In a forest shrouded in fog that showed no sign of disappearing, not even for a moment of the day, and that could last even for months, a young adventurer got lost in the most mysterious mazes.
Our young adventurer was called Mark and he had just turned 20 and given his young age, he could be considered the youngest explorer of his city.
Mark, one day decided to unravel the mystery, why in the forest near his hometown, it was always covered in fog, and so with a passion and curiosity about the mysterious forest phenomenon, he set out to explore.
The forest was called Misty Forest, because it possessed the only characteristic, of having a thick fog every day, which prevented anyone from seeing even their own hand.
Mark, while wandering blindly occasionally bumping into some trees or branches, was panicky but despite this situation he somehow managed to see a silhouette of a structure.
He was very happy to be able to scrutinize a shelter, because he finally saw a beautiful 200m2 villa that seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time.
The villa had three floors and was built in a noble-medieval style.
At first he was very surprised that there was such a mansion in the Misty Forest, but being able to finally have shelter and even a unique landmark, he was very happy.
Without thinking, he opened the door that looked almost new and entered.
The first thing he saw was a staircase leading to the second floor and various pieces of furniture with an unlit oil candle next to it.
Curious about the mysterious villa, he decided to explore every corner of the villa, taking a few hours because he always had to be sure that there wasn't some kind of danger, he discovered that inside the first floor there were only 4 rooms, very large.
Mark thought that each of the 4 rooms was reserved for guests and also for receptions or parties, because he saw that there were many tables made available and from the first to the fourth room there was a clear difference in importance.
Each room was decked out for some degree of guests, the first served for noble parties with the title of Knight, Hereditary Knight, Lord and Noble, so it wasn't too pretentious and was clearly the least beautiful room.
The second room was much more beautiful than the previous one and it is assumed that it could accommodate those of the Title from Baron, Viscount and Count, logically the furniture was of a higher quality compared to the first room.
The third room looked just like that of a princess or prince, the floor was made of fine marble, gleaming and smooth, while tables and chairs were made of quality wood that was worth as much as 10 a Duke's annual salaries.
Compared to the previous rooms there was a clear distinction of importance for the owner of the villa.
The fourth room was strangely special, there wasn't a huge table to accommodate so many people, rather, there was a simple round table of normal size and two simple iron chairs.
Certainly the room that caught Mark's attention was the fourth, but for now he concentrated on the second and third floors which also had 4 rooms per floor.
On the second floor they were all closed, while the third had only one open, Mark checked it and found simply a strange human-sized Doll.
The curious thing is that she was sitting on a chair with cushions, while she was near the window and made to look like she was looking at the moon, which however was covered by fog.
Mark strangely was very fascinated by the doll which was very artistic and human sized, so he looked at her and eventually named her Alice.
Alice's appearance was unique to him, as she had golden hair, blue eyes, fair skin, a perfect slim body with a very regal posture, while wearing a princess dress and a crown made of unique and shining stones.
Strangely Mark who admired her, looking at her, felt that something was wrong even if Alice was not alive but a simple doll, as it seemed that she transmitted an unusual solitude and sadness but placed in that room, with precious clothes and accessories, so as to make her seem aprincess of unique beauty, she was not mirrored at all.
Mark was very perplexed and felt a strange pang in his heart, and so he moved closer to Alice, then reached out his hands to touch her expressionless face with an unfamiliar feeling.
But suddenly he heard a soft but lonely voice.
? "Who are you?" she asked in a tone that seemed to be disinterested, but with a hint of curiosity
Mark was surprised and so looked around to find out where the voice was coming from, but unable to find its source he sighed, as he admired Alice once more.
But again
? "why don't you answer?" the voice soft and innocent and once again reappeared, but Mark who was looking at Alice, was very surprised to find that Alice's delicate little mouth had barely moved
Mark "Alice?" was very surprised that the doll or Alice could talk, so with a not a little surprised face he called out her name
But clearly Alice didn't seem to listen to him, because that wasn't her original name at first, but after a few moments she understood something.
Alice "Are you referring to me?" she asked as her blue eyes looked at him curiously and as her face showed its usual face without emotion or vitality
Mark " s-sorry, I had no idea who you were, but without your permission I gave you the name Alice, thinking you were just an inanimate doll. Anyway, my name is Mark, nice to meet you" she immediately understood why I hadn't replied earlier, and so I replied with some embarrassment
Alice "Don't worry Mark. I'm fine with the name Alice," she said
Hearing her words, Mark was very happy and so they began to get to know each other better.
By now Mark and Alice, with the unconscious passage of time, remained together in that villa for more than 2 months.
Mark was almost addicted to Alice, while every moment and instant of the day spent with her seemed to him like a short dream that he never wanted to end.
But slowly as time passed Alice talking to him, seemed to become sadder and sadder, so one day Mark plucked up the courage and asked him why.
Mark "Alice, why do I feel that every moment we spend together, you get sadder and sadder?" he asked with concern, as he looked straight into her eyes
Seeing his gaze, Alice couldn't help but let a drop of tears fall from her eyes.
Mark who saw her was immediately worried about her, then looked at her anxiously and didn't know what to do to console or calm her down.
Alice seeing him in that state, was very emotional at that moment, so she took courage and in a strong voice full of vitality she said to him:
"Go away! I don't want to see you again, so don't try to come back to this place. I'm tired of talking every day, every hour, every minute and every second with you, so go away!!" she said in a strong voice and determined eyes
Mark hearing her words suddenly felt the lack of strength and dizziness as he fell to his knees and with one hand felt his heart beating slowly as a sudden pain began to well up from his beating heart…
Alice who saw him suffer a lot, suddenly began to cry and once again began to speak...
