her younger self on the shoulder, but her hand faded through the child. Wherever she was, it seemed her body was not in corporeal form. I must be dreaming, Kara thought.

  The sound of twigs crunching along the ground could be heard in the distance, followed by a young male giggle and then footsteps running. The small child smiled. “I hear you Valentine, I’m coming to get you!” The youngster ran off further into the maze. Kara thought it best to follow her. Although the girl could neither see nor hear her, she was still in search for this Valentine. If the small girl couldn’t tell Kara who he was, all she need do was follow the child and all would be revealed. Kara hurried on into the maze after the child. The youngster searched, looking in various different hiding places throughout the area. She looked in bushes and behind small statues that were scattered about. Kara smiled as she followed the child. I remember all of these hiding places, she realised. It was as if she was reliving childhood memories just by watching her.

  Kara followed the young girl along several aisles of the maze. They both came to a halt however when turning around a corner onto a new aisle, the pair could see a young boy stood at the far end. The boy was around the same age as the young girl and also had short blond hair. The boy smiled and then disappeared down another part of the maze to his right.

  “Hey Valentine, wait up!” shouted the young girl who gave chase after him. As they approached the corner, the young boy ran out past them.

  “Hey boy, stop!” shouted a male voice from behind the corner just as Kara reached it. A man emerged from around the corner and Kara crashed into him as they both came around it simultaneously. Both Kara and the man fell down to the ground in a heap.

  The princess held her forehead, clearly dazed by the collision with the strange male.

  “Sorry about that,” said the man, who held out his hand. Kara looked up to observe his face. It was James who was stood over her, holding out his hand. Both of their facial expressions changed suddenly. Their faces were a mixture of confusion and wonder. Kara reached out to James’ hand, and he helped the princess to her feet.

  “Have we met before?” asked James nervously.

  “I don’t…know,” replied Kara.

  They both felt a familiarity with each other although neither knew quite what to think of it. James placed his right hand on the back of his head, something he always did when he was nervous. “Sorry about knocking you over.”

  “It’s ok, it was just as much my fault as yours,” she said forgivingly.

  The words came out of her mouth so softly that James could not help but feel nothing other than warmth towards the young girl. They each began to observe each other’s clothes, which differed somewhat. Kara was wearing a long white dress with gold buttons, each with the mark of Alexandria. The dress had been grazed slightly from her fall.

  James thought she looked like royalty. She’s beautiful. His attention was drawn to the pendant around the girl’s neck, then realised where he had seen her before. “Kara?” he asked, guessing her name.

  “How did you know my name?” she asked. The truth was, James wasn’t sure exactly how he knew her, he just did. “I’m not sure”, he replied. “I think I’ve met you somewhere before, but I’m not sure where.” James had seen her in his dreams, but he thought she might find him a little strange if he told her that.

  “I feel like I’ve met you before too,” said Kara. “I’ve seen you, when you were nervous and when you were in pain. I felt what you felt…I’m sorry, I must seem really strange to you?”

  “Not at all,” James replied who gave a slight smile. James realised that it was likely that this girl, whoever she was, had gone through the same experiences that he had in seeing her.

  “You wear strange clothes,” she said, referring to the suit James was wearing. This was, in fact, the same suit that James had worn during the mission in Sydney. Maybe I’m dead, and this is heaven. None of this can be real. She m
ight be an angel! “Sorry, I’m going to sound a little odd now, but is this a dream?”

  Kara gave him a puzzled look. “I was thinking the same thing,” she said, much to the surprise of James.

  He began to admire her beauty, something that Kara picked up on. Kara had been, for the most part, protected from the hyperactive male by her father and so she became a little shy by the fact he was looking at her this way. She thought he was very handsome too and she began to blush a little. James tried to quickly ease the girl’s embarrassment.

  “So, do you have any idea where we are?” he said, looking around at the bushes that surrounded the pair.

  “This is a garden maze on the Alexandrian palace grounds,” said Kara whose embarrassment faded a little.

