"Crowns topple easily. Thrones crumble like dust. Hearts cease to beat. Thorns draw blood."
In a country torn into two, there should have been no room for mistakes. Especially not at the very core of the royal family. That was what she was. Yes, a...
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The course of Ravka's history has been changed numerous times over the centuries.
Each change being triggered by a person, a sildroher, a Saint, a Sun Summoner, a Shadow Summoner, or even a Heartrender. Each of them made their own way in the world, changing the world to fit them instead of conforming to the world they were taught to be like.
Change was not always good for it comes in many forms. In Ravka, change came in the form of merzost, poison, war, blood, tears, and pain.
Though, it was not all bad. Change came in the form of bright-eyed princesses and dark princes, abolished laws, and reunited lovers. Yes, it truly was not all that bad.
From change, came the Ravka that the world knew today. The Ravka that was not buried in debts, rather in treasures of all kinds. In its beautiful culture, diverse people, and flourishing reality.
Many would thank the Saints or whichever god they worshipped. However, those deities and beings they worshipped, people who seemed so far away, started off just like they did.
The greatest of them all were two young people whose salvation stemmed from the fact that they fell in love.
One of them was born to be different from everyone. He was the son of the only living Shadow Summoner, being one himself. He was the grandson of a man deemed a Saint, yet persecuted by those he loved.
He discovered his abilities when his own friends tried to have him killed to use his bones as amplifiers. He was recruited by a king to win a war but that same king turned against him once the war was over.
He has seen many die at the hands of people who thought themselves righteous men ridding the world of abominations. He tried to save them but in doing so, split the country apart.
He was branded a heretic, a traitor, a monster. His story could have ended there but it didn't.
One of them was born to be loved and adored. She was the daughter of a king and a golden princess to be molded to fit the ranks of those that came before. Raised to be married off and used as a pawn, she proved her father wrong when an ability sprung forth from within her.
She was told to suppress this ability despite knowing that she would be weakened by the effort. She was a good soul, a pure-hearted being, whose only fault was that she was born flawed and different from the rest of the royal family.
She had seen people like her suffer at the hands of the people who claimed her as one of her own. For years, she was silent. Until she decided to fight back.
She was branded an abomination, a rebel, a fool. Her story could have ended there but it didn't.
So many things could have been different if Irina Lantsov did not go into the forest that day, if Aleksander Morozova did not see her power play out before his eyes. Things could have been different if their hearts did not find each other in the shadows of that dark dreary forest.
Ravka would be ruined if these two people did not meet, did not fall in love, and did not fight for what they believed in.
People of Ravka do not know them as Irina Lantsov, the princess with the ability to change the world. They did not know Aleksander Morozova, the Shadow Summoner who changed the world with her.
Churches, history books, and the old folk spoke of them as the Starless Saint and the Red Princess. Two beings that would live on for the rest that time would permit them, their lives eternally bonded to one another and bonded into the books that made them legends.
To Grisha, they were heroes. To some, they were enemies. They were leaders, generals, monarchs, parents. But to the rest of the world, they were the inevitable change that came upon reality and molded it into something else.
Yes, change came in many forms. In this case, it came in the form of a golden-haired princess and a dark-haired villain who found redemption in her presence.
Stories often end so quickly that all the characters' chances are dwindled to nothing but stay a while longer. It will be worth your time.
In time, distressed damsels and ruthless villains can become heroes too. At least, in this story.
Perhaps in another reality, the villain remained a villain, forever wronged by the outcomes of his actions. In another reality, the distressed damsel would've been helpless for the rest of her miserable life.
Yet in this story, they found each other. They stayed for each other. They changed and brought change for each other.
