3. The ancient catacombs

I tried to open my eyes as I could feel the horrible headache that was making me feel like a tree had hit my head. It took me awhile to realize that I was on something soft and I could hear voices. As the seconds passed, I could make out the voices more clearly and realize that it was Malik and Phillip, arguing.

"You are a fool for taking her out there! Were you planning to murder her?" I heard Phillip's voice rise and frowned. I couldn't believe he was here after weeks of not speaking to me.

"I was trying to comfort her! Something you couldn't do clearly because you left her to deal with her grief herself. She has never been outside the palace grounds. I wanted her to at least see how the forest looked like."

"That forest is banned. They are scary creatures out there."

"That is a story that generations of council members and kings have used to scare the people out of the forest. There is nothing wrong with it."

"Ilene is too fragile to go out there. She could get hurt easily."

"That is not true." I heard Louisa speak. She is the one who must have let them in. "She can ride horses and shoot arrows on target unlike a certain somebody." She said and Malik started snickering.

"YOU ARE THE MOST..." Phillip started but I finally got the energy to sit up and Phillip stopped his sentence and came rushing towards me. "Are you okay?" I looked at him and glared. He doesn't speak to me for weeks and the first thing I hear out of his mouth is that I'm fragile?

"I may be naïve, but I'm not fragile." I told him and he saw my face and took a step back. I got out of bed. "You do not get to disappear then come back and act as you care. How dare you call me fragile? Have you forgotten that I'm your princess?!"

" No, your highness." Phillip said as he bowed down to me. We had been friends for years. But now I was starting to doubt our friendship. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked at Malik, who stood beside me. He gave me a face that clearly meant he wanted me to calm down. I breathed in and out slowly, a technique Anastacia had taught me to use when someone insulted you in public. I walked away from him and sat on my bed.

"Could you tell me what happened in the forest?" He asked.

Flashbacks of my father appeared and I sighed. I still didn't know what he meant. I looked at Malik, Phillip and Louisa seriously. "What I say now should remain a secret." They all nodded and I looked at Phillip. I couldn't let years of friendship just pass as if it didn't mean anything. "I spoke to my father." I looked at their reactions. Louisa gasped, horrified and Phillip looked at me like I was mad . Maybe I was giving him the leeway and probably should rethink our friendship. Malik, he looked deep in thought as if he knew something.

"And this is why I didn't want you going in that part of the forest. Are you sure it was your father?" He asked.

"I am sure. I knew it was his presence. He spoke to me of a prophesy. He knew he was going to die and he knew Queen Anastacia was going to murder him. He said it was meant to be. He said the kingdom was going to fall and that I was going to be its savior. I didn't understand that part." No one spoke for a little while.

"I have an idea." Malik spoke up and we all looked at him. "I read this book in the library that stated prophecies are written in the old catacombs under the castle grounds. Apparently magic still exists down there."

"Magic?" Phillip asked, looking nervous. " Magic doesn't exist, right Ilene?" He looked at me and I shook my head no. I had seen fairies, elves and unicorns that people believed were just fairytales. I did not how Astraea forgot about magic but it did exist.

"It does Phillip. I guess that means we're going to the catacombs." I said and Malik nodded.

"Princess are you sure?" Louisa asked. "I also do not believe in magic but if you do then I do."

"Yes, I'm sure." I told her.

"Then we should get prepared immediately. Are you coming Phillip?" Malik asked. Phillip looked unsure. But I was going with or without him.

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"Where do you think we should start?" I asked Malik. We were sitting at my tea table in my quarters and Louisa was keeping watch. People would raise suspicion if they find out that they were two men in my room. But luckily, everyone was preparing for Emperor Attor's arrival. No one was paying attention to the lowly princess who meant nothing.

"Well, I read that the entrance was where Astraea's ancestor was located." Malik told us.

"Do you mean the place where he was buried?" I asked.

"I'm not sure."

