The Timorous Prince Becomes A Fierce Princess

'Huh? Am I dead? My body feels numb.'

A faint glint of gold could be seen in the middle of an emptied space engulfed by darkness. Gold? It was a golden hair – floating! But as you squint your eyes and try to peer on it a little bit more... ha! It was rather a girl with a long golden hair. Her slender legs gently twitched when she was pulled out from her reverie.

'My h-head…it hurts.'

She clawed her scalp and arched her body as though thousand needles pierced through her head. With her breath saw in and out, she squeezed her eyes shut and squirmed in discomfort.

"W-where am I?" A soft maiden voice cracked from her dry throat. Still being on stupor, she turned her head in a snap and her face couldn't help but to frown. Alas! She found herself in a middle of darkness. She immediately fell in grimace. There's no one here except herself!

Her languid body regained consciousness in a turtle pace until it noticed the cold and damp atmosphere of the void. It was the time she realized she had no clothes on. Then her face flushed a sudden rosy bloom. She quickly cupped her exposed shoulders to cover her soft balloon and also warm herself up. But no help! The chill bit her tender flesh 'till it bȧrėd pinkish spots and made her slender figure shiver.

"H-Homer? HOMER!!!" She tucked her hands in her armpit then floundered as though she was searching for someone. That name was actually her best friend's. From what she could recall, in a spur of moment before she was crushed by huge concrete debris, her eyes gleamed upon the young man rushing towards her, stretching his arms and yelling her name out of his lungs – 'Llena!!!'

And now, she realized…

'Did… I really d-die?'

Her body trembled. She couldn't grasp the painful reality as though it shattered all of her dreams… her goals… her revenge.

'No. I c-can't die yet. I still have a lot to do… father… father would absolutely be happy this time. I cannot let that happen… I still need to slap his face… I-I still can't…'

Her eyes quivered. She lifted her head and quickly rubbed her wet eyes.

A second passed… shhh! Her fingers twitched. She felt it. Again! At first she thought it was like… her body was being pulled by an unknown force. But she felt it clearly this time. And yes! She was right. It felt like someone was pulling her body in all direction as though it would tear into pieces. But it was so strange… it didn't hurt at all!

But as soon as she realized something had gone amiss, a ripple of black aura suddenly appeared and began suċkɨnġ her whole body. It looked like a teeny tiny black spot which resembled some kind of black hole. With its spiral movement, her body swirled as though it turned into a liquid before the black spot completely devoured her. It happened so fast that she could only curse on her mind. Well, though it did not hurt all but it suċkėd dry her strength.

'F*CK! What's happening? I… I.. suddenly feel… weak…'

Her eyes blurred slowly as her eyelids were pulled down heavily. She felt no strength to move until…

Ting!!!

"BWUAH!!! UHO!! UHO!!!"

Through an abrupt lift of her eyelids, she almost gagged out her internal organs when she suddenly felt tremendous pain on her back, as though someone kicked her. Her slicked saliva spattered on the sharp pieces of limestone underneath her thɨġhs. Huh? Limestone? That made her blinked twice. This time… she found herself sitting above an edgy ground beneath a limestone cliff. And it was afternoon! Sun blazed scorching warm streaks.

'What just happened? W-where am I? W-why am I h-here? This isn't like Shaw (boulevard in the Philippines) at all!'

The corners of her lips suddenly lifted that made her reaction really ironic. Then she slowly cupped her arms to ease her trembling body.

'No. No. This is not true… I'm dreaming right? Yeah. This is a dream… I am just sleeping… I am just sleep-'

No! She realized it too. There was still a throbbing pain on her back which made her body trembled even more. That alone… made her sure… this wasn't a dream at all!

She lost all of her blood on her face. Her hands turned into noodles and it flapped onto her thɨġhs. Helpless! She never felt helpless like this before! What sin did she make to pay for this misfortune? But was this… really a bad luck in the first place? Her dejected eyes slowly rolled on to her arms.

'Huh?'

Her eyelids went half closed and she immediately narrowed her eyes to be sure she saw it right.

'What the heck am I wearing?!!'

She was stunned to see herself in Chinese clothing. What could've happened? When did she slip into that luxurious robe? Ah! It was shiny! It's actually a thick silk cloth. With its glittering purple color that exudes regality, it was patterned with a golden dragon soaring into the clouds. That wasn't the one that piqued her interest, but the strange letters above it. Urging to read, she immediately tilted her head as her gaze crawled on the bizarre symbols. But to her shock…

'This! Isn't this Baybayin?!'

To her amazement, she then again looked on to the letters then started to utter as though she was reading it. Yeah. She could actually read it… like a grade school student.

"Si…a…o… Mmmm… Si-a-o? What's that?" Her eyebrows twitched. Goodness! She didn't understand what she read!

'Damn! This… It is harder than I thought…'

She immediately covered her face because of her embarrassment. Thank God! No one was around or she might lose face! What's the use of calling her 'The Golden Genius' if she would suck on a simple word?

Nah! You had already done great reading it though. Unless skimming through books, most Filipino might have no idea how to read that. At worst, they may even confuse Baybayin with Alibata. Alibata was actually believed to also be another term coined for Baybayin. But it wasn't… because this 'Alibata' was actually an Arabic alphabet thus it was made to be a misnomer for the ancient script of Filipinas.

Wait. Are we forgetting something? Oops. Yes! She was called as 'The Golden Genius'. Uhm… I mean… she… er… the truth is… she was the one who called herself the Golden Genius. So narcissistic right? But she wasn't. This was just one of her executed plans to slap her father with her success! However it was not a total lie at all. Well… she was smart… but not enough to be called as genius… except for physics. Heck! She was a physics maniac. Concepts… theories… calculations… applications… damn! She might even drool over a simple book of physics.

Still couldn't figure out what it means so she decided to jump on to the next word. Sweats dripped on her forehead as though she was on a hectic exam.

"Lo…ngu..."

'Huh? What?' A question mark was written over her face. Her eyebrows furrowed even more and she even scratched her head while thinking it over again and again.

In a swift breeze, her crumpled face suddenly pulled straight until a grin came.

"Zhao Long! How idiot! This is just a name!! Ahaha." She burst with laughter when she realized how stupid she was. That was a direct translation of Chinese name Zhao Long. She totally forgot how Filipino borrows word from other language, and then translates it based on its pronunciation. But why Chinese name in Baybayin?

She immediately lifted her chin feeling proud of her achievement.

However sudden realization hit her hard…she forgot that really important part! Why was she in that luxurious robe?! Her confident face suddenly dropped. She quickly raised her hand and bit her thumb as her mind fell again into perplexity.

'Damn! Where am I?'