THE ARRIVAL

I took him to see the city, it was almost as if he was already familiar with it, he smiled at everything and spoke to everyone he encountered with genuine kindness, he reminded me of father in a way, it was quite pleasing. You could only tell he was a foreigner by the color of his skin and the way he dressed.

"How can we ditch them?"

"The royal guards?"

"Mhmm, they make us stand out"

"Lord aderryrs, i don't think that's the only reason why we stand out."

"Look is that the Queen !" He exclaimed, dragging away the attention of our guards. Once they looked away, he took my left arm and dragged me along as he ran. I don't think he had any idea what direction he was running towards, but maybe that was why it was completely exciting for me.

We ran carelessly along the streets of the capital, drawing everyone's attention towards us with our loud laughter, i could not help but keep staring at his silver hair flying in the air as he ran, it was like a white jelly fish floating in the open sea, the wave his hair made were gentle, I wondered what it will feel like to touch it, to smell it, to feel it...

"a garment shop!" Lord aderryrs exclaimed, breaking me away from my mesmerized gaze. "Come on! Let's dress like the citizens of Maerin."

It was a local garment shop, nothing like I have ever been to. The garments of the royal family are only sewn by high courts officials. He dragged me in and requested simple garments so we could blend in with the rest of the citizens.

"Here is our finest sir..." the Middle Aged man who attended to us said, handing over 8 garments to lord aderryrs. "Would you like to try them on sir ?"

"Of course..."

"We only have a single dressing room sir, would you like to go first ?"

"We can share"

"What.." I said in a low tone

"Is it big enough for two ?"

"Yes sir." the surprised old man replied with a confused and judgmental look on his face.

Lord aderryrs gently took my hesitant hand and  the shop attendant showed us to a poorly constructed changing room, very light cotton curtains, no mirrors, just a bench and something that resembled one of mothers old wigs on a stand in a corner. As my eyes traveled across the poorly kept changing corner, judging and regretting my decision to show lord aderryrs around the city, he immediately got to undressing.

I sat down on the old bench and began to take off my shoes and that was when i noticed the silver tattoo along his waist, it was shaped like an old rune.

He pulled down his trousers and I looked away in panic, my heart racing, I kept blinking, taking several breaths, resisting the urge to look back at him. Eventually, I gave in and turned, my eyes landing on his beautifully sculpted thighs. my eyes began to travel upwards, he wore a red silk under garment that barely covered anything, his buttocks perky and firm, he was quite slender, my eyes traveled To his chest and I could see he's perfectly pointed nipple, for some reason I did not understand, it sent a shiver down my spine and I got hard, I struggled to convince myself to look away, but he was too perfect, my eyes traveled further upwards to his face and that's when i realized he was looking down at me the whole time.

Completely embarrassed, i quickly looked away, holding onto the clothes the shop owner had given us to try, using it to conceal my very obvious erection.

"Your majesty" he said with a smile

"Lord aderryrs." I replied.

Without looking for further conversation, he left the dressing corner in one of the garments the shop attendant had given.

It took me another 20 minutes to calm myself down and rejoin him at the counter of the shop where he was engaged in a friendly conversation with the attendant.

"Wow!...you are a new man." He stated.

I smiled coyly and handed the rest of the garments to the attendant, I was about to inquire about the cost when he pulled out one of his diamond rings and handed it to the attendant who was completely astonished, before he could refuse, lord aderryrs took my arm, said farewell to the attendant and we were back on the streets of maerin.

First we joined a small crowd and cheered on a Juggling group, then we bought some tickets to a fish catching game to win chocolates, the children nearly chewed us out with their stares. At the end Lord aderryrs gave them most of the chocolates he had won and they cheered him on, he was so free spirited, I had never felt more carefree in my life before. We eventually arrived at a lovely road side concert where a sizable crowd quietly listened to the melodious voice of a beautiful woman singing a melancholic song. We joined and listened, her voice was easily comparable to the entertainers of palace, i was pleased. The song ended and we clapped, then she began her second number.

Lord aderryrs leaned into my ear, so close that I could feel his warm breath. In response, my skin was flooded with goosebumps and my nipples tingled.

"Can i call you by your name your majesty?" He asked, in the sweetest, softest, warmest voice, he's perfume taking up every room around my nose. I turned slowly to meet his ocean blue eyes, I wasn't about to say no but I was too scared to say yes, and before I could form the words, it happened.

