Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

The carriage descended deeper into the lower grounds, where sunlight no longer reached.

The fortress walls came into view, strong tall, black stone covered in more ancient markings. Torches hanging on the entrance, their flames barely lighting up the darkness.

As we approached the Stone tone doors, it opened as the guards pulled chains.

The king stepped out first.

Adrian followed.

Then me.

The moment my feet touched the stone floor, I felt a strange pressure pressed against my chest, I remember how I was dragging her, on my knees begging and pleading that I was innocent.

We walked down a long corridor I remembered well lit by dim torches. Metal doors lined up both sides, but most were empty.

The king slowed.

“Stay alert,” he warned.

And then we reached it.

The last cell.

The unhinged cell.

I looked at the cell beside him, once my cell was now empty, but I could still smell myself in there, I could still see a bloody, hungry, dirty illusion of myself.

A faint humming sound echoes out of his cell

As we approached, I saw him.

A thin, pale man sitting cross-legged in the center of the room, surrounded by strange drawings drawn across the floor. His long sliver-like hair hung over his face, and his hands were stained with ink and something darker I guessed blood.

He didn’t look up when the king approached.

He didn’t move, he didn't look sacred, no he smiled.

He just spoke softly, his voice was calm as if he was being starved and tortured in here.

“Finally,” he whispered.
“The queen has arrived.”

I froze.

He lifted his head slowly.

His eyes, bright, unblinking, locked onto mine.

And then he laughed.

A chilling, knowing, laugh.

“Welcome back,” he whispered.

Back.

As if he knew, I was reborn.

As if he had seen me death.

No, is this possible?.

But the unhinged tilted his head and continued,

“You hid well in time, Annabelle… but time does not forget.”

The king looked curiously at both of us.
Adrian’s hand quietly moved toward his sword.

And I

I didn’t understand how he knew, how he still remembered, but I was at least sure that coming to see him was the right thing to do.

“Finally,” he said, “The queen returns.” laughing and dancing in the cell,
Returns.

He spoke the word as if he’d been waiting years.I wanted to know more to ask why I was reborn, but I couldn't not with the king and Adrian here

The king stiffened beside me. “Mind your tongue. The queen has never been here before.”

The unhinged still did not look at him. Not even for a second.

Instead, he whispered

“Not to you. Not in this time.” then continued laughing and dancing.

A tremor ran down my spine.

The king frowned, clearly confused. “What is that supposed to mean, you crazy old man?”

But the unhinged ignored him completely again.

His body leaned forward just slightly, chains hitting themselves loudly because of the movement.

“I know you remember everything queen Annabelle”

How?

The king stepped in front of me a bit more, protectively. “State your purpose. Why did you summon her?Why did you want to see her?

The unhinged blinked, slowly with a small smile as if just remembering the king existed.

“To warn her,” he said “and to give her answers to her questions”

“Warn her?” Adrian’s voice loudly from behind me. “About what?”

The unhinged eyes cut to Adrian, and his expression changed. Recognition. Disgust. Something close to a hateful amusement.

“Oh,” he said . “You’re still here.”

Adrian’s jaw clenched. “What do you mean still here?”

The unhinged tilted his head, in sympathy.

“You always survive, don’t you? No matter the cost. Even when others die for your crazy ambition.”

I felt the king tense.

“Did he just call me crazy”
Adrian’s hand made to lift his sword, but the king lifted a hand, stopping him.

“Explain. Now,” the king demanded.

But the unhinged didn’t look at the king.

He looked only at me.

“You died,” he whispered, voice cracking slightly. “Do you remember it, Annabelle? The moment your soul snapped away from this world?, the moment the spear touched your heart, the moment you saw everything you did wrong in life.

My breath stopped, a sharp pain throbbed in my chest. Everything came back to me all at once
The memory of that cold floor.
That betrayal.
That choking darkness, the tasteless food.

But I couldn’t answer. I wasn’t ready to speak it aloud.

He continued anyway.

“You died because you trusted the wrong person,” he whispered. “And because you never knew what was hidden behind the throne.”

The king glanced at me sharply. “What is he talking about? Annabelle”

“I don’t know,” I said quickly. It wasn’t a lie. I didn’t know how much the unhinged planned to expose.

The alchemist gave me a small, sad smile.

“You were always gentle,” he said softly. “Always believing the truth would reveal itself at the right time. Always waiting… too long.”

His fingers curled into the chains around his wrists playing with them.

“But you didn’t come back to repeat your death,” he whispered. “You came back to confront it.”

I thought “Why me? Why do you know these things?”
And as if he could read my mind he replied.

“Because I was there,” he said simply. “Because I tried to warn you. Because I saw the betrayal before anyone else, but who listen to a crazy old man.” he continued laughing

My heart thudded painfully.

“Why am I here”

The king glanced sharply at Adrian.

Adrian looked at us in confusion.

But the alchemist didn’t answer the question. Instead, he lifted a trembling hand and pointed directly at the drawings on the floor, strange symbols, circles, lines, and words that looked older than any language I knew.

“When time loops,” he murmured, “the one who returns becomes a beacon.”

The king stepped closer to the cell. “A beacon for what?”

“For danger,” the alchemist said. “For destiny. For enemies who thought they already killed her.”

He locked eyes with me again.

“They will come for you sooner this time, Annabelle. Because the future shifted the moment you breathed again.”

The king’s voice hardened. “Who is ‘they’?”

“The ones who fear what she becomes, the ones who know her destiny”

I froze.

“What do I become?, what is my destiny” I whispered.

He tilted his head.

“That,” he whispered, “is what your killer feared the most.”

“Killer?” the king snapped. “Who killed her?”

The alchemist blinked slowly, almost sadly.

“Would you believe me if I said the answer is standing in this room?”

The king’s face drained. “What? My queen I told you it was no used coming here, this man is not in his right mind, pls let's leave, I'll look for the most skilled alchemist in and out of high gale ”

I wasn't listening anymore, I had come to get answers, but I just kept getting more questions.

The unhinged laughed loud again, a laugh that was starting to greatly annoy me.

“You came back early,” he whispered to me. “Earlier than the future expected. And that means new paths… new dangers… and new choices.”

“Do not repeat your past mistake,” he whispered.

“And whatever you do, Annabelle… do not trust the one who smiles the most.”

Adrian’s smirk from earlier flashed in my mind. I already knew not to trust him, but was there someone else aside, Adrian and his mother.

Did being reborn mean, new enemies and new battles, does it mean all I know from my past life won't be useful.

The king looked at me in alarm, tugging at my hand for us to leave.

And the unhinged. He closed his eyes, exhausted.

“That is all I can say before they silence me again.”