Anastasia exhaled a deep breath as she looked beyond where she stood now. Perhaps beyond was the wrong word. Anastasia looked up.
As she did so, she was entranced by the beauty she found within the ornate detail painted above her. Bountiful harvests that rivaled even the most abundant of years she had seen as queen of Karthia decorated the ceiling. Continuing the scene slightly to the right were angels. Some of them continued on to carry harvests to people who stood in the center of a village. Meanwhile, a few other angels carried portions of the harvest up to the heavens. The scene continued as the painted sunset gave way to midnight skies where the stars shined down on the peaceful people below. Sunrise gave way to the uncollected harvests and the people working in tandem with one another to collect the gifts. Once again, the angels then ascended to the skies with an offering, while the people below celebrated their blessings. It was a beautiful portrait, and one she had never seen until today.
Despite the magnificence painted above her, or the ornate walls covered in gold and stained glass towering around her, nothing portrayed how destroyed she felt inside. She stood in the foyer of a cathedral, not of her birth, but of her future. Her sight was obstructed by a thick heavy veil that trailed behind her several dozen feet. Looking down, Anastasia was able to catch a glimpse at the yards of draped white silk and lace that fell across the lavish floor. For once the cascading ocean worth of cloth seemed to drag her down.
At the same time, Anastasia could hardly keep something else from rising within her. Panic was clawing at her throat and brain as she looked ahead at the closed wooden doors, separating her from the rest of the cathedral. For a second, she thought she could fight it all. Push past the guards who guarded the cathedrals entrance and runaway to reclaim what was once hers, but that was impossible. There would be no running. No saving what once was hers. There was no longer a Queen Anastasia of Karthia. There was just her, and her doomed future.
Without warning, the doors were pulled open. The rush of air caused her veil to flutter al around her, and the air in her lungs to completely leave her. While trying to gain her breath again, she looked at the cavernous room that seemed to stretch for miles. With the doors open, thousands of people now turned their heads to stare at her.
The feeling of being stared at was one she had become accustomed to. However, this was different. Most of the people who turned their attention from the front to where she now stood looked on with an expression best described as disgust. Everyone that is, save for the person standing in the front of the long cathedral hall.
He turned to face her, with a smile on his face. However, it was not a pleasant smile, it was the a gut-wrenching smile that was full of deadly intent. A smile she had seen not so long ago on a man who insisted wedding him was the only way to save her kingdom. However, she could not see his whole face only that smile. But there was something about that smile that pulled her forward. It made her long to see the rest of his face, and to reach out and touch it.
Beginning the long walk down the cathedral's isle, she couldn't help but feel the tears begin to well up inside her eyes despite the draw of the person before her. She was signing her future away, that much she knew, but it was the only way she could save her people.
The violins that sang around her, sounded like a thudding drum counting down the beats of her heart before she came to a bitter end. What was worse, was she knew she had some small level of control over how fast she would meet her doom. Part of her wanted to tiptoe as to prolong the inevitable, but another part of her wanted to run down the isle as to get it over with.
Either which way, before she was ready she was halfway down the aisle...
Then only a few rows away...
Until she was near enough that she could see him.
His eyes were piercing and held a power in them that would move tide and mountain without a second thought should it get him closer to what he wanted. His jaw stood proud and set in a determined way. His nose nearly peered down at her, as she took his offered hand and then took her place beside him.
Once he turned to the officiant, he didn't look at her again. There was a part of her that was glad that he didn't look at her when when was asked to repeat some words promising her beloved Karthia away, but there was another part of her that longed to know she would be okay after he was done with her.
Afraid that emotions would rise if she was not careful, she tuned out the voices around her. She could vaguely hear the man beside her speak when his turn came, but it sounded like a mumble against the rushing of blood that was pounding against her ears. It was not until she saw him begin to turn towards her that she again allowed herself to feel.
She followed his lead. As he lowered his head, she rose hers. When he took a breath, she did as well. Then, when he closed the distance, she did as well until they were so close, they kissed.
However, it was not a kiss of love, devotion, or even admiration. It was cold and somewhat forced. When he pulled away she felt his absence, but it was somehow warmer than his presence.
Before she even had a second to recover and face her people, her wrists were grabbed and he leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"Karthia is now mine." Came the cruel whisper before she was released and a cheer went out from the audience.
She couldn't hold it back now. Tears streamed down her face in violent streams as the people around her celebrated. Then it all went black...
.......
Gasping in breaths of air, Anastasia sat up in bed. It had felt so real. Even now, if she looked above where she lay she thought she would see the cathedral's ceiling. If she reached her hand out, she dared to think she would touch the cold unyielding exterior of a man she had been wedded to. Her heart pounded in her chest and her eyes felt heavy as if she had been crying. Yet, no tears had fallen as of now.
It had all been a dream. A simple nightmare. Yet, she feared this dream was rather a foretelling of a future she was not ready to face. It was a prophecy of her future, or a warning if she was not able to settle things with Dreterra soon.