an illusion of mind

It had been a quiet morning, Regina woke up to the knock of a maid, she stood up and went to open the door her maid, Marslen greeted her bowing and informing her breakfast was ready and her parents were waiting.

"... I'll be there." Regina moved to go about her daily routine, washing her face brushing her teeth etc.

She walked out of her room and made her way towards the dining room, she opened the door and greeted her older siblings sitting down in her designated seat based on her place in line to the throne.

Amanda paused she could not believe how neat Regina's hand writing was, she could just stop and stare at it for a long time but now it was getting interesting she decided to continue, Rica urged her to do so.

"Come on, this seems to be about her childhood! we could learn a lot from this." Rica said urging her to hurry up.

"Good morning older sister Regina." One of her younger siblings bowed their heads greeting her.

It had always been like this the younger siblings in line would greet the older ones as their superiors and gender did not differ the treatment.

Regina nodded she could not remember the names of her siblings they were many after all, she put a hand on her chin trying to remember, "Are you Lashina and Bill?" She asked tilting her head to the side her younger siblings smiled up at her their blonde hair bobbing as they nodded happy that she was able to remember their names.

Often times than most she opted to just ignore them she could not be bothered to remember her younger siblings, she turned back to her food eating before she turned back to the right, and there she was met by a manic smirk and blood red eyes that looked like hers, Regina remembered this one, she could simply not forget who this is, their father himself had praised her for possessing 'something far bigger than any of them' he said, Regina's eyes widened slightly seeing the red glow of the girl's eyes.

Her manic smile and wide blood red glowing eyes unsettled Regina, she looked at the cane resting on the 8 year old girl's chair and Regina could not help but scoff, how can a cripple have anything that could be as the king described?

Regina obviously had many siblings, she was maybe in the middle part of the many children of the king, obviously from different mothers but the king's genes was strong as all of them seemed to have blonde hair and either blood red eyes or in some rare cases a different hue of red.

Regina finished her breakfast and waited, the king was not present so their oldest sibling, Samus would be the one to dismiss them once he finishes.

Samus was around 19 to 18 Regina couldn't be bothered to remember, he was likely 7 years older than her, Regina was twelve now and the child that the king complemented was around three years younger than Regina.

"You may leave now." Samus spoke up as all of them got up one by one from oldest to youngest, it was a custom that was drilled into them since they were young along with etiquette.

When it became Regina's turn she stood up and left.

while in the hallways she had no certain destination so she thought she could go back and write in her diary, suddenly she heard someone call out to her from behind.

"Older sister Regina." A young girl bowed by nodding her head, she was excused from fully bowing since she had a cane that made it hard for her to do so.

"Is there something you need little sister...?" Regina asked her tone monotone and steady, she had forgotten the girl's name.

"Rachel... My name is Rachel older sister Regina." She said smiling up at her her blood red eyes intensifying in their glow her wide manic smirk widening unsettling Regina even more.

"Yes, is there something you need little sister Rachel?" Regina repeated her question unbothered.

"Nothing, I just wanted to greet you. You see I have great respect for you and our older siblings older sister Regina." She said bowing.

"Good for you little sister." Regina said turning around and leaving, she could have sworn she saw Rachel's smile widening when she turned around, but she did not care, what could a cripple possibly do to her? She thought to herself almost scoffing out loud.

"See you later older sister!" Rachel said waving off Regina while she walked away.

What's with her? Does she not see that I do not care about her? Regina thought internally thinking back to Rachel, she couldn't help but feel unsettled by that girl like her eyes were a source of bad luck, a sort of Calamity....

Regina however was not as dense as some of her siblings, she had seen them picking on her calling her a bad omen despite there never being anything that suggested so, she was not as stupid as them. She might have gotten the same feeling but that was no reason to antagonize her was it?

Regina opened the door to her room, her only escape and safe space in the entire castle, she walked into the dark room the curtains were down just like she always asked Marslen to keep them.

A small smile made it's way onto her face as she finally felt like she could be herself... She was about to jump in the bed full of stuffed animal toys when she paused.

She froze completely still, she felt something was about to happen. She felt something in her room was misplaced. Or was it added? Something was wrong.

