The Impact of Her - Prologue

A kingdom was covered by dark, heavy clouds, carrying a millennium's amount of rain, and the loudest thunder, displaying the strongest bolts of lightning.

This was all because of a king and his heir, his only son, lying in bed, currently in a deep sleep.

Regarding the time for them to regain consciousness? Nobody can say for sure.

All the members of the court could do was to bargain with the ancient gods of their time to spare one of them.

As for the queen, she's been running the kingdom on her own while worrying about the present state of her family. She knows she's close to losing her sanity, but she also knows that she has to hold onto it for as long as she can because the kingdom could not afford to lose another appointed ruler. Her husband and her son are already at risk of death. She can't let herself be swept away by this diplomatic crisis that's already in her hands.

It's in the middle of the day - springtime, as a matter of fact - and it's been raining for days. Because of how long they've been submerged into wet weather, everyone in their kingdom has lost track of what day it was. And even though water continued to fall from the sky, they all went on with their daily activities without any complaints; something that the queen praised her people of.

She's now beside her husband, holding his hand that is laid by his side, almost lifeless. Both depressed and alert, she continued to hope that he would wake up today. That has been her wish ever since he and their son were trapped in an endless cycle of sleep. And she's been holding onto this almost unrealistic wish, not because of his duties but because she's been missing her husband too much already.

He was her rock, her guide, the person who complimented everything about her. His protection and his love allowed her to reveal her strengths and weaknesses without shame.

Is it too much? She thought to herself. Is it too much to ask that either you or our son would wake up today? To ease my worries just for a moment?

Her daughter watched from the side as her mother silently wept, desperate to have her family back to the way it was. She walked towards the queen, her hands folded in front of her. When she reached her, she put her hands on her mother's shoulders and gave them a light squeeze, assuring her that she's not alone.

The queen held onto her daughter's hand as the other remained holding the king's cold hand. She didn't want to remove her stare from her helpless husband as much as possible.

After a moment of silence, the king began to cough. The queen's eyes widened as he started to gain consciousness.

"Your Majesty?" the queen called out to him as he continued to cough. "Dearest," she turned to her daughter, her eyes in a panic. "Fetch the Medicine Man as fast as you can.”

The princess nodded and rushed off.

"Your Majesty, are you awake?" the queen continued to call out to her king. Her gentle grip on his hand tightened as she prayed that this wasn't a dream, that he was about to wake up.

The king finally adjusted himself to the environment, slowly opening his eyes. The light coming from outside the window was a bit faint but it was blinding to the eyes of a man who was under the curse of sleep. As his sight became clearer, he was pleasantly surprised to see the face of his beloved queen. He reached out to touch her face.

"Thank the heavens!" she closed her eyes, his hand cupped her cheek. "Thank the heavens, you're awake," she continued, tears of happiness started to fall from her eyes.

He smiled as he felt the same emotion. But their happiness was immediately replaced with horror when something quickly came across the king's mind: their son.

"Where's our son?" he asked, his eyes opened wide. "Where is he?"

The queen looked at him in horror, fearing how her husband would react to their son's current state.

The king held onto the queen's arms and repeated his question, not wanting to let her go without an answer.

With a deep breath, the queen pointed to the bed beside the king's... and there he was: the prince of the kingdom, still trapped in his own slumber.

Not waiting for another minute, the king rushed towards his son and even though he stumbled along the way, he didn't pay any mind to it. All he wanted was to be with his heir.

His son's breathing was normal, as if he was plainly taking a nap. His little hands gently laid on top of his stomach, his head raised a bit by a velvet pillow.

Gut-wrenched, the king held his child's hand as he did his very best to stop the tears from falling. He wanted to cry but as the king, he didn't want their servants to think that he was weak. But deep inside of him, he was breaking. The sight of his beloved son in a deep sleep is too much for him to bear. He would prefer to be in his state as he knows the kingdom would be better with the future king.

"How long will he be asleep?" he asked his queen, not tearing his stare away from his child.

"The Medicine King said the day of his reawakening is unknown. The same was said for you, my love," she explained with gentleness, her hands on her husband's shoulders. Now, it's her husband who needs the comfort because their child.

"Tell him to do anything, to try anything, just to bring back our son back to life."

"As you wish, Your Majesty," she whispered as she sat beside him.

And with that, the king finally succumbed to his tears, weeping in the arms of his queen.