Innocence Lost

The lands were lustrous and green, the sun had begun moving into the horizon. With all the beauty of the surrounding habitat, you’d almost believe nothing out of the ordinary was happening. However, in the middle of all this tranquility, there stood a tower. The tower emanated a sense of darkness, the mere size of it could fill anyone with dread, and every so often you could hear screams coming from the inside. This dreadful place had an overwhelming aura, one that caused the other party to flee in panic, but that’s to be expected. This tower was the Tower of Trepidation, and it was home to a man who had long renounced his humanity.

That man managed to swiftly escape his execution and enter the court of the being who plotted to destroy the world,The Dark Emperor! Due to the man’s obsession with scheming and mocking others, he was given the title of Trap Master! His name is Heckler, and he is a member of the Eight Masters of Despair! What’s worse, Heckler has just completed his most cunning plan yet, the villain had captured his previous nation’s princess!

****

I can’t believe this is happening, all I did was sneak away from my lessons to spend some time sniffing flowers in the garden. How was I supposed to know the new flowers that were planted were actually a trap!?! What’s worse, after I woke up I found myself in this cage. Why has such a thing happened to me! I am Princess Ophelia Beryl Alexander, I do not belong in this cage! I looked to see if there were any instruments that could help me escape, but there was nothing. All there is for me to do is look in this mirror, and all that’s reflected in it are my disheveled pink hair and my dust covered sherbet dress. I tried to make a brave face in the mirror, but all my sky colored eyes could muster was a frown. W-What’s gonna happen to me! Where’s the knights! Where’s my father! Where’s the hero! Even though I don’t necessarily like him, Where’s the hero!

“Oh Princess! There you are, I hope you are unharmed!”

“Not to worry, I’m startled but-”

As I turned to greet who I assumed was my savior, I came face to face with a man who had a face covered in sores and growths. Not to mention the worms poking through his skin.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“P-Princess! How could you, and I came all this way to save you! At least give me a smooch!”

“N-No! Please, stay away from me!”

The hideous man stuck his arm through the bars in an attempt to touch me, I found myself stumbling back in an attempt to flee. I was so terrified I startled crying, if I was a child I probably would have peed. In response to my tears, the man’s arm halted and he began to laugh. He laughed so hard he began to smack his plump belly, after that he stabbed his fingers into his flesh and tore himself apart. I could feel myself getting sick, until I realized the flesh was actually fabric and cotton. In front of me stood the man who kidnapped me, Heckler the Trap Master! He stood there laughing at me, in that prized Jester-like uniform of his!

“Haaaa, man you really know how to make a guy laugh. I know, you can be my stand up partner!”

“Heckler, you scoundrel! Even a child wouldn’t make a lady cry!”

“Interesting, it’s come to my attention that you don’t get out much. You need a better sense of humor!”

I wanted to reach through the bars and slap him, but as a royal protecting my health came first, at the very least that disgusting man wasn’t-

“Oh yeah this might be a costume, but the worms are real!”

Heckler dangled a slithering worm towards his tongue, I found myself regurgitating my stomach's contents. Seeing that Heckler crushed the worm in his hand and laughed at my appearance.

“Some princess you are, you can’t even hold your lunch down properly!”

I managed to get a hold of myself, and began reprimanding him again.

“Y-You! How dare you ridicule me like this! I’ll have my father execute you for this! Better yet, I’ll have you stoned publicly for how you treated me!”

“Oh No! I better step my game up or I’m in trouble! I’ll start by calling up my sanitary to clean your cage and fetch you some new clothes. That includes some fresh whites!”

Fresh whites? I started turning pale and realized I did pee myself earlier. Out of sheer embarrassment I started to cry again, I was in a state of absolute defeat. I had a mad man in front of me, I was in tatters, and this tower is practically a heavily armed fortress. T-This is where I die isn’t it! I could no longer keep the look of dread off my face, sadly Heckler picked up on that.

“Well well, that’s a gnarly expression you got there!”

Heckler began peering through the caged bars like a child staring at a caged animal. In a state of utter defeat I could only ask one question.

“What’s going to happen to me now?”

“...Huh? Oh, you’ll probably be fine. Your boy toy and his merry band have been running through my place for the past five hours.”

…Boy toy? What’s that supposed to mean? Wait, boy! Does that mean-

“Zeke!”

“Yeah, that’s that guy’s name! Guy’s a pretty big asshole though. He tore through some of my favorite attractions.”

He’s here, he was the last one I expected to see, but he’s finally here! I admit I didn’t like him at first, but this changes everything. I don’t need to be scared of this lunatic anymore!

“Hehehe, I hope you had fun while you could, Heckler!”

“Whatcha’ talkin’ about?”

“As soon as Zeke gets here, he’s going to beat the stuffing outta you! Then after that, he’ll whisk me away to the castle! I’ll take a nice warm bath, enjoy a hot meal, and then write a chronicle of this tale. It’ll be a courageous retelling of my time in captivity, I shall call it, “The Legend Of O-”

“I don’t care.”

