A kingdom was covered by dark, heavy clouds, carrying a millennium's amount of rain, and the loudest thunders, 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 has 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 praises her people of.

She's now beside her husband, holding his hand that's laying almost lifeless by his side. She has this depressed yet alert look on her face, hoping that he would wake up today. That has been her wish ever since he and her 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 to ask? She began to think to herself. Is it too much to ask that one of you and your 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 her, her hands folded in front of her. When she reached her mother, she put her hands on shoulders and gave them a light squeeze, assuring her that she's not alone.

The queen held onto her daughter's hand as her other hand remained to hold the king's hand. As much as possible, she doesn't want to remove her stare from her helpless husband.

After a moment of silence, the king started 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 grip on his hand tightened as she prayed that he would wake up.

After a bit more coughing, the king was able to open his eyes. 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 as she felt his hand cup her cheek. "Thank the heavens, you're awake," she continued as 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: his son.

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