Princess of the Silver Ocean - Chapter 31

“Don’t worry,” she continued, “I’m not exactly a stranger. I’m Princess Nexi of the Ashen Kingdom, and she is Princess Ai of this kingdom.”

She pointed to Ai, who smiled and waved at the little fox.

“Oh, it’s Princess Ai!” the little fox exclaimed, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t notice it was you. My name is Lara. Lara Marbita.”

“That’s a beautiful name, Lara. Tell you what,” Astoria said, smiling warmly at her, “I promise to find you tomorrow and buy a lot of your beautiful flowers.”

“Really?” Lara asked, delighted to hear such fantastic news that would help her grandmother.

Astoria nodded.

“Me too!” Ai chimed in with a thumbs up.

In excitement, Lara jumped up and down and bowed multiple times while repeatedly saying, “Thank you.”

“Okay, Lara. Now make sure you get home safely to your grandma. We’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Lara nodded and bowed one last time, then headed home, skipping to a tune that she lightly hummed. Astoria stood up and crossed her arms, a motherly smile plastered on her face.

“Oooh,” Ai said, nudging her, “someone loves kids.”

She laughed at the remark and shrugged. She had always loved kids, and seeing Lara’s neck made her worried about the little fox. She knew that something was wrong and, although it was not her place to meddle in other people’s affairs, she could not help it. She suspected that the little fox was being abused at home either by her grandmother or someone else.

“Anyway,” Ai added, “let me show you where my stand will be.”

They walked past several other kitsune’s who were busy putting up their stalls or decorating their houses. After walking for about five minutes, Ai stopped.

“Here we are,” the fox said, pointing at an empty spot next to a sweet shop called Sweet Delights.

“After careful consideration, I decided I will place it right here.”

She looked at the fox and then at the empty spot.

“What careful consideration?” Astoria asked, staring at the empty spot and then at Sweet Delights.

Ai smiled at her.

“Well,” she began explaining, walking back and forth, “since the weather will be hot tomorrow, tourists and kitsune’s are more likely to buy things like ice cream and sweets from this sweet shop. When they come out of the shop, they can enjoy their sweets while admiring my paintings.”

The fox smiled proudly as she nodded to herself how brilliant her idea was. Astoria laughed at her explanation and found the princess to be quite cute.

“I see,” Astoria responded, “well, I hope you get to sell a lot of paintings. I’ll buy a painting from you tomorrow.”

Ai laughed and looked at the spot where her stand was gonna be. She was extremely excited about the festival and could not wait to show her paintings to everyone.

“We should get going,” Astoria said, suddenly rubbing her hands together.

“Are you feeling cold?”

She could not answer the question immediately as she was unsure why her body had suddenly begun to lose warmth. It was as if a ghost had gone through her.

“I-I don’t know, but…” she paused and looked around, hoping to maybe see what was making her feel this way.

“Something is wrong,” she said softly to herself.

Ai looked at her, a confused and concerned look on her face.

“Okay, let’s head back to the palace,” Ai said, “maybe you’re still tired from the long journey.”

Astoria froze as she looked at a dark alley. The alley was across the sweet shop, and it was rather creepy when one looked at it. Many kitsunes walked past the dark alley, and they all stared at it. When they walked past it, their bodies began to slouch.

“Hey Ai,” she said, not taking her eyes off of the alley.

“Yeah,” Ai responded, a hint of fear in her voice when she saw the direction of Astoria’s gaze.

“Don’t you find it strange that we cannot see everyone’s face when they walk past the alley? Also, their bodies begin to slouch once they are past the alley.”

“It’s like there’s something there,” Ai softly said, “slowly sucking their life force or energy.”

They looked at each other, fear evident on their faces.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ai suggested.

The fox watched as her brother’s fiancé continued to stare at the alley. She scanned Astoria’s face and immediately held her hand.

“Don’t even think about it, Astoria,” she said, causing the princess to stare at her.

“Think what?” Astoria asked.

“Don’t play dumb. I know that look,” Ai said with a sigh.

“Ah, I’m just curious,” Astoria responded, “I mean, aren’t you curious as to what could be there?”

Ai shook her head.

“Everyone in the Kingdom knows that I’m a curious fox, but that there,” she said, pointing at the alley, “that I’m not in the slightest bit curious about. For all we know, there could be a dangerous monster there. We will head back to the palace and inform my parents about it.”

Astoria was not having it and, freeing herself from the fox’s grasp, slowly walked towards the alley.

“Astoria, no!” Ai screamed in horror.

When she was right in front of the alley, she heard a rustle and the sound of a trash can falling. Since the alley was unusually dark for her to see anything, she remembered that the king had given her a leather book filled with spells.

‘Surely it has some spell that would let me summon some light or fire so that I can see what is in this alley.’

“Vexati,” she softly said, and the book appeared, “Let’s see, a fire should help. Fire.”

The pages of the leather book began to turn, and as they turned, she kept a close eye on the alley, just in case some monster would pop up and attack her. The pages stopped turning, and she saw there was a spell to conjure fire. Softly uttering the words written on the page, a light fire appeared on her left hand.

‘Just like a torch. Perfect.’

“Astoria? Don’t go in there. Come back here!” she heard Ai call out to her.

She ignored the fox and stepped into the alley. When she stepped in, it was as if she had crossed into a boundary that enclosed her off from the outside world. The air in the alley almost made her throw up as it smelled putrid, like rotten corpses and fungi.

“What the hell?” she whispered as she covered her nose with her right hand, not wanting to smell the putrid smell anymore.

She scanned the alley and, to her horror, found skeletons of creatures and kitsunes lying next to the trash can. She almost threw up again when she saw that some of the skeletons still had bits of flesh and hair on them.

‘What is this place?’

As she carried on walking, she immediately froze when she heard an evil and high chuckle. She looked around, but all she could see were a few dead bodies and trash cans.

“Well, well, well,” she heard a raspy female voice utter, “who do we have here?”