Cleo's Puddle Part 3: Cleo's Broken Heart

 Cleo followed Leo with other soldiers rushing to the throne room. The king’s father, King Edward stood in the throne room, holding the crown in his hands. All the soldiers stood at attention. “Everyone, listen up. Alice and the king...has gone missing. I know it’s dangerous but every available knight is to go out into the rain and find them. Please...save my son and granddaughter.” he bowed. The knights looked at each other before running out. Cleo clenched her fist and ran as fast as she could ahead of everyone else. As she continued to move past the other knights, she began to move faster and faster, yellow lines appearing on her neck with each faster stride. She jumped off the bridge outside straight for the barrier as several waves of her hair turned green. She placed her hand out as the barrier approached and a yellow glow appeared from palm and let her fall through the barrier. She couldn’t think clearly, she screamed “ALICE!”

Several Eyeless heard her screams and ran towards her. She crouched before jumping forward and slicing the monsters in half with black ooze and cotton flying in the air. She screamed “ALICE! KING DESMOND! WHERE ARE YOU?!” as she screamed through the rain and swiftly avoided the Eyeless, occasionally bouncing off the trees and her look of desperation turned one into anger “JARGUUUUS!” she howled. But she stopped, hearing the faint sound of clanging metal. Running past some trees, there was a small clearing, with King Desmond swinging away what looked like metal tentacles. “I’m surprised you were able to hit all those away Desmond. Although I suppose I shouldn’t be. The peripheral vision you received from the Peregrine Falcon serves you and your daughter well.” Jargus said calmly as the metal tentacles retreated away from King Desmond and into his coat sleeve. “Where is my daughter Jargus? Which puddle?!”

Jargus sighed, rubbing his head. “I can’t tell you that. I need to test my theory of how people become Eyeless. I believe your daughter to be the best candidate. She agreed Desmond.” King Desmond narrowed his eyes “My daughter would never do something so foolish.” Jargus snorted “Wouldn’t she? She and many others dream of the sun coming back. One of the main mysteries to solve on how the Eyeless are formed. She is just brave enough to put her life on the line for it. I also told her I believe other than myself, she’s probably the only one who could find out something useful and come back. I helped her come out here because I believed in her.” Jargus explained. Both King Desmond and Cleo gritted their teeth. Desmond screamed “You should have just sacrificed yourself then!” Jargus sighed “My intellect is needed for future experiments. I couldn’t take that risk. Besides, you don’t really need her to lead the kingdom do you? Bloodline monarchies are so inefficient.” he shrugged. Desmond’s pupils dilated and blue feathers appeared on his arms, ruffled in appearance. “I’LL KILL YOU JARGUS!”

Just as he began to charge, Cleo came flying out of the fog with her sword pointed at Jargus’ neck. Her pupils turned horizontal, more of her hair turned green, and the yellow lines on her neck throbbed like veins. Her sword reached him. His face got cut in half. But...it didn’t bleed or show skin. His head separated and slightly melted like some sort of mush before twisting itself back to his normal appearance. Cleo’s and Desmond’s eyes widened in horror. Jargus smirked “My my. You are truly beautiful with that appearance Cleo. But you must hold back your anger. I’m currently helping Alice.” Jargus said, pointing down. Cleo narrowed her eyes and looked where he was pointing. A thin metal tentacle was coming from outside his pants-leg and trailed outwards. Cleo’s eyes followed it and saw that it led to a nearby puddle. The tentacle soon tightened, as if someone was pulling on it. “It seems she succeeded.” Jargus smiled. Cleo and Desmond looked toward the puddle, as a black claw came out, gripping the forest floor. Dark blue hair came next. It was Alice. But her eyes were missing.

Cleo’s and Desmond’s eyes turned to despair, tears forming in both their eyes as Alice crawled out of the puddle, and Desmond fell to his knees. Alice’s torso, legs, and arms were what appeared to be a sleek black carapace of sorts like a shell. Her face had no emotion, and she spoke out “Cl...eo...d...addy…” she muttered faintly. Cleo and Desmond began to cry, but Jargus didn’t act like anything was out of the ordinary. “Good work Alice. Let’s go and discuss your discoveries over tea.” Desmond’s body twitched. “You aren’t going anywhere Jargus. I don’t know what you truly are but you’re dying here.” he said, getting to his feet and raising his sword, hatred and sorrow in his eyes. Jargus shrugged and put his arm around Alice’s shoulder and smiled. In Cleo’s eyes, everything seemed to go in slow motion. King Desmond charging, a metal tentacle going forward towards him. And Desmond finally coughing blood. Jargus said something, but it sounded muffled, and lightning struck the ground with him and Alice disappearing, and Cleo’s vision faded.

Thud.

Cleo opened her eyes in her bed, with her appearance back to normal, wearing a white sleeveless shirt with her lower half under the covers. As she stared at the ceiling, she looked to her right and saw Leo sitting in a wooden chair, who looked at her with a tired appearance. “You’re awake.” he said with sad smile. “What happened?” Cleo asked. Leo learned back in the chair “We found you in a forest clearing alone. Jargus, Alice, and King Desmond are all missing. You’ve been asleep for two days. I’ve been ordered to look after you and to tell you to make a report of what happened to King Edward as soon as you’re able.” He explained. “I see...yeah. Okay.” Cleo replied, putting her palm on her forehead and looking down, her red hair swaying with her. Leo seemed to be hesitating for a moment before pulling out a paper. “The knights also found this when investigating her room. It’s a letter addressed to King Desmond, King Edward, me, and...you.” he said reluctantly handing to Cleo. Her red eyes stared at the folded paper and grabbed it, unfolding it in front of her to read it.

“To those that care about me. Daddy, grandpa, Leo, and Cleo. I love you all so very much. All my life, I never saw the real sun. The real blue sky. The real white clouds. I know that in the heart of every citizen is to see the real sky, and I’ve dedicated my life to building knowledge for hints or clues to help the Rain Wizard bring back the world to the way it was before the Eyeless. Jargus came to me with a hypothesis. The Eyeless must be created somehow, and he had the belief that the puddles they’ve been reported to emerge from leads to a separate dimension. No one is foolish to check though. Not even him. But someone has to. I intend to survive, and take another step forward to bringing the sun back. Daddy, thank you so much for taking care of and spoiling me all these years. I know I haven’t always been the best daughter and caused you trouble. I constantly sneaked out of my room, played pranks, and teased others. But you loved me regardless. Grandpa, you’ve always been silly and said you were thankful when you had a child because you were unfit to be king even in your younger years. But I think you underestimate yourself. Sure you can be cowardly, but who doesn’t get scared? I know the kingdom is in good hands with you if something ever happened where you had to wear the crown again. Don’t give up! As for Leo...I didn’t know you long, but I can tell you’re smart. I wish I had more time to tease you. Haha, sorry. But I really did want to know you better, but I don’t want to waste time. Finally for Cleo. You’ve been my best friend ever since I found you in that well. People try to disregard your talent because you’ve been genetically modified, but I know that even if you didn’t have enhanced abilities you’d still be one of the stronger knights alive. Don’t let anyone call you a monster or a frog in a well. I love you. All of you. See you soon!”

-Love, Alice

Tears dropped on the paper and Cleo’s red eyes watered as she wept with Leo rubbing her back in comfort. The wails of her cries became muffled outside the door, with the current Cleo looking down with narrowed eyes, tears forming on her own tired face as the world became pitch black once more.