A Long Night Awaits

It was a rather dark night until the largest moon I had ever seen appeared between the clouds. In front of me stood a huge castle, so large it seemed to touch the sky, which seemed strange yet welcoming and familiar. It gave me a sense of both strangeness and comfort to see such majestic, luxurious architecture of massive proportions, where vertigo overtook the sight of the top of a dangerous mountain with its cliffs and drops. The quality of the details carved in the stone and the large central windows could only indicate the great care and time that went into its construction.

I was standing at the only entrance that led to the inner courtyard of the castle, from which one could see the outer gardens, the lake and the forest that surrounded the building. It was impossible to pinpoint its location due to the density and size of the forest, coupled with the darkness of the night that obscured the distance. An atmosphere of melancholy and darkness gave a mysterious aura to a past that was once joyful and beautiful, now lost in time.

Between the walls, a faint waltz could be heard struggling to offer a hope that was no longer there, along with the sounds of conversation and occasional laughter from the people inside, giving a welcoming call, though I felt like my entire body was urging me to leave this place that seemed to bring only trouble. It felt as if the trouble had already begun, but my mind fought to push it aside.

But even with all that, it was impossible for me to forget this place; it was too special. This was the place where our entire family tried to give my sister Maria the best birthday possible. It was many years before the Continental War, and my sister's health was uncertain at best. Every day she was with us was a battle won, terrible years for everyone. So much so that the joy and magic of life was gone from us and from Maria. That's when our mother Adelis proposed the idea of celebrating my sister's birthday in the best way possible, trying to fulfill her dream of experiencing her fantasy of magic and imagination in some way. The result of this promise was now before me. With great effort and money, we were able to rent this place for a few days to celebrate and remind her of what a happy life was like. I still remember having to endure that bastard of a boss at my part-time job just to be able to pay my share.

But now there was a big question hanging over my head, and that was what was going on right now?

At first I thought I was in a normal dream, but now I feel like I'm not. I feel extremely conscious and alert, yet I can't get up or wake up in the small room I was in. This seemed to be 'real'. I don't remember being anesthetized and transported anywhere else. I knew absolutely nothing about what was happening, but one thing was clear, this was going to be a very long night.

Following the invitation of music and enjoyment, I entered the castle and prepared myself for whatever might happen. As I walked through its corridors, I noticed distinct differences from the first time I was in this place. The layout of the place was the same as before, the corridors went in the same directions they should, but the size of the corridors themselves didn't fit. There were many things different from before, more gothic and macabre designs than expected from a celebration of life. The corridors were much longer and decorated with dark, melancholic paintings. The gardens, once carefully tended with their beautiful designs, were now nothing more than a courtyard of dry branches with thorns and black or withered flowers. The once clean windows were now neglected and dirty, doubling their original size, their colors changing from bright to dark, depicting themes of roses and blood, mostly representing death and loss.

The night had also fallen victim to the curse, now stranger than I remembered it being possible in reality. I looked out the window and noticed that apart from the big white moon in the middle of the cloudless night, there wasn't a single star to accompany it, it was alone in the deserted sky. Even the lights that adorned and illuminated the castle had changed, going from modern, high-powered LED lights to going back in time to nothing more than old incandescent bulbs, oil lamps, and chandeliers in rooms and corridors where there were none before.

When I finally arrived at the anteroom of the lobby where the party was being held, I noticed the large mirror, now decadent to match the new design of the place. In it I could see my own reflection. I was wearing the same gala suit Nanami had made for official presentations as Empress, with its bright gold details and black fabrics, its over exaggerated Lolita doll design. Why on earth did I let her read manga and get excited about strange clothes? The clothes, combined with my albinism, only seemed to give the impression that I was the ghost of a girl from a bygone era of this castle, the owner of this small kingdom's glorious past.

