prologue pt.2 | a new queen |

"Do you, Adora of Kyree, vow to serve your duties as Queen?" Adora looked up from her hands, staring out at the crown of a thousand humans, each pair of eyes seeming to bore holes into her body. She felt as if she was stark naked under their scrutinizing gaze. Goosebumps formed on her bare arms and along the backside of her neck as the Royal Pastor approached Adora. Her eyes went to the object he held in his hands. Adora felt her throat close up, panic washing through her body. The pastor whose demeanor was much more relaxed than Adora's came to halt before his new queen, extending the cushion he held in his hands.

Atop that midnight blue cushion sat a silver and gold crown. The frame of the crown was made of twisted metal and various trinkets such as salmon-colored-coral, white lily flowers, and bay leaves were attached to it. In the center, a teal-colored jewel sat glistening in the dying sunlight. Adora stared at it, feeling her stomach twist.

She didn't want this now. Adora was too young. She was only 15.

Her mother had taken up her duties as queen at the age of 20. Adora had no experience whatsoever, yet she was thrown into this position without much say. Needless to say, Adora had no choice but to thank the pastor and reply to him.

"Yes, I pledge to take up my duties as Queen." Even if I'm only 15, Adora wished she could say. Her heartfelt heavy in her chest. She was only 15 and her parents were both dead, murdered in their sleep. Sitting before the citizens of her Kingdom, Adora recalled the night of her parent's death, which only happened to be a few nights ago.

It had started as a normal night, where Adora had spent the dinner discussing her recent interests with her mother and father. Like usual, her mother had nagged her about future love interests while her father had urged her to take up sword lessons. But Adora had refused, naturally, unwilling to pick up a weapon.

"Never in my life will I voluntarily choose to wield a weapon capable of killing someone." She had vowed to her father, only to earn a chuckle from both of them.

"I doubt that vow will remain true, Adora." Her father had replied, his eyes scrunching as they usually did when they laugh. Who could have known that was the last time Adora would hear her father's hearty laugh? Who knew that would be the last time Adora would feel her mother's handgrip hers underneath the table? Who knew? No one did.

Once the dinner had been adjourned and the family had gone their split ways to wash-up before bed. Adora had bathed herself, changed into her usual blue nightgown before heading off to her parent's room to wish them goodnight.

But instead of finding them laughing and sipping wine in their bed, Adora found them sprawled across the sheets with daggers plunged into their chests. The blood had been fresh, both of her parent's bodies still leaking. The murder had been recent. Dropping to her knees and screaming out in pain, only then had Adora picked up the waif of magic in the room.

The two monarchs had been killed by inanimate weapons yet the smell of magic lingered in the air, leaving Adora still puzzled to this day. But never would she forget that smell. Never would she forget the feeling as the magic had drifted past her.

Never.

Blinking away the tears that had started to form at the brim of her eyes, Adora gazed out into the crown, finding comfort in Tyrus, her lifelong friend. Thank the gods, he'd been there to comfort her after she discovered the monarch's lifeless bodies. Thank the gods that she wasn't alone. Wasn't she?

"Do you, Adora of Kyree, swear to protect your Kingdom at all costs?" Her hands balled into fists. Her heartbeat quickened.

"Yes, I vow to protect my people and Kingdom till my very last breath." The pastor lifted the crown off of the pillow.

"Do you vow to put your life on the line for Kyree? Will you make sacrifices for the good of Kyree?"

"Yes." The crown hovered over her head.

"Then, I now crown you, Adora, Queen of Kyree." The weight of the crown felt heavy, almost as if it could force Adora into the ground.

Soon the crowd erupted into cheers sending shivers down the newly crowned Queen's spine.

While a Prince fought in the darkness in his cell, a princess was proclaimed Queen.

One would wield fire. One would wield water.

The two would shift and rock the worlds with their powers.

Mountains would shake and oceans would roar in their wake.

Enemies at birth, their destinies intertwined, what could go wrong when the two royals collide?