The Dawn of the New World

"How can you- WHO!"

Before she could finish the sentence the very obvious sound of wings flapping came from behind her accompanied by an extremely bright light.

Princess Ceni tried to turn around and face its source but before she could do so a hand reached out and gently pushed her from behind.

It was just a light tap but she lost all control of her body as it was flung into the flickering image that she was right in front of her, the image of the castle under siege.

"NO!" she screamed trying to stop herself but to no avail. The moment her body came into contact with the image she could feel herself being pulled inside. And at that very last instant a voice spoke up from behind her.

"It is not yet done. When it is time I will give you one whole lifetime to make him accept the truth but until then, you may only watch."

The voice belonged to a woman but not one she recognized.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" she questioned in a mix of rage and jealousy but the answer presented itself a moment later.

'It's her! But how?! And in here?'

That was her last thought as the scene turned to black. Princess Ceni's consciousness was being pulled in a dozen different directions until finally she was allowed to freefall.

Alarm bells rang out from within her mind because there was nothing she could do other than brace for the final impact.

"GAH!"

She opened her eyes and looked around in a panic.

"Hah hah hah, where am I- !?"

Her voice sounded different, not only younger but a lot less mature. She looked down and saw the bed she was sleeping in. Her body was covered in a cold sweat.

"What's going on?"

She slowly got off and stepped on something soft.

*Whine~*

A surprised squeaky wail came from under her foot making her jump away.

"Show yourself!" she ordered and from under the bed a small four-legged furry creature appeared.

Its fur was white and blue in color with two small wings on its back. It had the face of a panda with short stumpy legs. It was hugging its tail which Princess Ceni had stepped on.

"What…are you?"

It behaved like a dog but looked nothing like one. It ran up to her and tried to climb up her legs but only managed to jump a few centimeters each time.

"You're too fat," she commented seeing as its round body was far too big for those tiny wings.

*Whine~"

It looked down on its protruding stomach with a hurt expression.

"You can understand me?!"

The creature nodded gloomily, still rubbing its stomach. Princess Ceni sighed and picked it up, letting it nuzzle in her embrace.

She walked up to a giant mirror that was placed across from the bed to inspect herself. As expected she did not look like herself.

The one looking back at her from the mirror was perhaps a 13 or 14-year-old girl. She was definitely beautiful even at such a young age but apart from that, there were no indications of her real identity.

The room was big, much bigger than it had any reason being. It was a little messy with many things strewn across the floor but everything in sight looked expensive. From the clothes and the jewelry to even the furniture.

It was a pretty good bet to think she came from a rich background. She bent down and picked up a necklace that had red crystals embedded after every chainlink. She lightly brushed the surface of the crystals and felt the cold exterior.

If she didn't have her memory there would be no way to tell this wasn't real.

She looked down at the creature in her embrace and felt its tiny little thumping heartbeat and it made her even more fearful.

"Where the hell am I? I need to find Hao Xuan and leave this place as soon as possible!"

She even began to doubt her ability to convince Hao Xuan but the faster she got to it the better it would be for everyone involved.

*Treeeemble*

Just at that moment a small earthquake forced her awake. She ran up to the window and saw a crack in the sky. It looked like the claw of some humongous creature was trying to break the sky open.

*BANG*

The door was forced opened behind her with a loud bang and a small army of maids ran in.

"My lady!" several of them screamed loudly upon finding the bed empty until they saw her standing by the window.

Princess Ceni obviously didn't recognize any of those faces but it was quite obvious who was in charge. It was a middle-aged woman that was much more composed than the others even in this situation.

"What's going on?" Princess Ceni asked the head maid.

"We must get you ready, your Highness."

"Ready for what?"

"The protection spell of the inner court has been breached and the castle will be overrun soon.. The royal guards will be here to escort you to safety."