She felt a force over her, compelling her, with difficulty she fell to her knees, her eyes rolled up, leaving white in it's wake. The last thing she heard was a painful grunt, last thing she felt was the necklace burning against her chest, like it would melt away the flesh around it then carve itself into the bone beneath.
When next she pried her eyes open, it wasn't to the darkness of the night by the beach neither was it to the Moon that had been glowing above her some moments ago. Instead, it was to the sunlight that peaked through the leaves of the trees above her and she had to shield her eyes to protect them from the penetrative rays of the yellow sun above.
She couldn't possibly be in another illusion, he knew how that had ended last time. It hadn't been pretty, for him. So whatever she was seeing right now, she was sure she had just hit her head, that was all. Soon enough, she would wake up and it would be like this never happened.
Belladonna took in a shaky breath, and subconsciously noticing that the air didn't hold as much saltiness or chill as the one by the sea. It instead smelt warm and fresh in a different way. It smelt like trees, dry leaves... and a bit musky.
Two evidences alright, but that wasn't good enough. Her mind was very creative and it could just be the one making up these things up.
So, yes, this couldn't be happening.
Or wait, could it be that a dream had crashed into a dream and she was finally having a dream that wasn't influenced by the Bride Thief like she used to.
Ironic that a dream was saving her from a dre---
The floor was not sandy. Not like the beach, instead it was hard and sought of hot. Paying attention to the floor, made her notice the vibrations quickly. As firm as the ground the was, Belladonna felt a little shaky though, even as she attempted to rise to her feet, she could feel it vibrate underneath her.
Her anger grew in her veins, turbulent.
Was this another illusion?
What was the Bride Thief up to this time?
Why was he trying to trick her brain so badly?
Did this have to do with her necklace again?!
Belladonna wanted at least a handful of things from life but right now, she could think of only two. One was to get a couple of information and the second was for her to get out of this dreadful dream.
What if she had already been stolen and she didn't even know it.
Her mind was unsettled and she opened her mouth to shout to the Bride Thief, wherever he was, to take her back. She attempted to force herself back awake but it seem like she was experiencing a kind of block that pushed her only further into whatever this was.
She only experienced more headache with each attempt. The pounding in her head already felt like hell.
The floor kept vibrating, the racing of something approaching quickly, little stones dancing on the floor like water in hot oil.
With how the floor was shaking, Belladonna was sure she didn't want to be here when whatever was making it shake so much should show up. But she hadn't been able to move before the long black furred legs brought themselves in sight, and then the neighing filled her ears, followed by the sound of a little boy hurling threats at the gigantic creature he rode. She couldn't see the horse's face, nor the boy that rode it, the sunlight flashing into her eyes as she tried to look further up at the horse, even as it was some distance away, she had to raise her head painfully to catch a glimpse of it beyond it's long furred legs.
Belladonna had never seen a horse so big in her life, but she had no time to admire it's majestic stature, because the horse was heading right for her.
Air stiffled in her lungs, and she clung unto her necklace desperately while she tried to crawl away from where the horse was racing towards.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up. Belladonna, wake up right now."
She mumbled to herself but her legs couldn't even move from where they were, the saltiness of her tears mixed with the bitter saliva in her mouth as she wished against this with trembling lips. This was the thousandth time tonight that she had wished she had just told the King everything a long time ago instead of having this dream.
Whatever he would have done would have definitely be better than this.
Now she would die in this dream, or illusion- she wasn't even sure, but she would die, stomped upon to death by a horse and no one would know. If she died here, what would happen to her body in her non-dream state, would she vanish?
Was this how he had gotten rid of the other brides, killed them in an illusion when they started to act too smart for him? Had she just made killing her easier?
The horse kicked up dust, that made her sight a little blurry with the brown cloud, and she closed her eyes for her incoming fate. She was sure that if it stomped upon her with one of its hoofs, she would die. It was just that big. One leg would be more than enough to turned her into a mangled piece and make her one with the earth.
But the next time she heard was the horse running into a tree, the tree dropping to the floor then something heavier dropping after, rocking the earth from that single act. There was a silence after, followed by the cry of a bird that passed over.
What rocked the forest next was the laughter of the boy that had been riding the horse, as he shouted out a name.
"Eli! Come and see!"
Belladonna eyes pried open at mention of that farmilar name and she looked towards the direction where she had heard the voice.
It was behind her, by the tree. The hoarse was no longer standing tall and majestic, it had fallen, it's side to the floor and there was a heart floating in the air, blood dripping from it at spaced intervals, like it was in a person's hand but the person was invisible.
What kind of illusion was this?
"Get me out of here at once." Her mouth finally moved along with her intention and she was grateful to finally get the words out, no matter how breathy she had sounded while doing it.
The voice she had expected to come with a reply didn't come at all, instead all that filled her ears, was the boy's laughter, while the heart that still hovered in the air, was being pulled from one side to another.
Belladonna hated to think that it was a child doing that, or that any part of it was even real.
This was all an illusion and she hated being in it.
Having no other choice, she said, "Alaris."
His response was instant.
"Shhhhh. Keep quiet. You should be watching." His voice floated to her ears easily. He was close by, like he was sitting right next to her. It made her stomach further recoil with anger and distaste.
"Get me out of here at once. I don't want you to be here."
"Careful with your tone human, in here, your necklace is not as powerful here as you would like it."
"Lies."
"Can't you see that this is different. You aren't part of it, you are only watching."
Curiousity got the better of her, what more lies did he have to say.
"What is this?"
"A past. The brother's king past."
"You can go into the minds of people that you've killed? Is that what you do with them, play with their memories." She gritted the next words with disgust and hate, "How can you be so cruel?"
"If he was dead, I would know. I share a greedy bond with him after all."
"That makes no sense."
"Just shut up and watch. It will make sense to you soon enough. I am using way too much strength on this and I expect you to get it once."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I hope you're here to stay because I won't let you leave." He chuckled dryly. "You'll be the first Bride I will actually be stealing."
Belladonna gulped, not because he said she would be the first Bride he would be stealing, that was obviously a lie, but the threat of her never leaving.
All while she had been talking to him, she had being imagining her room, she had even imagined Raquel waking her up, the sunlight flashing into her eyes, the think red curtains of her room and how they would burn her sight whenever she zoned out, while staring at them for too long.
She had imagined all that and many more but she still hadn't woken up.
His threat wasn't an empty one.