01. russia is on fire

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[01]
"a revolution is afoot."

WINTER PALACE, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA, october 1st, 1923

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WINTER PALACE, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA,
october 1st, 1923

HELL HAD COME to earth. No saviour or remedy could help now. Houses had drowned in flames, men were protesting in the streets, and bombs being thrown. There wasn't an ounce of peace in sight. Children wept as well as the mothers that carried them on their backs, seeking safety. But like all things in life, no one was truly safe.

There was a revolution.

The people wanted change.

"We must evacuate the palace immediately, the protesters have reached the council and I fear they will come here next." Prince Leon warns as his family sat around the dining table.

Alena Petrovna and her older siblings, Tatiana and Aleksander, nervously listened to their uncle say the words they had feared the most. Russia was all they had ever known, it was practically their birthright, and now they had to leave it all behind.

After tonight, life would never be the same again— Russia would never be the same again.

Alena's parents had already fled the country a few years ago, they had left a note for her and her siblings, as well as leaving them in the care of their aunt and uncle, Prince Leon Petrovich and Princess Izabella Petrovna.

Their whereabouts were unknown, and no one even knew if they were still alive.

"There's already a car waiting behind the palace, we will be escorted by guards through the secret gardens so we cannot be seen." Their aunt, Izabella adds. "All the things we need have already been packed."

"And where will we stay?" Tatiana questions. "I'm not ready to leave Russia to live in another country where I will have to look over my shoulder again."

"I don't want to leave Russia at all!" Aleksander interrupts strongly. "This is all madness."

Leon sighs. "If you stay here they will kill you, my boy. We are the very people they are trying to overthrow."

"Well at least I'll die in Russia as a Russian man." Aleksander argues, standing up. "Not a wimp running away from his country in a time like this!"

Aleksander Petrovich was a little stubborn, arrogant but somehow awfully intelligent and handsome. His wavy chestnut brown hair and defined jawline made up for his cockiness. When he wasn't buried in books in his study, you'd find him outside doing archery or hunting.

Alena rolls her eyes. "It's not about being a wimp. We're privileged enough to even be able to escape this country safely, do you know how many people are suffering out there?"

Beneath all the tiaras and fancy dresses, Alena was the most strong willed out of her family. Like the ocean, she was calm at times, gentle and pretty. Yet when it came to things she was passionate about, she was fierce and persistent like waves crashing to shore.

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