Haunted King

TWENTY-THREE | my first love

Melody was shaking. She looked down to her phone that was playing the pirate music. Small white letters sat in the middle of the black screen, "transfer incomplete. Error! Rebooting..."

Melody tried to open her phone but the screen wouldn't budge. She tapped and slammed her finger over the screen before throwing it across the room. It was all too real. The pain of the fire scorching her skin. The piercing feeling of a sword plunging in her chest. Melody touched her stomach but saw no signs of an attack. But it was too real to be a dream.

The scariest part was how real her feelings were for Christopher. Or should she call him Christain? Her first ever otome boyfriend had sat beside her in 'Anatomy and Physiology' and was also her maybe-fiancé? He had touched her, taunted her, and teased her through out the whole night as if she was an animal at a zoo. But she had fallen in love with these traits when he was Christopher.

Maybe that was why her heart went crazy from his advances?

Melody ran her shivering hands through her hair and tried to organize her thoughts. How did he come to her world? Was she in a fantasy world? Was everything around her fake? Was she stuck in some weird simulation with no escape?

She was panicking.

The flashing light from her phone on the other side of the room blinked onto the ceiling. Melody frowned. She knew what that notification was from. Fallen Angel always had perfect timing when it came to sending notifications when she was at her lowest.

Melody paused. It always notified her when she was the most depressed or stressed, and she just hadn't noticed it. How did the app know what she was feeling? The light blinked again but this time more rapidly. Melody turned away from the light. "Nope, go away," she pleaded.

"I can't keep doing this," she pulled the blanket over her head. She was too scared to go to sleep so she just stared at the moonlight bleed through her thin blanket. The light flickered for a moment until a large ray of light seeped through. The light brightened and brightened and Melody knew in her gut that she was no longer in her room. She was too afraid to look out.

"Melody?" A soft voice whispered. Melody's heart froze. "Melody why are you hiding under a blanket?" Gabriel stared at the white blob the voice told him was his Melody. "Come on Melody, we have to go before anyone sees you."

She had forgotten about the whole terrorism thing. She sighed and pulled the blanket off her face and sat up. She was in the dinning hall Gabriel had drugged her in. She frowned from the unhappy memory. Gabriel, that gorgeous mad man, was basically glowing in front of her.

Melody's heart jumped. He was wearing a blue vest with white stripes, and a jacket. His navy blue attire gave him a casual but business like atmosphere to him. He offered her a hand which Melody hesitantly took.

Gabriel asked permission before casting an invisibility spell on her. As he lead her through the corridor she noticed how gentle he was being. He was scared to touch her. To scare her. The evening light painted a calming ombré of blues and reds on the walls. Melody thought it was breathtaking.

Once they got to his office he announced to his assistant that he wanted to be alone for some time. Melody watched from the corner of the room as Gabriel pretended to be getting ready to do work.

But then he actually did start working. "Um, Gabriel," she broke the silence. "Yes," he answered plainly. Melody fidgeted uncomfortably. What was she supposed to say to him? 'Oh Gabriel! Would you please pay attention to me because I'm so scared and lonely,' Melody sighed to herself. "Never mind," she dismissed.

Gabriel looked up to her. Melody noticed he was wearing glasses. "Are you hungry?" He asked. Melody shook her head. Even though she wanted to eat this worlds food again she didn't want to inconvenience him more than she already had.

He looked down the the paper work in front of him and sighed before pushing his chair back. "Melody, can I ask why you're here?" She didn't know how to answer. "You seemed pretty adamant on wanting to be as far away from me as possible." Melody bit her lip, he wasn't wrong. His sky blues tried reading her expression.

"You didn't come here on purpose, did you?" Melody shook her head slowly. Gabriel ran a frustrated hand through his hair. 'I'm such an idiot for even hoping,' he mentally chastised himself. A small DING rang in the air. Melody watched as his affection meter fizzled into shape over his head. 98%

He was slowly loosing feelings for her. She strangely felt sad because of this. The lonely part of her wanted him to keep being in love with her because at least she was prepared for the craziest his love could get. She was never prepared for her parents version of love.

Christain was her first love. It was a stupid game she had found as a newbie dating game player. As a kid she had ignored all the red flags and in the end was heartbroken by the groomsmen death scene at the end of the game. Then when she tried to play the game again the website was shut down. She never saw Christopher the Great again. Well, until now.

Thinking about it now Christopher didn't even tell her to run from the fire. He just held her as they were stabbed to death. He had lied to her about always protecting her from harm. That realization sort of changed her view on Gabriel. She didn't need to love him to know he would have fought the god of rain to quell the flames. He would have ended the war single handily if it meant protecting her.

Gabriel's eyes went wide at her number. 30%

Melody was staring intensely at Gabriel. "Hypothetically speaking, if I was about to be burned to death what would you do?" Gabriel wanted to laugh that this was what her first words to him would be.

He didn't need to think it over the question, "you would never die from something as silly as fire if I was with you. The biggest thing you would need to worry about is the god of death himself. But I'm sure even he fears his own curse," Gabriel pushed up his glasses and chuckled to himself. Melody unconsciously smiled.

She took a few steps to him. "Do you promise to never try and trap me again?" Gabriel nodded ferociously. Melody giggled at his bobbing head. The sound was music to Gabriel's ears. His face flushed at her smile. "Okay," she stated. "Okay?" He repeated, still confused about what was happening.

Her number ticked up. 34%

"Okay," she beamed. "Let's take this slow." Gabriel's face lit up, "okay!"

•••

Christain opened his eyes. He remembered everything.

Melody Lu, was his queen. His first and only love. He had conquered all of Europe to quell his thirst for blood and war. But he had brought the one woman he ever loved into his mess.

She had tried to protect him and he let her down. But after his death Christain found himself stuck in a world of fog. He could hear multiple voices echoing in the fog. Despite his confusion he was positively sure he was dead. In the haze he could see a dim light, and a distinct soft voice told him the light was where he could be with Melody. So he ran, and ran towards the light.

Now he was here. After being reborn it took him twenty-one years to completely get his memories back. But it was all worth it. He had found his Melody. And he refused to let her go.

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