THE KINGDOM of Aberystwyth was breathtaking. The buildings stood tall and protected. The Catholic Church that was placed in the center of the Kingdom vibrated through the air with its large bell ring, alerting the town people that it was time to start. The trees lining the streets brought fresh air to my nose, making my face smile. The Castle sat on a hill, overlooking the whole town.

Up to the castle roof, the neutral-colored stone was stacked. Windows lined the walls, allowing every amount of potential sunlight to come in. Draping over the outer castle walls, as well as buildings in the town, was their royal crescent in all its glory. A clover. At the tippy-top of the castle, their country flag stood proudly, dancing in the breeze. The city river flowing around the castle as if it was a border of protection. The only way across was the main bridge.

Evander, Leland, August, and I sat in a four-horse carriage as it was trotted through the town, heading to the castle. The rough brick roads caused us to jolt around, causing a certain prince to get sick.

I kept to myself most of our journey. I couldn't stop thinking about Leland and I'd interaction just days before.

I didn't dare admit it, but he help me in more ways than one and I am forever grateful. He didn't pry nor yell at me, he just listened. Something someone hasn't done for me in years.

I continued to look out the glassless window. The town was full of color and it was lively. The town folk had smiles on their faces as well as their family's faces and they all seemed genuinely happy. They were oblivious to the horrible suffering that laid underneath their noses. The suffering of other families, of other towns, of other people.

"SAVE US PLEASE!"

"Look what you've done!"

"How could you?! You monster! YOU KILLED US ALL!"

"M-MY FAMILY! THEY ALL DIED! SAVE THEM, PLEASE I BEG OF YOU!"

"YOU'RE HEARTLESS!"

"YOU KILLED THEM WITH A SMILE! WHERE IS YOUR SYMPATHY?!"

"We have arrived, Aislin," August said nudging my side. I looked out the window further to see that we were being carried over the bridge.

The opposite of calm was the water. It was smashing itself rapidly against the rock boulders on the water bed. It rushed violently, as though in a tournament with other streams of water. The rough noises that it made were noisy and quickly reached our ears.

We pulled away from the river and up to the front of the castle. The footmen stepped down from the front of the carriage and open other doors for our exit.

"Thank you," I thanked the old man as I stepped out. The blazing sun and slight chilling breeze hit my exposed arms, sending goosebumps up them. The town was silent, a little too silent for my taste. The daggers that lined my body and its armor suddenly become heavy and burned my skin, wanting to be used. My fingers twitched for the sword that was stowed away in its sheath attached to my armored-covered back.

The front doors of the castle suddenly busted open, a woman in a large white ruffled gown emerged with a fake smile on her caked face, as well as a man next to her dressing in royal garments with an expressionless face.

"Ah! You must be the people Queen Aria sent from Kavan! Welcome to my Kingdom!" she greeted in a high-pitched voice. It took all my power not to wince. "This is my son, Juniper!"

Queen Birdie of Aberystwyth. She was known for her high-pitched voice and was known as a chatterbox, hence the name Birdie. She started as mistress to King Bernard of Aberystwyth but he divorced the queen and maybe Madam Birdie the new queen.

The two have three kids. Juniper, Manisha, and Willow.

Juniper is twenty-six years of age and has never left the castle. He is known as lackadaisical. Word was he could care less about ruling the kingdom, that's why the next in line for the thrown is Manisha.

Manisha is twenty years of age and is the more ambitious one of the three. She cares about her kingdom and its people. She will be a good ruler.

Willow is an eighteen-year-old boy. I met him in person once when he was young, thirteen maybe. He was training to fight outside with his wooden sword "slaying the evil dragons". When I told him I fought in wars and may or may not have killed a dragon, I became his favorite person. I doubt he would remember me now, it's been five years.

I bowed, "Queen Birdie. Prince Juniper. I am Aislin, here with me is Prince Evander of Kavan, Solider August, and Commander Leland." They all bowed and greeted the Queen and Prince.

"My, my, my," She started looking at me with a fond look, "The deific and ubiquitous Aislin. The infamous warrior, known for demolishing kingdoms with her bare hands. My, you are quite beautiful, aren't you? Look at your vibrant blue eyes and coal-like hair. Such a heavenly complexion. Don't you think darling?"

Prince Juniper gave me a slow once over with a lustful look, "You are quite a gorgeous woman. It would be a shame to hide that body underneath all that sweaty armor, don't you think?"

I hear a sharp inhale of irritation behind me, and I couldn't agree more.

"Thank you for your compliments, but I am not here to be inspected. We are here on urgent business, and we would like to get started."

And no matter how hard you try, you can't suck up to me. Nice try.

"Oh! Of course," Queen Birdie chirped. They seemed to snap out of it and began to lead us inside the castle and towards the library, "This way."

The floors of the castle were light hardwood. The slightest sound seemed to echo loudly in the castle. From the moment I stepped into the castle and as I walked through these hallways, eyes have been following my every movement.

I could see them hiding in the distance. this brought a smile to my face. I knew exactly who it was.

As we walked I slowly looked up towards the top of the stairs where the owner of the eyes sat quietly. My beryl eyes clashed with cerulean ones. A startled look appeared on the boy's face at my sudden action. He thought he was being subtle.

A smirk showed itself on my face and I looked away from him. He smiled and his eyes lit up in astonishment. We continued down the hallways of the castle till we reached our destination.

"Welcome to the Castle's public library and garden, also known as The Glass Temple of Lust. " The Queen opened the glass French doors to the library.

