The team returns to Regal Academy for their fourth and final year of fairy tale education. As the stakes get higher, promises are made and promises are broken. It's a competition to get to the top-and if the team's not careful, they might just end u...
"Hurry up, peasants," Colonel Marshall spat at the door. I watched as his polished leather soles disappeared before turning to Joy, dressed in a clean shirt, tie, and overalls. Her hair fell to her shoulder, slightly uneven in length but looking better than ever before. "Quick, Joy. Put the key in." I turned around, allowing Joy to install the small key into my bun. I looked at the two strands of hair that were slightly longer than the rest, and I felt like bursting into tears. I'd sold my ivy hair as 'magical vines' just so that I could make some money for food and shelter, leaving me with hair that stopped just below my shoulder, all rough and choppy and inanimate. A part of me was missing. I pulled the sunglasses onto my face, joining Joy at the mirror. Me in my security guard outfit-a spiked black dragon skin jacket, a torn up camouflage vest and a pair of rough denim shorts, holding a belt loaded with something called a gun and plenty of potions in a pocket. All I knew from 'Human Studies' was that my outfit sounded a lot more like an Earth persons' than someone from here. But perhaps this was how peasants dressed. and, well, I was a peasant now.
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Astoria-Via Love Nikki Dress Up Queen
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Joy-Love Nikki Dress Up Queen
We nodded at each other silently before leaving the room to find the queen awaiting us. We were to watch over the queen-Joy to serve her, and myself to guard her. "Come, peasants. The royal carriage is prepared." We had no knowledge on who the Queen was. We were just to address her as 'your Majesty'. I suspected it was Ling Ling, but perhaps she had been killed... I supposed that I would never know. The king, whose identity we did not know either, had told us not to try and find out. All we did know was that Rose was being put in danger by the King and Queen, which meant they had to be defeated. I dared to look up from the ground, just to see what her Majesty was wearing. In her black dress and white fur shawl, she reminded me of that horrible villain Cruella De Vil. Except, of course, she was beautiful. Her Majesty's cloudy grey eyes, delicate red-lipped smile, and the slight curve of her brows made her beautiful ebony hair stand out wherever she went.
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But of course, all she was doing now was frowning, as she fussed over the condition of the carriage. Every once in a while, I heard things like: "Goose feathers? Only gold-pleated gleaming royal goose feathers will do!" Or: "Oh dear, what is this horrible beverage? This freshly-squeezed orange juice simply won't do. I want oranges farmed in an area with gold in its soil!" And the best one: "What disservice the servants have done me! I simply cannot believe that the footman has black leather shoes! I requested dragon skin!"
Joy did her best to keep pace with the queen, trying to guffaw at her jokes, apologise for the mistakes of the servants and gossip with her about the latest news from kingdoms abroad. I was silently thankful that I had not been given the task of the queen's assistant. I didn't want to gossip with the queen. I was content, reading a tattered copy of Shadow End: A History. It was intriguing, seeing how fast things had changed. I read through aeons of wars and nations that led to the present. It was funny, really, how so much history could be made by just a beast's roar.
Of course, the beast's roar had shaken all of time, rewriting every story ever written and changing the course of the fairy tale land. At the end of the chapter on the history of Shadow End, a small pouch containing a flattened stone fell out of the book. I picked up the pouch, delicately pulling out the rock inside it.
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I stifled a gasp. What did this mean? Who was D? And, most importantly, who was the Beast?
That's it for this chapter of Shattered! I hope 5 days wasn't too long of a wait... let me know if I should be more frequent. Please, please, pleasedon't abandon the book-it is about to get really exciting! Astoria is much closer to uncovering the truth... Will she be be able to stop The Beast.... or will The Beast stop her? Where have Ling Ling's concerns gone? Is she putting on an act? Find out in the next chapter of Shattered!
