The Chosen Girl

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning and lay there thinking if it was all real. Today David and I had to choose how to punish Liam, me and my fiance. I would be a royal now, not what I wanted, but it was interesting to have a different life. I picked out my outfit today, jeans and a raggedy t-shirt. I put my hair up in a bun and walked down to David's room. I knocked on the door and it was immediately opened by David. He too was dressed in simple clothes and his hair was messy like he had just woken up too. I ran my hands through it and straightened it out. "I don't want to hurt him David. I grew up with him, he's my friend." David looked at me, and he nodded. "He's a good servant too, but he became a cause of harm and danger to the royal family. He has to be punished." I looked in his eyes, and I saw that he had something in his mind.

"What are you thinking?" "There is a way that he'll suffer for a long time, but he won't be in pain everyday. We could give him to the beast." I took a step back from him. "That's the worst possible imprisonment. But someday we could let him out, and he wouldn't have aged or grown. He'd be the same." I looked at David who nodded. We had agreed, and now it was time to make him pay. "What will you tell your father?" "The truth, and then he'll accept what I'm about to do." We walked into Liam's compartment and shook him out of bed. We gave him clothes and then walked him to the elevator, I could see he knew what we had decided.

I should probably explain what the beast is. Many years ago, before the flooding and toxins that came because of what we did to the Earth, a company had drilled deeper than anyone had ever drilled before. One day they had reached a certain point and went down in an elevator to find an entire world there. Only one creature lives there, the beast. People tried living there, and no one survived. They were all eaten and chewed apart. For a few days, then they all woke up again, and were alive and back to normal. They had become immortal, but their curse was that they couldn't leave without an elevator, so they are down there forever in punishment, and now Liam was going to become one of them. 

We walked him to the elevator. Each prison or palace had one. We went down for a few hours, watching the endless rock. Finally the glow of molten magma reached us and the elevator stopped on the floor of the beast's home. We heard a screech in the distance and I looked at David, we needed to hurry. David pulled out a bag full of supplies, each new person came with one. He tossed it out of the elevator. Liam looked at us, one longing look. Then we both summoned a great blast of wind and threw him out. David shut the door and pressed the button to go up. This ride was faster, only half an hour, but it felt twice as long. I buried my head in David's shoulder and he held me close for the rest of the ride. We reached the top and walked off the elevator, and were immediately confronted by David's father, Mordecai. 

"What do you think you were doing David, and taking Emma with you. I need an explanation." David gave him the short version, and he nodded and let us go. "I understand why you did that, but next time, talk to me first." We both nodded and walked away towards our rooms. David was turning to go back down to his room when I whipped around, thoughts not making sense. "David, won't you stay?" He turned and smiled. "If you wish Emma." I nodded and he followed me into my bedroom. Mine wasn't as grand as his, a few decorations here and there, a small tree stood in the corner. We sat on my bed and talked, just talked. I hadn't noticed I had been crying until David wiped away a few tears from my face. "I killed my friend." "No, you gave him redemption. We can bring him back up in a few months. He might have learned by then."

I gazed up at David, my new life waiting just within those eyes. "I suppose your mother is happy about how last night went." David laughed and looked up at the canopy over my bed. "She's already making plans. She wants the wedding to be in a few months, April or May. She's happy to have something to do for once. Amelia is just a handful of trouble." I laughed, I had seen Amelia's shenanigans all over the palace, paintings drawn on the walls and floors and she would dance through the halls. I jumped up, and ran for the door. "I have dance practice with Amelia, I almost forgot!" We both ran down the hallways to the dance studio. Amelia was spinning in a constant twirl, she loved dance now, and she practiced everyday of the week. She stopped and smiled at me and nodded at David as he walked in behind me. "He should see what you can do Emma, you're brilliant."