Outline for “The Fall of the Nutcrackers”

Written by: John Carter

Xaiden is coming off duty from the water riding his seahorse Mirvi, he docks him and then tends to his cockatoo named Sir Ernest. He throws Ernest some food (vegetarian). 

He then goes home to get ready for the Christmas gathering. 

We see him getting dressed. This starts montage for the following:

We see Demid getting ready for the gathering trying on male outfits even though she is a female. Her two secret ladies-in-waiting, one Caucasian Pavlovna –Pavi and an Asian-Ananay, help her because they know about her secret.

We see Xaiden’s parents-King Alden and Queen Reese getting dressed.

We see Duckworth (piano player), otherwise known as “Hands” getting ready to go to the gathering. He will be called “Hands” in some scenes and Ducky or Duckworth in other scenes depending upon whom he is with.

Hands has plants that do everything for him. Picture plants. We see him do a change of hands-he goes into his walk-in closet which is filled with all kinds of hands for all kinds of events. He also has watches and rings.

We see Draco getting ready for the Christmas gathering.

We see Queenie and Murder getting ready to spy on the Christmas Eve gathering via an interior daemon pool.

Murder’s proper name is Mab Faye, but her nickname is Murder. She is from her own private celestial realm-Queen of the Nutcracker Unseelie Court, also known as the Winter Court. She oversees every realm, Vabaddon, Yawm and Astrigee. Murder can turn all of her minions, her Unseelies (dark fairies) into crows. The crows have Nutcracker faces with the body of a crow. She is Queenie’s mentor and friend/enemy. Murder has had a romantic past with Draco’s grandfather Daz. This is uncovered throughout the story.

End of Montage.

Once dressed, Xaiden leaves his barracks and ventures towards the castle, once inside he sees Draco coming down from the staircase and they chat.

Xaiden and Draco walk into the palace ballroom. They station themselves beside their parents in order to greet the guests. 

A servant opens the doors and the guests start entering. Everyone will be wearing Christmas colored/tone masquerade masks.

Hands enters the ballroom where everyone knows him as “Duckworth.”

More guests keep coming and then Ambassador of Astrigee comes in with Demid, and as soon as Xaiden and Demid make eye contact, it is obvious that there is an undeniable charge between them.

As guests start enjoying the festivities, Xaiden is entirely preoccupied with Demid, he can’t keep his eyes off of Demid.

We see Regent Ece Lolani (Mother of Reese, who has had a stroke and chooses to pretend to be mute) as she sits upstairs in her wheelchair by a window. Ece watches as the guests arrive. She then abruptly picks up a pad of paper from a nearby table and starts writing. 

Queenie and Murder leering into Queenie’s interior daemon pool and as they spy on the Christmas Masquerade.

Agur Van Maestro, the court composer asks someone to help demonstrate, “The Golden Crest Waltz.”

 The noblemen start choosing their partners and everyone begins dancing.

Xaiden is closely eyeing Demid as she dances with Ananay. They are giggling discussing him, smirking, gossiping, which makes him even more curious, enchanted.

The evening carries on with all of the guests having a wonderful time, eating, drinking and dancing.

Ece rings a bell and an elderly Russian butler, Vincent Price-looking, named Tales. comes into her room and takes the piece of paper that she was writing on.

Tales goes downstairs as the last dance is ending and Hands is finishing playing the piano. As soon as Hands finishes, the cockatoo drums ten times. 

Tales hands Hands the letter. He then proceeds reads the letter from Ece.

Due to hearing Ernest, the cockatoo, Xaiden starts saying his farewells to choice guests. He and Demid make eye contact again. Xaiden then leaves.

Hands ventures upstairs to see Ece and addresses the letter. Hands says something like the following to her, “Are you sure?”

She nods her head once. After a moment of hesitation Hands leaves the room.

Queenie and Murder are leering into the daemon pool wondering what is in letter-she wants to know right away but knows that Hands will tell her later when he gets back. They ask Hands a number of times throughout the story, but whenever they do and he’s about to tell them, something interrupts them, usually the Sickos or the Unseelies start acting up. They never do find out what is in the letter. Xaiden does in the last scene.

