Filed to story: Loving You In My Final Days
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Finally, the day of their trip arrived. Abi was extremely excited as she read up on some facts about the Country.
Country V’s government was an absolute monarchy. It was famously known as the Hidden Kingdom of the south because of its secluded location. This kingdom had also never been colonized throughout its whole history because of the same reason; its strategic location made it impossible to be invaded.
The country’s landscape ranged from lush subtropical plains in the south to sub-alpine mountains in the north. The land consisted mostly of steep and high mountains crisscrossed by a network of swift rivers that formed deep valleys. The northern region of the Kingdom consisted of an arc of alpine shrubbery and meadows reaching up the glaciated mountain peaks with extremely cold temperatures, while the southern region had a more moderate climate and was covered by heavy savannah grass, dense, mixed jungles with freshwater springs and mountain rivers, fed by melting snow. Seventy percent of terrain was coated by a majestic forest, while nine percent was pressed beneath glaciers.
Once Abi and Kelly got off the plane, Abi breathed in the fresh air and she immediately felt something was different about this place. It was like there was magic in the air.
She couldn’t explain it but she just felt like this was no ordinary place. The scenery was just picture perfect but at the same, she felt like it was a kingdom shrouded in mystery. Abi may not have travelled to many places, but she felt like this place was one of a kind, like she would not find a place like this anywhere else in the world.
The Kingdom was a complex blend of the ancient and modern worlds which made it endlessly fascinating.
As they travelled to their hotel, Kelly told Abi about some other facts that she knew about the Kingdom. She said that the kingdom was first ruled by a member of the Reign family. The Reign royal family was the official, undisputed and absolute ruler of the Kingdom since the beginning of the country’s history.
Kelly’s father was a good friend of the Kingdom’s current King so he had told Kelly a lot about the country. According to her father, the Reign dynasty’s successors have reigned over this country from when they settled here to the present day and the country had actually the lowest poverty rate in the world. But the strange thing was that billionaires in the country were relatively few and most people seemed to be all equal in financial status, which Abi thought was a great thing.
“Well, this place is kinda fascinating and intriguing,” Kelly said as soon as they entered their hotel room.
“I totally agree. This place just has a very different vibe. It is just so absolutely beautiful, simply breathtaking, Kelly. I wonder why this place isn’t as famous as other countries. I also noticed there are only a few tourists around.”
“It’s because this Kingdom isn’t into tourism, Abi. As I mentioned before, they are quite private so it’s hard to get in here without an invitation. This country is one of the hardest places to visit in the world. The process of visiting here is reportedly hard, unnecessarily complicated, slow and very expensive, so tourists feel discouraged to come here.”
“Oh… that’s strange. It’s like they don’t want to earn from the tourism industry, or they don’t like the tourist influx? I can’t blame them though. If I lived here, I wouldn’t want tourists roaming around and potentially ruining the landscape and the natural untouched beauty of this place by their presence.”
“Mn. Maybe that’s why they are very strict. I don’t really know. Like I told you, this country isn’t like any other country. Now, let’s stop talking about that and let’s go out and enjoy the view and the food here is great, too! Abi, let’s go!”
Abi and Kelly roamed around the Kingdom’s capital that day. They visited a lot of places and ate different varieties of food. The place was very pleasant and just lovely and clean – the cleanest city Abi had ever been to. There were no towering skyscrapers and no heavy traffic, no pollution nor chaos. Trees that were lined on either side on every road and highway were blooming that day and it just looked majestically awe-inspiring.
The place was just filled with beautiful people and beautiful things.
The two best friends had taken countless photos of each other as they continued their joyful tour until night finally came.
Abi and Kelly went back to their hotel early because their whole day escapade tired them out.
Abi was also happy because she didn’t feel much of the loneliness from missing Alex that day. She felt like their adventure had soothed her heart so for the first time since she last saw him, she slept soundly that night.
Before they knew it, the sun was already shining brightly up in the sky when they woke up.
The ball that they had to attend was not until 6pm that night so they had plenty of time to spare. The two girls went shopping for the most gorgeous dresses they could find and then found matching shoes. After that, they spent the rest of the day getting massages, manicures, pedicures and getting their hair and makeup done closer to the time.
A lot of preparation had gone into their persons for this occasion which was why, even though this country was known for having the most beautiful people in the world, Abi and Kelly fitted right in.
Once the girls were finally dressed up, they headed out of the hotel.
The trip towards the palace was unexpectedly long. Kelly told Abi that they were heading to the country’s palace, the place where the King and his family resided so Abi was excited and she was anticipating to see such a dreamy place.
However, once the palace came into her view, Abi’s mouth hung open like a little kid who was on their way to Disneyland and just had caught their first glimpse of the magical place. Her expectations drastically failed in comparison to the beauty she saw at that moment.
Abi was in awe as she looked at the palace which sat on a rugged hill, overlooking the city. The colossal six storey structure in the shape of two huge cuboids were connected in a flat angle and covered by two adjacent high gable roofs. The sight of the snow covered mountains behind the palace, the tall pine trees that surrounded it and the lights could be seen through the windows made Abi feel like she had walked into a closet and walked out into the Land of Narnia. The palace looked like it was frozen in time.
The location almost felt sacred because of its history. Kelly said that this palace had stood on that same hill for centuries, it was said that the royal family buried their ancestors under that hill. Abi just couldn’t take her eyes off it!
Abi and Kelly entered the palace complex through the symmetrical gatehouse flanked by two stair towers. They drove down the passage through the gatehouse which led them directly into the vast courtyard. There were guards everywhere and the security was extremely tight but because of the invitation that Kelly was holding, the girls easily entered the place.
When the girls alighted from the car, their eyes roamed around to take everything in. The entire palace was sprinkled with numerous decorative chimneys and ornamental turrets, the court front with colourful frescos while the court-side gable was crowned with a black-coloured dragon.
Seeing those black colored dragons immediately reminded Abi about Alex’s tattoo. She felt kind of strange seeing it but she quickly shrugged the thoughts from her head, thinking that it was just coincidence.
The girls were then brought to the massive ballroom, located on the eastern, court-side wing of the palace; a place designed for court festivities.
The grand ball was held to celebrate the King’s birthday and the magnificent and luxurious massive ballroom was already packed with many people dressed in their finest. This event was held every year and every single year, almost all of the invited guests turned up because it was a rare chance for them to see the royal family of this country and also to talk business with them.
It was exactly six in the evening when the two absolutely stunning girls entered the ballroom. All eyes turned to look at them, causing Kelly to smile inwardly. Although she knew that most of these eyes were drawn by Abi’s beauty, she was still overjoyed because her friend had easily outshone these beautiful natives just by dressing up.
However, Abi didn’t care and didn’t even pay much attention to the looks she was getting because she was too amazed by the scene before them.
The ballroom was just breathtaking. The two walls along the rectangular room had big, beautiful windows beneath arches at 2 meter intervals. Golden chandeliers, with 24 candles on each one, hung from the roof on either side of the room as well as through the middle of the room. But the creme de la creme of the room was its ceiling. The big arched ceiling that joined the two walls together had many pictures that looked to have been painted up there, akin to Michael Angelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel. If one wanted to know what life was like back in the renaissance, they would only need to go to this room and look up to be instantly transported back in time.
Abi could not take her eyes off the intricate display until Kelly pulled her back to the present by taking her arm and walking towards a different spot to stay in which was near the open terrace overlooking a beautiful lake from afar. They stayed there for a bit to enjoy the out of this world view.
The sun was already gone and the sky had started to become grey, but the breathtaking view inside and outside the palace only became even more blindingly beautiful.
