𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔡

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔖𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫

𓋹 𝔒𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢 𓋹

If days had passed, she did not know. She stayed in the darkness all the time. With only her own thoughts for company. And the words that still echo inside her head, the words of what the Oracle had told her. It is also that poem which continues to leave her lips. Even in the darkness, she has herself but there is still a lot of things that Princess Aithne has. She is given food, every so often these smallest animals which is better she does not know what are give her food. Mostly just fruit and other small snacks for her to eat.

Princess Aithne wonders how long she will be there. She will have to leave on her own since no one can enter to fetch her, but there is never knowing what kind of world she would be entering into as soon as she were to leave. If she were still in danger and forced to walk back into the darkness or if she is safe and she can finally be crowned Queen, only to return here once more. This is the place she will end up either place. Expect one is dark while the other is wonderful.

The darkness does not bother her that long. It actually becomes what she feels safe. For there is nothing and no one that can enter there. She is also not alone in there. The future Queen is not alone and feels as though there are others there. Those animals are being sent to her by someone which has to be looking out for her and keeping her fed. The darkness is not cold and neither is it hot. Warm and comfortable rather. Aithne stays there on the ground, her fingers never leave the dagger she was given some time before.

That dagger she has to use one day and while she promised that she would, she is not certain what she must do. All that she can do is believe that when the time is right, she will know what she must do and she will keep her promise, even if that means it will break her, even if she knows that it might pain her and might never be taken back ever again. For once she will make that choice, there is no coming back. She thinks the worst of what she is meant to do for she cannot think of anything joyful of what is supposed to happen with a dagger.

Unless it is meant to be a decoration, there is only death waiting for her. Whose? That she will not know until the moment comes and she prays that she will not have to slay someone. As a Queen, she is meant to make the hardest choices of them all and that also means murder. To protect the lives of her kingdom and those that she cares for, the most horrible things must sometimes happen and this she knows. This is what she was raised to do.

Time passes and while she is not yet bored, she does wonder when all of this will be over. When Aithne has finally had enough of being here, and as a Queen, she should not cower in fear, she should face the danger head one. Standing up, Aithne's legs ache from sitting in the same spot for hours and possibly even days. She found nothing else to do anyway. In the dark she could get nothing done as she had no light. The Oracle had given her the gift of sight but still she sees nothing which does annoy her.

Walking to the door, which she knows where is. Aithne does not know how she knows where the door is, she simply can feel it. As if there is a presence inside the room that guides her and she would not be shocked to learned that that may very well be. There is no telling when it comes to this room. When she finds the door, she searches for the door handle and when she finds it. She hesitates, for some time, she does not know if she should open or not. With the question of what she will be walking into when she does.

Princess Aithne is the only heir to the throne and if she were to die, then all would be in chaos for then there would be no one to take the throne. It was supposed to be simple. Upon her crowning, she would become Queen and then soon enough suitors would become pouring in, looking for her hand in marriage. After she had picked one, she would marry, and the kingdom would have a King and Queen. She is only meant to have a single child and that is a daughter that will soon take over from her.

Her King would not matter and he rules nothing. He is merely a man with a title but not a single job to do expect live in the castle and be who he had been. It has been this way for as long as anyone can remember. The Queens are the ones that rule the kingdom and the world and they are above everyone else. In history, there has never been known to occur that the Princess dies before she is crowned Queen and none know what will happen if that were to happen. Aithne is determined to not make anyone find out.

Her head she turns and looks behind her into the darkness, there is truly nothing there and yet at the same time there is so much there. All which she cannot see. One day, pretty soon, she will see it all and her future will be read to her. The future which she knows will be a good one and it will happen. However, first she needs to become the Queen. She has to fulfill the very things that she is meant to do. With a sigh, she opens the door and would outside.

The fear of what she will be met with out there cannot bother her any longer. She must be stronger than that. She is to be Queen and the Queen is strong, not weak. Holding her head high, Aithne walks out of the room. The first thing that greets her is light. The hallway is poorly lit but given how she has been in the pitch black darkness for a very long time shows that any amount of light does pain her eyes. It takes her some seconds to adjust to the light, just enough time to see that the guards that should be stationed in front of the door are not there.

The hallway is as empty as empty can be. The torches have low light for they have nearly burned out and there has not a single person gone to light them up again. Confused, she closes the door and takes a couple of steps. Princess Aithne knows not how she appears to the outside world nor does she know how many days have passed. If time passes differently inside that room, there is magic in the air there and a woman that can show the future.

Fear does not find her as she does not allow it. Princess Aithne holds her head high and walks the hallways, this is her home and while it appears that there is no one there, she does wonder how that can be. For as long as she can remember, the castle is always blooming with life. Even during the nights, when she sleeps, workers are tending to their duties. It is as lively during the day as it is during the nights. Which is why empty hallways and rooms does confuse her and the fear does all it can to break her walls.

Walking to her own chambers, she opens the door. The cold, empty room does worry her terribly. For her chambers are always filled with light. Even when she is not there, it is always lit with candles and there is always warmth in there. These cold shivers run down her spine as she takes in her cold chambers. Walking inside, she walks by her bed to see that the bed itself has not been made and it is the way that she had left it when she had left to go to the room. Leaving her bed unmade for the maids to make it.

Then she hears a sound of steel not far from her chambers and she takes running towards it. Her entire life she has been warned to not run towards sounds that might endanger her life, however this might be a sound that could show her where everyone is. Something must have happened here while she had been inside that room. It is unknown to her for how long and that does worry her that perhaps even years have passed since she had entered that room, yet that does not make sense to her at all.

The hallways she knows better than anyone, even the hidden passageways which only those loyal to the royal family know of and there are only two left alive, and one of them being her while the other being Edmon. Her friend who was supposed to be there with her when walked through those doors. Somehow she had imagined that he would feel it within him that she was opening the door and coming back into the world which everyone were, where he was, and he would stand there and wait for her like he always does when she walks out of a room.

Upon entering the room where she had heard the sound, she realizes that it had only been a sword which had fallen from where it had hanged on the wall. Bending down, Aithne picks up the sword to realize that it is not a sword that should be hanging on the wall at all. In fact it is a sword which she has seen since she was a child and has seen it every day for the man who wears it is her best friend. Holding the sword in her hands, she hears a laughter behind her.

Swiftly turning around, she is faced with a small child. A girl, perhaps five winters old. The girl wears rags, her hair is all over the place and her face is caked with dirt and ash. The smile on her face and the laughter which comes from her. The girl then turns around and starts running down the hallways. "Hello? Wait!" Princess Aithne calls after her. With the sword in hand, she takes off running after the little girl who can tell her what had happened here and tell her where the people are if they have gone somewhere.

The girl she follows is quick and when the Princess calls after her, the girl does not respond. The only thing she does is run and laugh. The laughter echoing around the hallways and even in her mind. Then by Edmon's chambers, the girl stops and walks inside. Confused, Aithne follows after the girl and enters the cold room which is even colder than her own chambers. The darkness does not worry her, what does is how the girl seems to have disappeared from sight. For she is no longer inside the room itself and she could not have left so Aithne did not see her.

A gasp leaves her lips when she sees that Edmon lies on the ground not far from her. Dropping the sword, and ignoring the sound it makes, she runs down to his side and kneels down. Princess Aithne sees how his clothing is bloodied and he is barely breathing. "Do not worry, I am here. I will save you" She speaks as she tries to find the wound that has caused this brave man to fall down to nearly his death. As she does, she hears laughter. This time coming from him and she looks up to see that it is not Edmon's face any longer, rather it is Azrael's.