We see a love-struck Xaiden as he walks towards the barracks. 

Xaiden goes inside and gets ready for bed. He falls asleep almost instantly and starts to dream.

Then we see Xaiden on the outskirts of Vabddon, as he finds himself on a set of train tracks that are catching on fire as a train approaches him. He cannot free himself from the tracks because he is immobilized. A shaking and horrified Xaiden believes he is about to die when the train runs right through him, along with some guardian soldiers. 

Xaiden sees Queenie, Jetta Jinx’s legion of hummingbirds, other Guardian Nutcrackers and Sickos ushering the souls of the Fallen Nutcrackers into the ancestral halls-the Abyss of Vabaddon.

Xaiden sees Queenie murmuring into the mirror and talking with Malefic Draco, Xaiden is terrified of the image he sees in the mirror. He doesn’t recognize that the heinous reflection is his brother’s.

Once Queenie is done speaking with Draco she literally disappears.

Xaiden starts wandering around in something similar to the Black Forest, he tumbles into man-eating plants and swamps.

Every so often he sees bleeding animals hanging from trees- a sign that the Huntsmen are near. The only reprieve he has is when he catches glimpses of Demid standing close by and then running through the forest.

Xaiden starts hearing the snickering male sicko children creeping around the forest. He then sees the Huntsmen’ darting eyes in the darkness of the forest. It feels as though they are hunting him, he is their next prey.

An overwrought Xaiden comes across Hands’ abode, which is a small cottage.

Xaiden goes inside and has another moment of reprieve as he sits down at a table. Xaiden starts hearing the sounds of a piano.

He goes outside to find out where the music is coming from when he sees Hands playing the piano on the edge of a cliff that overlooks the water. He quickly sees a flash of Demid approaching the piano.

An overwrought Xaiden is temporarily soothed by seeing his childhood friend. 

Hands talks to Xaiden explaining that they’re in Vabaddon, Queenie’s kingdom. Xaiden inquires into who Queenie is since he has never heard of her. Hands reassures him that Xaiden will recognize her once he sees her.

Xaiden notices the palace in the distance.

Hands starts ushering Xaiden towards the path that leads to the castle. He explains that they must not be late for the evening’s celebrations. When Xaiden asks what is being celebrated, Hands tells him that more fallen Nutcracker souls have been cast into the Abyss of Vabaddon.

They go to the celebration where there are lit torches and everyone is dancing-Sickos, Huntsmen and the creepy sicko children are running around. The air is filled with demented music, eerie laughing and cackling. Xaiden sees Queenie from a distance, and recognizes her, but still doesn’t know who she is.

The festivities reach a culmination when everyone stands around a well and all of the fallen souls of the Nutcrackers- new tortured souls of prisoner Nutcrackers that emerge from the well, and are launched into the Abyss of Vabaddon. The Sickos are all dancing around the fire, engaging in various dances-witch bump, etc.  

As Xaiden is fixated on their jubilant yet grotesque movements, he sees in the distance, crows that are carrying baby Sickos (whose privates are covered in dark foliage resembling a dark diaper) in the air. They are being taken to Murder’s so that they can be placed in the nursery. 

At this point Xaiden is terrified and runs off, trips and falls into a labyrinth and this is where he discovers the prisoner Nutcrackers-he falls downwards-this is where he experiences abject terror at seeing all of the prisoners. The prison cells are embedded within the greenery of the labyrinth. The prisoners’ hands and feet are bound by animated and lethal vines.

Ece’s eyes are tracking Xaiden as he notices other older prisoner Nutcrackers, some of whom he recognizes. Xaiden notices Ece’s eyes and at first is taken aback by them, but once he acclimatizes to them he starts looking where the eyes pop up. He starts following them as they manifest themselves at different places in the labyrinth. Xaiden catches glimpses of Demid in the labyrinth as well.

