IMPERIUM

Chapter 1

The dark night cast its shadows over the kingdom. The sound of the howling wind and the creaking and clanking of the post-lamps echoed through the streets. It had been raining, despite that, the night market was full of life. From afar, down a long road, almost leading into a forest, the noise of a man and his acquaintance both disguised in dirty capes could be heard running. They were being chased by a bunch of guards while dashing down the road. The man and his acquaintance ran for their lives. They themselves didn't know where they were headed but they were sure of one thing, their secret could not be revealed.

"He killed her!"
The same sentence kept replaying in the guard's head.
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"The Iris kingdom had for many years been a peaceful and calm realm. It was divided into different ranks depending on the color of the eyes. Each eye color signified a different power. The weakest are the people with normal eye colors, such as brown, green and blue. The second strongest type of eye color belonged to the royals. They had been blessed with purple eyes. The eyes were a way to distinguish them from the lowborn and the powerless. The royals had always treated the people equally even though they weren't as strong, powerful, or rich..."

"Alayna Callisto what on earth!?" a voice exclaimed, making her jump in a slight shock from the dramatic entrance of her aunt.

"Uh nothing, just reading a book."

Aunt Mara raised her eyebrow in a questioning way "Did I not tell you to stop reading these useless books and start preparing for your coming-of-age ceremony that is coming up in a few weeks?" she stated, waving her hands around, pointing towards the books thrown in every corner of the room.

Alayna wanted to snap back, but made herself stop, not wanting to hear her aunt begin rambling about how much of an indecent lady and princess she is. Not forgetting to remind her how much of a disgrace she is to the family.

"Apologies," Alayna replied.

"Clean this mess up immediately!"

"Maid!" Aunt Mara shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Here Miss," said a soft voice entering Alayna's bedroom.

"Go help her tidy up her room and get her ready for the evening dinner, she looks like a hot mess"

"Yes miss, right away miss." Alayna's maid, Lina nervously answered, which made Alayna smile at their encounter.

Lina has been Alayna's head maid since a young age. Don't be deceived by her age or soft talk, she's great at biting back when she wants to. However, for some reason, she has always been afraid of Aunt Mara. Lina is also her most trustworthy maid and friend.

Before exiting the room, aunt Mara gave Alayna a last look. Her eyes bored into Alayna's. It felt like she was looking into her soul.

"That woman is very scary," Lina said with a frightened look when aunt Mara left which made Alayna burst out in laughter.

"Don't worry she's all bark no bite"

"I do question that very much" Lina retorted back in a lower voice.

"You're not really going to clean this up, are you?" Alayna questioned while her eyes searched for another book on her massive bookshelf, "I want to continue reading these books, so don't move anything, please."

"Don't worry," Lina replied back, "But you really need to get yourself ready before her majesty barges in again."

"Oh! I still don't seem to understand why aunt Mara was making such a big fuss out of this dinner?" Alayna questioned.