The Forbidden Realm

Prologue

The moon witch's fate was doomed since the dawn of magic. But she didn't know she would bring her entire kingdom down to ashes with her. People were afraid of the purple hyacinths blooming unbidden over the vast expanse of land surrounding the Palace of Meliora. When the onslaught by the Imberians began at midnight, Melorians took to the streets shouting about the injustice they faced at the hands of the moon witch, after all she was the Queen of their kingdom. The purple hyacinths symbolise sorrow and death, which now plagued Meliora. They indeed were warned but no one heeded it.

The smell of ashes was evident in the air as the Queen ran through the halls of the castle. The Imberians were burning the citizens of Meliora, a kingdom in Fulminare, alive outside these castle walls, waiting for the opportunity to get their hands on the Royal family. Trying to ignore the disturbing smell, the Queen rushed towards the nursery where the princess was fast asleep unaware of the mayhem outside. She was tired and weak from giving birth a few hours ago, but she did not stop, afraid that the castle would soon be breached.

She tried not to think of the King, who was fighting at the front, because this was a lost battle. They were attacked in the middle of the night, when the entire kingdom was busy celebrating the birth of the princess. The attack was too unexpected because they had signed a peace treaty with the kingdom of Imber a century ago. Why did King Reagan decide to attack them? Knowing that this was a breach of their treaty and soon the other kingdoms would begin questioning their loyalty.

As soon as the Queen entered the nursery, she wrapped the princess securely in a pink blanket and looked at her peaceful sleeping face. Her eyes became teary, she had hoped that her child would have a happy childhood, but now she was not even sure that they were going to make it out alive. Pushing her thoughts aside, the Queen focused on the task at hand, hearing the cries of war and death ringing all around, she decided that the only way the princess could live was to leave Meliora and go where King Reagan can never even think to find her. She had made her decision. They would go to the forbidden realm. If that was the only way her child could survive then so be it.

The queen started pocketing a few medicinal tonics from the dresser for the babe and herself in her gown. The shouting grew outside, the enemy had broken the castle entrance. They were inside now. There was no time to consider any alternatives, the queen swiftly locked the door to the nursery. Knowing that she had no choice but to open the portal to teleport them to the forbidden realm- Mortalis, the realm of the mortals- she recited the spell deoperio three times with one hand holding the princess securely against her chest and the other pointing towards the ground with blue light illuminating from her elbow towards the nursery floor.

A wave of dizziness hit her as the ground started rumbling and sweat broke out on her forehead. There was a flash of lightning and then suddenly the ground gave out beneath them. They were free falling, the queen hugged the babe tightly afraid that the force of the pull would separate them. The portals to other realms had not been used for the past five thousand years. After the end of the Worlds War or orbisis bellum as it was commonly referred in Melioran History books, the impact of the war on civilians and governing bodies was such that half the population was wiped out. This eventually resulted in huge loss of lives and financial instability on all ends, therefore, the peace treaty was signed by the various governing bodies in all the five realms. It was decided that no citizen of any realm would ever open the portals unless permission was taken from the Risk Management Team in the realms and if someone still dared to enter the realm it would be an outright declaration of war.

The queen was aware of the treaty but it was either death or taking a chance of never getting caught in Mortalis as magic was stolen from their world after the war had ended five thousand years ago. She landed on her feet but lost balance and fell, the princess was now wide awake in her arms and looking up at her mother with questioning green eyes, the colour of a pine tree.

Feeling relieved that they had escaped successfully, the queen got up and started looking around, she did not know where they had landed. She could only hope that they would not be suspected of entering the territory without permission. The buildings in the distance were made with glass and steel, their structure unique and modern. The queen started walking towards the big buildings and the first thing she will do is to find a home here. Magic was extinguished after the war and was considered to be abnormal in this world. She had to fit in to live a normal life. She will do it for her babe, even if it means leaving her people behind to suffer. She would never use her magic again and neither will the princess.