Ece’s eyes then lead him to a prisoner that resembles his grandfather-King Daz Firken Draco Lolani.

Ece’s eyes start tearing and it causes a pool of water that Xaiden steps into. The pool of water is essentially a portal that launches him out of the labyrinth. 

Background/Flashbacks- When Draco goes to the dark side after being struck by lightning, he turns Queenie and brings her with him. While in the hospital, Daz visits his grandson and senses something off about Draco. Once Draco turns, one of his first orders was to capture his grandfather and imprison him in Vabaddon.

Ece was so heartbroken that she sent her eyes out to find Daz and has been casting spells ever since to bring him back, as well as to liberate Draco from Vabaddon. She is at war with Queenie and Murder and her fallen grandson. Ece’s objective is to obliterate Vabaddon so that everything can return to its proper state.

Once Xaiden is out of the labyrinth, he finds himself back in the forest. This is where he encounters the Huntsmen and witnesses more terrors-bleeding animals and the boy Sickos creeping around. Xaiden is constantly running as he is escaping one horror after another.

The Huntsmen eventually capture Xaiden and take him to Queenie’s. 

Once he is standing before Queenie he asks many questions about the prisoners, all of which she ignores. She talks briefly about the land of Vabaddon, its essence and we learn about the metaphysics of Vabaddon. 

Queenie desperately wants to imprison Xaiden’s soul more than any other Nutcracker but because of his purity and psychic abilities, she knows it will be incredibly difficult. She invites him to stay with her, even though Xaiden asks to be taken to Ducky’s. Queenie explains that Duckworth is indisposed until the next day. She tells Xaiden that she will see him the next day around noon when there will be a game of Orkyn (means pest control), which is similar to a chess match.  Xaiden doesn’t realize that it will be a live chess/orkyn match with the prisoner Nutcrackers.

Xaiden accepts her offer and Queenie tells him that her ladies-in-waiting (female Sickos) will look after him. She then excuses herself.

The Sickos start fawning over Xaiden as they show him his room. Once alone he starts thinking of Queenie, he realizes who she is. At this point there will be a flashback showing Queenie and Xaiden in their youth when they briefly courted each other, before Draco turned and took Queenie away from Xaiden. 

We are exposed to the Sickos entertaining themselves in their own private quarters as they practice dancing, twirling and beautifying themselves. They are incessantly practicing their twirling and dance skills because those are the movements needed to land yourself in Murder’s realm. You must be summoned by her or engage in ecstatic dancing with the hopes of find yourself in her realm. The Sickos are also shape shifters and turn into hummingbirds when need be.

Queenie has a moment with her marmot, Killian, we hear her speaking with him, talking to herself essentially as she gets ready to go to Murder’s. Queenie is absolutely obsessed with eating chicken wings, she just can’t get enough and adores hot sauce. As she’s speaking with Killian he does go fetch her some hot sauce because she needs another bottle. Her obsession with chicken wings makes the Sickos nervous because they do spend half of their time as birds, hummingbirds.

Queenie can be seen throughout the palace grounds always spitting out or tossing the bones of chicken wings when she is done with them. The bones are used as part of the chains of the prisoners and their chambers. 

When she goes into the labyrinth to see the prisoners she always has a bucket of chicken wings to torture them with, making them envious and she spits the bones out and the prisoners scramble to get the discarded wings.

We then see Murder alone as she practices shape shifting into a crow. Jetta Jinx and the Unseelies peek through the window as they watch Murder doing this. The Unseelies are shape shifters as well and morph into hummingbirds when need be.

Queenie arrives at Murder’s and they discuss how to capture Xaiden and turn him. They also have fun playing with their ‘book.’ This is one of their favorite pastimes.

History of the book- Queenie and Murder give the servant Nutcrackers the ‘book’ when they betray either one of them or disobey them-mostly Queenie. Murder throws a book at them and they immediately disappear and are trapped on a page in the book. They find themselves in a perpetually torturous situation such as trapped in a blizzard, being chased by wolves/marmots, swimming away from sharks, constantly being hit by a tsunami wave, being electrocuted in a lightning storm etc.