"I still think we shouldn't do this." Phillip said worriedly. Malik and I ignored him.

"Maybe it's a statue." I suggested. I had roamed this palace for years. I knew the kings and queens that were in the gallery. Maybe this statue was somewhere else. Once Malik and Phillip left to search, I had Louisa help me change into a blue dress. I didn't feel the need to wear black anymore. My father had spoken to me and had left me something. I didn't quite fully understand it but I was going to make this work. I had to know what the prophesy really was , then I could see what I could do to stop the kingdom from falling. I didn't believe him all the way. Astraea was a kingdom that others feared. I didn't know who would strike it.

I started to walk about the hallways trying to examine every statue to see which one looked more ancient. I hoped I wouldn't run into Anastacia because I did not think I would be able to handle another insult from her. I found myself in the throne room and I was glad to see that no one was present. There was statues in the throne room but I had never paid attention to them because I was rarely in the room. They looked old as I walked through them slowly, spotting the paintings of the queens behind them. I walked towards the one near the King's throne. My father's throne. I did not recognize the king. He looked massive as if he was not human. He sat on a stone with a staff in hand. He looked as if he was looking at me, trying to tell me something. I looked behind me and gasped. The queen's painting had been covered with a black veil. I did not understand why because only those who had died recently had a veil on, like my father's. I opened it and smiled in wonder. It was a fairy. She was in human form but her wings were painted as well and were a beautiful shade of blue. Her skin was dark and her eyes were golden. Her black hair had a blue tint to it and it was long. The painting looked as if the wind was blowing in her face, since her hair was flying. She looked alive. I watched as she pointed to the staff and I glanced at it. It glowed.

I knew what I had to do.

I went running back to my room hoping to meet Malik or Phillip. I spotted Phillip talking to a council member. I frowned. I walked quickly and intervened with a smile. I took Phillip's arm. "What are you two gentlemen talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing important." Phillip was quick to say.

"It was nice to speak to you Lord Phillip."Baron Erick said and Phillip bowed.

"To you as well." Phillip said and walked me away.

"What were you doing?" I asked once we were out of his sight.

"Nothing really. He asked me what I was doing without you and I had to make something up." I didn't buy it. Phillip had been acting weird this whole time. I didn't know if it was because he still believed I was crazy or something. We went to find Malik in the stables. He apologized saying that Madam Eleanor was questioning why he hadn't been working with the horses. We waited a few hours before we could all go back to the throne room. It was almost evening which was great because that meant the council had gone back home. I led the others to Astraea's ancestor. It still looked like he was looking at me. I tried to pull the staff but nothing happened.

"Try pushing it down." Malik advised me and I did. It worked.

"How do you know all of this?" Phillip asked a little too loudly.

"Keep quiet. We don't want to alert the guards. " I whispered. We watched as the wall with the fairy queen on it open like a door. We went inside quickly. It was completely dark from the throne room that was illuminated by the last rays of sunlight. We found a torch on the wall and with some matchsticks we lit the torch. The deeper we walked into the catacombs the more we didn't need the torch. The ceiling started to glow with crystals that looked exactly like the ones from the pond of memories. Phillip insisted we keep the torch on so we left it to him to hold it. It took us long before we reached what had to be the middle of the catacombs. It looked like a whole building was here as it went up all the way to what had to be the ceiling of the castle. I didn't understand how this could hide itself. There was a bunch of skeletons around the pillar in the middle that I frowned upon. They were in old palace guard uniforms from over hundreds of years ago. The palace had hallways and windows like it used to be a room. the architecture was beautiful but broken. The pillar in the middle had a staircase surrounding it. I saw the glowing white light on top and I started to walk up the stairs.

"Ilene, that does not look safe!" Phillip shouted.

I didn't care. I had to see what the light was. Once I reached it, it glowed brighter. I walked up to it and touched it. It was warm. But it slowly started to turn red. I tried to take my hand out of it but I couldn't. "I'm stuck!" I shouted.

