"She is getting too strong."

It did not take long for Alana to understand who the owner of the voice was. The girl was on her way to her room when the familiar voice piqued her attention. After an eventful argument, and a slap she had most expected from her mentor, Alana wanted nothing but a peaceful sleep. However, the girl had yet not discovered the meaning of peace. She never had the opportunity to experience it.

The voice filled with an underlying anxiousness belonged to none other than Alana's mentor. How ironic, she was fully aware that the topic of the conversation was her.

"But, The Master wishes exactly that."

A breathy sigh was released by the mentor, "And that is the problem. He refuses to understand what potential threat this girl could pose as."

"That is right," the other male spoke up, "Nevertheless, we must not forget that The Insurrection, that is, the first stage of The Takeover, will commence soon. It will be beginning sooner than we have anticipated."

"And I hope the same. The Master has a very fearful temperament. But when the time comes, he will be pleased to see how well our weapon, Alana Thornheart, has become."

Alana departed soon from the premise. With a beating heart, she rushed towards her room. When she made sure that she was all alone, and inside her small destitute, the frightened girl placed a palm on her chest.

A lub and a dub. Sweat beads soon formed on her forehead, and within no time, little droplets of the salty liquid protruding from her sweat glands, covered her entire body. Filled with trepidation, the eighteen-year-old girl began pacing back and forth, biting her finger nails in the meantime. It was derisively humorous how it was raining cats and dogs outside the residence of the trainees, as if ridiculing their inability and helplessness. Scorning and looking down on them, thinking how vulnerable one could be for not being able to even dream of the word 'escape'.

Right. Escape.

Alana wished to escape from the Dragonesian Castle and Palace premises, and return to her house. Her two-storey shabby house, where she had resided with her beloved mother for six long years. Was there no opportunity for her to return to her six-year-old self and prevent her mother from going along with the Dragonesian Guards that day? Was there no option for her to turn back time and just for once, leave Dragonesia with her mother? Forever and more.

Her life would have changed then. She would have been living now, imperturbably somewhere in the midst of nature, with her mother, in a beautiful wooden house. She would have isolated herself from the fallen human realm, that was true. But at least, she would have been happy.

Alana would have been happy.

Alana desired to be happy.

For once, before she embraced death.

Alana wiped away the tears of frustration and fear that had managed to slip out of her eyes. She stood up and removed the locket from inside her shirt. The picture of her mother was there, as if smiling back at her and telling her that everything would be alright. She just needed a little more courage, will power and determination to make her dream come true.

And so, that very night, while the whole world was being showered by the thunderous rain, Alana decided something. And she'd be damned if she did not keep her own words.

Alana Thornheart was going to escape from the clutches of the Dragonesians.

"I have a question for you both."

Lena and Lucian were perplexed and curious as to what Alana could possibly ask them. Given that, she was never the one to approach them first, and it had always been the other way round.

During the first half-an-hour of the meal times, the Dragonesian Guards went away to have their food. And during that specific period, the hallways consisting of the trainee dormitories were left unguarded and completely empty. This also meant that no guard would be outside Alana's room.

Lena and Lucian's intrigue reached its peak when Alana led them to one of the prohibited areas of the Dragonesian Castle. Alana's room.

Alana's room fell under the circumscribed premises, and the information was not new to the trainees.

The Dragonesian Palace was where the King and his son, the brute Dragonesian Prince Eluscan lived along with their royal maids, servants, physicians, chefs, and other royal employees. After a few miles was situated the Dragonesian Castle, where several weapons, which were mainly created for defence and attack during a war, were stored. The vast training grounds were located on the opposite side of the courtyard of the Dragonesian Castle. Whereas, the trainee dormitories were situated behind the Castle.

But Alana's room was various feet under the ground, and that also, under the Dragonesian Castle grounds. As if she was purposefully caged so that she could never escape.

Hence, Lena and Lucian were quite bewildered when they found themselves walking across the courtyard.

"Alana," Lucian, who was right behind Alana, muttered in a hushed tone, "We are not allowed here. You are, but we are not. And if we get caught, Lena and I will be on our deathbeds—"

"Don't worry," Alana reassured the pair, "We still have twenty five more minutes. And if anything happens, I will take the blame."

"What possibly could be so important that you had to bring us two to the restricted area?" Lena asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, "We are not even that close."

"I know," Alana answered, before halting her steps in front of a big steel door. She punched in some numbers on the digital tablet before entering what appeared to be a huge elevator, able to accommodate at the very least, fifty people. Lena and Lucian followed her but with rather unsure steps. Before the elevator door closed, Alana said one last thing to them.

"But I also know, if a war were to break out, you two would have been the first people to come and save me, and I would have done the same."

Alana sat still on her bed, rethinking the conversation she just had, a few minutes ago with Lena and Lucian.

The elevator had transported them to the depths of the ground. From there, the three of them had found themselves in a modest corridor. After Alana had led them to her room, and locked the door behind her, she had asked quite unambiguously, "Do you want to run away from this hellhole with me?"

