TO THE PRESENT!

The Queen, dressed in her golden gown, swiping the floor, the crown, the symbol of the sovereignty of the land of Saunders resting on her head, walked towards the pedestal to greet her people.

The clock stroke four in the afternoon and just at the nick of the moment, the sun started to fade away, darkness slowly seeping in the land, swallowing the light.

The birds started chirping, returning to their home nest and Ambrosia looked up to see the sun setting down, three hours earlier.

Gossips and whisper about the Witch's warning circulated around the fortress in a second.

On her birthday, the Queen felt the first feeling of threat, insecurity to her throne and crown.

Her birthday march was ended quicker than expected. She bid her people with a fake smile of victory and went inside the palace.

"But my Queen, as the enemy will come closer, the sun will fade, days will become shorter and the nights will take over the land of Saunder again...that is when you will know...that they are here for revenge!"

The Witch's words rang in Ambrosia's head as she ran towards the palace, holding the water lily in her hands.

She had come far away from the fortress ground and after the battle, she did not feel safe outside in the dark anymore.

She collided against a body and fell down on her butt. The sheep's bleating noises enveloped the surrounding.

"Watch where you go, silly peasant!"

Ambrosia yelled, standing up. The boy extended out his hand to help her up but she slapped it away.

Dressed in a rosy red gown, a crystal tiara resting on her head, even though the face was not clearly visible to him, Ruquie could make out that it had to be someone from the palace.

"Pardon me my highness, the sheep are afraid of the dark so I m in a rush to take them home!"

Ambrosia rolled her eyes away and straightened her dress. He eyes her up and down, never seeing a woman from the palace up so close.

"It is true? Is not it?"

She looked up at his dark face, the light was too narrow to see him clearly.

"What the witch had warned of!"

Ambrosia's mouth hung open, listening to the boy's words. For she had never thought of the fact that a commoner would also know about the warning.

"Do your work, shepherd boy! Keep your ears shut, eyes closed, do your duty and serve the Great Queen of Saunders!"

Ambrosia let out and flew away to the palace, surpass the boy. Ruquie turned around to see her flying away.

It was also his first time to see a vampire from the palace. He had seen and talked with many vampires but never saw one from the palace.

Being a scavenger, living in the outskirts of the capital, it was a rare privilege to even see the palace guards in their place.

"Keep your eyes closed, ears shut, do your duty, serve the Great Queen of Saunders, kneel before her sword and power and protection!"

He sang the primary words of the royal highness and walked in the direction of his village with the herds of sheep.

The celebration continued inside the palace. The Queen watched her loyal subjects dancing and singing from the dinner table.

Ambrosia ran up to her mother and took her right full place beside her Queen.

"Where were you?"

Celeste questioned her daughter, eyes still on the front, legs up on the dining table.

"Collecting your gift!"

Ambrosia answered, handing the flowers to her mother. Celeste tilted her head and saw the white lilies, taking them off of her daughter's hands.

"As the nights will near, they will not grow anymore!"

Celeste spoke, eyeing the flowers keenly in deep thought. Her daughter could see the effect of the witch's warning taking over her mother's entire aura.

"It turned out to be true! Is not it?"

She implored. She had always been wary about the battle coming back to their lives again.

She had lost her father, her friends, her best friend and the land lost half of its citizens.

"It is nothing! A solar eclipse...that was what it was, silly girl!"

Celeste said, pinching her daughter's smooth cheeks and joking away the severity of the matter.

Ambrosia understood how her mother was yet not ready to acknowledge the witch's words.

The rest of the night was spent, dancing, partying, drinking vines and laughing in happiness.

As the next day came, the Queen's eyes were stuck on the big tower clock and the sun.

As the clock stroke four, the same time as before, the sun sank under the ocean water and she shoved the fear away thinking it to be the change in time and day.

For three days, at the same time, the sunset happened and everything felt to be normal.

When for the entire year, it remained the same. The fear from the minds of the people wore away thinking it to be just a change in time just like their ruler.

At the starting of the spring, to commemorate the loss of the battle heroes, as the Queen and her subjects marched towards the wetlands and just before, she could drop the garland on her husband's tomb, the darkness started seeping again in.

Ambrosia checked the sundial and saw that the sun had set an hour earlier than before.

The Queen rushed inside her palace and locked herself in her chamber the next year when the sunset again an hour earlier than the previous year.

The news had spread and the people of Saunders were fearful of their life. Not exactly knowing what waited for them in the future, things got worst.

The repeated cycle of the night nearing had made the Queen to go mad crazy. She had started preparing for an army for battle from the third year.

And as sick and unfortunate it was, with very less fewer of vampires and humans more in population, the army was weak.

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