The world seemed to be a faze, everything seemed to have a layer of blur draped around it. The world seemed to be spinning as if I drank too much grape wine the night before. I wasn't drunk, I was just so, so tired. My eyes fluttered open and closed repeatedly as someone attempted to wake me up with the constant knocking sounds that came from my bedroom door. How much would I have to pay someone to let me sleep some more?

The constant knocking of the door soon followed by a strict voice repeating my schedule of the day, from the sound of it it seems like it was packed. The more work there is for me, the less sleep I get.

The less sleep I get the more drowsy I am in the morning, and that means I am more reluctant to wake up. The more reluctant I am to wake up the later I can go to bed. Then later I can go to bed the less sleep I have. It's a terrible cycle with no end that only results in me getting less and less sleep.

As sleep is a necessary component of life, my life schedule is resulting in me getting less life. It's quite ironic, isn't it?

"Your highness, we must hurry we only have twenty maximum, no twenty-two minutes for you to get ready and go to your royal fitting!" The voice was squeaky, like a teenager who was reaching puberty but couldn't finish it.

It had an urgent pace to it, as it urged me to rush whatever activity I was doing. I would usually use this as an excuse to leave when I had to do something less than pleasant but right now, I just wanted to sleep. When someone rushes me to sleep faster, I tend to have an unpleasant feeling towards them.

Out of all of the voices that I have heard in my life, this one seems to come whenever I least want it. When I have a question to ask, it is always gone. "Then we have to move, move, move to your speech at the historical society, after that-" I flip over on my stomach as I flop my pillow over my head, attempting to block out the chatter.

It seemed as annoying as the chatter from balls except for this time it was only created by one person. Hermes was a chatterbox, the best one that you could find. Unfortunately, he was also a royal adviser. More specifically, my royal adviser.

I unsuccessfully blocked his voice out of my head, as I attempted to go back to bed. Keyword on attempted, in case you are wondering I didn't fall asleep again.

It was a legal obligation that I had to attend all of these events. If I wasn't legally obligated to attend then I certainly wouldn't be morally obligated to go. Some people when they have nothing to do, they accomplish more than they usually do. That isn't me, I'm the kind that takes naps and stares at walls in preference to being productive.

It's honestly a lifestyle, one that I wish that I could live.

I had many tasks that I have to perform throughout the slowly diminishing hours of the day. Not that the number of hours in a day were diminishing, more like my urge to procrastinate was increasing.

Like taking naps and staring at walls for entertainment, procrastinating is a lifestyle that I could only dream of. I had so many duties to do that I hardly have time to sleep. I have to be up before the sun, and in bed after the moon has taken its rise. It was the only way that Hermes could have the satisfaction of checking off each line of that never-ending list of his.

If they had it their way, I wouldn't be sleeping at all. Fortunately for me, sleep is necessary for the survival of my species. I can't finish my tasks if I'm dead, can I? I basically didn't sleep as it was, I had so many duties that I hardly had time to sleep. No, that didn't mean that I could take unlimited bathroom breaks too.

I held my pillow tighter around my head. Squishing my brain from the side. I've already destroyed so many brain cells that it probably didn't matter. Between me and my brain, I probably have half a brain cell left to spare. Maybe if I squeeze hard enough all my brain cells would be gone, and my ability to hear would slowly disintegrate. Maybe I could sleep peacefully then?

The constant knock that I have been listening to for the past ten minutes disappeared without a warning. The sound of quiet came so suddenly I wasn't ready when it came. It seemed like a warning that something bad would happen. In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet, but just for a moment.

Honestly, what am I getting so worked up for? I've been reading too many books about the philosophy of life, that instead of adding to my slowly diminishing count of brain cells, it's taking them away faster. Hermes probably just went to the bathroom. It seems like that man never resets, but everyone has to take potty breaks.

Maybe reading all of those philosophy books did help me make sense of the world just a little bit more. The hurricane dude was right about something, there is quiet, but it only lasts just for a moment. As fast as the knocking disappeared, it came right back. That man must hold the record for the fastest bathroom breaks or something.

This knocking seemed to sound slightly off from the knocking from before. It seemed to have a different pitch to it. Don't ask me what was different, I wouldn't be able to tell you. It's just a gut feeling that you get when you are a practiced ignorer at knocking at doors. You get the sound edged into your mind.

