Reign of Rivalry

Chapter 1

A cooling breeze started to filter through the open double doors off the balcony, bringing some reprieve to the heat the afternoon sun had dealt. While the breeze was welcome, it also meant that we were getting closer to another sunset and my time was running out.

Sunset was usually my favourite time of the day, as you could still feel the heat of the sun on your skin, but it wasn't unrelenting. The pains and stresses the day had brought started to fade as you sought some sort of relaxation before you turned your mind to tomorrow.
But today, I wish the sun would remain at its highest, that it might never set, and I won't have to go through with this marriage.
But it would set, and I would be waking up tomorrow another day closer to marrying a man I had never met.

I walked out to the balcony to watch the sun set and looked over the sprawling city below me. The buildings of the inner city surrounded the castle below in a sea of various shades of creams, browns, and reds. I could see the hustle and bustle of people travelling through the streets, presumably heading home after a long day of work. Past the inner city, the buildings became more sparse and gave way to farmland that stretched to the forest. Not many ventured beyond the forest that separated my territory from the Darklands territory to the south.

Our land, Amarayus, was made up of four territories. The Fire Kingdom and the Darklands. Further south of the Darklands was the Waterways and north of my kingdom was the Sky Ranges.

The four territories had lived in a delicate state of peace for hundreds of years. Fifty years ago, the territories had fought together in a war against a group of powerful dark mages who sought to corrupt the power of Amarayus and destroy our home.

There are legends that say hundreds of thousands of years ago, Amarayus and those that lived here were mortal but were gifted powers by gods who had landed here accidentally. Those in the Waterways were gifted the ability to wield water, those in the Darklands the ability to wield shadow, those in the Sky Ranges the ability to wield air and those in the Fire Kingdom the ability to wield fire. It all sounded like a very divisive fairytale to me. Especially when not everyone was born with enough power to wield an element or any power at all, it created a class system. The more power you had, the better off you were.

I was born with the ability to wield fire, but as princess of the Fire Kingdom, that wasn't a major surprise. Royalty in my territory had always coveted power, and families made marriage deals to ensure the strength of their lines. My family was no different.

The four royal families were not only the rulers of our land but the protectors too. It was up to us to keep our people safe and prosperous, which meant the next generation of rulers needed to be strong, smart, and cunning. Brax, my older brother, was trained as a soldier and was one of the strongest mages I knew. He could wield his flames better than anyone I had seen, but unfortunately, what he had in fighting skill, he lacked in common sense. Something the King was busy trying to change.

The King, Cassius, ruled our territory without remorse, and he raised his children the same way. We did not question the King, and while Brax was busy with his royal training I felt like my value had been chalked up to the best alliance Cassius could get for my hand in marriage.

Don't get me wrong, I knew I was lucky to have been born into royalty. I knew I was lucky not having to fight for money, clothes and food, especially since others had to work tooth and nail to get those essential things every day. But I did feel my life had been reduced to nothing but a pretty price tag these days.

As I watched the comings and going's of the inner castle below, letting my mind wander. My bedroom in the castle of the Fire Kingdom was on one of the higher floors. So while I had spent many afternoons appreciating the view from my high vantage point, it also meant I couldn't plan an escape off the balcony. I looked back through my room to the heavy closed doors. On the other side stood two guards, meaning there was also no escape that way either.