  “Alexandria?” James said. He had never heard of such a place. As an agent, he had travelled all over the world but had never heard of a place with this name. Alexandria? Isn’t that the place that the white-haired man spoke of…

  “You have never heard of Alexandria? You’re not from around here are you?” said Kara, surprised that there would be a single soul who would never have heard of her kingdom. Alexandria was the realm of eternal light, known by all beings in the realm.

  “So it would seem,” replied James, who began to look around at the maze once again.

  “Who are you, and how did you get here?” asked the princess.

  James had no idea how he had come to arrive at this place. The last thing he remembered was battling Lucius on the roof of the hotel in Sydney. He had no idea who the mysterious white-haired figure had been, but he had over-powered James during their fight and thrown him off the buildings edge. James had remembered falling and was seconds away from hitting the roof of a car on the ground below. Then he had found himself inside this strange garden maze.

  He had bumped into a young boy, much like Kara had come across a young girl, and he had followed him up until he ran into Kara. “I don’t know how I got here? The last thing I remember was…” James stopped for a moment, thinking it unwise to tell her about his mission. “It doesn’t matter. I just…found myself here, it’s kind of hard to explain.”

  Kara looked unconvinced.

  “Wait a minute, how did YOU get here?” he asked.

  The girl thought for a moment. If this was indeed a dream, then that would explain how she also happened to find herself here so suddenly as well. Kara then remembered. She remembered preparing for a feast at the palace and then seeing someone falling at a great distance. It was him! “It was you!” Kara blurted out suddenly. “I saw you falling from a great height. You landed on a strange object, it was hard, solid…and you were in pain.”

  “How do you know that?” asked James, totally bewildered as to how she knew these events.

  “I’m not sure, I just felt it. I felt it in my soul and…” Kara now finally remembered something else. She remembered the man’s name. “Valentine?” she said to James.

  Suddenly, the two small children, who had previously been inside the maze, could be heard crying in the distance. “I don’t want to go!” shouted the small boy.

  “What’s going on?” asked James.

  “Come on follow me,” said Kara, who took James’ hand and led him through the maze. Kara advanced through each aisle of the labyrinth easily; she knew the layout of the maze like the back of her hand.

  “Are you sure you know where you’re going?” asked James.

  “I grew up in the castle, this place is my home. I know every corner of this maze, even if this is a dream,” she answered.

  The pair came to a slight opening within the maze. To the right was a large river. The water was clear and full of life. A healthy number of fish populated the water, confirming its fruitfulness. Onwards from the river, was a small forest and in the background, lay a large black mountain. The mountain was so big in size that it rose up into the clouds. In fact, only the bottom half of the mountain was visible. The magnificent sight of the Alexandrian landscape took James back a little. Kara sensed James was beginning to straddle and forced him along. “Come on, we’ve got no time. I’ll show you the sights later.”

  Kara and James reached the exit. What James had seen before, seemed completely meaningless to what now stood before him. It was the Royal Palace of Alexandria. He had never seen anything like it. James had seen Buckingham Palace and some of the more historical castles in Scotland before, but this construction was at least three times the size of any of those. Huge, god-like statues stood on the outside and as James looked around, the castle had large towers at every corner for spectacle as well as defence. James noticed numerous men equipped with armour and chainmail walking along the upper walls of the castle. Looking around, it became clear that the large maze the pair had been inside was, in fact, part of the courtyard at the rear of the castle.

  Whilst James marvelled at the palace’s impressive design, Kara focused more on the events that were transpiring over a hundred yards in front of them, near the castles rear entrance. Here stood the two young children from earlier and with them was a soldier dressed in red. The soldier was most likely in his thirties and Kara couldn’t help but think he looked a little like Auron, the General of the Alexandrian armies. He’s too young, she thought. Auron was in his early fifties and this man was almost certainly twenty years younger. The soldier seemed to be trying to get the young boy to come with him, much against his will. Noticing James was too engrossed with the palace itself and not even paying attention to what was happening, Kara took the required action. She stamped down on his foot. James winced in pain slightly.

