There was a loud and frantic banging on the door.

“Easy there,” I shouted, rushing to the door. “The world’s not coming to an end.”

I threw it open and immediately got a face full of feathers as something rushed into my house.

“Ouch!” I mumbled, touching my cheek where the stiffer ones had scraped me.

“I’m so very sorry, Your Highness,” a high pitched voice rang out at my feet.

I jumped back in fear as I found her sitting there. Dressed in something just better than rags. She was quite ordinary, unless you noticed the unearthly glow on her skin and well, an awkward pair of white wings sitting on her back.

“Umm, I’m not hosting a fancy dress party here. You must have messed up the address, Miss,” I said, struggling to keep the smirk off my face.

“I can’t mess up the location of our Prince,” she said, drawing up a tattered map from her, pocket, whose lines were hardly visible.

“I am no prince,” I said crossing my arms. “And there is no space for lunatics in my house. So get out!”

I held the door open.

“I wish I could but I have to protect you as I had been sent as your guardian angel,” she whimpered.

“Don’t kid me. I’m just not in the mood,” I snapped.

“Please don’t throw me out. If you reject me, I can’t show my face ever again at Melodia!”
She made a dash for my feet again.

I tripped, losing my balance and almost fell when I felt a push from behind. Surprised, I whipped around to find no one.

“You did that?” I was flummoxed.

“Magic!” she gave a sad smile.

“Wait! You want me to believe in that crap in this age of technology?”

“Everything that exists in the world isn’t limited to that small smartphone in your hand.”

Her words were bold and crisp, yet she kept her head down, fidgeting with her fingers.

“Okay. So you want to tell me that I am some kind of a prince of a province called Melodia…”

“Prince Arion Eden Lazar, the heir to the throne of Melodia to be precise. I’m Siofra and I have been deputed by the queen to guard you. Delancy, your appointed guardian angel has been kidnapped by the Warriors of Melancholia. The queen needed someone well versed in all the latest advances in magic and I was the lucky one. Don’t hate me Prince, just because I’m from the slums of Adoria,” she touched her dress. “I may not be as grand as Delancy, but I have taken the lessons seriously and have aced all subjects including spells, concoctions, disguises...”

“Look, I’m still confused by all this but I can’t let a young girl stay in my house. I’m still unmarried. What will people think?”

“Oh!” she suppressed a smile. “No one can see me except you.”

“That means you’ll be stalking everywhere like a ghost and I have to bear with you?”

“The queen hid you in the human world to keep you safe from the Warriors of Darkness. Someone tipped off the Melancholians of your existence and they are planning a siege on you. I want you and me to combine our magical abilities to defeat them. If they get to you, it would be your death. They are merciless and killing the lone heir will make them easy to snatch the throne of Melodia…”

“Wait! I don’t have any magic.”

“Magic is running in your blood, it’s incorporated into every fibre of your being. You just need to find the potential to access that. It needs concentration and will power. The magic will draw energy from your own life force, so be very judicious in its use.”

She stood up, looking into my eyes.

There was unending depth and sincerity in those hazel eyes.

“Teach me how to wield my magic,” I didn’t know what more to ask.

“Concentrate on something you want to appear here and will yourself to summon the magic,” she held out her hands.

I took her hands awkwardly and closed my eyes, trying to find that power. But as much as I focused, nothing happened. Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead as I concentrated on one particular image in my mind’s eye, a thing I always had visions of, but never knew what that signified.

And then I felt it. The surge of power which seemed to have enveloped me and I felt it trickling through my fingertips.
Siofra gasped as I opened my eyes.

There sitting on her hand was a pendant with a gleaming red ruby, cut in a heart shape.

“Keep it,” I beamed. “Looks good on you.”

“I can’t. It’s an insignia in our land. Wearing it shows you’re betrothed to someone or even married!” she gave an exasperated sigh.

“Fine,” I grimaced, snatching it back.

“There, it’s going good,” she clapped her hands as I summoned silver daggers out of the thin air and directed them at the cardboard cutout figure.

“Fog!” she screamed and immediately I channeled the water droplets in the atmosphere to freeze as the mist settled thickly around us.

“You’re a natural as any prince is,” she beamed.

It had become a routine to come to the park at the break of dawn and practice our magic before the city woke up. I liked the time spent with her, much to my initial reluctance.

“I don’t think I can hold this up for a fight,” I mumbled.

“You needn’t. That’s where I come in. I’m the one that’ll fight. Your magic is for self-defense in case…” she averted her eyes.

“I’ll let you fight for me only if you promise that you would never try to protect me while endangering yourself,” my jaws hardened.

Something shifted in her features, “My duty is to shield you if they attack. We guardians are dedicated to protect those who matter...”

“You matter more to me!” my voice faltered.

Not giving her the chance to protest, I grabbed her by her waist and my lips crashed into hers. She wielded, parting hers, as I felt the shiver of electricity running through my body.

Nothing mattered to me as long as I could have her.

She broke away suddenly, shaking her head fiercely.

“You know that can’t happen in our society,” she was suddenly distant.

I slipped up behind her and kissed her throat, “I make my own decisions.”

“Prince Arion!” she gasped from the touch.

I gently slipped the pendant around her neck and clasped the necklace.

“Oh no!” her eyes were frantic, as she covered her face. “What have you done?”

“Stolen you before anyone else can!”

“This is…”

But her protests were drowned in another voice, “Whoa! What a show!”

And there was Ariel walking towards us, clapping her hands.

“It’s just a drama practice,” I groped for an explanation but Siofra stiffened.

She dashed in front of me and uttered the incantations. Swords appeared midair and hurled towards Ariel.

“Wait! She’s my friend,” I cried, but it was too late.

The swords hit a magical barrier before crumbling to the ground.

“You think that a kid like you can defeat me in magic?” Ariel waved her hands and the darkness closed in around us and purple clouds swirled.

“Beware prince. She’s one of the Warriors of Melancholia. She must be the one who tipped them off!”

“Ariel…”

A spell knocked me off my feet.
I had chanted the freezing spell though, but missed my target as it hit her left hand.

She effortlessly reversed it but Siofra had already summoned the fireballs which sped towards Ariel. She froze them midway as shards of ice began raining on us. Siofra activated her own shield and deflected the attack.

The darkness deepened around Ariel.

“If she hides, we won’t be able to intercept her attacks!” screamed Siofra, as her eyes scanned the curtain of darkness.

I shot fireballs randomly in an effort to bring Ariel back from hiding, but I could feel my powers waning.

“Conserve your energy. She wants to drain us of our magic so that she can finish you off!” warned my guardian.

Ariel appeared suddenly out of the smoky swirls and I hurled the silver daggers at her, followed by the freezing spell.

It was as if she had been waiting for that very moment! She muttered a spell and I could barely register Siofra’s screams before I saw the daggers rushing back at me. Ariel had cast a mirroring spell.

In the flick of a second, Siofra threw herself in front of me, calling the shield but it was too late. Siofra crumpled to the ground, writhing.

My second spell had frozen Ariel unexpectedly.

I dropped to the ground beside Siofra’s fallen form.

“Couldn’t you have just broken my heart like any normal girl?” I asked with tears in my eyes leaning over her and her blood — so much blood.

1500 words completed.
Written for the contest by Urban-fantasy

Thanks Pipigrin MaryFahey KashishBelikov edelmeehan for your constant support.