300 years ago, the 5 kingdoms ended a brutal war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, A war started by the king of Ethidiea, The dark Lord Hasaf. His obsession with black magic had led him to enslave his own people and bring death and horror to ethidiea. At first, the fellians fought alongside him but during the last years of his reign, they joined a campaign led by my great grand mother that United the kingdoms and captured him. He was castrated, killed and mummified, buried in a secret tomb hidden with magic formed by the great priestess of adilan. All of his bloodline was haunted down, from unborn babies to the whitest grey haired person, they were killed in a bid to make sure his bloodline never resurfaced again.

All kingdoms flew their own banners and declared themselves independent after the war. The three kingdoms, maerin, adilan, nosvoc remained friends after the war but fellians were alienated. Adarof flew its own banners as well and with a new government tried to build a relationship up until 21 years ago when it's black gate was shut and the attacks began. No one had been able to make contact with the citizens of adarof, a dark evil surrounded it and was spreading. It had taken nosvoc, my sister was there trying to defend its wall when it came. Now that evil was here, in Maerin.

We had secured our borders with enchantments so powerful it would need a grand witch to even attempt to break it, there was no way a dark demon could find its way into the kingdom, but there they were, three of them, flying above us. I looked on in horror.

I had never seen anything so terrifying, they descended with full force crashing onto the ground and immediately began to absorb the magic and energy, with just a single blast one would turn to nothing but mush. The once calm scenery of the people of maerin enjoying a lovely day broke into chaos. The air was filled with so much dust, but it wasn't dust, rather the flesh of people whose magic and energy had been sucked away. The city horn blew and that was when I realized I was actually running. Lord aderryrs had grabbed me and we were fleeing.

"Wait! Wait! We need to help them!"

"There is nothing you can do! Follow me!"

"No!" I screamed, fighting to get away from his grip as he dragged me along. "let me go!"

He immediately slammed me against a wall, his once peaceful eyes filled with terror.

"What do you know about fighting a dark demon! Have you ever seen one! Fought one! Huh! Have you!" He yelled as i looked at him completely speechless.

He was right, this was not something i was prepared for. I knew that, however, I could not help but think there was something I could do, someone I could save, they were all turning to dust. As we were getting away a 4th one descended right in front of us, the crowd of people that ran alongside us turning back sharply as they screamed. it wasted no time turning them into dust. Before we could turn away, it pointed it's hands towards us releasing a bolt of red fiery light. Lord aderryrs pushed me out of the way, It all happened so fast. Next thing I remember, I was waking up in my own bed, Ellion sitting next to me knitting.

My throat was very dry, my eyes hurting as I opened them. I looked to my left and there was ellion, it seemed like he was knitting a sweater, he hadn't quite noticed me waking up yet so I just laid there not wanting to disturb him. I was disoriented and eager to find out what happened but there is nothing as peaceful as watching ellion knit, if only you could see him.

"Ellie...." I managed to whisper.

he sprung up, rushing to the side of my bed, he's eyes red, it looked like he had been crying.

"Your highness.....you're awake.....I'll get the doctor..."

"Ellie....water." He rushed over to the table and got me a glass, gently helped me sit up and I drank. "Thank you." my head banging as i tried to get out of bed.

"Take it slow your highness"

"How did i get here?"

"Lord aderryrs brought you back your highness"

"What happened, did we stop the dark demons"

"Yes your highness"

"That's good....the things i saw Ellie....it was horrifying"

"I am sorry your highness." Ellion replied, he's head in a bow, almost like he was avoiding looking at me.

I took a gulp of my water while looking at him from the corner of my eye, wondering what was going through his head.

"Ellie, you know only the Queen is allowed to be called your highness"

"Yes your highness." He replied, finally looking at me, tears welling up in his eyes, and that was when i knew.

"What happened to the Queen Ellie?" I asked, fear gripping my heart as I began to tremble. "Ellie! What happened to the Queen!" I yelled. He fell to his knees, bursting into tears.

"I am so sorry your highness."

The cup slipped from my shaking hands crashing onto the floor, my legs were too weak to carry me but I sprung up and ran to the door, throwing it open. Almost 20 guards stood armed and saluted at the sight of me, I ran down the hallway to mothers room which was empty, it looked normal and everything seemed fine but it was all wrong.

I could hear Ellion calling me as I ran hysterically with a shortness of breath to the throne room, which was almost completely destroyed, and there it was, her crown on her throne covered in a light black material as customs demanded for a newly deceased reigning royal. I was speechless, horrified & heartbroken, I couldn't form any words, I felt way too much pain to cry. I just stood there, motionless.