  “Hey!”

  “Pay attention!” said Kara.

  “Wait a second, if this is a dream, that shouldn’t have hurt…” replied James.

  “Look!” said Kara, directing his attention to the soldier and the two small children.

  The pair began to listen to the exchange between the soldier and the children.

  “Master Valentine, it is time,” said the soldier.

  “No, Please! I don’t want to go!” pleaded the small boy. Tears flowed from the boy’s eyes. It was clear he was deeply afraid of the prospect of going wherever it was he was about to be taken.

  “There is no other way my boy, your father has given the order. I’m Sorry.” The soldier took the boy by the hand.

  “Please Auron, I don’t want to go!” shouted the boy. The young girl stood nearby, frozen in silence. She too was terribly upset and crying.

  Kara had noticed the small boy call the solider by the name Auron. So it is Auron, she thought. These events unfolding seemed somehow familiar to Kara.

  James, on the other hand, had no idea what was happening. “I don’t understand.”

  “They’re taking him away,” said Kara, in an oppressively downbeat tone. She was beginning to realise why this seemed so familiar.

  “Taking him where?” asked James.

  “They’re taking him away, and I’ll never see him again,” Kara replied. The princess had witnessed this before. She remembered once again that the young girl in front of them was actually herself, aged five. “I remember this,” she said almost in a daze.

  “Look, someone else is coming,” said James.

  Another man emerged from the castle door. It was Zeris, although he was somewhat younger than what Kara remembered. Zeris was still dressed in the royal robes and emblems, confirming that he was still the king of the realm during this period. James picked up on the pendant around the young king’s neck. It was the same that Kara had around hers, and also identical to the pendant that he possessed.

  James began to put a few pieces of the jigsaw together. “So you know these people?” he asked.

  “Yes,” replied Kara, who had become saddened by what she was witnessing. The pair looked on, as events continued to unfold.

  “Valentine, my son, the time has come. You must be brave, for the good of Alexandria,” said Zeris. The young boy fought back his tears, trying to look strong in front of his
father. “Yes…father,” he said timidly. The young boy hugged the king, who held the boy in his arms.

  A hint of a tear began to fall from the king’s eyes. He noticed his daughter, the young girl nearby, also in tears. He gestured for her to join them, and the three embraced in a hug. The king held back his tears with all his might. He did not want the children becoming further upset due to him. Zeris gave Auron a quick glance, the latter looked deeply saddened.

  Kara and James continued to look on from the distance. “Why don’t we go over there and stop this,” said James.

  “We can’t”, replied Kara, who was at this point close to tears herself.

  “Why?”

  “It’s a memory, we cannot change what has already come to pass,” answered the princess.

  “Memory? You mean…”

  “Yes…the little girl is me. I had long forgotten about this day. I don’t know how.”

  James looked at the pendant the king wore and then at Kara’s. “I’ve seen that pendant before,” he said. Kara turned to James. “It is the pendant of the royal bloodline of Alexandria,” said Kara, who began to look closely at James’ face. Kara looked over to the young boy, who was now being led back into the castle by the king and Auron. “For you to be here and see these events you must be connected to them somehow. And that must mean if the young girl is me, then the young boy must be…” Kara looked back at James, knowing what her next words would be.

  Kara awoke in her bed suddenly. Her father, Zeris was still at her bedside, alongside Rokk, who had just completed another healing spell. “Ah, the princess awakens,” said the Warlock, who gave a smile.

  “Thank you, my friend, your power is beyond question. I am in your debt,” said the king.

  “It is my honour to have been of help my king,” replied Rokk, who took a few steps back to allow the king to speak with his daughter.

  “Kara, my love, are you ok?” asked the king.

  The princess remained laying down on the bed. She was weak but managed to turn to her father. “I’m ok father. I saw something. Something from the past that I had long forgotten.”