Chapter 6 The Loop of Misery

Cassiopeia can't explain how the sadness she felt right now, in able to save her Marcus gave again his life. She was travelling again in time with grievance and mourning in his heart. She was looking side by side and thinking what loop she can stay for a while, thinking that Marcus can find her that easily. She just looked around in the scenes she saw while travelling over time. She enjoyed the views, the events in different time then she felt asleep and she can't feel the warm of her journey.

She slightly opened her eyes and she saw a old man cooking on something. She stood up but her legs were very weak;

The old man put the ladle and ran towards her, "Are you okay?" he asked her with a cold voice and a sincere eyes as she looked at him, "did you forget what happen?" he assist her as she lay in bed again

She held her head like it was aching in an unknown reason, "I'm sorry, I can't remember anything" she lay again and the man covered her with a blanket, a rugged and patched blanket.

The man sat down on the side of the bed, "Can you remember who I am or what's your name?" he asked

She shook her head and she tried to sympathized for the loss of the man, "Can you tell me who I am and who are you, Sir?" she asked with a calm voice

The man started to cry, "Oh my poor Marice" he hugged her and cried

She can't understand what was happen but she can't tell to the old man that the Marice he was pertaining to was already dead. She tapped his back, "Sir, are you my father?" she asked politely

The man released her from his arms, "You remembered?" he asked happily

She wanted to say no but she felt sorry for the man, "I just remembered a little bit" she answered

Because of so much happiness, the man joyfully stood up and went back to what he was doing. He stir the soup he was cooking, "You know honey, I always hunt a deer for you" he was very happy while he preparing the food

Marice (Cassiopeia) sat down while looking to the man that seems his daughter died a while ago and brought back to life. "Father, can I ask if how many days I was asleep?" she asked pretending that she knew nothing

The man preparing their dinner, "You've been asleep for two weeks and some people declared that you are dead already but I do not lose my hope, because I know you will go back" he answered

She tried to stand up and walk but because her legs are too weak , she stumbled and fell on the floor. She wanted to cry because she hurt so badly, "Ouch! I think I am not able to walk for a week" she tried to smile and put everything in a joke

The man approached her, "Are you okay?" he assisted her to walk and sat down on the chair "It looks like that I can't go back tomorrow" he said then he sat down.

Cassiopeia again, wanted to ask what happen but she can feel the sadness and grieve of the man. She just looking at him while the man is cleaning and preparing everything for tomorrow before he sleep. When the man was finished everything, he sat down beside her bed;

"I miss you so much" he said then he started to hum a song, a song that was familiar to her

Marice's tears flowed to her cheeks, and trying to hide it from the man but the man noticed it;

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he panicked when he noticed that she was crying

She simply smile and wiped all her tears, "That lullaby I used to miss" she answered "Father, can you sleep beside me?" she asked.

The man lie beside her still humming the lullaby he sang for her daughter every day.

Marice fell asleep while her tears flowing to her cheeks and dreaming on something.

----In her dream------

She was standing on the same ground where she woke up. She saw a little girl was still humming the lullaby same lullaby hums by the man who took care of her in the present. Then the little girl looked at her and smile;

"Hello Madame" the little girl greeted her with a respectful stance

Cassiopeia suddenly recognized the girl, the body she has now "I'm sorry if I am on your body now" she was very sorry assuming that the girl will be mad at her but she was surprised that the girl approached her and gave her flowers

"Don't be sorry Madame, I am happy that you took my body as your vessel" she said then she sat down and looked up to her "I can't help seeing my father be like that since that day I died" she said gloomy

She sat down beside her, "Can you tell me what happen?" she asked "If you don't mind" she added

---The Real Marice----

I and my father lived together this place after my mother died in a mysterious disease or should I say that was a curse. Since that day, I saw my father very sad and the only thing that made him happy was me. I have so much resemblance with my mother so my father thinks that my mother is still with us. Then one day;

"Hey little miss, do you have a second" a beautiful woman asked me as I passed by in the lake

I used to think twice if I will talk to her because that lake said to be demonic and has many curses.

She smiled at me, "Is there any problem?" she looked at me like she chanting some spell to make follow her

At that moment, I am looking her eyes only and my body moved when I'm senseless. I just felt that laying on my soft pillow and then I didn't see anything. Everything turns black until I heard the townspeople calling for my name. When I woke up and my senses came back, "What happen?"I asked myself then I stood up. As I heard their voices I tried to run and greet everyone and I wanted to tell them that I am fine, but ...

"Marice, where are you!" Cedrick my best friend keep on calling me and asking where am I

I ran to him and stopped in front of him, "Hello Cedrick" I greeted him like I wanted to play with him. He still calling my name and asking where am I, I ran beside him and trying to reach him but my hands can't hold him. I try so many times until he can recognize me, but he can't see or feel me. With so much fear, I ran to my father and calling him with joyful voice but still like Cedrick, he can't see me. I mourn so much that day sitting beside the lake where I saw the beautiful lady.