Paperbacks of the book have been made and distributed by Murder and Queenie to the Sickos –the children so they can learn to be obedient or else. 

Back at Queenie’s we see Ece’s eyes moving around in the labyrinth and lingering above Daz’s cell. We are exposed to the different prisoners and their personalities.

Later on that night, Xaiden leaves his room to go investigate the labyrinth. He wants to find his grandfather. 

He goes into the labyrinth and finally finds Daz. Daz warns him about Queenie, they have a discussion and then Xaiden leaves the labyrinth with the help of Ece’s eyes. 

As Ece guides him out, Xaiden encounters some other prisoners that are moaning in their sleep, maybe have one that sings, one that mutters and one that laughs like a hyena and when he is in a laughing fit he snorts like a pig.

Xaiden finds his way back to Queenie’s and goes into his bedroom. As he looks out the window before he goes to lie down he starts thinking of Demid, and there is a flashback showing them on Christmas Eve. Xaiden then goes to sleep.

The next day Xaiden is in his room and some Sickos come fetch him to take him to the Orkyn match.

The Orkyn match takes place where the previous night’s festivities were. Queenie approaches him and leads him towards the outdoor buffet. 

Xaiden is trying to keep his composure but his glance keeps gravitating to the orkyn board because he can sense that terrible things are soon about to take place on it. Xaiden is relieved when he sees Duckworth approaching he and Queenie. 

Xaiden urgently disengages from Queenie and moves towards Duckworth. He grabs him by the arm and asks him where he was last night, but Duckworth ignores the question and mentions how wonderful the food looks, asks Xaiden if he wants to have some breakfast. Queenie seems annoyed by this but lets it happen. 

As soon as Duckworth and Xaiden are alone by the buffet, Xaiden mentions Daz and Duckworth lets him know with his glance that Xaiden should not be speaking about Daz. Xaiden then points to the orkyn board and asks Duckworth what is about to take place. Xaiden also mentions the previous night’s celebration and inquires how Ducky can be okay with everything that is going on in Vabaddon. 

At this point, Duckworth is stuffing his face with food and is incapable of answering any of Xaiden’s questions. 

After grotesquely wolfing down some chicken wings, Queenie makes an announcement that the Orkyn game is about to begin and she introduces her opponent, Xaiden. 

A distraught Xaiden tells Queenie that he is not familiar with the game and therefore he shouldn’t be her opponent. Queenie scoffs at this and ushers a reluctant Xaiden towards the orkyn board.

Murder watches the Orkyn game from her celestial residence high above Vabaddon.

Queenie sits down on a chair close to the orkyn board. She fidgets with a locket around her neck, she opens it up, wipes grease from her chin and takes out her lipstick, applies it as she looks in the tiny mirror. After blotting her lipstick, she leaves the locket open and we see Draco’s reflection staring out from it. He has a perfect view of the orkyn board. Throughout the Orkyn match we will see Draco’s reflection watching the game.

We then see Ece sitting by her bedroom window in Yawm, looking out the window through her dark glasses and then we see her eyes appearing quickly in the background greenery surrounding the orkyn board. 

Every time there is a match Ece watches in order to see if Daz is a player in the game. Ece knows that Queenie and Draco have no intention of putting him in the game, but because of their vile natures and her distrust of them she always watches the Orkyn matches.

A mortified Xaiden looks as though he is about to vomit as his glance anxiously scans the orkyn board. He sees a quick flash of Demid darting behind some bushes.

Just then the Sickos begin parading fourteen prisoners towards the orkyn board. Queenie’s marmots viciously nip at the prisoners’ heels. The prisoners have chains around their necks. The prisoners also have walnut muzzles on their mouths and anyone can tell that they are terrified by the look in their eyes.

Once the Sickos release them from the chains, it becomes obvious that the prisoners are like puppets due to the way their bodies are moving.

We then see that Murder is the puppeteer and will be the one responsible for positioning the prisoners on the orkyn board. 

