Entry by Team Fantasy / Sci-fi for round 3:

ENTRY:

“This time it will be different,” she said, “It has to be. We have to meet this time. And we will.”

“Are you sure?” the man asked.

“More than I could ever be Blake,” Mariana, the girl, said while walking towards the portal.

Once she passed the portal and reached the other side - a setting of a novel, Mariana’s favorite one - Blake whispered to himself, “Why does separating this time ache more than the prior ones? Why does it feel like this is the last time we’ll be standing here, sharing our final moments before we forget?”

Thinking that the feeling is nothing, he stepped into the portal and felt his eyes closing with the impact of the magic.

Mariana woke up with a jolt, sweat lining her forehead, just like every time she had to start over. She looked outside the window to see that it was still dark and the crescent moon shining brightly under the influence of the sun.

She was perplexed. This was not the setting of how the story went. Being the side character and the daughter of Lord, she wasn’t introduced until later in the story, not only that, the setting was entirely different, she was to be woken up to maids hustling here and there in her room, preparing her for the day.

Then it struck her mind, “I am the protagonist.”

Morning came quickly. That was weird considering she could not even sleep an inch, thinking how unusual this is. It had never happened in the 1000 times she had transported.

“Wake up, My lady! Today’s the ball!”

Mariana woke up with a groan, her hair spilling in front of her face, “5 more minutes, Adele.”

“That’s what you said 30 minutes ago! Wake up!”

“Adele,” Mariana moaned.

“Do you want me to call your father?”

Hearing about her father, she shot up. Her father was a cruel, cruel man.

“Good, let’s get you cleaned up.”

#

Skin raw and tingling from the harsh scrubbing of the maids, Mariana stopped in front of the wardrobe, almost swaying on her feet from exhaustion. She blinked, mostly to clear her blurring, disjointed vision—but also because some small part of her brain desperately hoped that by closing her eyes and shutting off the world, she could temporarily forget her predicament. She opened them with a small sigh, reaching out to take the pale blue gown draped over Adele’s outstretched arms.

Slipping into the smooth silk, Mariana briefly admired the floaty blue material. Soft, supple, and yet exotic, the gown was lavished with ruffles and lace, trailing down to brush her ankles. Gold embroidery edged the flowing sleeves, dancing across the floaty fabric to form glittering spirals that trimmed the deep neckline. Mariana raised her head, a tentative smile gracing her soft features.

‘I love it,’ she whispered.

Adele nodded curtly, abruptly flinging open the door and pushing Mariana out of the room. ‘To the ballroom, quick. The prince is waiting.’

Mariana huffed, rolling her eyes as she closed the door firmly behind her. Adele was always in a rush. Friends since childhood, both of their personalities clashed many times. Mariana was often compared to an angel—always up in the clouds dreaming, soft and breezy. Adele, on the other hand, was harsh but dedicated, determined to stay down-to-Earth at all times.

She cut off her thoughts quickly, alarmed as she always was when memories previously unbeknownst to her became so familiar it almost seemed real—which it was. In this story, anyway.

Though the prince and she were betrothed since birth, she couldn't help but feel nervous around him. For screaming out loud, he was the prince of the kingdom, soon to be king, she was bound to feel anxious around him.

“My prince,” she bowed down to the man in front of him.

“My lady,” the royalty said in his husky voice, his voice sending shivers down her spine, “And please call me Blake, because, after getting wedded we are going to be on a first-name basis anyways, so why not practice now?”

“Of course, my - Blake,” Mariana said, blushing.

All of a sudden, she felt a wave of dizziness hit her, “Rina!” She fell straight into his arms, slowly drifting into a dreamless sleep.

#

Mariana once again woke up with a jolt, but only this time, she was surrounded by the people she loved the most - her parents, Adele, and the prince - and the royal doctor.

“Is she okay, doctor?” Blake asked. Even though he could not remember what happened before, he still loved her. With or without being in the story.

“Her vitals are stable, and I have given her some medicine for the time being. But there is one thing I would like to talk to you about. In private. With her parents.”

Slowly, everyone except Adele rushed out of the room, but not before sending her their sympathies.

“What do you want to talk about?” Mariana’s mother asked.

“As you know, I did some tests before she woke up, to rule out any possible disease she might have. So, I did every test that I had, which included the magic test,” the doctor nervously explained.

“Skip to the chase, doctor,” her father said, growing restless.

“She has magic. But not any kind of magic, the magic which can ruin the whole world, if not kept in check by proper practice.”
Blake instantly paled, “She is the prophecy”

#
All of them went to the castle to search for the prophecy, one that could slaughter everyone living here.

“I FOUND IT!” Blake yelled from across the noble library.

Mariana’s father was the first one to go to the prince. Though he did not show it, he cared for her daughter.

He snatched the old piece of paper away from Blake and read it out loud.

“When the moment comes
that animals rain from the sky,
a foolish choice
shall mark a rise or fall of the kingdom.”

“What does it mean, your highness?” Mariana’s mother asked.

“It means that Mariana can either destroy us or can make us rise, just by a foolish  choice.”

#

“How are you, honey,” Mariana’s mother asked her.

“I am better, but I still feel a little dizzy though.”

Mariana knew something was up. Her mother had never been so nervous in her entire life, at least, in front of her. Even though she wanted to know what has been causing her this anxiousness, she decided not to press the issue further.

There was a knock on the door before Blake revealed himself, “Are you okay, Aria?”

Mariana blushed at the nickname and gave the same answer as before.

“We have to tell you something,” Blake tensed up.

Mariana looked at him and nodded.

#

Mariana felt sick. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A prophecy? Her being the chosen one? That was a straight-up crack. But she knew the prince wouldn’t talk about something as grave as this as a prank, and also being his fiancee, she had no option but to trust him, and she did, she did trust him. A lot.

“Okay, so what should we do now?”

“Well, we train you. Specifically, my father will,” her eyes shone up at the mention of the king. He had always treated her like his own daughter when her father wasn’t with her.

They went to the training ground, a big area full of sand. The king -Romanov- started warming her up by creating some rage within her. After all, this kind of magic only worked with rage, nothing more, nothing less.

Then they moved on to the main thing, Romanov demonstrated to her some core exercises, something to wake up that beast within her.

By the end of their session, Mariana had learned the basics, they planned to move on to more hard exercises, when animals, particularly fish, started raining from the sky.

Mariana had no choice but to stop this. She thought of all the things that made her angry, furious, and mad. She could feel the fire in her, the fire to destroy everything that came in her way.

Abruptly, she felt a wave of magic sweep out of her, the magic doing nothing to stop the rain, but doing everything to ruin the kingdom. Within a matter of seconds, everything that had taken centuries to build crumpled down like a piece of paper.

And therefore, every single person living there died, but not her, cause, after all, she was the cause of this. Only if she did not do it, only if she did not have to stop the rain.

#

1000 years after.

Mariana still did not die. She was living her life like a coward, visiting her once kingdom, which had been announced by the government a couple of decades back as a historical site, once in a blue moon.

She wanted to forget about it. And she did eventually.

She wanted to die. And she did, right after her birthday.

She was right, that time was different.