Moisés Alfaro Short Story

Queen Furina
This story begins within the city walls of an ancient empire located in European
countries. In the heart of the city, stands the lofty abode of Her Majesty the
Queen of people’s hearts, Lady Furina. She became queen at the age of 13.
Ruling one the most prosperous of kingdoms at the time, Her Majesty was
elegant, benevolent, and adored by both her people and all the surrounding
cities. At this time of the year, it was normal for everyone in the city to prepare
for winter; however, the entire kingdom was bewildered as they witnessed
snowfall in June which was utterly unusual. During this time of the year, Her
Majesty would be riding on her pristine and glittering carriage pulled by two
Clydesdale horses on the streets offering help and greeting her followers.
Singing and performing operas were among her favorite activities to entertain
her people, but due to the circumstances, she couldn’t leave her castle. This
filled her with a terrible sadness because she loves to hold events together with
her people and spend time with everyone. Her Majesty Lady Furina was born
with a warm and fragile heart that could never withstand the coldness of winter,
so she sent her patrol over to her followers. This way her people will get the
necessary preparations to this abnormal winter. As for the queen, ever since
she was just a princess, her parents had looked for a cure across the globe
before they were murdered. Once, they heard the rumors of an expert alchemist
who uses his craft to create synthetic humans just like puppets, and that these
unanimated machines had some intriguing nature. The puppets were able to
feel emotions just like humans; moreover, their looks were no different than that
of a twelve-year-old child. The king and queen had tried everything to cure their
beloved daughter, but alas, everything turned out a failure. That’s why, they
decided to request the alchemist for an audience in the castle. Upon the arrival
of the man, they were frightened by a menacing tall and obscure figure. As soon
as the doors were opened, his silhouette slowly appeared looking dark and evil
as a demon. Two smaller figures appeared walking by his hand, and soon after
the doors closed with a loud thud leaving the room in silence. Then, the king
spoke first with a low and imposing voice “Greetings, Dr.Ribs. I’ve summoned
you here today to ask for your aid in regards of my daughter.” “Your Majesty, I
hereby swear that the princess shall recover from her illness, for I am well
acquainted with it already.” Said the slender tall man in a spooky high pitch
voice. The queen with curiosity asked, “who are these children?” “They are my
children, my vessels, and my creations, hehehe.” Said the demonic figure in an
unsettling voice letting out a crazy laugh. It was true that this man created those
kids and served as vessels for his nefarious experiments. The alchemist’s plan
was to use one of the vessels to store the illness tormenting the princess. After
examining her closely, he concluded that if she were to be exposed to
prolonged cold, she would faint into an eternal slumber, so her parents agreed
in the use of a vessel to store her illness without hesitation. After all, they were
not alive, right? The night after, the doctor was in the laboratory in the castle’s
basement. He had requested the royal patrol to bring him a kid from a poor
family, and this caught the attention of the king, so he went down the
basement’s spiral stairs. Midway, he started hearing a maniac laugh and a faint
kid crying. When he entered the room, he went pale, and his blood pressure
went so high that he yelled at the top of his lungs “MONSTER.” Right after, his
knees failed him and fell dead on the floor. Then, the queen came running down
the stairs after the commotion just to see her dead husband laying on the cold
pavement and the horrific sight of an opened child’s chest on a lifted nursing
bed with tubes coming out of his heart and attached to one of the puppets on
the other ends. Terrified by this, she could not move a finger; meanwhile, a
shadowy and perturbing figure approached her and assassinated her.
Understanding what just happened, the doctor finished what he started and hid
the puppet, now with a human heart inside. Finally, the guards arrived at the
unsettling scene and ended the threat once and for all. However, no one ever
knew about the puppet, and it remained hidden in silence until Lady Furina went
down to the basement as a precaution method instructed by doctors due to the
winter looming outside because they believed this was a place underground
where the cold could not enter. Being the queen, she could go anywhere she
wants on her kingdom; however, knowing what had happened down there, she
never dared to step a foot inside. She had to gather all her strengths to enter
that place, but there was no other way. The guards brought her food, water,
blankets, and all sorts of resources to survive the winter. Having spent five days
in the basement, human interaction more than the regular dead visits of her
guards was what her heart desired the most. She could do nothing more than
just sing and dance just like she would do if she was on the outside. The puppet
that remained hidden had never listened to anyone sing, nor had it ever seen
someone dance so graciously. It would quietly observe her through a fissure on
the wall where the doctor had placed him, and where he has stayed unchanging
for 10 years. The puppet saw her cry out of loneliness, so it whispered “Don’t
cry. I wish to see another p-performance." The crying lady replied, “who is
talking? are you a kid? how did you end up in the basement?” With a hammer
she created a hole in the wall where the puppet has been sealed. This “kid”
said, “I wish to listen to your singing”. After he crawled out the hole he was in,
he sat in front of her eagerly wanting to see her perform again. The queen
couldn’t reject him, for she has been longing for this. For the next few days, she
performed some of her most cherished operas she was taught by her mother.
The puppet’s heart warmed when listening to her, and she enjoyed performing
to her small audience. She never had a son or daughter due to her illness which
somehow prevented her of the ability to get pregnant. As the days passed, she
continued to entertain the kid, and even though he always had an emotionless
expression, it liked to watch her; however, the cold of the winter immensely
increased after 25 days just like her symptoms. At midnight on the twenty sixth
day, her skin became blue, the tip of her fingers turned black, and her mouth
was dry and scraped of coughing. Unable to move, she asked the puppet for
help, though he did not understand what was happening to her. On her last
breaths, she expressed that she would have loved to be her mother in a
different life. The kid was oblivious of the happenings before him. His eyes
started pouring tears and the heart that was implanted on him started hurting
him, but he had an unfeeling face, for it was not his feelings, nonetheless. The
heart that was stripped from his original owner was hurt because after all the
years of solitude in a chest of an unfeeling puppet, it finally had a companion,
and this companion will soon fade away. Out of the blue, the immense feelings
started heating up inside the puppet to the point that a bright light shone, and
the symptoms of Lady Furina vanished. Feeling better again, she gazed at the
puppet laying on the same floor her parents perished. It had a smile, and that
was the only smile she ever saw on him, but his body was destroyed by the
overheating system. She cried bitterly. Later, a silver statue was built in honor of
the puppet with a heart made of crimson agate to resemble the close bonds
human hearts can create.