Kellan gasped awake. His eyes flew open and his vision filled with the sight of his childhood bedroom. His old four poster bed and the nursery rhyme painted on the ceiling provided him with all the proof he needed to accept this dream as reality.
He lay still under the covers for a moment, trying to process everything that happened, his mind twisting around the astounding impossibility.
He drew his hands to his face and saw that they were trembling, but more than that, he focused on his small pale fingers. These were a child's hands, so different from the pair he was used to.
He slowly pushed his limp body up from the bed, and peeled back the covers to reveal his small pale legs. He slid down from the high bed and walked across the room. Staring at his reflection, he found a little comfort in his familiar grey eyes, and inky black hair, rather it was his body that startled him. He was no longer a man, but a child again, small and frail.
Once again the delicate little prince he used to be.
Too shocked to rejoice, Kellan just stared at himself in his silk pyjamas.
Against all the spell had worked.
For all his life he had been under the impression that he didn't inherit any magic from his mother, when in reality it was just the poisonous potion he was being fed that concealed his magic for all those years. Just as he was about to die, his magic broke free to save his life.
"Time magic..." Kellan whispered, a dark grin curving up his lips.
For all those years he thought he was just unfortunate, but really an ancient and powerful magic was locked up inside of him - the magic to control time. It was a magic that had saved his life, judging from the state of his body and his surroundings, had taken him back to when he was a child.
He sucked in an anxious breath realising that he didn't know what date he had returned to. A flicker of hope flashed across his dull eyes, there was a possibility he had been taken back to before his mother was killed. With everything he knew now, he could definitely save her this time.
Kellan forgot about his frail body and dashed over to his wardrobe. He thrust aside his hanging clothes to check the panels at the back of the wardrobe.
His heart dropped as he saw the lines carved into the wood. His eyes grew hot and moist remembering the quill he used to scratch the wood as a child, each stroke marked a day since his mother's death. From a glance he could tell that there were more than one thousand strokes already.
His magic had taken him far into the past, but not far enough.
It was already a miracle that he was able to go back to this point, and yet in that moment he wished more than anything that he could go back further and see his mother again.
Three gentle knocks tapped at his bedroom door.
Kellan swiftly shut the wardrobe and turned to see the door to his room swing open. In came the butler and a few other servants.
"Your Highness?" The butler hurried over to the Prince and kneeled before him. "What are you doing out of bed? You are still too weak to move around."
The moaning butler looked up into the prince's eyes expecting to see that weak and feeble expression on his face, but he almost gasped when he saw that Prince Kellan was glaring at him with a stare as cold as ice.
The butler blinked and the prince's face was back to normal. He concluded that he must have imagined it.
"Don't worry, Bas. I'm feeling a little better today." Kellan smiled meekly just as he used to when he was in his isolation.
He glanced down at Bas. A smallish man in his late twenties who had looked after him since his mother's death. Rage boiled inside him at the sight of Bas, but he held it in and acted as he usually did. He couldn't afford to alert him yet.
Kellan turned to the large windows and was flooded with memories of the magnificent flower garden his mother kept. The Emperor knew how much his mother adored flowers and so he had the best and most beautiful flower seedlings imported from all around the kingdom for mother to plant in her vast gardens.
There used to be tens of gardeners attending to the plants everyday, painstakingly trimming and watering and repotting, all in an effort to please the Empress. However, after her death everybody stopped caring. The garden was now overgrown and being run over by invading weeds. All the exotic and beautiful plants that needed caring for had withered from the neglect while the tough and ugly plants feasted off their nutrients and survived. Kellan almost laughed thinking about how similar the garden was to the inner workings of the Royal Harem.
"I want to go for a walk in the garden."
Bas jaw clenched at the Prince's words, but the he quickly regained his subservient smile. Kellan had rarely left his room after his mother's execution, so a sudden decision to take a stroll in the garden was significant.
"Of course, Your Highness," Bas bowed, his eyes darting from the young Prince to the tray of food anxiously. He wondered if the poison was not strong enough. The potion worked so that it drained the victim's energy, making them bedridden after a few years. Perhaps the dose was not strong enough..?
Bas hastily pulled out a chair at the prince's breakfast table. "I will prepare your clothes, Your Highness. In the meantime please build your strength with a hearty breakfast." He smiled from ear to ear, exposing his pale yellow teeth and uneven dimples.
Kellan simply nodded as he always did and kept his expressions in check as the maids quietly unloaded the plates of food onto his breakfast table. It was all poisoned with the potion that suppressed and harmed his center of magic. The butler had been making sure to feed it to him since his mother's death. This food was the reason he wasn't able to use his magic, furthermore, it was why his body was growing so weak.
Kellan sat down at the table and picked up his spoon. He quietly ate his meal like he always did.
"Is everything to your liking, Your Highness?" Bas eyed the Prince carefully, scanning his expression, checking for even the slightest deviation from his usual manner.