Seven prisoners begin to be stationed on each side of the board. There are two teams: The Kaput and The Done For. 

Hands starts shuffling the cards of the game with both of his hands. 

There are 56 cards in the deck. Each card describes how many movements are to be made on the board. The Orkyn board has 56 blocks, four back, three front and a space in between the blocks-28 spaces in between. Fourteen blocks sets up seven players for each side. 

Queenie and Xaiden each take turns telling him to stop shuffling and then they are handed a card. They instruct their respective nutcrackers to move in certain directions and spaces. From high above, Murder moves the reluctant prisoners to the proper spot on the board.

All the empty spaces that don’t have a prisoner on it, light up with flashing colors. The board is constantly flashing until a card is drawn. Each color on the board represents a special kind of horror. The Orkyn game continues until every prisoner is dead.

Blood red is the death penalty and this is when Queenie takes a soul. Execution is caused by spontaneous combustion. 

Squash Orange is related to the prisoner being squashed by a squash dropped by one of Murder’s crows. 

Electric Yellow is affiliated with the prisoners being electrocuted. Once they step onto the yellow block, they find themselves stepping into water with electric eels that attack them.

Screaming Green is in conjunction with prisoners landing on a block where vines crawl up the prisoner, suffocating him while they emit screeching sounds that are so high pitched the prisoner’s ears start bleeding. The prisoner starts screaming in agony from the noise.

Space Cadet Blue represents a prisoner landing on a blue block and as soon as he does, he gets launched into the ether. Once he starts falling he starts bouncing off of trees, Queenie’s palace and lands on the board. While in the air, the prisoners are able to see Murder’s domain and her Murder of Crows. The crows go after the prisoner as he is flailing in the air.

Stormy Indigo is affiliated with a prisoner stepping on a purple block and when he does, Jetta Jinx’s hummingbirds swarm the prisoner until he is beaten by their fluttering wings and stabbed by their pointed beaks. 

Iodine Violet is the color associated with the prisoner being gassed with poisonous gas once they step onto the violet block.

Once a full round of the seven colors has transpired and the last one being blood red, which is when Xaiden sees a prisoner spontaneously combust, a trembling and ruined Xaiden collapses due to the horror. Once the prisoner has combusted we see his soul leaving his body in the form of wispy white colored vapor and it rises up into the air. 

Murder is waiting with an elongated straw and proceeds to suck in the prisoner’s soul.

She then goes into a chamber in her abode that houses crystal skulls. She exhales the soul into an empty crystal skull.

Even though the orkyn game is only half way finished, an annoyed Queenie allows an incredibly depleted Xaiden to be dismissed from the rest of the orkyn game. The Sickos escort Xaiden back to his room. 

Later on in the evening when Queenie sends the Sickos to bring Xaiden to dinner, he feigns being ill. 

We then see Malefic Draco haunting various mirrors throughout Vabaddon and Yawm.

Later that night, Xaiden sneaks out of his room and as he does so, he walks past a sitting room where he sees a group of Sickos practicing their twirling/dancing in order to somehow launch themselves into Murder’s realm. Murder has told them that if they do the right dance, they will find themselves in her realm-this is a blatant lie that she tells them. She finds it pathetic that they revere her so much.

Xaiden makes his way outside and goes back into the labyrinth to find Daz. The day’s events make him shudder when he thinks of Daz potentially being an orkyn piece.

Xaiden soon sees Ece’s eyes and hurriedly follows them to where Daz is. The moment Xaiden sees Daz he notices that he has a frightened look on his face and that is when Xaiden feels the crow feathers descending upon him…Murder has sent for him.

Once the feather storm is over Xaiden finds himself trapped in a snow globe in Murder’s realm.  All Xaiden can see is the snow and then the crow feather tornado resumes again and he finds himself out of the snow globe. 

He finds himself standing before Murder. Draco manifests himself in a mirror nearby so he can listen in on the conversation. Xaiden doesn’t see Draco’s reflection.