Regina swiftly turned around her eyes widening to see a dagger about to stab her right in the eye when she dodged by letting her body fall down she swiftly grabbed the forearm of the attacker and incapacitated them by wrapping her legs around their arm and breaking it, she quickly kicked the attackers head knocking him out cold with a soft crunch.

"What's this?" Regina panted as she looked towards the hooded figure, they were wearing dark blue azure cloak that looked fit for a cultist, a symbol of a giant jagged maw was present on the back of the cloak.

Regina didn't recognize the person she heard a commotion outside as the entire castle erupted into chaos, Regina rushed outside the room as she knew it was no longer her safe space but just another one of those dangerous areas.

She ran out into the corridor, she spotted Rachel standing there with the same wide unsettling smile with the body of a cultist at her feet, Did a knight help her? It doesn't matter I'm leaving.

Regina ran in the opposite direction she froze as she saw several cultists running at her, she turned around and ran back to where she saw Rachel who still stood still, her calmness added to the unsettling feeling, Regina might have not bothered learning and remembering the names of her little siblings but she was not heartless.

She grabbed Rachel by the back of her dress hefting her up and running with her in tow. Rachel yelped slightly surprised as she was grabbed her eyes dimmed down in brightness as she held her cane tightly to not let it fall.

"We're under attack!" Regina yelled at a couple of knights along the way who tensed up and stood to face the cultists, of course Regina was not stupid enough or confident enough in the knights to stop running, she continued running she heard grunts and screams as the knights were disposed of quite quickly.

The cultists were hot on their heals of course Regina could only run so fast, she was a 12 year old who was running along with an 9 year old child, she kept running as fast as she could her breaths bated as she looked forward her sweat falling on her eyes blurring her vision, but through the burning she saw the window there and she knew she had her escape.

Regina ran faster but the cultists were catching up fast, she ran faster, Just a few more steps!

She ran even faster quickly running out of stamina her grip on Rachel's dress was getting weaker by the second the steps of the cultists were getting louder.

Regina smirked as she skidded on her feet a wide manic smirk made it's way on her face as she swung her arm with as much force as she could muster, sending Rachel hurling out of the window her eyes wide with fear and panic as she crashed against the window breaking it suffering a few bruises and cuts falling to the ground.

Regina swiftly grabbed Rachel's cane and threw it out of the window as she started running to the left, the cultists chased after her. Now that Rachel was no longer in her arms she could run faster.

"... So we're just going to ignore that she just threw her sister out of the window?" Rica spoke up interrupting Amanda who was too engrossed in reading the story.

"Shhh~" Amanda shushed her and continued reading the diary.

Regina had managed to make it far away from the cultists, she had to admit she was quite good with her speed.

She hid in a bush in the garden in front of their castle, the front of the castle had been plunged into complete chaos, knights from their kingdom fought as well as some of her older siblings did, they fought against the soldiers of the cult.

She waited with bated breath, she did her part in saving Rachel all she had to do now was wait for the knights to take care of this and she'll be able to go back to the castle, she had managed to grab her diary before leaving just in case the castle falls to these cultists...

Regina didn't want to think about it, she stood up from her hiding spot to move to another one before she froze, she slowly creaked her head to the right looking towards what she thought she saw and she froze once more, her body unable to move as she was eye to eye with the figure who was casually sitting there eating grapes.

"It's a beautiful sight isn't it?" The woman asked popping a grape into her mouth, "The castle is going to fall." The woman said casually.

Regina could not move, she was scared terrified even, the woman's amber eyes scrutinized her looking deep into her soul, her curvy orange tangerine hair swaying in the wind, she sat casually laying in front of the statue of the king of Cearya riding on a stallion with a sword in hand, this was proof they were in the middle of the garden.

The woman wore a suit with a bow tie, she had thin white gloves on, a top hat rested next to her while she popped another grape into her mouth, "What's your name little girl?" The woman asked smiling.

"A-Ah... It's... Regina..." Regina decided to speak truthfully, who's to know this woman didn't have means to know if she's lying?

The woman looked deep into her eyes popping another grape into her mouth, "A-Are you with them...?" Regina asked as an explosion erupted in the mansion.

