Claudette
Chapter 1
Diamants Magique
In France during the night of 1644, an anchorite who had a mental illness, lived in the cave near Loire River. He's having a ritual, "Ex supra, da mihi mortem et vitam aeternam mihi incipere. Elige custodem me manet et ego in me anima mea, et vita aeternum!", and a sudden the storm came. A lightning hits the river with a huge spark that burst the light into the cave. The anchorite was surprised and very curious about what happened. So he went out from the cave and check the river. A bottle with diamonds floats from the river, the waves push the bottle until it reaches to the land. The anchorite saw the bottle, filled with diamonds, so he got it and heard a whisper,
"Plant those diamonds! Plant those diamonds! Plant it!..." And so he plants it. While he is waiting for the plant to grow, he keeps writing and writing on his livre.
After a few weeks, those diamonds he planted, grow a small sprout until it grew bigger. As the time pass by, he keeps writing, waiting for the plant to bear. Just a poor old man, felt doomed, waiting, and waiting. No food to eat, only water from the river that he could able to drink.
A year past, the anchorite died. He turned into ashes. When the wind blows, those ashes disappeared. But, his writings on his livre was remain hidden inside the cave, above the flat stone. Every blank page turned by the wind, it reveals the writings. But because of the strong wind, an odd page ripped off and flew away somewhere in France.
The diamonds that the anchorite planted, grew into a tree and bears plenty of diamonds. These diamonds are very magical. Once you picked it, something strange would happen.
Chapter 2
La Malédiction
In 1650, the royal family of Le Meur traveled from the kingdom of Fontainbleau to the kingdom of Montsoreau, just to attend a grand ball.
Inside the ball, there were food: apértif, entrée, pâtisseries, and parfaits; elegant chandeliers, warm lights, stunning dresses, and more. Children were very excited to attend this ball, for them, they could play with other children together with the son of King Charles Chevrier of Montsoreau named, Prince Gustave Chevrier.
The child, from another kingdom, invites other children to play, "Bonsoir! Come, let's play!" He also invites Prince Gustave to play, "Gustave! Join us!" And the game starts.
As the Le Meur famille arrived, "Bonsoir, mon ami!" King Charles welcomed them. Le Meur's
decade-old daughter named, Princess Claudette Le Meur of Fontainbleau, quickly runs onto the other children and asks to join the game, "Excusez-Moi! May I join the game?"
"Sure!" Gustave answered. So they start playing hide-and-seek. Someone is chosen to seek and others are going to hide.
The grand ball is about to begin. Children are still at the outside, playing.
While children playing, the grand ball begins.
The game still continues, it was their third round. Everyone chooses their own places to hide and the counting starts, "Dix! Neuf! Sept!..." But Princess Claudette saw a secret passage of the palace and went out. She saw the tree that bears diamonds, without knowing that they were magical, so she quickly runs onto it. The counting still continues, "... Six! Cinq! Quatre! Trois! Deux Un! Ready or not, here I come!..."
Everyone is found except for the princess. The magical diamonds attract Claudette and suddenly, the clock almost striking twelve and her hand is closely reaching the magical diamond. "Tick! Tock!" The clock is ticking. She picked the diamond and the clock struck to twelve, an earthquake happens between the Loire River and the palace of Montsoreau.
Everyone got panic when the earthquake starts. All the people start to leave the palace.
The ladies-in-waiting gather all the children, "Children! Quick, come over here!"
"Where is my son! Find my son! Make sure that he's safe" King Charles worried.
"Claudette! Claudette! Parents of the princess are worried.
After the earthquake, everyone is safe except for Claudette. She was in cursed, she turn into an unknown creature with lion's paw, dolphin's tail, cherub's wings, a human head, and her body covered with lion's fur, dolphin scale, acanthus leaves, and diamonds from the magical diamonds she picked. She shifts to a normal human every the sun rises but, she shifts back to an unknown creature every midnight, yet there's a way for the curse to be broken. It's been written.
Chapter 3
Tristesse de Fontainbleau
At the Loire River, Princess Claudette hides and afraid to reveal her unknown look to the people and decided to never come back home. She found a place to live, inside the cave near Loire River, a place where the anchorite used to live in. "Oh, God! Why this would happen to me?" Claudette regrets.
At the Kingdom of Fontainbleau, King Louis Le Meur and Queen Ellois Le Meur, parents of Claudette, try to find their daughter.
"Find my daughter! Do not come back until you find her!" King Louis told to the knights. "I hope that our daughter would be fine." Queen Ellois said to the king.
The day is almost ending but there's still no report about the princess. The kingdom almost in doom for finding Claudette.
It's been a month and still no update about the princess.
"My Lord, we can't find your daughter. I think your daughter is already dead!" Cayn Bazin, the principal secretary, said to the king.
"No, that's impossible!" The king argued.
The kingdom was gloomy, for they can't find Claudette.
A year past, still no update about the princess.
"My Lord, we really cannot find your daughter! It's been a year that we searching for her." Cayn told to the king.
King Charles decides, "Prepare everything for her lost," the king's command.
Queen Ellois shouts, "No! Our daughter is not dead! Find her, please find her!"
"Calm her down!" The king told to the lady-in-waiting.
"No! I will find her! I will never stop searching for her!" The queen said. The lady-in-waiting holds her and go back to her room.
The kingdom set a ceremony for the lost of the princess. Many people came to the ceremony even the royalties from different kingdoms, including the Montsoreau. They light up the candles, and the ceremony begins. The whole kingdom is in sorrow.