Kellan nodded once. The day would soon come when he would see this servant punished, and his real master outed, so taking in a bit more of the potion was fine for now.
"What is the date today?" Kellan had a rough idea from all the strokes he had carved into the wardrobe but he needed specifics.
Bas chuckled, a mocking tone in his voice, "Your highness must have been in a deep sleep to have forgotten the date."
Kellan bit down on his food in an effort to keep himself from hitting the insolent servant. The etiquette in the palace was clear and strict. A servant's worth was judged by their absolute obedience and loyalty to their master. Laughing at or teasing their masters was something that was punishable by sever corporal punishment. Bas only dared to speak this way because of the neglect Kellan was facing.
"It is the 14th Day of the 3rd Month of the 1423th year of the Terrassen Empire, your highness." Bas included the year to mock Kellan for not knowing the date, but Kellan was glad that he did. Now he was sure of where he was in the timeline.
Kellan's period of isolation was coming to a close because his uncle would soon bring evidence to court that his mother was framed. Although it had not happened yet, he had the date etched into his mind: The 1st Day of the 4th Month of 1423.
The day his mother was was falsely accused was the day she would be proved innocent, but three years later. It was poetic justice and all thanks to his uncle's hard work. However, his uncle had only uncovered the surface of the terrible plot to kill his mother.
The maid who framed his mother was simply the surface and uncle's evidence only outed her, and not her powerful backer, the real villain of the Royal Harem.
Kellan breathed in deeply as he ate, calming himself down. This would be an uphill battle, and he would have to struggle everyday to stay alive, but he would do it. He would take down that hateful person and raise himself up to the highest point. As for wether he desired the throne, he was disinclined to it. After he accomplished his goals, he would disappear, perhaps find some isolated island and spend his time in leisure.
Kellan put down his spoon, finished with his meal. Bas hurriedly dressed the prince in a casual robe of dark blue silk with a large fur coat on account of the chilly weather for the sake of the prince's poor health.
Kellan walked quietly along the path with Bas trailing behind him, who would not stop talking. Kellan blocked him out as he gazed over the dead and decaying plants that his mother had cared so much for.
"It's truly a pity the gardens have gone to waste. Those useless gardeners have been slacking off..." Bas chided.
Kellan stared blankly ahead knowing that Bas was the one who fired them all.
"If only the Queen had not been so taken by jealousy and committed that horrible act, then this garden would still have it's master to care for it..."
In his past timeline, Kellan's state of depression left him unable to take care of the Empress's palace. So all his duties fell into Bas's hands. This small bit of power had gotten to Bas's head and made him think he could speak to Kellan outside the conforms a normal servant could. For now Kellan would endure it. The day for vengeance was soon approaching, then he would make Bas suffer, terribly.
They passed by the magnificent pond that used to be filled with floating flowers and exotic fish. Now the water was stagnant and had a layer of green film on top. The hedges were overgrown and spilling out onto the path, making the walk more treacherous than he had expected. However, Kellan was determined to walk every inch of the garden.
Bas grunted and groaned as he was swatted by an overgrown branch, his face turning red with embarrassment. Bas quickly found himself in more dire straights as he walked straight into a spiderweb. He waved his hands around wildly, spluttering and squealing like a caught piglet making the corners of Kellan's lips turned upwards.
"The anniversary of the Queen's execution is fast approaching. Perhaps I should get some people to tidy up a bit."
Kellan almost wanted to laugh at how brazen Bas had become. Kellan turned a corner and suddenly paused. Before him, a small section of the vast garden was still blooming. Pristine white roses grew in a perfectly maintained hedge next to a bird bath that some small birds were splashing around in.
Kellan stared at the small alcove of beauty. In this entire garden this was the only pocket of life, and it was breathtaking. From a glance, Kellan knew this could not have just happened. Someone must have maintained it.
"What, Who did this?" Bas barely contained a scowl seeing the flowers. He made sure to poison all the soil here so that the plants would die, and yet something was still growing...
Just then, the sound of clothes shuffling caught Kellan's attention. Someone was hiding behind a hedge a few meters away. Kellan glanced back, Bas was yet to notice the person.
"I'm quite famished today..." Kellan turned around to look at Bas.
"I will have tea a bit earlier today. For this time of day the drawing room will have the best light. I'll take my meal in there. Go back and prepare it." He commanded Bas.
"As you wish, Your highness. Please take care in the garden." He bowed but with a visibly annoyed expression on his face. With Kellan bedridden most days, he had become accustomed to not being ordered around.
Kellan grinned as Bas headed back inside. He couldn't wait for 1st Day of the 4th month. It was the day he would have Bas tortured and killed for his insolence and treachery.
Kellan turned back to the flourishing roses.
"You there, come out now," He stared straight at the tip of a black shoe that was peaking out from behind a hedge.