Malik ran up but got pushed back down. Then the place started to shake as it said,

THE REALM OF STARS MUST BURN.

THE BRIGHT LIGHT WILL DELIVER IT.

IT WILL ENDURE THE MURKINESS.

IT WILL STRANGLE THE WRATH OF NIGHT.

I gasped as I got pushed down the stairs by the energy blast. I stood up slowly. The building had stopped shaking and I was hoping it hadn't woken up the whole castle. I had bruised my left hand but I didn't say anything as Malik led us out quickly. We went back the way we came and we were glad to find no one walking about beside the palace guards.

"Are we going to talk about what just happened?" Phillip asked.

"It's late. I have horses to tend to in the morning." Malik said. I nodded to them as we went our separate ways.

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"Are you sure about this?" Louisa asked as she tightened my corset.

"Yes. It is Queen Anastacia's wishes. I cannot go against them, for now at least." I told her as she tightened it again before tying it. I hated corsets but I was used to them by now. The queen had also chosen a yellow dress for me which I found did not suit me because of my dark skin. She also had told me to straighten my hair so it could look more calm, whatever that meant. Once I was done and Louisa had applied makeup on me, I walked out. Servants were running everywhere trying to prepare for the arrival of Emperor Attor. I walked slowly to the throne room wishing time would slow down so I didn't have to see the emperor.

Once I arrived at the throne room, I stood by Anastacia. She nodded once I stood by her, meaning she approved of my appearance. She was wearing a red extravagant dress and her black hair was in a style that I had never seen before. We waited for around ten minutes before the announcer announced, "Emperor Attor and his son Prince Lykos have arrived."

I frowned. Of course no one had told me that the emperor's son was coming too. I quickly changed my frown to a smile. I watched them as they came towards us with gait full of power and pride. For starters they didn't look normal. They looked otherworldly. The emperor was tall, dark skinned and muscular. I watched as his eyes darted around the place, as if he was capturing this moment. For a second I thought his eyes were blue but I blinked again and they were back to being black. I sighed. I must be going crazy again.

But magic exists.....

I heard a whisper and I turned to the fairy queen's painting. I knew I had covered it but it was like I could feel her gaze on me. I felt a pinch on my arm and I looked at Anastacia who was glaring at me. I went back to smiling for my arm's sake. She had pinched where it was bruised from my fall and the pain was still a dull ache.

"Welcome to the kingdom of Astraea. " Anastacia said politely as we curtsied to them and they bowed back. Then Emperor Attor grabbed Anastacia by the hand and kissed her. On the lips. In front of everyone. I gagged.

"I see you do not like the sight as well." The prince spoke to me. I looked up to him. He was devilishly handsome. He was lighter than his father, his hair was curly but modest with a little crown on top. His jaw was sharp and he was almost as tall as his father. He was also well built. His eyes were also black but they looked like they were tinged with a bit of red. I wanted to believe it was a Kakon trait but my gut told me otherwise.

"I wonder why they could not do this somewhere more private." I replied.

"Well in Kakon Empire, we do not hide affection." He explained.

"Isn't that wonderful?" I said with annoyance but the prince looked like he found me amusing instead of rude. He started to look at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable, as if he was trying to undress me with his eyes. I took a few steps back as I watched him look at my bosom with desire.

"I wish to leave." I announced. The emperor and Anastacia looked at me like I was mad.

"What did you say, you fool?" Anastacia asked. I glared at her. She was not going to silence me this time.

"I wonder why you call me a fool, when it is clear you are the one since you are dallying with the Emperor and it hasn't been long since my father passed away." I said with my chin raised high. Anastacia wanted to say something but I watched as the emperor placed his hand on her back. I walked away feeling everyone's including the guards' stares. I had no business in trying to court the vulgar prince.

I walked quickly to my room and sat down as I rang the bell by my bedside so Louisa would come up and remove the corset for me. I still had to figure out what the prophesy meant and why did father say that I would be in it.