He probably just hired someone to pound on the door for him. Hermes is one of those productive people I talk about. Once he has nothing to do he finds more things to do. He must have gotten bored with knocking on the door and reading my schedule of the day on repeat.

Speaking of schedules, I probably have something to do in the next 5 minutes. If I plan to go to bed tonight, I should probably wake up today. Although I'm a practiced procrastinator too, I value the ability to go to bed before 3 am. Living on an hour of sleep isn't possible, nor significantly healthy.

"I'm coming" I muttered to no one in particular. At this point, I have no idea who could be standing outside that door. It could be my ex-lover from 4 years ago, that got hired to pound on my door this very morning. Although it isn't likely nor would it be preferable, it's possible. As I was saying, anything is possible.

The coverlet that I was currently using was quite heavy, it had a heavy layer of fur that lined the inside of it. Although it was very comfortable at times, it was quite annoying to find bits of fur in cracks and crevasses that you wouldn't desire to see them in.

The outside of my coverlet was lined with silk. Now that I think about it, why don't I use that as the inside? There weren't any rules written that I couldn't do that, were there? The silk also doesn't have any stray hairs that would end up in undesirable places.

Note to self: Ask the servants to flip over your blanket for tonight.

I lift off my heavy coverlet and as soon as I pull it off my body a whoosh of cold air blows at me. I'm not even sure where it came from because the windows of my room should be closed from last night. My skin prickled at the cold air, I could already feel goosebumps forming. I remember now why I slept with the furry side down. It was a lot warmer that way.

Not to self: Don't ask the servants to flip over your blanket for tonight.

When I get out of bed the ropes of my bed spring itself back up as the weight that was once holding them down disappeared. Everyone has always said that I've got it easy. I didn't have to do any backbreaking work, I didn't have to worry at night about what my family was going to eat. I didn't have the problems and worries that everyone else had. To them, that's what made my life so easy.

I had everything that they didn't have. I had a bed, I had a coverlet. I could afford the soft furs that covered me and the hard granite that I walked upon. I know that this may make me sound ungrateful for my ancestors but I was still jealous. I was still jealous of other people that had "less" than me. I was jealous because they had something I didn't, in my eyes, they had more. They could reach for the sky.

My hands pressed against the glass window of my room. The cold glass quickly heated up where my hands had touched them. My hands left a light imprint of water where they were placed. The view of my window is always painted worthy. You could set up one of the artists of the kingdom in my room and they could paint the view from my window--not before staring out of it in awe.

The view from my window is always awe-worthy. Any time of the day you could look out to the view. My personal favorite time of the day is in the morning. That's because the kingdom looks so alive. The transition from the dark night to the slow transition of lanterns lighting up homes to the first rays of light from the sun is my favorite. Of course I usually never have the time to watch the whole thing but, ever a snippet of the transition is gorgeous.

Watching the kingdom that my family has ruled for generations wake up from the heavy slumber of the night is always relaxing. Although the castle lies quite a distance from the first village you could still see the lights imitating from windows. Sometimes when I woke up early enough I could see a completely dark night, the only thing that brought light to the lands was the stars that shone above.

Wow. That was deep. I really should stop reading so much philosophy.

I saw the people of my father's kingdom slowly wake up as I see the lanterns of their house light the early morning sky.

All my life I always wanted to once have a time where there are no responsibilities. A place where I didn't need to do anything for the sake of my kingdom or be somewhere at all times. Although dreaming about being next in line to rule a powerful nation seems like a good idea, actually living that life is a different story.

Like every little kid, I sometimes would play with my room and pretend that I wore the same crown that my dad wore proudly on his head. I would order around my toys declaring new laws of all sorts. Some were seriously like outlawing murder others were more ridiculous like making lemonade the national beverage. The dream of being kings was more delightful when it was still a dream, now that I am older and the dream is soon to be a reality, the thought of being a ruler is less satisfying.

The ordinary just want to be extraordinary, all the extraordinary wants are to be ordinary again.

The knocking that came to a stop for just a moment brought me back to reality, known as the place that is always opposite of wishes or otherwise known as the dream killer.

"I already told you, I'm coming!" I yelled this time, they probably could hear it better than my mumbling from before. "You can stop pounding on the door now before it breaks."