Unfortunately, looking at myself in the mirror all day wasn't going to solve anything. I tried to keep walking until I reached the door leading to a small adjoining room. I cautiously opened the door a little to peek inside, expecting the worst, but instead I was greeted by familiar faces on the other side. I could see my mother's sister, my Aunt Damaris, and her husband, my Uncle Johhy, chatting as they calmly sipped their drinks. Their son, my cousin Brayan, the wild one, was making a fool of himself with my brother Leon, as usual. My cousin Arnold hurriedly mended his jacket so he could get back to the party and resume eating. Even my Uncle Jose was sitting in a chair with a pale face, trying to calm himself with a cup of tea. I always had the feeling that this environment really frightened him, but he tried his best to hide it so as not to spoil Maria's party. Everything was exactly as I remembered it, a strong sense of déjà vu overwhelmed me, I even remembered myself arriving at the party in the same way, preparing for the party that was about to begin in a few minutes. I even remember that at that very moment, at seven o'clock when the clock struck, my mother appeared and told me to find Maria in her cabin and bring her to the beginning of the party. And as if she was calling that very person, she gently touched my shoulder to get my attention, so I turned to speak to her.

"Goshujin-sama, your dear Okaa-san asks that you please go get your sister Maria as the party is about to begin."

I was astonished to see the Kitsune goddess standing in her place, her bright blonde hair and piercing blue eyes gazing at me happily, her ears and tail moving rhythmically, indicating her cheerful mood and curiosity. It was Tamamo who stood before me, perhaps wearing her most elegant goddess kimono, adorned with beautiful and intricate night landscapes that she owned, complete with stars that seemed to be missing in this strange world.

"Tamamo! Is that you?"
"What the hell? What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

"Oh, well, like I said, Okaa-san asked me to..."

"No, that doesn't matter! I mean you, here, now!"
"Why are you here?" I tried to make her understand the importance of the current situation.

"Well, I'm your wife and cute slave, I promised to always be by your side for eternity no matter what" Tamamo said in her usual cheerful and innocent tone. I really wondered if she was just teasing me again with her usual mischievous behavior or if she really couldn't fully grasp the current situation.

"What are you talking about, Tamamo?"
"Does being a goddess also mean that you can enter other people's dreams?" I said, now a little more annoyed.

"Is this a dream?"
"Well, maybe that explains why I don't remember getting up," the kitsune said, putting her hand to her head and thinking.

"Didn't you think something was wrong?"
"Where do you think you are?" I asked her seriously.

"Well, we're at your sister's party, right?"
"That's what your mother just told me when she..."

"Tamamo, please, can you stop playing around for a moment? This is serious, like maybe our lives are at stake."
"Right now, I need that manipulative evil fox goddess of the legend, please."
"You're the only one who might have some idea what this is all about."
"Don't you find all this strange? Before we fell asleep, we were in our modern house in Japan, now look around you, does this castle look even remotely Japanese to you?" I said angrily.

The girl in front of me closed her eyes for a moment, took a breath, and then opened them again with a much colder and more sinister look. Her posture also changed as she straightened her back and assumed a much more dignified stance. She clasped her hands and carefully placed them near her abdomen. It was almost as if I was witnessing her being possessed by a lady worthy of the palace we were in. With just a few movements in her posture, it was easy to remember that I was looking at a goddess, a powerful, majestic, unattainable and wise creature who defied all logic and could alter reality at her whim - a being that humanity would never be able to touch.

But then I remembered how she herself, even in her beautiful goddess-like kimono, spent several hours jumping on the bed like a little girl when we bought it, and that majestic impression faded a bit.

"I really don't know."
"I didn't realize it was a dream until you mentioned it just now."
"It's quite strange, I just assumed all this was normal until I talked to you."
"Even when I was talking to your mother in the kitchen, she didn't seem to notice anything strange either, for her too, being at this party and organizing it was the right reality."
"For her too, being in this strange place was normal."

The moon goddess said in a slightly monotonous voice, but she tried to sound pleasant to me. She was trying to calm me down from my earlier anger, her eyes fixed on mine, trying to read my thoughts and reaction to her words, to her attempt to please me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so angry."
"It's just that this is all so weird and strange that it's getting on my nerves."
"I just want to know what the hell is going on and how we got here or are here," I apologized to her.

