Princess

It used to be a mountain, one of the tallest. But many years ago, it was destroyed in a second, and then on what was left of it, a castle was built on top. The people of the Shadow Realm had learned to fear this place; it was situated right on the top of Zalara, the biggest and richest city in the Shadow Realm. The people of Zalara couldn't ignore the monstrosity in which their dictator lived. The start of Salazar's reign was not that bad; he had defeated the previous King, Roderick. But then he showed exactly what kind of man he was; he imposed heavy taxes on the people and took whatever he wanted for himself, and a dark age for Zalara started.

King Roderick had three daughters, Isabella, Sophia, and Olivia. Olivia and Sophia were very young at the time, with the help of their father they had run away in time and lived in hiding in exile. However after some years as the princesses grew they couldn't hide anymore, so they tried to take back what was theirs and kill Zalara. They had enough support and they became the Rebels. But they were still too weak and all their efforts had been unsuccessful so far. A few months ago however the rebels had a big setback when Princess Isabella got captured, since then the rebels have been especially quiet.

Ash and the party were teleported back to the same destroyed land they had departed from. Their first plan was still to get to the mountains and search for the trident. So they hurried into the forest at the foot of the mountains.

"So, now, are you going to tell us where we are going? What clue did you find?" asked Ash of Maya, who was leading the group; she had an old map open with strange symbols that Ash couldn't read.

"Fine, I found these references in a couple of places about a flower; it's mostly mentioned as a metaphor or in a poem about the flowers that fell from the hairs of Sonata when Trkin abandoned her... " Maya began, but one look from Ash that he had no idea what she was talking about stopped her.

"I didn't think it would be that boring; forget it," said Ash.

"What are you talking about? it's an epic story about ancient gods and goddesses" said Maya with disbelief.

"I already have tons of stories about gods and goddesses from Earth occupying a lot of space in my mind, so I am kind of bored of them, no offense," said Ash.

"Whatever," said Maya and continued on moving forward.

"Do you think they have heard about Wayne's death by now?" Ash stayed back a little and he heard the conversation between Claudia and Nadia.

The twin sisters looked so much alike and different at the same time, even though they had different eyes the look they had when they were staring at him had something similar about them.

"If they have, then they must have guessed who might be responsible for it" replied Nadia.

"Do you think they'll come looking for her then?" asked Claudia.

It didn't sound like they were talking about Salazar, thought Ash.

"I think it might not be a bad idea if we have some company, we haven't talked with any of them in months since we came down here, I have no idea what is happening in Zalara" commented Nadia, and Claudia nodded. They were definitely not talking about Salazar.

Ash moved back further not wanting to get caught eavesdropping.

"How long do you think will it take?" Sarah was asking something to Donna.

"Don't worry, I know you are a hard worker and you have a lot of potential, I saw you fight; you will be up to my level in no time" Donna replied.

"I don't know, I saw you and Maya and others fight; you were incredible, I was fighting the same guy all the time, and you were going from one to the other like they were made of paper," said Sarah.

"I have just had a lot of practice, but don't worry hang out with this group I am sure you'll get lots of practice too," said Donna. Ash moved back further, Donna and Sarah kept talking about training and it was boring to just listen.

Unfortunately this time Ash moved too far back, and he came to the end of the line right beside Thea.

"Why are you sulking behind?" asked Ash.

"I am not sulking; I am making sure we don't get ambushed by someone from behind," replied Thea in defense.

"Ok, ok, thanks for doing that," said Ash raising his hands.

"So, now that we have been acquainted better, tell me about yourself, how did you meet Maya, what did you do before that, and you know now that I think about it, I don't know much about your guy's pasts," said Ash.

"That's because you only think with your cock and only care about banging girls," said Thea.

"Hey, you can't blame me, if there are such gorgeous women around me how can I resist, you are one to talk about" replied Ash.

"Whatever, so you really want to know about us?" asked Thea.

"Yeah, I do," sad d Ash.

"Well you can try the others, leave me alone" replied Thea with a snarl and moved away from Ash. Looks like she is still sour about what happened earlier, thought Ash.

They were finally reaching the holly area; the ground was going up at a steep angle and there much more animals and trees in this part. Maya made a turn towards one of the small rivers that were coming down the mountains, she had a renewed speed in her legs, she seemed to be closing on whatever she had found. Ash activated his God's eyes. If there was a powerful weapon here he wouldn't miss it now. Ash looked around the area for miles but all he could find were animals and beasts of different kinds but nothing special. He then tried to look under the ground, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there either.

"We should be close now," said Maya and she started running along the shore of the river. They reached the place where the river was originating from, it was coming from a hole in the mountain, the fountain wasn't too tall if they looked at a certain angle at the rocks and hole and the water coming out it could be looked as a flower. But Ash for some reason wasn't convinced there was something hidden behind it.

"This has to be it," said Maya.

Ash was too busy looking at the water that it took him longer than usual, but he still was able to sense before that someone was coming.

"Someone's coming" he warned the rest of them, and they all instantly got on guard.

"From where?" asked Maya.

"From above," he said pointing to a direction in the sky, they waited with bated breath and after some time a small dot appeared in the sky it got bigger and bigger, and after some time they could tell that it was some kind of flying creature, as they could see its wings now. They couldn't tell how big it was until it kept growing and Ash figured it had to be a dragon. And sure enough, a huge red and black dragon was circling right above where they were standing. And then it came down on the forest and the river, it was as big as a five-story house. When it landed did they finally see the people that were riding it, there were five of them? Ash would have been in more of an attack mode by now and so would Willow and Sarah but for some reason Maya and the others had lowered their weapons and had different expressions on their faces than they had expected.

There were three women and two men, all of them looked strong and looked like experienced warriors from their attire and weapons strapped on their backs. The woman in the front was the one who stole Ash's attention; she had dark skin just like Maya, and what she was wearing made her look like Lara Croft.

"What are you doing here?" asked Maya, suddenly going up to the woman in front.

"You need to hear something," said the woman in response calmly.

"No, I asked Isabella she sent me on this mission, it was kept secret because we couldn't let it get out, we were afraid there was a mole among us," said Maya, Ash had no idea what was going on now, who was Isabella?

"It is about Isabella, Sophia," said the woman addressing Maya. Both Ash and Sarah looked confused, the others looked calm, but Willow had a shocked expression, and she was looking at the other girls wildly, asking for answers. Nadia nodded at her, and Willow went silent, listening to the rest of the conversation.

"What? What happened? Where is she?" asked Maya moving forward and grabbing the woman by her shoulders.

"You guys were right, there was a mole among us, it was Troy, he gave away the location of our hideout, and well most of us got out, some were injured, a couple dead and Isabella, Isabella was captured," said the woman with a somber expression.

"No!" Maya cried, and Claudia moved forward and hugged her.

"What's happening? Who is Isabella?" asked Sarah to Nadia.

"Their older sister" she replied.

"Their?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, that's Olivia, her other sister" answered Nadia.

"And did I hear right? Did she call Maya, Sophia?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah that's her real name" replied Nadia.

"So it's right, Maya is princess Sophia" said Willow.

"Princess?" this time both Sarah and Ash asked.