Xaiden asks her who she is, and Murder describes herself and talks about her minions. We will then catch some secret glimpses into the Unseelies in their private quarters.

Murder then divulges that she knows about Daz and how Xaiden wants to free his grandfather-she is going to say that Queenie is always watching the labyrinth-so she decided to protect him by bringing him up here-she wants to help free his grandfather.

Xaiden mentions that he has seen her before with Queenie. He asks about Queenie-what has happened to her, how did she become this way.

Xaiden is very upset as to why she took him away from his grandfather-says he wants to go see him and get him out of here.

Xaiden explains that he has never heard of Vabaddon, asks where he is and she explains the metaphysics of where he is –Vabaddon has taken over Yawm and Astrigee-that is all there is, there is no home to go to.

Xaiden is devastated by hearing this news and says that he will take him to Duckworth’s. States that there must be somewhere that is safe.

Xaiden is untrusting of her but wants to trust her and then she mentions that she knows Daz, knew him many years ago. 

Murder tells him that he can trust her, that she will distract Queenie later on so that he can go get his grandfather but they are expected at Queenie’s for dinner first. Truth be told- Queenie and Murder are in on this together-they are planning to bamboozle him.

Murder then summons the crow tornado and it quickly overtakes Xaiden. Within a few moments Xaiden finds himself in Queenie’s foyer. 

A couple of the Sickos are there and are fawning over Murder. A disinterested Murder shoos them away and tells them to go get Queenie.

Queenie and Killian arrive in the foyer and Queenie invites Murder and Xaiden into a sitting room. Murder is nonplussed by the hot sauce smeared all over Queenie’s mouth and disgusted by the trail of bones she leaves behind as they enter the sitting room.

Xaiden notices Hands/Duckworth is already sitting down and eating from a casual buffet. He is about to speak with him when Queenie and Murder come into the room. A few paces behind them, is an entire team carrying different fabrics for the costumes for the upcoming celebration. Everyone will be being dressed for it, the Sickos, the Huntsmen, the Unseelies and various Nutcrackers. Soon enough Xaiden finds himself being measured by a tailor.

The Sickos keep placing trays in front of him, encouraging him to eat and drink. Xaiden is distraught thinking about Daz and seems distracted. Queenie and Murder exchange satisfied looks at one another, knowing that Xaiden is becoming increasingly more unnerved at being in Vabaddon. Hands/Duckworth is soon being fitted for an outfit, as well as a couple of Sickos and Unseelies.

Once everyone has been fitted and the festivities are over, the Sickos shape shift into Hummingbirds (Xaiden has only ever seen them as Sickos) and leave Queenie’s. Xaiden is startled by this, while Hands/Duckworth is entirely unfazed. 

Moments later, the Unseelies begin to shape shift into crows and leave Queenie’s. 

Murder approaches Xaiden and tells him to follow the crows because they will lead him to a place in the labyrinth that will allow him to find Daz since Queenie is now constantly changing the security of the labyrinth as well as shape shifting it.

Hands/Duckworth and Xaiden take off in the direction of the crows and soon enough come upon their resting spot. 

Murder’s team of caterpillars are busily taking chained prisoners into the labyrinth. One of the caterpillars comes up behind Xaiden and he falls onto its back and is taken into the labyrinth. Hands/Duckworth stays behind because he knows Queenie will demand to see him before the night is through. She wants to know what was in Ece’s letter.

Once inside the labyrinth Xaiden sees Ece’s eyes and they take him past several other prisoners until Xaiden sees Daz. Daz tells him not to trust Murder-there will be a quick flashback while Daz’s voice over will explain why not to trust Murder. They courted before he met Ece and Murder had a hard time believing that they were over. 

A panicked Daz tells Xaiden to go find Draco because he is somewhere in Vabaddon and is in danger of becoming a prisoner. Meanwhile, Daz has no clue that Draco was the one that wanted Daz to be kept as a prisoner. 