Alice " I'm sorry Mark, but you are very boring like the stories you told me. Every moment was real torture and I regret the day you walked into this villa and met me! " so he said in a cold and deadpan voice, but as he said all this his lips were stained with blood
Alice who bit her lip to try to stay conscious for some reason, fell asleep as soon as she finished speaking.
Mark who was in the deepest oblivion of his life hearing her last words, immediately wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but suddenly he saw Alice with her eyes closed and blood pouring from her.
He was surprised that Alice was bleeding from the lips and that she had also fallen asleep, because she knew that a doll could never have blood and that in these months, she had never fallen asleep and not even for a second of time, had she ever stopped listening his stories.
Surprised, he immediately stopped crying as he approached her and touched her forehead gently, but he immediately felt a throb coming from her body.
Mark "Alice... Are you alive?" he asked with surprise, but Alice couldn't answer, on the contrary, it was as if she was no longer able to wake up
So with a mixture of emotions including sadness, for the words she said to him, and joy for having discovered that she was alive, he tried to wake her up in all possible ways, but in the end they proved to be useless.
Panicked trying to wake her up he didn't notice the passage of time and Mark sank deeper and deeper into despair and sadness, until he heard laughter.
? "Ahaha, I told her not to fall in love, or she would become a human again and she could never awaken again thanks to my curse. Too bad he didn't listen to me, he should have continued to capture adventurers for me, too bad " suddenly an old woman with the appearance of a witch with pimples, entered with an eerie smile
She looked at Alice's body with some amusement but also disappointment at having lost one of her instruments, on the other hand Mark was immediately angry at the way the witch spoke ill of Alice.
Mark "Bewitch what have you done to her!" he immediately understood that she had something to do with Alice and her state, so he threatened her with a sword
But clearly she didn't take him seriously, in fact she laughed again.
Witch "I never imagined that little girl would be interested in anyone, but this will only be another source of pain for her" she said without answering him, but you could see that there was a certain trepidation and joy in the old witch's eyes
Mark thought about what he meant with confusion and the witch who saw his doubt took the opportunity to inflict more pain.
Witch "you know I put a curse on this princess, and my curse makes sure that as soon as she falls in love or is interested in someone, she will become a human again and fall asleep forever..." as he spoke Mark interrupted her
Mark "you already said this witchy thing. Anyway, tell me how to make her wake up, or I'll kill you!" he said while threatening her loudly and fearlessly
Witch" let me finish talking. What I was going to say was that during her long golden dream, she will live in a nightmare of her beloved dying in any possible way or being cheated on by him and other interesting stuff as well.
During these dreams, she will start to suffer terribly and I will be able to see the scene of her suffering which is just what I want and too bad it's not enough for me!.
I want to see her suffer more!
I want to see her beg for her life... no, better for your life! "As she spoke, she showed a face full of excitement, while she was drooling and quivering with pleasure at saying everything she thought, she suddenly looked at Mark and finally told him what her intent was
Mark was scared and sickened by this witch, but even so he didn't budge and tried to protect Alice from the witch who had loathsome desires, it was still useless because she used some kind of magic to attack him from afar.
"boom" with a loud bang, Mark was forcefully flung away as the witch licked her rough, dry lips
Witch " little girl, consider yourself lucky to be able to awaken from your dreams " he said and so he cast a spell against her
Not even a second later, Alice who was asleep jolted awake with tears starting to fall, as the witch cupped her face with her dry, rough hands.
Alice was suddenly captured by the witch and was taken aback and afraid.
Witch "girl you're lucky I woke you up and so now to repay this kind favor of mine, I'm going to take your little lover's life!" she said with a crazy smile, as she threw her next to Mark who had just gotten up
Alice was miraculously caught in time by Mark, but the force behind the throw was too much and so they both fell as the witch approached them with a happy smile.
Clearly the witch relished this scene as well as the others, but not having enough, she decided to act again, so without giving anyone time, she grabbed Mark's leg and then broke it.
Mark " Ghaaaa!!!..." with a long cry of pain was left helpless on the ground, while Alice was able to stand up and see this scene with a face pale with worry and pain
Alice " Mark!!! " and with a cry she tried to help him somehow, but the witch took Mark again and broke his other leg and his right foot
Alice turned even paler and Mark started screaming even louder, while the witch started laughing heartily.
Alice who was pale and Mark who was suffering immensely from the pain caused by the witch, fell to the ground, both of whom lost their senses from what they suffered.
The witch who saw them pass out was not very happy, but being unable to do anything she simply decided to kill them both, and so she looked at Mark who was right next to her and pulled out a dagger.
Witch "too bad it didn't last long, but I can always go find some new succulent prey" she said sadly, but then she was immediately happy
So he reached down and with the dagger that was dull in his right hand he prepared to deliver his killing blow.
"tzz" the sound of a blade was heard as it penetrated human flesh and also broke bone in the process, then a trail of blood came out of the wound to show a lifeless corpse
Meanwhile Alice recovered in a short time and when she managed to open her eyes, she saw the scene where the witch was about to stab Mark.
Despair soon filled his mind, he saw the scene that will mark the end of his life and his saddest and most painful moments.
Alice "Mark!!!!!..." with a shout of her name, she without even thinking about the fact that she couldn't move freely, because she had been a doll.
Alice tried to reach Mark's body
Alice was seen looking at Mark who was lying down with a victorious smile
Suddenly a voice said:
" die old witch!"
With this Mark holding his sword which had gone straight into the old witch's head, he smiled and looked lovingly at Alice who covered her mouth with her hands and then wept with joy, as she threw herself into her arms.
Ten years have passed since that fateful day and you could see the forest, which was once covered in thick fog, now free from any trace of fog, while in a villa you could hear the cries of joy of children.
End