It was a glass dome reaching high into the sky. Its walls and pillars were lined with Vines and other far-reaching plants. To the left of the down, row after row of bookcases, littered with books from every genre imaginable. On the right side metal table and resting, chairs sat asking to be used, and boxes lined the wall full of flowers.

The sunlight peaked through the vines of the ceiling

"Wow." I heard August whispered.

"Thank you, Queen Birdie. May we have some privacy?" I asked polity.

"Oh please hun, call me Queen B! And of course! Let me know if you need anything!" She squeaked and exited the room. I not calling her that.

Prince Juniper walked up behind me and traced my exposed arms with his fingertips, "What business do you have here? Surely it's for something important."

"It is as important as your fingers. The ones I am seconds away from cutting off. Get them off of me." I forced.

"Oh come on! You are so uptight! I doubt you can hurt me anyway. If you want, we can-"

Without hesitation I pulled out my dagger from my belt and held it against his cheek, "I wouldn't continue to speak if I were you. It would be such a shame to lose that filthy tongue of yours."

He chuckled nervously with wide eyes and held his hands up in surrender, "Calm down, I was just playing-"

A hand was placed on my shoulder and I looked up at August who was looking at Prince Juniper, "She made it quite clear that she wasn't interested. And despite her obvious signs, you deliberately continued to bother her. I suggest you save yourself and leave this room before she shows you what she's capable of."

Prince Junipers' eyes widened in fear and he staggered backward and headed for the doors. I threw the dagger towards him, grazing his cheek with the blade and connecting with the door he was about to open.

His face drained of color and he let out a squeal before running away.

Once the doors shut, August turned to me, "What do we do now?"

"We need to search the room. Every inch, every book, everything. Our next clue is here." They nodded and began searching the room for any evidence. I went for a book shelf and began flipping through the pages of the books. We searched and searched but found nothing. Yet.

I heard the faintest click of a door opening and closing. Without looking, I pulled another dagger out from my belt and threw it at the person who had entered. At the sound of the dagger connecting with wood and the loud gasp, everyone looked towards the glass doors.

"You aren't as subtle as you think you are." I told them, "I could feel your gaze the moment I stepped into the castle," I slowly turned around to face them, "How have you been...Willow?" The dagger I threw had given him a small cut on his cheek when it flew past him.

He snickered, "I was that loud, huh?"

"What do you mean loud!? I didn't even know you were in here!" August gasped dramatically with a dropped jaw.

I chuckled at this reaction, "How are you doing kid?"

He shrugged lazily, "I am doing okay. I didn't think you would remember me."

"Of course I would, I remember everyone I train." I smiled at him.

"I am sorry, do you two know each other?" Evander asked.

"No obviously not," Willow answered sarcastically.

"Watch your mouth kid," Evander sneered sizing Willow up.

Willow simply rolled his eyes and answered, "Actually no, more like you should watch your mouth. I am Prince Willow of Aberystwyth and you will not disrespect me in my land. I don't care what your title is, you will not speak to me in such a way here."

"Reminds me a bit of someone I know." I heard Leland mutter. I sent him a glance that he blatantly ignored.

"I met Willow when he was young. I trained him for a year or two." I said.

"You were her student?" Leland asked.

He nodded, "I'm only one out of the selected few she's trained."

Leland looked at me with a curious expression, "How many have you trained?"

I shrugged, "Not many. Only about ten people."

"Only ten?" August questioned.

"I only train the people who I know have the talent and the willpower to be the best. And I've only seen that in those ten."

"What about the army? Your training all of them?" Evander scoffed.

"Their training versus the training of the selected ten are completely different. I'm training your army to be somewhat good enough to be called an army, something those ten is way past when it comes to skill." Evander scoffed again and crossed his arms defensively.

"What brings you here?" Willow asked, "Not many foreigners visit our soil, especially this time of year."

"None of your business," Evander growled.

"The King of Kavan is missing and we found a clue leading us here," I answered. Evander turned to glare at me but I met his glare with a sharper one.

"Do you need help?" Willow offered.

"No." Evander spit.

"Yes, that would be lovely." I smiled at him, "We are looking for anything at could be a clue leading to him." Evander's glare hardened at me and that only made me smirk more.

Everyone went back to work. Our time was cut down significantly with Willow's help. Hours had passed, the place at been cleared from head to toe. The only thing this library was full of was the history of this kingdom, and it was quite boring mind you.

"They are nothing here." Leland sighed.

"Yes, there is. There has to be!" Evander groaned flipping through another textbook.

"Why because you're the one who cracked the clue? Your not always right you know." Leland scoffed. Evander glared at him.

I sighed. We haven't found anything. But I can't give up, I won't. I refused.

"Hey, Ms. Aislin. I need you." Willow called me.

"Found something?" I asked walking up to the red-headed boy. He was kneeling onto the stone floor holding something. I kneeled next to him and saw a black rope that was attached to the inside of the wall in his hands.

"What is this?" He asked me. I felt the others walk over towards us in curiosity.

"Uh, I don't know yet. Let me look." I said. I scooted up next to him and looked at the string in his hands. I looked at the string, trying to remember where I knew it from.

"I wonder what would happen if you pulled it." August inquired. The moment he said that I remember what that string was.

Everything slowed down as Willow pulled the string. I yelled for him not to, but it was too late.

×××××××××××××

Author Note!

Hi everyone, Mickey here!

Chapter one one babyyy!

Thoughts >

Feelings >

Random >

How is your day today? Was it bad? Good? In between?

This book has been growing so rapidly its insane! I cant even tell you how much it means to my poor old soul!

QOTD: Any ideas for the coming chapters?(i may or may not have hit a road block)