Darkness. My surroundings were enveloped in darkness. No matter where my eye traveled, all I saw was darkness and the piercing chill that gripped the environment, rendering my body trembling with cold. Suddenly, like a nuclear explosion, a blinding light filled the vast space I was standing in, causing me to shield my eyes from the sun-like intensity. A moment passed until I opened my eyes and tilted my head, questioning if what I had experienced was a dream or reality. I shook my head, rose from my bed and focused on shifting my hands so I could feel the smooth texture of my silk sheets, but felt… nothing. A ray of sun streamed through the parting curtains hung up on my windows. My feet left the bed to greet the woody floorboards that whined almost every step, but felt… nothing. I pushed the curtains away, revealing the sweet sun that kissed each prairie animal's cheek that skipped across the flowery hills surrounding my castle. I smiled and opened the window to allow the gentle morning breeze to grace my skin with its comfort, but still I felt… nothing. My body spun towards the door as soon as I heard a faint knock.

“Evangeline dear, it's your Mum! Time for breakfast!” My mother, Queen Royanna, called out with a coughing up of words. 

Running to embrace her, my arms wrapped around my mother, but felt… nothing. That was when I realized my body ran through my mothers like a thin wisp of smoke, circulating through the air. I turned around, greeted by my mothers shrill scream and to the sight of my lifeless body that layed on my bed. My mother ran up to my body, clutching it in her arms. The servants and my family started to flood the room with their gasps and cries. The servants turned my whole room upside down, trying to find traces of who had done this heinous act. I dropped to my knees and covered my face with my now translucent hands, still in disbelief. My attention shifted to the far corner of the room to see the sight of my younger sister burying her face into our fathers chest, likely full of sorrow. I ran out of the room and jerked my head, having a hard time accepting the fact that I had passed. One of the servants guided my parents outside of the room with the corners of her mouth drooped down. I crept closer and closer hoping to know any information. 

“Your eldest daughter has been murdered! There is a puncture wound in her chest that matches the curved blade of a royal ceremonial sword. No one can be trusted!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a ripped fragment of cloth dangling from a splinter in my door frame. I slowly walked towards the cloth and conjured up fear in my eyes when I noticed the embroidered design stained with a wine red hue. I hurried to my aunt's room as soon as I saw the design on the fabric of a snake crest my aunt had always fancied. I began to investigate anything that would lead me to justice. As time progressed, my shoulders sagged with all my optimism, emptied. As I backed up against one of the shelf's in my aunt's room, I unexpectedly phased through it into a concealed space. 

I was presented with a boundless stretch of labyrinth like corridors that looked like it would never end. Moving towards a scuffling noise, my eyes fell upon a rat that rummaged through foul smelling papers that had already been nibbled on by the creatures that ruled the hidden chamber. Nearby, a glass compartment with a bountiful amount of locks, contained a leathery journal. My hand pulled the journal out and my eyes started to scan the contents. Written in the ink laden pages, there were multiple paragraphs of sinister plans and a sketch of the snake crest. 

“Queen Royanna and King Edmund are given two more weeks to live due to their illness. When they die, the throne will go to Princess Evangeline. I must not let that happen. I must do something to make sure I rule. I must get rid of the Princess. There is another I must get out of the picture for this to work.”

My posture straightened as I read the chilling words. With determination, I grabbed the journal and traveled at the speed of light to my parents room, placing it on their bed to await their discovery. My parents flung the door open and paced around the room. A tsunami of grief crashed in as they walked into their bedroom. My face was glazed over with hope seeing that my parents noticed the journal sitting on their bed. They took a moment, looking at each other with puzzled expressions and both hesitantly opened the journal with shaking hands. They dropped the journal as soon as the journal's contents struck them weak to their knees. 

“Guards, take my sister to the dungeon and leave her to rot! I should've known it was her! She always wanted the throne. My youngest daughter might have been next!” My mother exclaimed with a strained finger pointing towards my aunt's room.

“No, I'm innocent! I would never do such a thing!” My aunt's pleas echoed through the halls. I could finally be at peace knowing that my killer was brought away, never to be seen again…

Unbeknownst to me, my younger sister came out of her room to the sight of our aunt being dragged away and buried her face into our fathers chest once again. However it didn't reflect sorrow, instead it conveyed a devilish grin knowing that her plan worked. Once the moon's glow shone into the midnight sky, my younger sister, dressed in a ripped cloak with a snake crest glided across to our parents' room. She pulled out the royal ceremonial sword that was concealed in the depths of her cloak. She leaned over our sleeping parents like a creeping shadow and smiled as she was going to make their passing much earlier than expected.