Daz tells Xaiden to beware of the man in the mirror. According to other prisoners and the rumors of Vabaddon, there is an evil presence that haunts all the mirrors in Vabaddon. Daz does not realize that it is in fact Draco’s presence that manifests in random mirrors at whatever time he chooses.

Xaiden promises Daz that he will try and find Draco. Xaiden is completely overwrought hearing that his brother is here as well. He quickly leaves the labyrinth with the help of the heinous caterpillars. Unbeknownst to him, they are spying for both Queenie and Murder.

Once Xaiden finds himself in front of Queenie’s palace, he walks in and starts looking for Hands/Duckworth. After searching a number of rooms and finding no one, he decides to leave Queenie’s and search the forest for Draco. He sees a flash of Demid entering the forest.

As Xaiden is about to enter the forest, he sees Ece’s eyes frantically moving around and decides to follow them back to the palace. They lead him inside Queenie’s and he follows them up a couple of different staircases until he is at the top of the castle. 

Unbeknownst to Xaiden, a harried Draco is racing up and through mirrors in the castle so that he can manifest himself to Queenie and Murder to warn them that Xaiden is coming. Once Xaiden reaches the top of the castle, he moves towards a set of doors and hears muffled voices. He hears Queenie and Murder’s voices coming from behind a door that leads to an outside balcony.

He gingerly opens the door and can see them standing over the daemon pool. He listens to their conversation. 

A frantic Draco is manifesting himself in Queenie’s locket but no one is noticing him because they are too busy looking into the daemon pool.

Xaiden learns about how the Nutcrackers become fallen during this. 

Murder and Queenie take their souls and they always start with the exact same thing that Xaiden first saw-being at the train tracks. Once he sees this unfolding again as he spies on them, that is when it dawns on him that he is a prisoner. The Fallen Nutcrackers have a certain vapid look on their faces, like they have been lobotomized which is a tell tale sign that they have been taken. Xaiden has so far escaped being taken.

Xaiden then closes the door to the balcony and goes downstairs towards his bedroom. 

Hands/Duckworth is coming up the stairs leading towards the balcony and Xaiden tells him that he needs to talk to him. 

They go into Xaiden’s room and Xaiden explains that he is a prisoner and that Daz told him that Draco is somewhere in Vabaddon. When Xaiden asks Hands/Duckworth if has heard about any of this, Hands/Duckworth lies to him, tries to comfort him. 

Xaiden talks about Daz’s history with Murder and tells Hands/Duckworth that he needs to go to Murder’s because perhaps that is where Draco is. Duckworth explains that no one can get to Murder’s unless they are summoned but there may be a trick.

Hands/Duckworth takes Xaiden to Queenie’s bedroom where there is a gorgeous ornate mirror. Hands/Duckworth says that he thinks this how Queenie gets to Murder’s. Hands/Duckworth explains that it may not work. Hands/Duckworth takes Xaiden’s arm and they try to walk through. Xaiden disappears through the mirror but Duckworth bounces back. Xaiden is able to get through the mirror because it is how Draco travels. He gets through due to their lineage/bloodline.

Once in Murder’s realm, Xaiden wanders around her Unseelie Court. He then starts hearing what sounds like crying children. He rushes in the direction of the crying and comes across a nursery filled with baby Sickos and sees wet nurses tending to them.

He continues wandering around until he comes across the room where he was in when Murder took him. There are photographs on a nearby wall and he looks at them. His face drops when he sees an exuberant Queenie and Murder as they usher fallen Nutcrackers into the Abyss of Vabaddon. 

Once again, Xaiden cannot help but shudder at the vacant expression on their faces, they look as though they have been lobotomized. Xaiden is reminded how he has not been turned yet, fallen yet, and that somehow he is impenetrable to their torturous ways.

Just then a crow tornado descends upon Xaiden and he disappears from Murder’s.

Xaiden finds himself as a chained prisoner on the back of a caterpillar that is taking him to his own respective cell. He passes various prisoners on his way to his cell, but does not see Daz.