Silence for several moments had prevailed due to Lena and Lucian being unable to process the unexpected question. Did they want to leave? Did they have the guts to actually attempt to escape? Was it possible, even in a period of thousand full moons?

Lena and Lucian had become the prey of numerous, unending questions, and they were unable to find the answers or plausible solutions to those very questions.

"Alana," after quite a few moments of silence, with a sigh, Lena had decided to speak first, "I don't know about Lucian, but I am not sure."

"What do you mean?" Alana had asked in annoyance, "Do you not want to escape from this place and finally live a better life? Do you not want to at least try for a better lifestyle rather than rotting under the surveillance of these beasts?"

"Look." Lucian had stood up from Alana's bed, and faced the girl. "I appreciate the fact that you gave us an opportunity to dream. But, we are not dreamers. We are not like you, Alana."

"What do you mea—"

"You are special. You have always been special for some reason, Alana. Whether it is your strength, skills, I have no idea. But what we all know is that, you are special. Even if we two get caught right now, and you take the blame, I can say with one hundred percent surety that you will be released with very little punishment. And we will be executed."

"We don't have the courage to do what you imagine of us, Alana." Lena had walked up to the girl, and put her hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for wanting to help us but we are not to be helped. We can never be helped."

Alana needed no more specific clarification to know their answer. And she understood it later. They were frightened for their lives. They were not trained as much as Alana was. And they were treated in such a way, as if their existence never mattered.

However, one thing was determined.

Alana was not going to step back down now. She had reached too far to step back, and she needed to seize the moment, ultimately.

Alana Thornheart was going to escape. Tonight.

"Excuse me."

The unearthly magenta pair of eyes glanced behind him to find Alana peeking her head out of her room door. There were already four additional guards, who were guarding Alana's room, or rather Alana herself, by standing in the hallway all attentively. The Dragonesian Guard, who seemed to be the most impossible person to take down, was right in front of the door. Naturally, he needed to be dealt away with first.

"What?" the guard snapped, not acknowledging Alana's presence.

"Could you come inside my room for a moment? I am unable to find something."

"I couldn't care less, Miss Thornheart," the Guard stated, turning his attention away from Alana.

"But the object is important and belongs to the High Lord."

A smug grin appeared on Alana's face when she watched the blood draining away from the Guard's face at the title. There is no doubt the Dragonesian King is feared by all. Without any word, he entered the room and began searching for the supposed object.

"What does it look like?"

"It's very small and has a dirty brown colour to it," Alana started explaining, "Maybe the object is under the cabinet, but I can't seem to remember."

The Guard wasted no time before bending down, thus giving access to Alana to formulate her plan. She tiptoed close to the back of the Dragonesian, and before he could comprehend anything, he felt a piercing stab on his neck. Of course, due to being a Dragonesian, he would not die from a small stab, but he would fall unconscious for a few hours.

And that is exactly what happened.

A victorious smile appeared on Alana's face before she put on her best petrified expression and dashed out of her room.

"The Guard! Something's happened to him!"

As soon as Alana uttered those words frantically, all the ignorant guards ran inside the room. It only took her a few seconds to make all of them go to a state of unconsciousness. She quietly got out of her room with her bag on her back, a cloth covering her lower face, and her loyal dagger always ready in her hand.

Alana was ready to escape from this hellhole forever.

Alana was doomed.

She should have taken the path to the storage room, but no, she had too much faith in her combat skills.

Alana, was able to defeat a few guards, but their number continued to increase, forcing her to run like she had never before.

And soon, she was at the front part of the Dragonesian Castle, running through the huge hallway with a herd of guards chasing her. Due to the relatively smaller height of the ceiling of the hallway, those guards could not transform into their dragon forms, which proved to be an amazing benefit.

Alana, who was as agile as a squirrel, could almost see the huge exit door, which fortunately was not being guarded since all the guards were busy going after her and thus, looking throughout the area.

"Damn it!"

Alana cursed under her breath when she unexpectedly bumped into someone and subsequently fell down on the floor. She immediately took her dagger, ready to attack, only to meet with a young boy, who seemed to be the same age as of Alana, but with a pair of glowing crimson eyes.

Alana was aware that he was not human, but she also knew that he was not chasing her because of the cloth covering his face, similar to Alana's.

He was running away from there as well. How odd.

The sounds of boots grew closer and within the wink of an eye, Alana found herself being pulled up by the boy and running with him, hand in hand.

The duo breathed heavily when they made sure that they were far away from the Dragonesians' surveillance.

However, Alana who had always taught herself to stay on alert, immediately put the blade of the dagger against the boy's neck, and demanded steadily.

"Who are you and what is your purpose?"

"I-I am a trainee as well—"

"Do not dare to lie," Alana's sharp glare was enough to make the boy shut his lips. It was a rather stupid excuse from his side. "Your crimson eyes have already given away the truth."

After much comprehension, he finally answered.

"I am Leon, a Dragonesian. I'm running away from them, just the way you are."