The queen couldn't finish the ceremony so she went back to her room assisted by her lady-in-waiting. Cayn followed her.
"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Cayn asked.
"No! I don't believe that my daughter is dead! I feel that she's alive!" The queen answered. "I will find her! No matter what happened, I will find her!" The queen added.
Chapter 4
Rencontre
Seven years after, four days before the eighteenth birthday of the princess, the kingdom of Fontainbleau felt doomed every time they thought of the lost and the birthday of the princess.
At the Loire River, the sun rises, the princess shifts back into a human, she lives like Eve. She eats fruits from the forest and converse with birds, rabbits, and squirrels. "Bonjour, my little fellow!" The princess gladly to have these kinds of friends.
In the kingdom of Montsoreau, the palace had few changes after the earthquake. King Charles became weak since the earthquake happened so he decided to pass his crown to his son.
"Bonjour, My Lord! Comment vas-tu?" Jean Allaire, Charles' principal secretary, greeted the king.
"Oh, Jean! I'm still trying to recover but I feel weaker now. I think it is time to pass my crown to my son. But, he must find someone so that she will help him to rule the kingdom. It's hard to rule the kingdom alone at his young age." The king answered.
"You have your point, My Lord!" Jean agreed. "Should I call your son, My Lord?" He added.
"Oui! Merci!" The king answered.
At the same time, Prince Gustave having his short moment to the river of Loire. He recalls his memories with his mother, Queen Veronica, who died a couple of years ago due to an unknown disease. The prince tries to find a way to forget what happened to his mother so he could be happy, until the sun is setting down and time after time, it is already midnight. He sees a sparkle, like from diamonds in a far distance. It is dark and unnoticeable that it is from the cave until he comes near. From one sparkle turns into a thousand shine of diamonds.
The creature is in deep sleep inside the cave without any feeling that someone nears her. Her body covers with dark shadows and the moonlight spots on her face. The prince saw a beautiful face of a human that delights him much. So, he slowly comes near, step by step, and his eyes are focused to her face.
Three meters away from the cave, slowly come closer and his eyes are still focused to her face, the creature still in a deep sleep. A couple meters distance from the cave, he suddenly steps into a twigs then cracks. The creature opens her eyes and alarmed. She saw a man standing in a distance, looking at her, but she quickly hides inside the cave. Gustave quickly come closer to the cave and shouted, "Wait! Come back! Come back!" But the creature never comes out. The prince decided to return to the palace and thinking the majestic face that he saw.
When the prince got home, Jean welcomes him, "Your Highness, you're back!" Then he bows.
Gustave asks, "How's my father? Is he getting better?"
Jean answers, "The king wants to talk with you regarding some important matter."
The prince quickly go to his father's room and talk about the turnover of the crown.
"Father, I heard that you want to talk with me. What is it?" Gustave was curious.
"My dear son, I am getting weaker and I was planning to pass my crown to you but, the thing is, I am worried about the kingdom and also to you. I already decided that you must find a woman to marry before I pass my crown so that she could help you to rule the kingdom." King Charles said.
"Father, be strong. And if ever I become a king, I can do everything." The prince answered.
"I know that you can do well but, it's hard to rule the kingdom alone at your young age. Being a king is a great and big responsibility. Don't feel bad for me, son. Don't think that I don't have trust in you. Remember that I trust you. The thing is, I also started in this kind of process before I became a king. I just want to apply the same process as my father done for me. I hope that you would understand, my dear son." The king explained thoroughly.
"I understand, Father. I understand. But, I am hoping that you'll get well soon and see me how I rule the kingdom," Gustave answered.
"I'll try, son." The king said.
Gustave and his father hug each other. The prince spent his moment to be with his father.
It is already past midnight. Another day comes. As the sun rises, the unknown creature turned back to a normal human. She came out from the cave and sing like in a opera. It looks like a wonderful day for her every time she sees her face from the reflection of the water in the river.
In the Kingdom of Monstoreau, palace's balcony, the prince is looking the calm view of the fields and suddenly he remembers the girl that he saw from the cave. He decided to go back to the river just to see the girl. So he gets his horse and rides on it and go back to the river.
As the prince arrives at the river, he saw the girl standing on the water of the river, without clothes, just her back, wet hair, singing like in an opera. He keeps staring at that girl. Then, the girl began to dive in and swim to the river. The prince's eyes follow the girl until the girl stands up without noticing that there's a man in front of her while she wrings her hair.
"Oh!" The girl shocked and quickly back to the water just to cover her body, only her head can be seen.
Then the prince covers his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Mademoiselle. I'm sorry!"
The girl asks, "What are you doing here?!"
"Whoa! Easy, Mademoiselle. I just want to know you." The prince answered in his charming way.
The princess gets annoyed and she answers, "Get out!"
"Why? Any problem? I just want to know you!" Gustave said.
"I do not know if you would believe me. I'm afraid to tell to anyone. So, get out!" The princess answered.
"Believe what?! I'm here to help you. Trust me!" The prince said.
"It's a long story! You don't know who really I am!" The princess said.
The prince says, "Fine, with due respect, I better go." So he rides onto his horse and added, "Hope to meet you next time!" then he leaves.
"Oh dear! I don't know what am I going to do? I better hide!" The princess got panic. So, she quickly dresses up and back to the cave.
Chapter 5
Révélation
- (Chapter 5 is not available at this moment. Please come back soon.) -