"Are you alone, sweetie?" another voice of a woman I heard from the back

That time the only thing I wanted is to went home and eat my favorite soup made by my father. I cried so much as if I am a newborn baby wanted a milk from my mother. "I want to go home, someone help me!" I cried so much

I felt that the woman I heard sat beside me, "Its fine Marice, I'm already here" she said then she caress my hair "Don't be scared, I will not leave you again" she added

In surprise, now I recognized whose voice was that, "Mama?" I can't hold my tears because she was died when I was five years old and now I am fifteen years old

"I'm sorry if I leave you in that way" she said

I don't know if this is an illusion or another illusion after another but I am happy that I am with my mother again, "What happen to me?" I am still confused if this woman is my real mother or an illusion made by my mind

My mother allowed me to lay my head on her lap while caressing my hair, "the fairy of the lake wanted you to be with her" she answered me like everything is real

"Fairy?" I asked, I remember now the old folklore of our village but because its just a story from old people I didn't believe on that and while recalling what happen "So the beautiful I saw sitting beside the lake was a fairy?" now I realized that everything was real.

----End of Story-------

Cassiopeia didn't know how she felt about it because the fairy on her story was Hincy, one of her acquaintances. "But, maybe you can go back to this body again" she tried to cheer her up

She shook her head, "It' s fine by now, I used to be like this after five days staying here while my body lying on my favorite bed with my favorite friend" she was pertaining to her doll made by her mother.

Marice stood up and wipe all the petals on her skirt, "I will entrust you everything, and please don't tell my father about you and about this, I know he will be sad again" she walked straight "Please, until the time comes" she was fading away with the colorful flower petals in the meadow

Then Marice (Cassiopeia) woke up like she has a bad dream then cried.

His father heard her mourning so he ran as fast as he can to approach her, "Are you okay?" he checked her body if something hurt or she felt any pain from her injuries "Are you hurt? Are you in pain?" he was very worried

In a moment came back to her senses when she saw Marice's father very worried, "I'm fine father, I'm just having a bad dream about mother" she wiped her tears and stood up

"But Marice, you are still in pain" the man wanted to stopped her

She just smiled, "I'm fine Father and also I am grateful that I can live again after I experience death" she said then she tried to change her clothes to help her father in that loop

The man can't stop her so he went outside and prepare their breakfast. When everything seems fine, Marice asked her father about the things she can do. The man just instructed everything to her, even she having a hard time learning the things she needed to know as a commoner but still she trying her best to finish her tasks. She also went to the cursed lake were one of her acquaintances stayed there every full moon. She waited her there until she heard the familiar lyre and hymn, a hymn they used to enticed victims like a siren who gave beautiful illusions to believe in. She heard the same lullaby she knew for a long time;

"Persia, you can come out" she said while her eyes are closed but the sweet music didn't stop "I, Cassiopeia the former queen of the Fairy Kingdom commanded you to reveal yourself" she said with authority

The lyre was suddenly stopped and when the breeze blows she can see the playful fairy giving respect to her, "How are you my queen?" she asked

Then Cassiopeia hugged her, "I missed you very much" she was very happy to see her

Persia was very surprised about it, "But the Cassiopeia I know was already dead" she said shocked "How come that you still alive, we grieved for a thousand years because of your death" she started to cry remembering the pain of losing one of her friends

Cassiopeia released her from her arms and explains everything happened for a long time and also what happen now in the present. Persia can't believe that someone in the Fairy Kingdom wanted her queen to die;

"But who will be?" she asked in curiosity knowing that all fairies in the kingdom loved Cassiopeia so much

She sat down on the big rock, "I don't know but please don't tell to anybody" she said then suddenly she remembered that the place was also Hincy's territory "Where's Hincy?" she asked with confusion

Persia suddenly sad, "She was a mere human now" she answered

"A mere human?" she was shocked "What happen?" she added

Persia didn't want to remember what happen but I know from her heart that Cassiopeia needed to know what happen, "She fell in love with a man who helped her once pretending that he was drowning to this lake, and she had a daughter" she answered "But since she put her a curse to herself to be a mere human it will not last forever, she died and her soul still living here with her daughter" she started to cry "I expect that she has a stone heart to love but that man made her fall in love" she remember the good memories with her

Then Cassiopeia recognized Marice's story, "Don't tell me ..." she can't believed what was happening the girl who was the owner of her vessel now was Hincy's daughter. She felt sorry for the man she lived with now not knowing that the truth that the woman he loved and his beloved daughter are fairies and living in the lake as guardians.