Aldrick Territory

Abigail White We’ve always dreamed about a perfect life, or should I say marrying a prince on a white horse? But I dreamed of marrying the king who always hides in darkness. It all started when I was ten years old - when my grandma used to tell me the old folk tales from her native village. I was close to her than anyone else as my parents were always busy with their “empire”. I always heard about this king who always kept himself hidden from the world. Since then this ten-year-old would get all excited whenever grandma took the word "king”. I guess that is one of the reasons why I was interested in history. I was always the odd one in the crowd - at home and at school. All my cousins went for different fields - they chose business, medicine or modelling as their career; but I wanted to be different, so I chose nothing. I was not a merit student like my brother or my cousins; I have friends who are probably busy with their lives. “You must be thinking what she meant by nothing?” I believe there is so much story and a mystery behind what we see. Maybe we are not too keen to see things behind the things, we don’t hear the story that lies behind the story. I believe in the folk tales grandma told me because no one would be so brainless as to create stories without a little bit of truth behind it. The stories that are told by our grandmas and grandpas might even be real because we don’t know what they saw or lived through as we were not there. Maybe we are too busy, and we are in computer generation where we don’t believe in myths. So, I decided not to follow the paths laid down by others. I didn’t complete my graduation. I decided to do something different where I can find peace and happiness when I work. I decided to travel and that’s not a biggie as my parents are pretty loaded people. They don’t even want me to work as my dad owns a business empire that is taken care of by him and my elder brother. It took forever to make them agree with my choice when I said I wanted to explore places and learn new things. The first thing I did was travel to England as they have a great history, and then to India where you can see “Unity in diversity”, and that country has my heart. You see people having different cultures living together. I learned many things there like their Vedas, their culture, and their history. That country holds many stories that inspire me so much. I even started writing articles and books about my travels, and the response I got was quite surprising. My blogs on the history of these places half the world doesn’t know made the readers curious. I even posted pictures which really attracted many people, and to be honest, I love it when I’m doing my work and meeting new people. It just brings so much happiness to you. I travelled to many countries and met many great people, but the only place which I always wanted to visit is my grandma’s village. I decided to move there on my 21st birthday. My parents don’t know about my decision yet, and I’m not ready to tell them. If they know I’m going to live there they would kill me. I don’t know why, but for a strange reason, they don’t even like if I took the name. They would say all ape-s**t, but it only increased my interest and curiosity to live in that village. My phone rang breaking my thoughts. I saw the screen and it showed my brother Albert’s face. I accepted the call. “Hey." “Hello my dear sister.” He said (I can detect the sarcasm in it). “Tell Buffoon.” “Ouch, is that the way you call your elder brother.” “If you are that free go and call your fans, not me.” I replied but I know how busy he is nowadays as they started a new hotel chain. “Lol, when are you moving there?” he asked me. Yup! he knows about me moving to grandma’s village. “This Sunday.” “Are you coming home for your birthday?!” he asked me. “No, but I may come home when you people are home.” “I will come and visit you when you’ve settled down there. About your birthday - I’m sorry, I can’t come.” he stated. You can hear the sadness in his voice. “You better come and meet me stupid.” I say making him chuckle. “Take care little sister. I love you. I got to go now.” He said as he heard his assistant calling. “You too... and I love you Allibie.” I said using the word which he hates. My brother and I are very close. He knows about me moving to the village because I need a home there to live and it’s not that easy for a foreigner to buy a piece of land. Their government is different from others. He took care of everything making it easy for me, and I love him so much - despite fighting with each other whenever we are together. I looked out of my apartment here in London. All of my things are sent and I’m all ready to leave this place. I looked out of the window and saw endless trees and mountains. The only thing that is visible is the greenery, the mountains, and the road ahead. I landed in the country two hours ago and took the train to the state. From there we need to take either the public transport bus or cab. I don’t wanna take a cab and waste my 60 dollars, so I took the bus which cost me 9 dollars. Honestly, the bus and the cab take you to the same destination, and why to waste money. There are some people who had already boarded the bus. They gave me a questioning look but didn’t say anything. I’ve already googled everything about the village that I’m gonna stay in. I always remembered my grandma saying just how beautiful the place is, and to be honest, the greenery here is breathtaking. It is a perfect place to live if you need a break from your daily life, but I got to know that not everyone is allowed to live in the village as the village is ruled by the Royals. Yeah! they don’t have a government here; every decision is taken by the Royal authority. So now everyone can live here as long as the permission coast from authority is clear. I also read posts by the tourists who visited the village. They wrote many amazing things and the common point from all of them was the “Castle”. It was the most beautiful place they ever saw but they didn’t get to see the whole Castle as they only got permission to see the north wing. They didn’t meet any high officials or Royal people as it was forbidden for tourists, which really made me curious to know more about the Castle (or should I say - the people living in it). I don’t know how Albert got permission for me to live there, but I think I’m really lucky. The bus dropped us at the stop and all the villagers got down along with me. I saw the signboard which said, “Welcome to St. Ravenswood Territory”