I became petrified for a moment, is he serious? How does he not care about his current situation!?! I don’t know much about Zeke, but I do know this. He’s the type of man who answers questions with his fist, Zeke is going to beat him black and blue! How does he not care! As I pondered this, I saw Heckler take out a strange book.

“You see this short stack, this is my torture memo. A highlight reel of my favorite torture moments, it is my word!”

“You’ve chronicled the times you’ve tormented people? Also, what’s a highlight reel?”

“...It was my word, but as you can tell, now I know too much. I won’t be needing this anymore.”

Heckler tossed his memoir into the torch sitting on the wall. The charcoal remains hit the ground, and Heckler’s somber expression didn’t change.

“W-Why, if that memoir was so important to you then why would-”

“Tell me kid, what are you?”

“Huh?”

What am I, isn’t that obvious?

“I’m the Princess of the proud Kingdom of Alexandria! Ophelia Beryl Alexander!”

“That’s cute, now tell me, what are you?”

“I already told you, I’m the Princess!”

“What are you?”

I was annoyed at first, but then I found myself puzzled. Was there more to his question than I thought.

“I’m Ophelia Ber-”

“What are you?”

“I’m a princess?”

“What are you?”

“...A woman?”

“What are you?”

“Uh, a human being?”

Heckler paused for a moment, then he sighed a sigh of disappointment.

“Sorry Heckler, I can’t seem to find the answer to your riddle.”

“Not to worry, I was like you once. I thought maybe if I kidnapped you, I’d be able to make it back to where I was before. Sadly that’s not the case, small acts like kidnapping aren’t gonna cut it anymore!”

What does he mean by that!?! Heckler conjured a chest out of thin air, and began rummaging through it. He began tossing out a plethora of items, some included a saw and a toy snake. Suddenly his expression changed when he pulled out a strange mirror.

“Ah, here it is! My coworker gave this to me, told me it would wisen me up! Sadly she was right, I haven’t been the same ever since I’ve seen “him.”

“Him, who’s him?”

“Ha, well that’s the funny part. You’re about to find out!”

Heckler began rummaging in his pockets, eventually he pulled out a pair of keys. I started panicking as I saw him reaching for the lock on my cage, I began running into the corner in an attempt to hide myself. Despite my quiet prayers, he opened the door.

“You know when I went to her after seeing the crap on this thing, she gave me the most damning smile. Now let’s see if I can smile that wide!”

“W-Wait, if you’re tired of evil then maybe you can make it back into society! You don’t need to do this!”

“Tempting, but you know what they say. You gotta try something at least once!”

Heckler lunged toward me, I found myself hobbling out from the corner and running towards the opened door. I need to escape, but after that then what? It doesn’t matter I need to-

“Wahhhhh!”

I slipped on a banana peel and fell right on my face, as I lifted my head I noticed items thrown everywhere across the floor. They were set up in a fashion to make me trip, Heckler was planning this all along.

“Now then, I wonder what would happen if someone in a position of power saw the truth?”

Heckler began lifting me by my hair, my nose was red from my fall. The pain made me wince, all I could do was beg.

“Please, don’t do this! What’ll happen to me, what are you showing me!”

“This is the truth, Opal. You need to see this for yourself.”

“Opal? My name isn’t Opal! It’s-”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, after you find out the truth your name will be more useless than a colored rock.”

Heckler shoved the mirror into my face, and spoke what appeared to be the activation phrase.

“Mirror of beyond, show her! Show this naive girl the world that lies beyond the veil! Show her the lies she’s been fed her whole life!”

“Wait, stop! Don’t Do This! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Just like that, my vision became hazy and my head felt like it was going to burst. After that my memory was fragmented, every time I’d come to I’d see something strange. I say carriages with no horses, dragons made of iron, buildings taller than any castle I’ve seen. Then I saw things that I found strange like strange animal videos, weird anime, and people around my age doing strange-

…What’s a video, what’s an anime!?! What’s going on with my head! I began to notice a flood of information enter my brain, and most of it was useless! If this keeps up, my brain will rot! I don’t want to lose my mind. I began to tremble and cover my face, eventually the information stopped. I thought I was finally free, until I heard something. It was a beautiful melody, it was the most beautiful symphony I heard in my life. I searched for the source of the music, but what I saw shocked me. I was inside a cramped room with a dusty bookshelf, and a desk with a TV setup. However, it wasn’t the clutter that threw me off, it was the sitting of a strange man sitting on his bed and working on his laptop. I wanted to address the man, so I-

“No offense, but I’m trying to write here. Can we talk later?”

I was stunned, how dare he- Wait! The words on that screen, they’re the same exact words I’m thinking right now. What’s going on!

“*Sigh* Don’t you get Opal, you’re not real. Also next time bring some peanut butter, that’s your payment for talking to me.”

****

My vision came back to me, but I had no strength to move. No it’s not because I lacked the strength, it’s because I didn’t want to. Heckler stared into my dead eyes and smirked at me. That smirk turned into a hearty laugh, that laugh turned into the pinnacle of hysteria.

“Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is it! This must’ve been the look I had on my face! Thank you Opal, you’ve helped me learn something important!”

“....”

“I need to ask though, how does it feel finding out we’re characters in some story!?! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”