Alice's Heart : The Vulnerable Heart

Alice's eyes fluttered open with her heartbeat weakening every second. Her breath was labored, somehow breathing became difficult for her. She tried to stay awake when a large shadow and the sound of heavy footsteps came over her, but it was so difficult when there was no energy left in her. There was nothing she could do, so she let whoever was approaching her pick her up and carry her away from the place. Just as her eyes were about to close due to the pain she was experiencing in her head, a voice managed to make her try to maintain her consciousness.

"How could this happen to you, my beloved?"

Such a voice Alice had never heard in her life until that day. It was husky, heavy, yet sounded like a roar. She was sure the voice was not a human voice.

"I promise that from now on I will always take care of you, watch over you, and be your number one guard. This will never happen again,"

Slowly the pain that Alice felt in her head faded and was replaced by drowsiness that was incredibly difficult for her to fight. Within seconds she fell into a deep sleep.

Who knows how long Alice had been asleep, she woke up in a very dark place, without being able to see anything. It seemed like she was being devoured by darkness.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" asked Alice who was getting restless with her situation. Not being able to see around her made her hesitate to move and leave her place. She was about to open her mouth again when she noticed a knitted blanket wrapped around her. Someone had saved her, she thought. But then she remembered the voice she had last heard. Who was talking to her? She froze in place as she memorized each of those words.

"You are safe here,"

Shuddering, Alice immediately put a guard over herself. She gripped the knitted blanket tightly with mixed feelings. "Who are you?" She was clearly frightened especially since there was nothing for her to see in the darkness.

There was no answer from the unfamiliar voice, so Alice added. "Were you the one who helped me?"

Silence, there was only silence that Alice found afterwards. That made her even more anxious.

"Won't you at least tell me who you are? Show yourself, please. I'm afraid to be in this darkness any longer, knowing I'm alone. You're still there, right? You're not leaving me, are you?"

Again the voice was unresponsive which convinced Alice that she was completely alone in that place. Fear really got the best of her. Not knowing what she could do, she just kept quiet and slowly sobbed. That's what she always did in many incidents in her life. Crying made her feel stronger and relieved.

After a while, the voice finally sounded. "If you listen carefully, a sound of running water is heard. Follow the sound and you will see a light on the way there,"

"I'm going alone? What about you? You don't want to come with me? We're the only ones in this place, so why not go together?" asked Alice with a sob.

"I can't,"

"Why? It would be better if we go together,"

No further response was given, Alice sighed softly. She got no choice, but to go alone. The sound of running water led her footsteps to get closer. Slowly she found light from there which apparently came from fireflies flying and dancing as if they had welcomed her. Her eyes were filled with excitement, like a child seeing a new toy for the first time.

Alice then sat down under a willow tree beside the lake. The night looked very beautiful under the moonlight. She took a deep breath and even the scent of nature never let her down. Smelled like grass after rain. Somehow she felt at peace being there. It had been a long time since Mrs. Greyson had disappeared she had that feeling. She missed her, so much.

"Tsk tsk, look who we got here."

Alice immediately stood up from her spot after hearing that familiar voice. It was the voice of one of the panthers she had met earlier. Her eyes searched around to find where the panther was, moreover the sound was close. Her mind wandered about how the others were. Has Sebastian been defeated?

"The princess who got separated from her entourage," another panther voice replied.

Alice was well aware that she was alone. That was why she could only stand straight and not utter a single word. Nothing could save her from being eaten by the two panthers. She stared intently as the two panthers finally appeared before her ready to pounce.

"Oh sweetie, you look confused and... scared? We have defeated your prince and friends. And you know what? They are now our prisoners,"

Hearing that Alice's heart pounded fast, knowing the others were still alive.

"Now nothing can prevent us from killing you,"

Alice had thought about running away, but the panther had a running speed twice as fast as her. They didn't even look like real beings. It made her discouraged and could only close her eyes when they were about to attack her. But after that she felt nothing. There was no pain in her body and she could still breathe just fine. Bracing herself, she opened her eyes to find a huge creature was in front of her, blocking any access for the two panthers to reach her. The creature's strong hands then strangled them until they both looked like they were dying.

Alice gasped in shock at the scene. It was the first time she had seen such a large, monster-like creature, like the one in her nightly dreams. The creature seemed to notice, so it turned to face her. There was no expression of fear that she showed making the creature with drool dripping from the corner of its lips stare at her flatly. Neither of them showed any reaction to that very first meeting.

"T-thank you," Alice stammered as she saw the blood of the two panthers was as black as ink. The creature nodded then was about to leave when she spoke again. "You understand what I'm saying?"

