She's Not Just A Queen

The Dark Fox

"Welcome to my world, darling," said the dark fox with a strange smile as his teeth and whiskers glowed green because of the glowing grasses below. Its voice was of a man. It sat on the grasses and faced her.

She looked around as they sat on a hill with the grasses glowing beneath her. It spanned for miles that it looked like the sun is beneath the ground. The evening breeze is gentle as it glides over the glowing meadow, making the grasses look like a sea of glowing water as they waved. There are flowers in the field glowed too and unlike the green grasses, they have their own color that they stand out as different colored stars on the ground. The sky is letting out its bright light as if the moon and the stars do not like the grasses on the meadow to outshine them. It is like heaven during the night.

She noticed that her appearance is different. She wore an old-fashioned dress like the dresses in the 14th century. Her hands are also smaller than usual. And her chest too - they have shrunk and she did not like it. She touched her cheeks and felt that they belong to someone else because she knows her face. Her naturally high cheekbones were replaced by the round cheeks of a young maiden. And her legs too - they are slim. She found it disturbing as well as surprisingly strange. And little did she know that her black irises were replaced by grey that they shimmered as they reflected the light from the grasses and the stars.

Then she looked at the dark fox. "What are you?" she asked.

"I am a dark fox as you see..." It walked near her and she leaned back as it sniffed her face.

She turned her head to the side but its nose followed her face. Its whiskers tickled her so she covered her face just as it retreated and sat.

"Am I dead?" she asked.

"Oh, good gracious, no," chuckled the fox and its eyes were squinting like a human face should when it laughs. "You are just transferred to a different world." It rolled over and showed its belly to watch the stars above. It rolled to the side and said, "As a sweet introduction and a pint of the reason why I brought you here, I'll tell it to you as a poem. Because I love poems." It grinned. "So, here I go:"

It sat properly and said,

"

Three questions shall the fair maiden ask,

And three times shall answer the fox.

Three years until your inevitable death,

And means three years until your last breath.

"

The maiden with her lips shall not tell,

Tell that she's from a different world or else farewell,

Farewell from this world and the other,

For life is once and there's no another.

"

A chance to get out of this world alive,

And a chance to win the quest and survive.

A chance to change your way,

And a chance to return to that day.

*

A day where it is up to you to decide,

To decide to put your hatred aside.

A day where you could find the one you love,

Before the sky upon you fall from above.

"

The way to return is to pay by blood,

And by blood, means to flood,

To flood the chalice at the gate,

At the gate where the world ends like the edge of a plate.

"

The blood of the man shall it be,

It shall be, to open the gate and be free.

Your freedom cannot be bought by gold,

But the blood of your King whose heart you hold.

"

Drink his blood from the chalice,

And his blood shall cleanse your malice.

The cleansing is what the gates require to open,

To open inward so you could declare that you've won.

"

The fox wiggled its tail in excitement after the poem he said. She memorized them all then she said, "So, that's all-" and stopped as she realized that she was about to ask a question to him.

The fox smirked and chuckled before saying, "Oops! That was close... Be careful...," he said while shaking his head and rubbed his soft dark fur against her arm like a cat.

"Nevermind," she said while standing up. "That's all I need to hear. In the meantime, I need to find-"

"Veandra?!" called someone and the fox suddenly disappeared. She looked around to find it but it was gone without a trace.

"Someone knows me?" she thought.

She looked behind her and there is a road on the other side of the wooden fence. There is a man that crossed over it and her eyes widened as the glowing grass from below lit up his face. And his face was someone she knew. The man was wearing a peasant's clothes and he is full of grease and dirt.

"Veandra!" he panted as he climbed up the hill while pushing his knees down with his hands. "My daughter!"

"Father?" she asked.

"Yes, my daughter," he answered while hugging her.

His embrace relieved her for a moment but she remembered what he did. "Get away from me!" she growled after pushing him away with such force that he fell back on the ground. He was utterly confused as she pointed at him and raged, "You left us and here you are embracing me like you think that I consider you as a father!"

"Left you?" he asked. "What are you talking about, my daughter?"

"You know what I am talking about!"

"What? Your mother died after giving birth to you and I raised you alone all these years."

Her red lips were half-open as she asked, "What?" with a quiet voice.

Then she began to talk to herself in her mind, "I forgot that this is another world and not the real world I come from. Everything is unusual, this glowing meadow, the talking black fox, and my appearance. But why is this man looking a lot like my father? No, he's not my father and I don't have a father. And I think he doesn't have a clue of the world I come from nor about the fact that I am a different person. To think of it, I can say that my body belongs to a sixteen-year-old girl that he considers his daughter but I replaced her mind. I'll play along for now."

"I'm sorry, father!" she apologized with her face showing that she regrets what she said and did to him. She hugged him and she frowned while he could not see her face as her chin is over his shoulder.

"You had a bad dream?"

"Yes, father! It scared me!"

"It is okay," he said as he patted her head.

"I'm gonna get out of this hell no matter what!" she growled in her thoughts.