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The monster comes every night. A curse that comes as a price for being a crown prince. Well, Kei is not supposed to call it a curse. They say it's a blessing, a way to see your greed materialized, so you can fight it. So, he does.
Every night it appears in the corner of his room, a web of shadows, sometimes Kei can even distinguish its spidery limbs and hollow eyes. Sometimes he prefers to think that he just imagined them.
He's supposed to become stronger with time, but he feels that for some reason it gets harder and harder to fight the monster. Like these sticky black strings are training too, and they get better way faster than he does.
Now it almost manages to grab his wrist, but at the last moment he dodges and puts the candle in the front. The fragile flame licks one of the black tendrils and it flinches. One more lunge and the monster hisses finally retreating.
It feels like barely a few minutes of calm before Kei wakes up, his bedroom looking the same except for the early careful sunlight creeping on the floor. The candle left beside his bed from the evening is trembling on a draft.
He needs to start a new day full of the usual duties, even though nights never bring him rest.
A figure detaches itself from the wall.
"Good morning, Your Highness"
Kei knows very well what will happen to him if one night he loses to the monster. Then it will use him to escape his dream. He will become the monster himself, in the real world. And obviously, no one can let a monster wander around the castle. So, he will be killed. He's been told so.
When Kei turned eighteen his father explained him everything. About the candle, that should be left burning, how he should look at it, and remember it being there, how he should use it in the fight, about the guard that would stay in his room while he sleeps, how he will kill Kei if he fails.
For a long time guards were changing every night. But four months ago he got a permanent personal guard, a prodigy, someone who will do his job quickly and efficiently.
Jo is quiet and a little shy, he has a nice smile and his ears turn pink at a bare suggestion of attention, and he's going to kill Kei if he fails to fight off the monster.
It will be a right thing to do of course, it will keep the citizens safe, it will protect them from the flawed king too. Kei doesn't even know how much of his consciousness will be left inside that monster. He can't think about it, but he knows if he had a choice he would rather stay alive as a monster than be killed. But it's not an option, so he shouldn't be thinking about it.
Kei makes himself smile and leans to blow out the candle.
"Good morning, Jo".
They don't see each other a lot during daytime. Kei doesn't really know what Jo does when he's not staying on guard. He can only assume that he must sleep at some point. And train. Of course Kei can't see Jo train — they are worried that it would be an advantage for the monster. He kind of wishes he could. Maybe, he could utilize something during his own fights.
In the evenings Jo is very attentive, he even lights the candle himself. Kei doesn't think he's supposed to do it. Something about the process of making the flame rise with his own hands should let him connect to it better. So that it is more tangible in his dream.
But he watches Jo light the candle every evening, and he is sure it will be there when he needs it, because Jo is careful, and the flame is strong, and it dances in front of Kei's eyes before he falls asleep.
Jo never says goodnight to him, it would feel wrong, there could be nothing good about Kei's nights. He doesn't wish him luck either — he just nods, like he is certain that Kei is going to succeed again.
There are no teeth — just the gaping hole of the mouth, darkness inside. Kei stares at it for too long, feels it swirl like a whirlpool, feels himself swirl with it. Now he doesn't have enough time to reach his bedside table. He scrambles uselessly towards the center of the bed, and watches as black tendrils start to climb up his wrists, sticky and cold on his feverish skin. He tries to thrash out of it, but to no avail. His heart beats somewhere near his stomach — dull rapid throbs. It would be nice to just close his eyes, but he can't. So, there's nothing left, but to stare ahead as the black substance wraps around him, coming up his throat.
This is it. A scream builds in his lungs, but he doesn't have enough air to produce any noise, it's all just hissing. He is no longer himself.
The bright light burn his eyes. Everything feels sticky with sweat and a little too quiet save for his own heavy breathing. He sees Jo standing above him, surrounded by the sunrays, but he doesn't have a sword, he's holding Kei's hand, and his smile is as gentle as ever.
"Good morning, Your Highness".