He has time in prison, one day passes-he speaks with other prisoners (comical moments, quirky prisoners, but doesn’t see Daz. Hands/Duckworth comes to visit him and brings him decent food.

Queenie has had enough with Draco being imprisoned in the mirror and starts summoning Murder to come see her. She goes on top of the castle and starts screaming for Murder. Murder is the one that placed Draco’s essence in a mirror and is keeping him captive in the mirror/mirrors.

Shortly after, we see the crows circling and within seconds, Murder appears on the rooftop. It is obvious that Queenie is upset and Murder finds this amusing which makes Queenie even more enraged. Consequently, the Hummingbirds and the Crows begin fighting in flight.

Queenie starts insulting Murder, chastising her for always taking lovers and then killing them. Murder is an eternal and infernal widow. A self-concocted tornado starts swirling around Murder and she becomes a monstrous and gigantic crow.

Queenie is relatively unfazed by this and starts demanding that Draco be taken out of the mirrors stating that this is too important of a time, that Xaiden needs to be turned and if anyone can do it, it is Draco.

After a heated exchange of words about their past histories/fights, Murder says that another thing that will perhaps turn Xaiden is seeing Daz in the Orkyn game. Murder states that she will release Draco from the mirrors if Queenie puts Daz in the upcoming Orkyn match. Murder states that once she sees Daz on the Orkyn board she will release Draco.

Queenie is hesitant to agree because Draco never intended for his grandfather to die, he only wanted to slowly torture him. Queenie agrees to go against Draco’s wishes in order to free him.

Hands/Duckworth goes to visit Xaiden in his cell. Queenie goes into the labyrinth and visits all the prisoners including Xaiden as she feasts on chicken bones.

Once she leaves, there are moments between the prisoners.

We see Draco haunting various mirrors in Vabddon, Murder’s realm and Yawm.

The next day another Orkyn match takes place.

A sedated Xaiden wakes up as he is being dragged to the Orkyn board via Murder’s creepy caterpillars. 

Soon enough he finds himself being placed on the orkyn board and his heart almost disintegrates when he sees Daz standing a few paces away from him.

Keeping her word, Murder releases Draco from the mirrors and he appears standing next to Queenie. Everyone notices him and is afraid of him. We see Sickos retreating from the area.

Draco walks towards Xaiden. Daz sees his grandson and realizes that he has played a part in his imprisonment and torture. 

A trembling Xaiden has his head down for the moment and sees that someone is standing directly in front of him. He looks up to see his brother’s mangled face and instantly knows that Draco has been a part of all of this. The horror of this wakes him up from his sleep.

It is now Christmas Day as a frightened and overwrought Prince Xaiden wakes up from the dream with his eyes fluttering and it takes him a moment to realize that the nightmare he just had was just that, a bad dream.

He briefly glances at a family portrait of his parents, himself and his older brother that sits on the bedside table.

A relieved Prince Xaiden gets out of bed and begins to get dressed so that he can join the other Nutcrackers at the palace. Just when he is about to leave his quarters Tales taps on his door. Xaiden opens it find Ece holding onto Tales. Xaiden then takes Ece’s arm and they venture towards the palace.

Prince Xaiden and Ece enter the palace sitting room where everyone has assembled to celebrate Christmas. Before they go to sit down Ece hands Xaiden a folded letter. The King and Queen of Yawm are busily and graciously greeting their guests as everyone is merrily eating and drinking. Within a few moments everyone begins to gather around the Christmas tree as gifts are being passed out.

Suddenly, we see that figures are manifesting themselves in the mirror above the fireplace. Queenie and Malefic Draco, who are just outside the window, are portentously glaring in at the celebrating Nutcrackers. No one notices the menacing reflections in the mirror except for Murder has she watches from her celestial realm and a quivering Prince Xaiden. It hauntingly dawns on him that the nightmare he just woke from not even an hour ago was not just a dream, but rather the unfolding of a prophecy. Xaiden goes into his pocket to find Ece’s letter and unassumingly opens it and quickly reads the following words, “It has begun…You are the only one that can stop it.”