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It was morning again, his old bones hurt a bit more day after day, and for some reason, he was every day more and more hungry, and he needed to drink tea more frequently, but none of that was important.

He finally opened his eyes.

He was alone in bed. Again.

His wife has too much energy for him, it seems.

Well, he hopes it wasn’t too late for his favourite part of the day.

His eyes searched the old clock on the wall and… It was not working. Again. He needs to ask the attendants to replace it instead of trying to coax it back to life each morning. What’s the point of being king if he can order around some people to replace his clock? It doesn’t matter that it’s a relic of his late father.

He decided to look for himself the hour with the sky, and if he was on time, he could see the beautiful view that always brightens his mornings. He goes out of bed, only to feel a bit of dust on the floor. His attendants need a reprimand, it seems.

The joyful sound of children laughing distracted him from annoying thoughts. Ah, it looks like he is right on time!

He walks slowly to the glass door of his balcony, ignoring his aching bones, his noisy stomach, and his parched throat; all of that wasn’t important, it was his age after all. Moving aside the heavy curtains was a little bit more difficult than he remembered, but the magnificent view that was his recompense made him breathless.

The radiant light-blue morning sky of a sunny day with nearly no clouds blesses his eyes. Eyes that were promptly trailed to his wife’s garden, there, the most beautiful view of all made him squint from its brightness.

His family.

His wife was having tea with our daughter and daughters-in-law, both of our sons were having a friendly discussion near the pond, and the kids, our grandchildren, were playing with some fairies in the lush garden.

It was bliss, it was perfection, and what made it even more perfect was the view of the other side of the wall surrounding the gardens. His city, the capital of his kingdom, was vibrant in colour and life. It reminds him that the whole continent was at peace, no wars, nearly no crime, and the relationship between kingdoms was going smoothly.

Ah, he really was getting old; all of this is making him a bit emotional. He never thought he was a good choice for king, but he was an only child, so the responsibility was only on him. He remembered his father advising him to have only one kid to avoid disputes between siblings, but looking at his kids, he can’t see the issue; all three of them love each other, and the younger ones respect the older one as his heir. They never vocalised any discontent. Of course, they have propositions and some advice for their older brother, and his oldest took it really well, so he really does not see the problem.

Oh! His only granddaughter saw him!

He waves at her, and she smiles at him!

Ah… What a wonderful day.

He continues to observe his family. At one moment, some of his attendants seemed to bring him lunch, then dinner. He marveled at the amount of energy of his family, they spent the whole day talking with each other and playing with the kids and the fairies. They tried to make him go down, but… His body feels a bit tired today, so he just contented himself looking at his family, his kingdom, and the sky all day long.

Sooner than expected, the sky turned dark, the clouds started to bleed between orange and dark purple, and the crescent moon appeared above their heads.

His family decided to stay more time in search of stars, but he was feeling more and more tired, so he waved goodnight to his family, receiving a wave and ten smiling faces.

The aching of his bones was getting worse, hence he went to bed, ignoring the snack before bed that he usually eats to placate his constant hunger, and the now cold tea. Something deep inside him told him to go back to the balcony, to keep looking at his family, but he didn’t have the energy; he was hungry and thirsty again, but his bones hurt too much…

Everything went dark the moment his head touched the pillow.

But in less than ten seconds, a horrendous noise wakes him up. There were noises of people screaming, of blades against blades and… flesh, of explosions, debris, and destruction.

What was happening? What’s wrong? What happens with his family? Who is attacking?

Nothing made sense!

He tries to open his eyes, but it is difficult, like trying to open that heavy curtains of his balcony, but with his eyelids!

The low chime of a bell-like, unintelligible voice calms him down, and he was able to open his eyes slowly, and he immediately blinked repetitively. He was not in his bed, nor in his room. He was in a dirty hallway in a part of the dungeons. He tries to move, only to be surprised again.

His body wasn’t his body! It was the body of a child!

He managed to notice a small puddle of water near him, and he tried to see his reflection. It was difficult to move even that far, but he put all his effort into doing it. He needs something to distract himself from all those terrible noises.

When he finally arrived at the puddle, he was surprised once more! The reflection shows him his younger self, but… he was skin and bones, like he had been starved for days, maybe weeks.

The familiar feeling of hunger and thirst barrelled on the front of his senses; at the same time, his whole body hurt so much that he couldn’t stop a scream of agony. His vision went dark again, but when he opened his eyes, he was still a kid on an abandoned part of the dungeons with the terrible, terrible noises coming from upstairs, even worse than before.

The same bell-like voice made him notice that he wasn’t feeling anything bad with his body, even better, he didn’t remember when he felt this good in ages!

He turned around to thank the fairy, because of course, that kind of voice could only be from a fairy, only to see the most hunting sight of all possible ones. His own body, the lifeless body of his younger self, crumbled like an autumn leaf in front of the puddle of water.

Terrified, he looked at his body… it was translucent, he was a spirit, a mere soul…

The purple fairy came into view. Wait, purple? He had never heard of any purple fairy before, and that’s not all, if he remembers right, the fairies that his grandki-, his not-grand-kids?, were playing with were also purple…

It was them? They made him have that dream before… before he dies?

He doesn’t know if he felt grateful or angry with the fairy; if all of that was an illusion, it was something that could have been possible if he hadn’t died? He didn’t know… the crushing feeling of never having seen that kind of future, all the memories, meeting his wife, becoming king, becoming a father! And then a grandfather!

It hurts, it hurts too much.

The little fairy made a sad chime noise and touched his head. Ah, it doesn’t matter; he was dead after all, and nothing of that was real, right?

The small being motioned to him to follow them. Right, this is the end…

I follow them, ignoring the noises and the body. I followed for like an eternity. It was dark, we were going down, and everything went darker and darker. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, just more darkness. I stopped hearing the noise, I stopped hearing anything, then I stopped feeling anything, and finally, I stopped seeing anything.

Is this how it felt to be really dead? It is not a pleasant feeling.

I wait, and wait, and wait some more. I thought I was starting to go crazy. Until I started to feel something. A viscous liquid surrounded my body, and I could hear some muffled voices. Then, a very strange feeling started pushing me out of this strange bubble. I closed my eyes, even if I couldn’t see anything, I felt safer that way. The next thing I noticed was cold air on my bare skin; it was nearly enough to make me cry, but I held it.

A somehow familiar voice made me open my eyes, and there, in front of me, was my mother, but she looked different; the hair and eye colours were wrong, the voice was similar, but not all the same, but I was sure, this was my mother, the same woman that loves me, and loves our kingdom as her queen.

That was not the only surprise; my father was there too, looking at me with loving eyes, and they were too tall! Wait a minute…

I tried to look at my hands, but I couldn’t move my head, so I brought my right hand to eye level, and… When are the surprises going to end?

It seems I’m a baby, a newborn baby of all things.

A new voice distracted me. I didn’t recognise it.

The couple has a baby, a bit older than himself, on the woman's arms. They started talking, but I didn’t pay enough attention to them. There was something more important than grown-ups' conversation, yes, he decided to accept his new baby status. The other baby was a girl, going by the pink blanket, but something on her made something flutter on my stomach.

Two names made me refocus on the conversation with the pair of parents, his name, Wildifried, and the girl’s name, Clementine, put together in the same sentence as engagement.

Ah, I don’t hate the purple fairies anymore. This Clementine is My Clementine, my wife in that illusion, so it was an illusion? Or a glimpse of the future?

As my consciousness starts to disperse like grains of sand between fingers to start a new life, I thank the purple fairy in the corner of my vision in my mind.

The cry of the newborn baby was heard by everyone in the room; the new prince was born.