We continued walking through the burrowed town of what was once a lovely kingdom; now disintegrated into nothing but ash, with some sparks still lit ablaze. When you think about the fantasy and fictional worlds that you'd wish to visit, I usually think of The Mushroom Kingdom or Narnia or even Neo-Tokyo. I felt like it's a useful advantage when it comes to coping with imagination. 

But to process the viewing of many ruins within the now destroyed kingdom of Dolls, I couldn't believe my eyes. 

Many assumed that I'd feel normal about this, especially since I've drawn more graphic stuff during my time as a small cartoonist in the family soon to achieve her dream of becoming an animator, but this whole area was placed onto a different level of what I'd expect a destroyed kingdom would be. 

There he stood, the prince of this once prosperous kingdom and also my nutcracker long-lost, now found. He approached a signage hanging from an arch, and it read:

“Welcome to Reford, The Ruby's Eye City.”

He sighed, looking at what was once a lovely city, now destroyed into rubble. He spoke at the bottom of his tongue, “Bruder, Du bist so tot, wenn ich dich bekomme.” He smacked the signage, causing it to fall onto the floor, into a puddle of water. I could see in his actions that he was fuming. His neck cracked as his head tilted back up, showing his eyes with clouded rage. 

I backed up slightly, seeing how his body moved, I didn't want to upset him more than he already was. Of course, I felt sympathetic for him in some cases. His eyes, once red, faded back to a blue ocean color. He sat down, holding his head. I could see that something was lingering in his mind, though it looked like he didn't want to talk about it as he faced away from my direction.

“Is something bothering you?” I kindly asked. He just stayed silent as he shook his head. I knew he was to be a tough nut to crack, so I just sat next to him as he pondered and pondered about something that I should or shouldn't even know about. 

He slouched on the wall, moving himself up. Then, his gaze softened. He stared at my dotted eyes, for I was awestruck. A small bit of breath left my mouth as he approached closer till his chest touched mine. I was a bit smaller than him by a couple of inches, but it didn't matter. 

After a while he spoke, “Ms. Stahlbaum, I will tell you later. Right now, we need to see if there are any survivors.” I nodded as we proceeded forward, venturing through the empty streets of Reford. Something about this place seemed eerie and unsettling in a way that I felt like I was being watched, not by Saragona, but someone else. I could feel the presence of someone else as he continued into the Reford Ruby Inn.

The Inn felt barren, silent and of course, unsettling. The bar in the Inn only has 3 filled cups with what I assumed to be beer, the chairs were knocked down and most of the tables were filled with cobwebs. Moving through the area was so nerve racking in a sense that I had to hold onto my pistol in case some monster decided to jump me and kill me. 

Venturing deeper into the inn, I then heard the groans of a person. I stopped Saragona when I heard the noise; it came from the kitchens behind the bar. Saragona pulled out his sword as we approached the door; I loaded up my ammo and was ready to strike. 

Soon enough, he kicked down the door and saw a broken doll, limp, on the floor. She coughed out oil as it dripped all over the floor. What in dear Mother Mary's name had happened? 

I held out my hand to help to doll up, but when she stood up, she fell back down. She then saw Saragona as she whimpered, “Your Royal Highness, please help me from the misery of pain.” I examined her carefully, seeing the scratch marks all over her body. I deduced that it might've come from The Mouse King, not the one we saw back in the bedroom, but the one I saw 9 years ago.

But soon enough, before we could do anything, the doll was motionless as more oil spilled onto the floor from her body. She had died. Saragona went on his knees and held his head, tears fell down his face. 

“I never wanted any of this to happen; Oh, if only I was a good prince! I'd remain true to my word for then I could've protected my family before they were slaughtered by the one family member I trusted… My brother. I'd be a human if this was never to co-exist with what I was destined to be.” 

He sulked in sadness; I approached him as I held him close to me. I soon realized that this boy lost everything: His Kingdom, His Family, and his own childhood as it was all squandered by the one person he trusted ever since he was born.

I wanted to help him, I really did; He did mention something about a Silver Bell, so I asked him, “What if we get the Silver Bell that you mentioned? The one that could break your curse?” He stood up and walked out of the Inn, knocking over a couple of chairs in the process. 

