A Kingdom Lost In Time

Chapter I

The rising of the Princess from her deep slumber was always at 8:30am. No one really knew what time it was anymore, with no sun, moon, or sky to guide them. No one knew when it was dawn or dusk, day or night. Yet somehow, the Princess knew. The only time people knew was the Princess' birthday, as this was the same day the barrier was built. As said before, not a single soul was certain of time passage. However, they had a guess when the Princess would age another year, and the Princess herself would keep track. Her way of figuring out when she would age, was to count how many times she slept, and each tally mark represented one single sleep. After 364 sleeps, she knew it was her birthday, as there were 365 days in a year, and one of those was her birthday. As soon as her birthday was over, she'd count again and again, until the next birthday. It was a never ending cycle, but if no one kept count then she would get older without knowing. Her birthday was the only celebrated birthday, as no one else really knew theirs anymore. To be fair, did anyone really care whether they were older or younger at this point? They were enclosed in a dome of unbreakable magic, forever inside, with a world of unknown behind the walls of magic that they could never escape. After being trapped for 16 long years, did anyone really care?

Princess Roselle's eyelids fluttered open at 8:30am, and the dim candle on her bedside cabinet flickered and danced. She sighed and sat up, whilst stretching her arms. Once more awake, her still tired eyes darted to a piece of paper lay on her desk, and she jumped out of bed, hitting her petite head on one of four bedposts. After rubbing her head, the Princess half-skipped, half-stumbled to the desk where the paper was lying. She picked up her white feather quill and drew a single, straight line next to a pre-drawn line from yesterday. The new line marked 362 sleeps since her last birthday. The Princess immediately grew a rather large smile on her face, because (if she was correct) that meant there were only two more sleeps until she turned 18. This was a big birthday for her, as it meant there were only 3 more years until she would come of age and receive the crown, and also her father's magic. That day was still around 1095 sleeps away, and for now she would remain innocent and unpressurised. After sitting motionless in her desk chair for a short while, she grew another smile and jumped onto her bed, hugging the pillows into her chest. Her long chestnut brown hair billowed and landed around her face, so she could no longer see much. It didn't make a difference, as she already had her eyes closed, but she loved her hair. It reached her hips, and was always soft, flowing and like a healthy chestnut which lived in Autumn. Her eyes matched her hair, deep brown with a sparkle in them. The Princess squeezed her eyes shut in attempts to drift back off into a slumber, but she just couldn't. Sleeping was one of her favourite things to do, as she could drift into a false dream world, where she did not have to worry about her responsibilities as Royalty, or following the qualities of true Princess mannerism and etiquette. In her dream world, she could do anything, be anything! She loved her dreamworld, so much that she kept a Dream Journal and recorded her dreams. She dreamt of many different things, usually of the fairy tales read to her when she was a mere child: Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty... the list goes on. Sometimes she dreamt of things she would never see, but things that have existed and no longer do, but we will get to that later...

Roselle crawled back to the top of her bed, hugging the soft pillow, which was almost coated in a regal crimson colour, her bedsheets and covers were the colour of her choosing (though she had few options, after all it had to be a royal colour). Even though she woke quite early, she never got up until she was called upon by her handmaiden, April. April was her best friend, her ONLY friend for that matter, and they knew almost everything about each other (of course apart from a few things that were for Roselle's mind only). Sometimes, even April couldn't get the Princess out of bed, as she loved lying there for hours on end, living in her own mind, a dream while awake. As long as her eyes were closed, she could explore the innermost depths of the Dreamworld she created herself, each tiny little particle to make it HERS. The Dreamworld was one of the things April did not know about, as Roselle wanted to keep it special, and her escape from life when it was at its toughest.