Sealed in Time II

okok... its finally out... instead of just reading it, i think it would be better if you try and picture the images in yor head... try animated characters, if possible... heehee...

Sealed In Time II

“Dora, who are you? Why can we only meet at night?” Benedict finally plucked up the courage to ask, for he knew that there was one more question he had to ask.

Princess Isadora pondered over he two questions carefully. On one hand, she was tired of hiding her true identity from him, while on the other hand, she was afraid that her identity would bring about complications in their relationship. She knew for sure her parents would not approve of Benedict.

“I, well,” Princess Isadora slowly picked the right words to use and frantically searched for an excuse. “I don’t really think, well, you see...”

“Dora, I don’t really care if you are a fugitive or a rich lady, I love you. And I need you. I want to marry you. Would you forget about your past and come with me?” Benedict frustratedly cut Princess Isadora and proposed to her. It was obvious to him that Princess Isadora was hiding a secret past that she did not want to reveal to him, and that did not bother him as long he she could assure him of a future together.

The proposal came as a shock to Princess Isadora. She stared hard at Benedict, he was handsome, yet kind, very understanding towards her, and most importantly she loved him. Every time she thought about him, her stomach would flutter. When she saw him, her heart would beat faster and she would feel flushed. But never once did it cross her mind that they could be together.

Just then, the silence between them was broken by shouts of “Disaster! My dear village people, please flee for your lives!” As the shouts drew nearer, Princess Isadora recognised it.

“Princess Isadora!” shrieked Jasper who emerged from behind the woods. A few weeks having not seen him, he seemed to have aged quite a bit. He was covered with rotten fruits and vegetables apparently thrown by his “dear village people”, and looked worse than the state of a beggar. “Your Highness must listen to me! Your Highness must convince the King and Queen, too, that disaster is drawing closer!”

As Princess Isadora greeted Jasper, a stone fell heavily into Benedict’s heart. The beautiful girl he so wished to marry was not a fugitive nor a rich lady, but one of royal descent, the Princess of his state. Immediately, a wave of inferiority filled him. He was a newly freed bonded servant who grew grapes for a living.

At that time, Jasper noticed that they were at the woods where the Princess was not supposed to be. She was supposed to be in the palace, and definitely was not supposed to be with a young man.

“Aren’t you the guy at the market place the other time? Why... Oh my God, Princess! Don’t tell me you have been sneaking out of the palace to meet him?” Jasper cried out in disbelief. “What would His majesty say about it?”

“Savior, from the bottom of my heart, I really thank you for saving me. I, I know what I’m supposed to do,” Benedict’s inferiority got over the better of him and he silently made a resolution. “But please, don’t get Dora, no, don’t get the Princess into trouble over me. It was entirely my fault.”

With that, Benedict turned away and, without looking at Princess Isadora, the started walking away. Princess Isadora was stunned by the sudden turn in events. she could not react to the changes. However, as Benedict’s shadow slowly faded into the darkness, her heart and mind came to a single conclusion.

“Ben! Don’t leave me!” she burst out as she ran over to him deeper into the woods. “I love you. I can’t live without you!”

“Scandalous!” wailed Jasper. Quickly, he turned towards the direction of the palace. He needed to let the King and Queen know about this matter immediately as he knew that they would be devastated if the Princess disappeared and never returned.

However, as he was reaching the palace, he remembered the decadent lifestyle of the King and Queen and how they had totally disregarded him. He stopped in his tracks. Did he really care about their feelings when they had totally ignored him? Indeed, they were his King and Queen. Then he thought about Princess Isadora who had everything she could have had – except freedom – since young. He could see her innocent eyes asking him what hardship was. He saw a future of nothing if he allowed her to elope with Benedict as he thought that Benedict would never be able to take care of the Princess like how the palace did. He continued his journey to the palace.

“Sire! M’am!” Jasper cried out as he forced his way into the palace after being stopped by the guards.

“Have you come to sprout nonsense again?” boomed the King, with a touch of hope in his voice, a hope that the answer was not so. The King did not like being interrupted during his entertainment time, be he still had some compassion for the person who cheered him up whenever he was feeling down and never failing to give some witty comment to anyone who came close to looking down on him. He did not bear to see Jasper being thrown out again.

“Sire! The Princess has run off with a guy!”

“Nonsense!”

Several of the guards let go of Jasper and rushed to the Princess’ chamber to check on her, just to be on the safe side. To the King’s horror, they returned reporting that the Princess was nowhere to be found.

“Quick, Sire! Come with me to get her back.” Jasper urged.

The King and Queen and all the guards in the palace followed Jasper. A tinge of regret flashed past him, but there was no way he could back out at this point in time.

As Jasper led them in a frantic search for the Princess, she had caught up with Benedict and kissed him. At once, the inferiority vanished inside him. He knew that it did not matter if she was a princess of a beggar, he would love her as she was and she would likewise love him with all her heart.

Meanwhile Jasper and the search team had arrived at the woods. As everyone split up to search for the Princess, a loud roar came from behind them while the ground shook. A sense of dread flitted by in Jasper.

“Dory!” screamed the Queen as she caught sight of the shadow of Princess Isadora. “Get the man!” she instructed furiously. She had not been that angry until now, perhaps the loud rumbles had affected her.

A gust of smoke rose from behind as Princess Isadora and Benedict tried their best to outrun the trained guards. However, they were soon encircled by the guards who grabbed hold of Benedict and tried to pull him away from the Princess. Princess Isadora screamed and cried, but the commotion was not heard by the others as the rumbles and roars became louder.

“Oh no! The disaster!” Jasper cried after seeing a ball of fire flying up into the sky and burst.

The King looked up at the sky. Thick ash fell on him. Jasper’s previous warnings of disaster echoed behind his mind. Suddenly, he felt remorse. If only he had taken heed of Jasper...

Princess Isadora struggled with all her might and broke free from the guards who were afraid to hurt her and rushed to Benedict’s side. Ash and lava rained down on them, screams of terror of everyone else there was cover by loud explosions. In the next few minutes, what previously was a thriving town of Pompeii turned into a flat land of volcanic ash.

Thousands of years later, was one to excavate the area of Pompeii to see the remains of the Princess with her love. Their love had passed the test of time... ...