The woman seemed to be amused by her question, she smiled, "Who? The cult of the devourer of gods?" The woman asked laughing, popping another grape into her mouth, Regina's ears perked up, was that what the cult was called...? she thought.

Regina was about to speak up again when the woman interrupted her, "Regina, what are you going to do?" The woman asked her and Regina couldn't help but tilt her head to the side in confusion.

"What do you mea-" she was interrupted once more, "The castle will fall." The woman said her smile widening, "What will you do?"

Regina opened her mouth but she could not find the words to speak, she clearly didn't know what she would do, she would most likely escape the city since this cult is 100% going to kill her if they were to ever find her but what after that?

"I'll give you a solution~" The woman said grabbing her top hat and putting the grapes inside of the top hat, her hand seemed to go beyond what the top hat's volume should have allowed, as she put it on and stood up patting her thighs and tightening her bowtie.

Regina looked up at her trembling as the woman stood over her with a wide manic smile, "I'll show you a good~ solution~" The woman spoke up.

"Wha-" she was interrupted by a finger to her mouth shushing her, "Shhh~~~"

Regina trembled in fear as she held her tongue, "I'm sure you want to know, what am I doing here?" The woman circled Regina before she walked back to the place she sat at before in front of the statue.

"I'll answer that, I'm here for fun~ I heard the followers of the devourer were making a move on to the Cearyn kingdom." She said as she removed her top hat.

"F-for fun?" Regina asked.

"Yeah~ for fun, I wanted to see what would happen, and I just so happened to find you here~" The woman smirked pointing at Regina.

Regina gulped, she had no clue who this woman was, Regina was in the dark here, she was trying to escape the cult members but now she was stuck with this woman who she did not know, she just felt an uncertain feeling of dread inside of her telling her that this woman was dangerous.

"I'm sure you want to know who I am~~" The woman put a hand on her chest.

Regina's eyes widened at the opportunity and she nodded quickly trying not to miss out on the chance.

"Haha~ of course you do, I'm a random woman you just met~ silly me~" She tapped her head and stuck out her tongue.

"Well, My name is-"

"What the hell are you two doing in my room?!" Regina's voice sounded out from behind Amanda and Rica startling them out of their skin, her tone was strangely angered. Amanda had never heard her so angry before...

"And is that my diary?!" She exclaimed speed walking towards them.

Amanda panicked along with Rica and they just let the diary go and it fell to the desk closing itself on it's own, "I-I..." Amanda tried to speak but there was no excuse to blurt out, they were caught red handed reading her diary.

Amanda and Rica had been to absorbed in reading that they did not hear Regina groaning and waking up off the floor groggily.

"Get out! now!" Regina grinded her teeth together in anger, her voice was shaky and she was trembling in anger.

"Wait-" Rica tried to call out to her but she was interrupted swiftly after.

"Get. Out. Now." She said veins bulging on her face from sheer anger, she was on the verge of exploding on them and Amanda knew better, she grabbed Rica's arm and pulled her up.

"Let's go..." They left walked out of Regina's dorm leaving her behind in the dark room, they knew they fucked up, and they did so badly... Very badly...

Amanda closed the door behind her, And just as Regina heard the door close, she fell to her knees putting her hands on her face, "F-Fuck... Please don't tell me they read all of it..." She opened the diary and found that the pages were only wrinkled in the beginning part right before her name was revealed, she sighed a sigh of relief.

"That was too close... I'm getting too comfortable in this academy, I have to straighten up for the mission..." Regina shook her head.

"Damn it... I can't let this happen ever again..." Regina said looking at her diary, she was too attached to it to burn it, so she just decided to throw it in a box and lock it, however before that she decided to write in it.

Writing in her diary had been a sort of escape from reality, a way for her to tell someone her story even though it was not anyone but a simple book, she still found solace in it.

She picked up a pen and was about to get to writing trying to remember the events of her day when she dropped her pen.

The memories of what she did when she was drunk flooding back into her conscious as she remembered all she did to Adam and the embarrassing words she spoke after.

Her face turned into that of a tomato she covered her face, how can I ever show my face to anyone in that group after this... "I'm done for... I'm done..." She slammed her face into the desk as the headache of a hangover finally hit her.

This may or may not have been the worst day of her life....