• Prologue


    Princess Elone carefully placed her tiara on her head, making sure it didn’t mess up her beautiful hair that nearly took an hour to make it nice. It was a simple tiara that had four metal wires that crisscrossed back and forth across each other with tiny, fancy metal ivory leaves fused within the circlet. And to add to it, a small diamond dangled from the center of the crown on her delicate forehead.

    The princess picked up a hand mirror close by and smiled as she looked at herself, satisfied with the way she looked. Not too fancy, not to plain. Just right.

    Elone stood up from where she was sitting and crossed the room over to the only window in the room. Her long white dress dragged on the red carpet, but she didn’t care.

    She made it over to the window and touched the glass with thoughtfulness, looking down at the Lunar City below her. There was no way to open the window from the inside, or even the outside for that matter. And if anyone tried to open it from the outside, they would be welcomed with a high voltage shock that would leave one to fall to their dreadful fate. Elone could see hover crafts going area to area, the citizens of the city move about with their lives in the Lunar City, and even planet Earth at times, but if anyone looked up at her window, they couldn’t see her. All they would see was a very tinted window and perhaps a silhouette if they looked hard enough.

    Elone looked down while sighing out, letting her shoulders sag. She was basically a prisoner in the palace. Elone never stepped outside the palace since her mother died, and her father never let her see anyone unless it was someone he absolutely trusted.

    A knock at the princess’s door brought her out of her thoughts. Her head jerked towards door.

    “Who is it?” Princess Elone called out.

    “It’s me, Princess. Jethro. May I come in?”

    Princess Elone sighed out in relief. If it was her father’s advisor, she would’ve said no. But this was a dear friend of hers. “Yes, you may enter.”

    The wooden door creaked open as a man of about twenty-six years old stepped in. He had blond hair, was about 6’2” in height, broad shouldered, and quite muscular. He wore a special type of silver amour, which had detailed designs of wolf heads on the shoulders, and had a black eye patch over his right eye. This was Jethro, Elone’s body guard, and to her, an adopted brother.

    Jethro bowed before his princess, and then slowly looked up at her. A smiled played on his lips as he looked at her.

    “You look lovely, Elone.” Jethro’s voice was rich and deep, which made a person calm when they listened to him. That was, when he wasn’t angry at anyone.

    Elone blushed, looking around with embarrassment. “Thank you… Although I would much rather wear pants and a shirt.”

    Jethro chuckled, stepping further in the room. “It’s your sixteenth birthday, you have to look nice at least for your public.”

    “A shirt and a pair of pants can look nice,” Elone argued, wrinkling her nose and folded her arms. She walked over to a full length mirror and examined herself more closely. “I’ve seen the other teenage girls my age with the most stylish outfit, not wearing some ancient dress. I mean,” she turned to look at herself in the mirror, “look at this. Sure, it’s fine… but it looks like I’m going to be married in the Medieval ages. And that was centuries ago. Now it’s the year of 2103…”

    Jethro just shook his head, admiring Elone’s boldness. But Elone was right. She was wearing a simple long-sleeved white dress that flowed around her feet, with a white sash tied around her waist, and then to complete the outfit she had a single pearl necklace with a gold chain around her neck. She did look like she was going to be married, but Jethro knew better.

    “Your father said to dress in white. It’s tradition for a daughter who just turned sixteen in the Lunar Kingdom, you know that. Just don’t go near a bowl of red punch, and you’ll look exquisite for all who will see you. You might even cause some jealously to stir up among the ladies when the men watch you carefully.”

    Elone smiled a bit, turning to look at herself in the mirror again. Her dark, wavy brown hair was tied up in a loose bun, with spiral curls that hung on the side of her face. A pair of blue eyes with long eyelashes looked back at her from the mirror and all of the sudden, Elone felt like she was looking at a stranger.

    She sighed, still staring back at herself. “Do I really look pretty, Jethro…?”

    “Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “But you’re missing something.”

    “And what will that be?”