"I see that your sense of direction is still as bad as it used to be." The voice that seemed to be coming from somewhere in my room made me jump because I was so used to the silence. The real fact that mattered wasn't where it was coming from but who it was from.

I slowly backed up against the door of my room. I need a fast escape plan if this was a foe. If it is a friend? The answer is obvious: I offer them leftover chocolate.

"Actually I think that it has gotten worse, I seem to get lost in my own room these days."

Honesty, I could leave now. But my curiosity was getting the better of me and I just had to find out who was there.

A breeze that passed through the castle caused my curtains to shutter in the wind. Wait. My windows should be closed. There shouldn't be any wind coming in.

Not to self: Don't ask the servants to flip over your blanket for tonight. Also, ask them to make sure that the windows are closed and locked.

I turned my gaze to the window where the curtains were fluttering. I expected a hidden silhouette of a person hiding in the shadows. Instead in its place, all I can see is a slowly brightening sky and the same view that I look at every day.

I approached my way to the window and peered out of it. The rooftop of the castle looked empty, with no signs that someone was there before. Outside of the castle was quiet, but I knew that whoever was there was still watching me. I leaned more of my weight outside of my window to get a better view.

"Swish, slice, stab." A voice whispered in my ear. "Unfortunately, you're dead."

I lost my balance and my weight tipped out the window. For a split second, I felt weightless and there was a dropping sensation. Then a harsh tug from the back of my shirt, my feet hovered over the ground.

"Thanks for catching me, a mysterious stranger that keeps scaring the living ghost out of me." My heart was rushing. Please don't be a foe. I've heard that many royal families have been sent assassins recently and I'm not in the mood to die today.

"Wow, Percy. You are as dense as a rock. How are you going to rule a whole kingdom? That was literally the oldest trick in the book. You'll be dead in a week. Max."

I have concluded, this mysterious stranger is on a first-name basis with me, so definitely a friend. It's not that I have many friends, it wasn't too hard to guess.

"Hey, Superman. You can let go of me now." The tug on my shirt loosened when I found my balance and I turned around to face him.

"You better be praying to the god that I'm superman if I was an assassin you would be dead by now." His face was completely serious, the scar on his upper lip only made him look more imitating. "What do you even do as king in training? I swear that your thought process is even more messed up as before. RUN. Percy, you have to leave the room. Don't leave your back open and look through an open window. Just leave the room for Hades' sake!"

"Glad to see you again." I smile, "I see you're just like you were before."

"Nice to see you too, Percy." He smiled back at me and the rising sun sent a glint of gold in his blonde hair. "I see you're just as dense as you were before."

I walked him over to the couch that was placed on the side of my room. There was a small bowl of leftover chocolates placed on the table in front of it.

"What brings you to my room?" I slide him the bowl of chocolates and he plops them into his mouth. "We haven't seen each other in ages! Where have you been?"

"Before I answer your many questions, I just need to ask you something first. You really need to get your ears checked. Can you really not tell the difference between knocking on the doors and knocking on windows?"

"Can you tell the difference?" I shot back at him.

"Yes, but seriously you are dense. You know what, what did I expect." He gives me a smirk and continues on his second piece of chocolate. "To answer your questions, I'm here because I have a break today. No, it hasn't been ages, it's only been 4 months. I've been in the courtyard doing training. You can literally see me through your window."

"4 months is ages. You can literally get pregnant in 4 months' time spam."

Jason looked at me like he was talking to a toddler. "Actually, one, I can't get pregnant. Two, it actually takes 9 months to get a child."

"I wasn't talking about the birthing, I was talking about the process."

"It actually doesn't take 4 months to do it-- you know what we aren't going to talk about this."

"Point proved, if you withdraw from the conversation, I win the argument." I laugh at him. "It doesn't matter if I'm correct or not."

"Actually, it doesn't work like that," He quickly changed the subject before starting another friendly debate. "I actually came to ask if you wanted to head out to town with me today. I'm on break and I was heading out and I was thinking you wanted a break too."

B r e a k. Break. What an exotic word. I haven't had a break from my royal schedule in ages. This usage of the word ages was actually longer than 4 months.

