Nonexistent

THIRTY-FOUR- Rogue

VIOLENCE. 

I gaze up at my new room's ceiling and compare it to the ones I saw in the government facility. From the old cob-webbed furnishings I used to look up to every night, my stare now brushes the countless patterns of gold-platted, royal flourishes. In the middle of the ceiling, the crest of Royal Family is gently embedded against a pattern of lingering emblems, belonging to other important Monarchs and bishops. 

Something's not right.

As I lie on the side of my new too-soft bed, I look at the night sky from the view of the balcony. There's no light in my room except for a few weak candles, and I can still see the dark silhouettes of the objects in my room. The stars illuminate everything clearly from their polar-white shines. 

I've never seen anything like this before, especially in the government facility. I think back to those fogged up barred-windows that I had to clear out myself, that only displayed the plain view of another government facility's generic cement walls. Compared to this, it was pitiful, really. 

So I take my time and appreciate the beauty laid out before my eyes. After all, I will have to get used to this scenery someday. 

There is not a cloud in the sky. I watch a million stars twinkle on their own under the dark night sky. The lush green forest below it extends up to beautiful hills and mountains in the distance, and shadows of grand cliffs can be seen near the horizon. I heavily sigh and lie down on my bed in a curled ball. Then out of no where, a bolt of lightning followed by a rumble of thunder breaks my momentous oblivion.

I jolt out of my bed with the soft duvet wrapped around me, and chill runs around my spine.

Then I remember.

The violence in my brain, the turmoil in my emotions, released into that horrifying situation where I endangered almost everyone in the palace earlier today. I felt every source of metal pulsing around me, beating in my head like a drum. I couldn't manipulate it. On the contrary, it was controlling me. 

The weight of all the metal-- it wasn't even possible for a Silvercrest to carry so much. It hurt me like a hole ripping me from inside while I unleashed destruction and discord. It was a living nightmare, an ultimate feeling. I knew I had everything in the palm of my hands, yet it seemed like I couldn't cage the raging beast inside me.

Until everything, all of it, just stopped. 

The outrageous fear stopped consuming me, the metal stopped disobeying me, my cold, piercing thoughts stopped haunting me. From total defiance came peace. And all I felt was a warm embrace of acceptance, telling me that everything was going to be alright. 

Fire. 

When I opened my eyes, he was there, rushing toward me. The one who saved me from insanity. The Prince. 

But it was more like a fleeting dream, if I could say so.