    Jethro picked up a velvet blue box that was resting on a small table, opening it to reveal a beautiful white mask that rested on top of black silk. It had small diamonds around the eyes, and larger ones around the smaller ones. Pure white feathers circled all around the mask, which made it look graceful.

    Princess Elone frowned at it, knowing that she would have to wear that thing. Her father didn’t want anyone to see her face, so every time she made an appearance to anyone in his court, she was to wear one.

    She turned around once again so that her back was facing Jethro again so he could help her tie on the mask. Jethro tenderly came behind her and helped her to put the mask over her face. Elone held it with her delicate long fingers while Jethro tied the satin white ribbon behind her head to secure the mask.

    “There we are,” he said, stepping back to examine his handy work. Seeing that it was good, he went to Elone’s side and offered an arm to her. “Shall we go, my princess? Your public awaits.”

    Elone could only nod her head. She waited all her life to show herself to everyone after all these years of being concealed and hidden. But now, she wasn’t so sure about it anymore. She would just have to go back into hiding again, never to show her face until the day came when she would become queen. That was something she didn’t want, but it’ll have to be. She had to respect her father’s wishes.

    Elone slipped her arm through Jethro’s arm and let him lead her out of her room.

    ***

    A man was leaning on the wall, not too far away from the balcony where the princess would appear to the public. He had black moppy hair which hung from his eyes, but he wore an elegant red jacket with coattails, white shirt, white cuffs, white gloves, black dress pants, and black boots to match.

    The man tugged at his shirt collar, cursing silently under his breath. Why did he have to wear such fancy clothing? Why couldn’t he wear his normal outfit.

    ‘Because the princess’s birthday is today,’ he thought with distaste. Not that he had a grudge towards the princess. He just didn’t like her. They always had to make sure she never sneaked off, and they always had to make sure she was never seen by anyone else. The king was so over protective.

    ‘But we can’t blame him for that,’ the man thought. ‘He did loose his wife after all. So it’s only natural if he makes sure his only child is safe...’ The man smirked at that thought, thinking how ironic that would be if they let the princess run around the city.

    Then he heard footsteps approaching him.

    ‘Speaking of which…’ The man stood to attention as the princess and her body guard with the eye patch named Jethro came around the corner. The princess looked… rather elegant.

    As soon as the princess came close enough, he bowed to her, extending one arm behind him.

    “Good day to you, Princess Elone,” he said, slowly standing up straight while looking at her evenly.

    “Good day to you, Advisor Marcus,” the princess replied with a hint of curtness on her voice as she curtsied back.

    Marcus frowned. He figured that he wasn’t a favorite of the princess, but she could act a little more cordially to him.

    “I heard that you are finally to make an appearance to your public after all these years of being in hiding,” Marcus ventured.

    “Yes, I do as a matter of fact. Then it’s back to being concealed from the hungry eyes of wolves.” The princess stared at Marcus long and hard from behind her mask. It made Marcus shift uncomfortably. This lady was very much younger than he was, but she intimidated him so!

    The sound of the announcer was suddenly heard through the thick tapestry that hung over the doorway of the balcony.

    “Now for something special we have not seen in a long time, THE PRINCESS ELONE!”

    “Excuse me,” Jethro said, cutting into the awkward silence between Marcus and Elone, “it’s time for the princess to make her appearance.”

    Marcus stood there for a moment, glaring first at the body guard, then at the princess. “Yes… of course…” Marcus reluctantly stepped to the side, allowing the princess to pass.

    Princess Elone didn’t even give Marcus a second glance as she walked passed him. As soon as she and her body guard vanished behind the tapestry, Marcus growled under his breath.

    “One day princess… one day…”

    ***
    Princess Elone nearly lost her breath as she stepped out onto the balcony. There were thousands of people in front of her, cheering loudly and whistling at her. She was frozen, unable to move. She never has seen anything like this in a long time. Nor heard anything so loud! The whole incident with Marcus was forgotten as fear overwhelmed her mind.