"Don't worry, it's also my fault for continuing to act cheerful and carefree, when clearly what you're looking for right now is someone you can trust, and as your wife, it's my duty to be your greatest confidant."
"It is my duty to know when to act cheerful and friendly, and when to reveal my true cold, cunning identity like the evil kitsune goddess I am, if it means helping my loved ones."
"I will try my best never to make such a mistake again in the future."

"Please, it's no big deal, you don't have to be so hard on yourself."
"I'm more than happy with how happy and playful you usually are, and how you're always close to me."
"I just hope you know that when someone is in a delicate situation like this, the last thing they want is to be treated like a fool."
"But other than that, it doesn't matter as long as you continue to be the Tamamo you really want to be."
"I also enjoy seeing cheerful Tamamo on a quiet day."

"Now that I think back, I talked to your mother, and your father also came and talked to me once."
"At that time, neither your mother nor I took it very seriously, because we saw it as something natural."
"But now that I'm talking to you, I realize the implications of such an act."
"Even your mother did not seem to give much importance to that memory, because she continued to act as if it was the most normal thing in the world and continued to prepare everything for the party."

"What the hell? You talked to my father?"
"Is he here? That's impossible! He's dead!"
"He's been like that for years."

"'Yeah, but look at the price I had to pay, I had to change my gender.'"
"......"
"Ugh, I don't understand any of this."
"What the hell is this place, what are we doing here, and what is happening?"

"Let me think for a moment about everything we know," said the owner of the moon.
"Certainly this doesn't seem to be the real world, since none of us can remember how we woke up or how we got here."
"Based on what you said earlier, this seems to be a place where you and your family were before."
"However, this castle doesn't reflect the modern world we were in."
"It's as if we've traveled back in time."
"Because of how strange all of this is, everything seems to indicate that we are trapped in a dream."
"And knowing your recent nightmares and mental problems, it's hard to believe that this happy dream is yours."
"But what's most important is the event that is theoretically taking place; it all seems to revolve around your sister Maria's birthday."
"Is it such an important event that it happens every year?"
"You're not nobles of any kind, you're descendants of peasants. Any reason to be in this castle?"

"My sister is a normal person, she had a serious illness, but now she is healed.
"This particular event happened before that, during her worst days. This birthday was celebrated about seven years ago in the castle of Vajdahunyad in Hungary.
"We rented the castle, decorated everything and its surroundings with magical things to celebrate her birthday party.
"Since we were in another country, we stayed in the city of Budapest for several days.
"After that, the continental war happened, bombs fell, I doubt that the city is the same now as it was when we visited it."
"Still, this place is very different from what I remember, the whole castle is stranger, bigger, more medieval."
"The strangest thing is undoubtedly the surroundings and the location of the castle itself."
"Vajdahunyad Castle was in the middle of the central park of the Hungarian capital, not on a mountain with cliffs lost in the forest."
"Besides, the castle was not that old, it was built in 1896."
"In fact, the park where the castle was located was next to the government palace and a highway."
"I think it's clear that we're nowhere near those things."

"So we can rule out that we were transported there or that it was a time travel."
"Is there any other important information about something that happened tonight?"

"As far as I remember, it was just a party, music, food, dancing, and there were fireworks."
"After picking up Maria and celebrating for a while, I remember going to the park near Heroes' Square to talk to my father."
"After that, we went back to the party to watch a magic show and finally had a small family dinner at Maria's cabin near the park."
"I think at some point the police showed up for a minor incident or maybe someone got lost again."
"I don't remember anything else important, does that give you any ideas?"

"No, I'm sorry, none of that sounds strange as such, it's all too confusing."
"....."
"But personally, I think that if we try to retrace and reconstruct the events that happened that night, we might discover more about our current situation."
"I suggest that for now we look for Maria and bring her back the way it originally happened."

"Yes, I think you're right, staying here and talking all day won't help us get back home."
"Well then, let's walk."
"It's this way."

I said to my wife as I took her hand that we should go to the forest together, because of all the strange things that were happening, only she and her moon were the only thing that gave me peace of mind at this time.