Chapter Text
All she could do was stare at herself in the mirror. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t her world. But what could she do? She had been reborn into this world during an eclipse, a world of humans, Demons, celestials and magic. She remembered stuff from her past life, if you could even call it that. Memories of snow covered in red and green as someone calls out her name. And now here she was, the third born child and second princess to a kingdom that seemed to hate her. She could hear the maids whispering about her, about the strange things that happened around her, about how she talked to people that weren’t even there.
The girl sighed, she’d been in this world for 14 years now and her only friend was a shadow. She didn’t know his name or what even what he looked like, all she knew was that he could possess her shadow. He could even move shadows around performing little stories with shadow puppets. He never really spoke much about his past. She barely knew anything about him but what she did know was that he was the only one who really spoke to her, he made her smile. The last time she saw him, he had seemed even sadder, apparently he had gotten into a fight with a dear friend and had said some things that he regretted, she had wished that she could have comforted him but all she could do was suggest that he go to his friend tomorrow and apologise. That was a few years ago now and she hadn’t heard or seen her friend since. She was starting to get worried.
Putting the final hair pin into her long black hair now tied up into twin buns she just continued staring at her blue eyes. She was the only one in the kingdom with these eyes and the other children had been frightened of her. She always hear them talking about her, the cursed princess born under a dark star. Her shadow friend claimed that her eyes looked like the ocean. She’d never seen the ocean, at least not in this life. Her friend had once told her about a beautiful island full of beautiful flowers and tasty fruits and adorable little monkeys though he seemed really saddened when he spoke of it.
She looked towards her bed. The maids had laid down a green hanfu for her to wear. She knew what today was, she had heard the murmurs as clear as day it’s not like the maids even tried to hide it. She could feel her powers slowly returning to her, oh how she had missed the feeling of flying. She hoped that once they came back to her, she’d be able to go and look for not only her shadow friend but her brother as well. Surely he was here somewhere as well, they were both killed that night after all, weren’t they? As she put on the hanfu her thoughts raced through her head, as soon as she could she was going to sell it and get some proper travelling clothes.
Examining herself in the mirror once again she heard a sharp knock at her door. “Second Princess, his lordship has requested your presence.” A maid spoke out, “ Second Princess ” that’s all they ever called her, she had always wondered if she even had a name in this life. Opening the door she saw a maid flanked by two guards. She always did have a tendency of disappearing when people turned their back to her.
“Father wishes to see me? What ever for?” She asked, trying to make her voice sound as naive and confused as possible. She could feel bile rise up in the back of her throat as she spoke, the maids fake smile made her feel even sicker. Oh how she wish her shadow friend could enjoy the show she was about to put on.
“Please come with us.” The maid said, it wasn’t that hard to hear the complete contempt in her voice. She will play her part till she could escape, she followed the maid as the two guards flanked her. So they were expecting her to escape huh, sadly for them they won’t be able to catch her. She had it all planned out.
First, make a scene, make them see she wasn’t the weak, useless child they thought she was.
Second, flee to the mountain that she saw out her window every day, there she would be able to get herself reacquainted with her powers.
Third, get some better travelling clothes and start her search.
Yeah that last one was going to take her a while but if she could find her friend at least she wouldn’t be alone while looking for her brother. She had a cloak and a map hidden underneath her bed ready for her to grab as she ran out her window. They soon reached the throne room and huh, strange, for such a grand occasion as her betrothal she was surprised by the fact that only her Father and another man were there. Wasn’t the kingdom happy they were finally going to be free of “The Cursed Princess”? When her older sister was betrothed four years prior there was a grand party to celebrate, not that she was invited of course. She had been locked in her room that night, though she easily escaped out her window and into the gardens, now that she thought about it that had been the last time she saw her friend.
She had tuned out whatever her Father was prattling on about till it was time. She glanced at the man beside her Father, his eyes seemed glazed over almost dead looking and he had a large constant smile on his face that just screamed bad news. She could feel a familiar cold sensation rise up from her throat but she managed to hide it behind her sleeve. This man was dead, some powerful magic had place multiple souls inside of him, she could hear the multitude of voices whispering over each other. It was hard to understand what they were saying. Her core was basically screaming at her to get as far away from this thing as soon as possible, it might be best to only use her ice for now. Make them think that was all she could do.
The man started to walk towards her, her ghost sense becoming a bit stronger, yeah she was going to have to throw away step one of her plan.
“You are exactly what my Lady needs.” He said his smile never leaving his face. He stepped even closer reaching a hand out to her, she did the only thing she could think of. Bawling up her fist she punched him across the face, and while everyone in the room stood stunned about what just happened she ran back to her room.
Quickly putting on the cloak and grabbing the map she jumped out of her window and booked it through the garden till she reach the tall walls of the kingdom. Beyond the walls was a dense forest said to be haunted by evil spirits, and beyond that was the mountain. She continued running, phasing through the wall with ease. At least that power was in tact. The forest was thicker than she thought, branches and bushes grabbed at her hanfu, ripping the hem, as roots and rock provided uneven ground. She didn’t dare to stop, even when her body begged her to slow down and her legs started to grow weaker.
She kept running till night fell and she had finally reached the mountain. A smile of pure relief was as much as she could muster, taking a quick look around she noticed a small crevice in the side of the mountain. Maybe if she could just, YES! Managing to squeeze through she found herself inside a small cave, perfect, she could rest here and continue up the mountain in the morning.
Leaning against the wall of the small cave she slid down to the ground bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her head on her knees. Catching her breath she let out a strained laugh. “Damn,” she whispered, her voice sounding hoarse. “What do I do know?”
What she needed now was a new identity. She was now no longer the Second Princess and she felt like her past name should remain in the past, she could use it as some kind of code word if she believed she had found her brother. She also felt that the name she was using under her mentor would not fit. For now Karyn and Tempus shall be locked away. This was going to take a while, but the forest was said to be haunted. Maybe it’s time for this Phantom to start haunting the mountain.
Outside of her little hideaway were many dangers, after she got some rest she first course of action was to see if she could transform, she wondered how much her other form had changed. Once she was sure that no one from the kingdom could recognise her she would look for some food and train a bit with her reawakened powers. Her eyes started drooping close as the thought of flying again made her heart soar.