    Jethro looked over at his princess, seeing that she was stage-fright. He smiled, and then leaned close to her ear so she could hear. “Wave to them, princess…”

    Elone nearly jumped at Jethro’s voice. She then smiled and lifted her hand up, waving at them like a princess should. The crowd cheered louder, and Princess Elone felt herself relaxing in front of all these people. This wasn’t really scary as she thought it would be. This was actually… really exciting.

    Princess Elone felt a firm hand rest on her shoulder, and she turned to look. There, with a magnificent crown on his head was King Asher, Princess Elone’s father.

    Elone nodded her head in respect and lowered her hand. She then stepped to the side by Jethro to make room for her father on the balcony. The king smiled and then stepped forward, extending his arms outward. Immediately, the crowd was shushed.

    King Asher was presented a microphone by one of his servants and he took it up, looking over the crowd.

    “My good citizens!” the king proclaimed. “It is an honor for all of you as well as my self to share with you the beauty of my daughter on this very special day.”

    The princess’s mind wandered off as she looked over the crowd, her thoughts drowning out the words of her father. There were so many people here; it almost made her mind dizzy trying to figure out how many individuals were standing in the crowd here to see her. Her! Elone was starting to wish this could happen more often.

    She felt the eyes of someone staring at her to her right, and stiffened. She knew that who ever was staring at her, they weren’t in the crowd…

    Slowly, Elone looked to the side, and met the gaze of the one she despised the most… Marcus. He was staring at her from where she was standing. It immediately made Elone angry in her heart. His eyes were not kind. They showed something that Elone was not at all comfortable with. He was too friendly with her. The servants and even Jethro told her to not mind him, and give him some slack, but Elone just couldn’t bring herself to do so. Something about him bothered her a great deal, and she was going to follow the warnings that her soul prompted her, despite what others had told her.

    Suddenly, Elone caught a glimmer of something from the corner of her eye. She quickly looked to see what it was, and then saw a glimpse of the shinning object. It was a round, silver ball that was flying towards the balcony in the air.

    Princess Elone squinted, trying to see what it was. ‘What in the world is that…?’

    The silver ball suddenly landed on the balcony with a soft clank, and it rolled slightly. Everything unexpectedly went in slow motion for Elone.

    She saw a red light flashing on the object, blinking with each second. Princess Elone stared at it carefully, trying to figure out what it was. Then she heard the faint beep coming from the object in the back of her head.

    Beep... beep… beep…

    Elone’s eyes widened. She knew exactly what it was. She saw it on film clips before, and she studied them in her private classes in the past.

    ‘Bomb…’

    Everything rapidly came back into its regular speed.

    Jethro’s head turned quickly as soon as he heard the clank of the bomb. He saw it with his good eye, and knew immediately what it was, and he also knew he had to act fast.

    He hastily moved towards it, pushing Elone back out of harms way. Jethro then speedily grabbed the bomb, just as it was starting to beep rather fast. Jethro turned, tossing the bomb into the air away from the balcony with a grunt.

    One minute, Elone saw the bomb spiraling in the air, its light blinking rapidly. The next, there was a sudden explosion that nearly split Elone’s eardrum and then she felt the immense heat from the blast. She couldn’t scream, couldn’t move. She was dazed.

    Jethro twisted to Princess Elone, hugging her to shield her from the heat. He then picked up the princess and moved her back behind the tapestry, away from the screaming crowd.

    The body guard set Elone down, and looked at her. The look of pure horror on her face almost made Jethro’s heart break. This was her time to fulfill her dream to be out in the open, and now it was ruined. All in a matter of five minutes, Elone was exposed to the cruelty of this universe.

    “Elone, are you okay?”

    Princess Elone looked up at her friend, shaking her head. “Jethro…”

    Jethro hugged the princess again like a protective brother. He felt her shaking in his embrace, and hugged her tighter. “It’s going to be alright…”

    Elone felt her eyes beginning to water. Here she got her wish… and looked what happened. She didn’t even feel her father’s arms wrap around her or heard the concern voices of servants. She felt so numb. She had a sudden realization, moments after the incident happen. Even though she didn’t know anyone who would even try to…

    Someone tried to assassinate Princess Elone on her sixteenth birthday…

    TO BE CONTINUED!