"If you wanted to come all the way here just to ask me to take a break with you, you didn't have to scale 3 floors worth of walls just to dramatically enter through the window." Jason, always going the extra mile. "You could have just come up to my room on the stairs."

He shrugged at me as if scaling walls was what he did daily.

"Look, I would really love to come with you but I'm pretty sure that I already have a full schedule for today. I would really like to sleep tonight."

Jason stood up from his spot and started heading out back to the window where he entered through. "Too bad for you, more food for me I guess." He looked back at me and joked. "I guess you just take your princely duties very seriously."

He seemed to be walking in slow motion while he climbed out of the window, one leg at a time.

"Jason, don't go! I really want to come. Please don't leave without me." I called after him. I rushed over to the side of the room to the window.

"You cave way too easily, my prince." He laughed. "How are you going to rule a kingdom?"

"Don't matter right now, I'm not ruling it," I replied. "Are we going or not? Also if I get caught climbing out my window it's your fault."

"Sure." He replied without even a moment of hesitation. "That's not going to be a problem though, you're with me. You aren't going to get caught."

"If you haven't noticed, we are 3 stories off the ground. What kind of reasonable way are we going to get down? Also if I perish from jumping out of my window that's also your fault."

A 40 feet fall from the air, probably will cause damage to my body. I would rather not die today.

Jason pointed to the tree that stood at the edge of the rooftop. "You see that tree over there?"

"Yeah, I'm not blind. It's kind of huge."

Jason ignored my comment and continued to talk. "During training, there is this exercise with bars that help improve your upper body strength. The branches have some good grip and it should get you down."

"How do I do that? It's not like I have the luxury to climb up and down trees for fun anymore."

"Easy, just jump, catch the branch, and don't let go." He smiled. "Or else you will have no choice but to be heavily injured."

"What--"

He flung his second leg over the window and slid down the tiles of the roof, right before he hit the edge he jumped off and reached his arms out and caught the closest branch. He honestly looked quite like a squirrel.

"See easy, your turn." Jason has already pulled himself over the branch and was starting his adventure down the everlasting branches of the tree.

I climb over the window and look at the steep slope of the roof. If I miss that jump, I will most definitely fall. At least if I fall it would be more enriching than a morning of meetings about the kingdom's ecosystem. I pushed myself off the edge and slid down the roof.

The timing has to be perfect or else I fall. I jump off the edge of the roof, less than a second before falling off. My hands stretched out and it clenched tightly around the branches

"See, I told you that I could do it."

By now Jason was already on the ground of the tree waiting for me. "Correction, you actually didn't tell me anything. If I saw that correctly you definitely almost peed your trousers there."

I slowly inched my way down the branch of the tree and took my stand at the ground. I honestly don't understand what was the joy of climbing trees anymore.

"See, that wasn't too hard." He whispered. "I honestly thought you weren't going to make it."

"Haha, very funny. Trust me when I say this, but if you were going to miss that jump. I was going to leave you there to rot by yourself.

Jason suddenly dropped to the ground, he reached his hand up and dragged me down with him. The sudden impact on the ground seriously hurt.

"What in the gods was that for?!" I exclaimed.

"Shush, unless you want to go get caught."

I peered over the perfectly trimmed hedges that were hiding us from plain view. I look just in time to see Lord Octavian trout across the lawn as if you owned the place. I really hate that guy. He always seems to be in places where nobody really wants him.

Well, nobody really wants him anywhere. His grandfather was important though, so we couldn't just get rid of him.

"I guess your training instincts are finally doing somebody some good," I tell him. "Maybe I should do some training too."

"It wasn't the training, it was the fact I have eyes." He scoffed. "And they say I'm the one that needs glasses.

"Less chat, more move." I rushed him.

"I tied a pair of horses for us right behind the gate, if we can get there without getting caught we are out of here. I can go see someone and you can go get your food."

"Oh, so Jason finally got a girlfriend." I mocked him.

He ignored me again and continued his explanation. "I assume that you still remember how to ride horses like you used to?"

I laugh as if he was telling the funniest joke in the world. "Of course, what kind of Jackson would I be if I didn't know how to ride a horse?" I grin at him. "And I assume that you have everything prepared like you used to?"

Jason gins back at me. I haven't had this much fun in ages. It was just like when we were little. "Of course, what kind of Grace would I be if I didn't have everything prepared."