The creature turned around. "I do,"

Alice mentally scoffed herself after learning that the creature's voice was the voice that had been guiding her. "How could that be..."

The creature tried to guess Alice's shocked reaction until it finally realized one thing. "I can speak, I can also read and write. What's wrong with that?"

"Wait a minute, really?" Alice's eyes lit up with amazement at that. "I'm not even sure you're real. This is all like a dream to me,"

The creature just fell silent with another unexpected reaction from Alice. He then cleaned the blood from the two panthers that had stuck to its thick brown fur.

"Do you have a name? I mean what gender are you?" Alice asked awkwardly as her eyes roamed the creature's naked body.

The creature seemed to think for a moment. "Silas, my name is Silas."

Alice narrowed her eyes after finding that name sounded familiar to her ears. "Silas? The panthers called Sebastian by that name before,"

"Sebastian? Did he manage to survive?"

"You know him?" Alice's eyes grew round. She found herself even more surprised. She then fell silent after remembering Zoe's last explanation. Everything seemed unreal to her, including that explanation.

The creature ignored Alice's question and instead created its own. "You're not afraid of me? I'm ugly and just sadistically killed the two panthers in front of you,"

"You saved me, twice. How can I be afraid of my savior?"

The creature exhaled heavily through his teeth.

"May I call you by your name?" Alice took a step forward and suddenly made the creature take a step back. "Silas, that's a nice name."

Silas' dark blue eyes flashed something that Alice didn't understand at all. He just froze there for a moment without a response.

"You don't seem to mind that. All right, Silas, my name is Alice. It's nice to meet you, but I need your help. I'm here because of family tradition, but then I got separated from everyone else including Sebastian you might already know," Alice sighed softly. "I heard that now they are locked up by those panthers, but I don't know where."

"Don't worry, I'll try to get them out of there, but for that you need to be somewhere safe."

A line appeared between Alice's brows as she apparently considered the statement. "Can't I just come along?"

Silas didn't mumble a word and just turned away. There were many questions in Alice's head, but no answers he gave. "Wait for me," She rushed after him because she didn't want to stay where she was with the bodies of the two panthers lying around. "Actually, how many kinds of creatures live here?" Again, she asked as she tried to match her footsteps with him, but she always ended up walking behind him. It was very difficult for her to walk side by side with him.

"There are many kinds,"

Alice smiled to herself as the question she gave this time received an answer. It gave her a glimmer of hope for an answer to her previously unanswered question. "And you're one of them? But what exactly are you?"

"I am, but I'm the only one here with this look." Silas replied flatly, making Alice curious as to what expression his face was showing. "I don't know exactly what I am, but you can see I'm the ugliest creature here."

"To be honest, I think you've been wrong about yourself. You don't look as ugly as you think, but you are unique. For the first time in my life I saw a creature with those beautiful dark blue eyes and how you only had three claws but could win against two panthers was incredible. It was really cool," Alice spilled out all of her thoughts, hoping that Silas could at least change the way he saw himself.

"Just stay close to me, I can smell panthers and other creatures." Silas croaked, his voice strangled.

"I'm right behind you, Silas." Alice stared at the creature walking in front of her with a smile. She understood perfectly well that Silas didn't want to talk more about himself, even though there were many things she wanted to know. She had absolutely no intention of pressing him to tell her and just let it go. "By the way why do the panthers want to kill me? I mean I'm sure they want to make the humans their food, but why only me? Why are the others just being held captive?"

Silas suddenly stopped walking. He turned around with an eerie glare. "They can never do that while I'm still alive. Nothing can hurt you," His voice laced with irritation.

"We've only just met, but it's obvious you care a lot about me. Why?" Alice studied the look of burning anger on Silas' face. He clearly didn't like the thought of her being the target of the panthers to be killed and served as a meal, whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Silas tried to control himself by controlling his breathing. "What's wrong with you, Alice? You're still standing here calmly after seeing me show my temper. You should have screamed in fear or even run away from me by now. I'm hideous and savage,"

"What? Of course not. I wouldn't do any of that. I told you. You saved me several times and I don't want to be alone. With you around, I feel protected." Alice crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Silas' stern expression softened into one of relief and he blinked rapidly as if trying to keep tears at bay. The hairs along his arms stood up.

"Please stop thinking badly of yourself," Alice smiled, but Silas quickly looked away from her innocent gaze.

They then continued their journey until they arrived at an uninhabited black castle located right at the top of the hill. Alice could feel an aura of darkness and sadness after observing the location she had just discovered. The castle was outdated and unkempt.