She was a diamond. So beautiful. Glorious. Shiny. Lovable. But, she was also strong. ——- I stepped in front of the crowd, the suns above soaked up the heavy makup powdered upon my face. The sparkly green and gold dress spread the light to even the darkest of the corners. Every inch around me appeared happy, except for me. I couldn’t help but think that I was made for more. That I was destined to save this kingdom from a great threat. But, I couldn’t do that as long as I was the princess. I had to be the queen. I continued to walk past the cheering crowd and approached the marble temple. The clouds above slowly morphed into darkness. A wave of worried drowned me. I felt the guards run up and drag me out of the village square. When the two large men shoved me into the castle I heard alarming sound. Screaming. So much screaming. The guards pushed me down the staircase into the safe room. It was used by the ancients to save the royal family. Today it would be used for the same. I fell into the pit and heard the doors clash together. No one else was here with me. I was alone. After the screaming passed a silence fell. I suffered in the darkness and with one large sigh I blew out the last candle. One last time I said to myself. One last time and it would never happen again. I took in one heavy breath. I screamed. One last time. I screamed.

I stepped out of the flooding room and walked along the cobble stone floors. Then and loud boom filled the passage way. I ran up to the doors that had been locked for seven years. “Take your shot stranger, you only get one,” I called. I pulled the dagger from my worn boot and held it behind me back just in case. “Princess? Is that really you? Are you really here?” A strange male voice called. “Get down hands behind your back,” I yelled stepping into the dimly lit entrance way where my blood still lay smeared along the stone. “Your, alive? So, the rulers are true? Why did you leave?” His voice called back of tears of terrible conditions. I could say any different for myself. “What’s it like? You know, up there?” I asked. “You want to know? Come along with me and I’ll show you the mess you left behind seven years ago,” a large grin played across his face. His eyes alleared to be looking through me. I pulled another dagger from my sleeve and threw it backwards whilst I threw one at the man inground of me. Two scream filed the room. That last two screams ever that I had heard in seven years. I sighed and pulled the daggers from each of the men, leaving them in the floor and exiting the dungeon. When I met the surface what was once castle was now exposed to the open sun. Absolute destruction had became of my kingdom. I pulled myself out and saw my crown on the floor. It had been there for seven years and not. A soul had taken it. They where to afraid to venture back here. I turned around and saw the miserable landscape. The even sadder people living in it. I ran up to the edge of the marble floors and looked down. There where all my dresses. I guess someone was brave enough to come back. I smiled and jumped of the platform, rolling into the thinly wooded forest. I was finally queen and I would do whatever it took to prove my power over the evil. I was queen and that meant I could do whatever I wanted. I was going to save the world. —————

I ran out to a large hill and climbed to the top. I searched the land for any sign of human life. Then there was a large disturbance within the forest to my left. I leaped down the hill and into the trees. I felt the sun melt away below the mountains and darkness emerge from the edges of the earth. Then, within the trees I saw a familiar face. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I knew who he was. “Why, it been a long time, Marlo. Seven years, was it? What took you so long?” His voice rattled my mind. I still couldn’t say who he was. His name had escaped my memory. “How do you know my name? How do I know you?” I asked. “Hmph. You don’t remember me? Out of the hundreds of way I imagined this could go, I’m not one of them you misplaced who I was. You can’t tell me you forgot the day at the spring. It’s me, remember Marlo,” he said. That’s all it took. I imidiatly remembered him. My whole body trembled but I couldn’t let him know that. “Louis.” I muttered under my breath. “Exactly.” He grinned. Then behind him a large creature emerged. It’s teeth larger then geodes. It’s large furry head the size of three bowlers. I pulled the dagger from my boot and leaped on Louis back, stabbing the creature. Louis collapsed and groaned as his face flattened in the dirt. “Your welcome,” I laughed as I kicked him. He rolled over, right into the tree. “Ouch,” he moaned. “You think you can tell me what the hell that thing was. Louis. What happened to my kingdom. To our kingdom.” He hoped up and smacked my face. “Don’t you ever call it our kingdom. I hate you and you hate me. I don’t appreciate your teasing. Let’s make this quick, that was a Barglo. Those are the most common, they burnt down the villages. Next, are the Giria. They are the creature that fly above. Rarer but more of an issue. But what we need to worry about are the Hompho. They are the master minds. If we kill them, all the of creatures will die, expect the one Werma. He is the real monster. Without him, we would have price. You happy?” He finished. “Yes, yes I am,” I sighed and marched to the edge of the trees. “Also, we can’t leave the forest until the sun rises or all hell will break loose. Hope you rested those seven years. Until we kill Werma, you won’t get a wink.” He laughed. I groaned, “looks like this will be a long night.” I said. “A very, very long one.”

I bet your wondering how I know Louis. What I know about him and how. Really, it’s simple. He was my fiance. But we didn’t want anything to do with it. Slowly we learned to love one another and then, ofcourse, some catastrophic event had tj happen and bring it all down. Now your wondering what happened. I’ll tell you. A dragon happened. One, very large, Snow White dragon emerged from its lair right into our camp. Instead of killing us it changed us. Well, I got a treatmeant for it aback in the castle. Louis, wasn’t as fortunate. That lead my father and his army into war with the dragon. They failed. My father never came back. ————— “Louis, hand me that sword,” I elbowed his back shoulder. “Maybe if you would treat me better I would feel more willing to,” he growled. “If where going to do this we have to be a team,” I growled. Be just stood there, staring me unblinkingly into the eyes. “Fine! Be that way! I’ll just grab it myself!” I step over and leach to grab it. Louis had done the same and we landed in a heap on the grass. “Why did you do that!”I shreaked. “Get of me!” He shoved me of and I rolled up against a tree. “So much fo a team,” I rolled my eyes.

