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pink petals->

From: An anonymous benefactor
Message: "Why can't I keep my mouth shut?"

You sighed to yourself again as you slowly make your way through the trees, heading towards a run-down castle standing at the edge the forest on the other side, abandoned for at least a few centuries ago.

You and your travelling buddies had made a stop in a village for the night to rest up and to stock up on some food supplies. There, one of your buddies picked up an old tale about the castle being haunted by the ghost of a dead prince, his name lost in the forgotten history. It is said that in the darkest hour, the ghost can be heard wailing from within the castle walls, his cries can be heard even from the village.

Of course you, being skeptical of all things supernatural, called the story a bogus and on the spar of the moment, accepted one of your buddies' challenge to spend the night at the place.

Standing at the front of the castle, you finally pick up your courage to cross a stone bridge that leads into the interior of the structure...only for the bridge to crumble at the middle, dropping you into the moat full of freezing cold water.

You struggled in the water, unable to swim up to the surface as the cold waters sapped away your strength. As your vision started to blur, you thought you saw black mist-like mass gathering in front of you, coagulating into a shadowed figure that effortlessly pulls you towards the surface before you blacked out.

You suddenly wake up with a jolt and found yourself seated on a chair facing a long table. A quick look around in the darkness partially lit by the moon outside the arch windows, you guessed you must be in the castle's dining hall.

"You are awake..." A cold and monotonous voice that came from the other end of the dining table, sent chills down your spine as you make out a figure sitting on the other end of the table. White glowing eyes stared intensely at you as you flinched, before realizing you are garbed in medieval clothes.

Noticing your confused look, the figure stands up and walks towards you, unhindered by the table that 'split' him in half, the moonlight revealing a white haired man wearing an elegant black tunic, his skin the color of a dead corpse.

"I was the one who pulled you out of the water and changed your wet clothes, peasant..." He explained, smiling eerily as he notices you looking stiff from terror. "It has been a long time since one who carries the blood of that man dared to come back... or perhaps you have no idea what you got yourself into...?"

Without waiting for you to ask what he meant, he started to tell his tale as he moves away from you.

"My kingdom was once a thriving place where everyone prospered under my rule..." He whispered, but somehow you can hear his voice clearly in your mind as he stands near an arch window, looking outside. "But of course, where there is light, there are shadows that hide out of sight, waiting for a chance to take everything...My subjects had warned me so many times that my uncle, the Archduke, planned to overthrow me. I dismissed the rumors as he did numerous services to my father, and then to me. Little did I know, he bribed the castle guards to look the other way as his troops stormed the castle on that one night..."

Suddenly, the door behind you bust open with a loud bang and armored knights, partially transparent, rush in and take the prince by his arms before dragging him out of the dining hall.

You check your watch which is still strapped to your wrist only to find that it is a few minutes to 3 AM, the so called 'Witching hour'. You decided to chase after the knights to a now untamed garden where they tied the prince to a pole, while a balding old man with a huge frame, also partially transparent, soundlessly laughed at him.

"My traitorous uncle wanted me to hand over my reign to him but I refused, knowing that my people will starve under his rule." His voice in your head muttered in distaste as the prince spit at the Archduke in the face. Enraged, the old man slapped him, his rings lightly scratching the young prince's face in the process before he issued soundless orders to his knights.

You watch in horror as the knights proceed to stab through the prince's torso with their spears, one by one as he coughed blood the color of the night.

"An indescribable pain shot through my body every time a spear embedded itself into my flesh. With it, my hatred for my uncle grow... On the verge of my death, I swore to him that I will come back and destroy what he took from me."

With that, the prince wailed loudly in an inhuman screech and you are forced to cover your ears to dull the deafening scream as the Archduke and his knights involuntarily take a few steps back.

The watch hit 3 AM and instantly the ghosts of the past disappeared along with the pole. The prince's scream creased as he dropped onto the floor, a growing puddle of murky-black liquid forming from numerous stab wounds on his chest.

You rush over to help the prince only to be stopped by his white eyes looking up at you, his spilled blood flowing backwards into his wounds as they mend before his tunic fixes itself, leaving him whole again. You can make out sinister, swirl marks slowly snake from the shadows of his tunic, covering part of his pale face as he rises to his feet.

"Since my death... he blotted out my history of reign, trapping me in the realm of the living." The prince muttered. You back away as he makes his way towards you but too late, his clawed hands pins you against a wall by your shoulders, trapping you. You can see him putting an effort to keep himself from hurting you.

"Let...the whole world...know about the tragedy, peasant..." He sounds strained as he leans close to let his voice echo through you. "So that I can... end my own torment... My name is..."

He whispered his name to you before mist-like black mass engulfs you, rendering you unconscious.

"...ke...wake...wake up...WAKE UP, YOU SLEEPY HEAD!"

Your buddies found you laying on the front of the castle in the morning, strangely enough, in your normal clothes. You thought it was all a dream until you notice the crumbled stone bridge and a familiar shadowed figure with white eyes at the other side of the bridge before it dissolves away.

"What's wrong?" One of your buddies asks you as he picks up your bag lying nearby. You shake your head.

"Nothing...Let's go, guys."

(Don't worry, I also have a huge wishlist. Here's something off that list.)

- Princely Anon