He stared at the sky, sighing. He then glanced at another signage that said, “This way to the Capital City: Helone.” Underneath was another signage that said, “This way to Snowside Showdown.” He stood there for a while, contemplating his choices. It felt weird, the awkward silence within the town that added a tractor beyond my thoughts. Soon, he turned around and sighed, “I think we can manage one adventure together; I promise I'll keep you safe.”

“Let's hope that I'm home before the morning; I have to participate in a welcome-back party the next evening, over today.” I requested.

“Don't worry, Ms. Stahlbaum,” Saragona smiled as he let off a little wink, “One hour here is a minute over there.”

We held hands as we ventured to Helone, the Capital City of The Doll Kingdom. As we entered Helone, I saw that there was a lot less destruction to the area unlike Reford as the light shines from the streetlamps; some flickered and some stayed still. 

I could see up ahead a beautiful stunning castle which looked like the ones we had in Germany. Surrounding the gate were cobblestone walls, in between the walls was a gate covered with vines and pink roses.

I held the gate open as Saragona entered the front yard which, by looking at the floor, was once surrounded by beautiful shrubs and flowers along with beautiful birds, which is now nothing but a fantasy over the years; each minute that passed looking at what once was a beautiful garden was now in ruins. 

Soon, we entered within the confines of the castle. The walls were once flourished with beautiful wallpaper which still remains, but mostly torn and covered with hanging vines; some with thorns and some which covered the walls with moss.

As we continued deep into the hallways, I then saw opened doors. Looking through the doors, I saw a destroyed bedroom of what was once a boy's playground as it had books, swords and a picture of teenagers from the 1980s in a beautiful garden; the teenage boy's face was torn off as it looked like it didn't want to be seen. 

As I examined closer, I realized that this was the room from my dream when I was knocked out at the movie theater. 

The claw marks were there along with everything else which matched the dream. I shook my head as I then exited the room to go find Saragona. I hurried through what felt like an endless hallway; each footstep felt like an echo and vibration through what felt like a dome of nothingness. As I closed my eyes, I ran with all my might as I finally saw Saragona in my field of vision. 

I screeched into a halt to see why he was staring at the wall, only for me to see what he was really looking at as the moon reflected at a stained glass window. The stained glass window was of a dirty-blonde haired boy, holding a scepter and wearing a silver-to-diamond crown. It also said on the bottom of the glass, "Our Prince soon-to-be King." 

He then lowered his head to then face a large image that stood behind the thrones at the end of the hallway; the image contained a man who had the same dirty-blonde hair as him, a woman who shared the same blue eyes as him. I realized quickly that they were the king and queen of the Doll Kingdom AKA Saragona's Father and Mother, but something threw me off. 

In the image, there was another person... a man who had the eyes of his father but the same skin and hair like his mother. It was the man from my dream... but I also thought about it for a while before coming to the conclusion that it was Saragona's older brother.

After a while, Saragona spoke, "The curse that you hold is unknown to have a cure. But I know, my nephew, once the cure is found, you shall be free..." It sounded like a quote the way he said it, but to my moral assumption, it was probably Drosselmeier who said it.

"I'll avenge you, Mother and Father..." he exclaimed with a mighty rage. "I WILL MAKE SURE THAT STUPID RAT WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!!"

I saw determination with a hint of anger in his positioning; I held his hand as I smiled. "We'll find the Silver Bell and we'll break it; you will avenge your parents by defeating the traitor," I spoke confidently as I spun my pistol around before accidentally shooting the chandelier off from the ceiling.

Saragona quickly moved me away before the chandelier shattered on the floor, causing many glass pieces to fall all over the floor. I escaped his grasp and I looked at him; He looked at me and chuckled, "Okay, I know that we need to find the parts of the silver key. Each part is within a certain area. I think it's best that we just explore the 4 major points of the land: Snowside Showdown, KooKoo Kingdom, Marionette Kingdom and Dark Chocolate Woods." I nodded as I checked my bag to see if I had enough ammo; I smiled as I had enough to go ahead and kill some more mice. Soon, Saragona held my hand and smirked,

"Let's go save the Land Of Dolls and break my curse."