I stepped into the reeds, my feet soaking in the blood red river. Yeah, a lot has happened. But a lot has yet to happen. First, we took this cow from the feild and we’ll, had a good dinner. That resulted in a, strange respond from the trees and well, now we have a bloody river. ————— “Come, follow me,” I called back to Louis as I took another step forward. “I told you that this conversation wasn’t over,” he yelled. “And yet,” I muttered. “What was that?” He asked. “Forget it,” I groaned. “Huh?” “Fine. If you say we can fix this. We can fix it. Just not the way that you say we will fix it,” I said. “No, it’s the only way,” he said. He was standing right beside me. His eye dug deep into my mind, pulling out the parts of me I though had been buried for good. “But, where is my happiness?” I asked. “A princes—queen, does not always receive what she gives. It’s the part you have to play in this whole act. This whole performance for the gods. Marlo, we are the performers, we are the puppets, we are the show. We always have been. We have to make a good ending. That ending comes with sacrifices. Sacrifices that we all have to make. Marlo, deal with it,” he marched ahead of me. I stood there, in awe. My mouth agape. I was going to have to make sacrifices. I prepared the words in my head. Exactly what I would say. A Grin pulled at my lips. “You better not think for one second that you won’t be beat down like hell. Make your own damn sacrifices!”

Ina world full of daisys, be a daffodil. If there was one thing that reminded me of my family it would be that. I would always answer, but I want to be a daisy In many ways I am, but I am still a daffodil. Maybe, I can be both. Or maybe I will be rose. That sounds better. I am a rose. Nothing more. ————— “Loui, down!” I yelled. A boomerang with daggers glued to it sliced through the air. Louis stood once it passed over our heads. I dragged him down until the boomerang cut the wind and landed in the hands of a filthy looking creature. Han— paws like bushes. Eyes like strawberry’s. I yanked the small dagger wedged in Louis stomach from the last Barglo. I tossed it into the throat of the monster in fright of us. Louis groaned as I used his back to leap up into a tree. I swung my feet into the chest of an unfamiliar creature. Something swung from the air. Fell to the dirt and groaned as dust attacked my mouth and nostrils. Louis had jumped up and strangled the foyijg creature. We had killed them all. The graveyard surrounding us. “Well, one thing is for sure,” he said. “What’s that?” I asked. “You stil fight like a rose,” he grinned. “And?” I said. “We all thought you would have lost your flare. Your fighting skill and your attitude. It’s all the same. Your a rose Marlo. You always will be,” he said. A genuine smile spread across his face. I appeared on mine as well. “That makes you a peony,”

I ran out of the line of sight. The voices where less than a mile away. We thought we would have had more time. I guess, we don’t. I guess we might never. I gestured for Louis to come in my direction. His glare shifted from my eyes to something behind me. I turned around and felt cloth wrap around my body. Darkness took hold. My breath was warm. I was in a sack. I flailed about. Nothing helped. I took the dagger from my boot and jabbed it into the nothingness that surrounded me. A masculine voice shouted. I took in one, deep breath and kicked of the wagon I knew that I had been thrown into. Something kept me down. A barrier. Then I heard Louis begin to speak. The voices where muffled. From the corner of the bag, a small rip showed the sun. From that slight glare a haze formed around me eyes. My head felt heavy and before I knew it I was out. ————— “Wake up,” he whispered. “Louis?” I muttered. “Exactly,” “That didn’t even make sense. Say yes not Exactly,” I groaned. I stood up in what appeared to be a cell. A prison cell. “Bet you didn’t think of this,” I said, looking back at him. “No, no I did not,” he answered. “Come on, we have better things to do then argue.” I nudged his shoulder with mine. “What are you waiting for,”

“What is this?” Louis had wandered of to meet up with me later. I had wandered into a desolate village except for one person. I knew them too. They didn’t know me. At least that’s what it looked like. “Just one bigger telling another where to find the bread,” he walked past me, his should bumping Mine. “I know you, how.” I slipped a dagger from my sleeve and stood there, my face peering behind my shoulder. “I told you, I don’t know. Just one beg—“ I cut him off my slamming myself into his stomach. I pressed my blade to his throat. Blood began to slowly trickle from his neck. “Marlo,” he croaked. “Fresco,” I dug the knife into his throat and ran off. His last word was my name. I grinned and walked off.

I heard his voice. Several minuets away. His throat crackled like a fire in the mourning. “Look at you calling me spineless behind my back,” I smacked his shoulder with my palm. He grinned and attempted to introduce me to the man just in front of him. “Well hello to you too,” I scowled at the blonde guy. His smirk sent a wave of Nasir through my system. I heard a faint wistle hung in the air and I ran in its direction. I whistled back and the creature began to trot through the brush. My lips pulled up into a wide smile. The majestic creature came running through the air. Drake. The horse ran right into my arms. Tears streamed down my face. “It’s okay. Your not alone anymore,” I patted the horse and swung atop him. “What are you waiting for. We have things to do,”