Legend Of The Empire

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 2

Serena

The blinding sun shone on the side of the horizon, bright golden rays of light stretching outwards into the rich blue colour of the sea. It is the brilliant sphere of fire in the sky that warms our days. It is the invitation to a new day, greeting us with that a sunrise oh so extraordinary.

Serena tiredly opened her eyes and sat up, ruffling her brown and ivory wings a little to be more comfortable as she stared at the blank wall at the far end corner of her room, she hated her home, her mother, and mostly just everything in general. But still mainly her mother. Everyone always says that her mother is the best, that her mother was strong, that her mother was... was perfect and that she should always be like her mother.

Then she turned to the side and glanced at the photo of her mother and her aunt when they were twenty-one, the same year that her aunt was killed by a wild beast in the mountains, but in the photo, her mother was looking at her aunt with joy as she and her aunt was picking flowers from one of the palace gardens. A bundle of different varieties of flowers, colours ranging from pure white to a shade of dark violet.

She snorted with disgust, her mother was never like that, ever. she still remembered the time when she learned how to fly, she had mastered her skill and showed her mother hoping to get at least a smile or even a compliment if she was lucky. Nothing. Her mother did not even look at her with pride, or anything, really. All her mother did was frown at her and walk away. Serena wanted to cry at that time, but that was years ago. She then turned to the other side of the room and closed her eyes shut.

Just a while later Serena heard a loud and quick knock on her door, she sat up and debated whether to open the door or to leave it be, but thought better of it. She sighed as she lazily dragged her feet across the room to the wooden door and opened it slowly. Please not my mother, anyone, but my mother. Behind the door, she saw one of her servants, and she inwardly groaned. It was probably her mother telling her to get up to help her run the kingdom while she does 'something' again. The servant quietly said, "Your elegance, her highness wants you to be ready and in her throne room by noon" The servant said as she dropped into a small curtsy and then slowly walked away.

Serena then shut her door, annoyed, and walked back to her bed. She knew this was the same thing as always but usually, she would have to be there by 3 p.m., but today was...different. She made her bed, still thinking about what she needed to do, gently folding the sheets and placing them on the foot of her bed. Then she walked to her bathroom, turned on the tap and splashed water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw an unfamiliar face staring right at her, a true princess, not one that wasn't perfect as her mother would say. She turned off the tap and walked to the bathtub, she let the water fill the bathtub as she thought to herself.

Today is a weird day, like, a really weird day, but I think it will be okay.

Serena eased herself into the lukewarm bath as she slowly soaked her ivory dark brown-laced wings into the bath, enjoying the feel of the water flowing and swirling around her wings. She scooped some water from the bath with her hands and poured it over her head and soaked her extremely long chocolate brown hair.

After that, she walked out of the bathroom, and back into her room with a fluffy white towel wrapped around her as she walked over to her closet. She grimaced as she looked through all the gowns and dresses her mother gave her, not wanting to wear any of them, she stuffed them to the side and looked at the back of the closet, hoping to find something other than big and puffy gowns. She was about to give up and grab any of the ugly dresses but then she saw this warrior-like dress, it looked formal but still looked comfortable enough so she could just sit there for hours, just like what her mother made her do at every banquet or meeting she attended. Just then she realised that this was her aunt's old dress, suddenly, she smiled at herself as she took it out and thought.

It is perfect, I never thought my aunt was a warrior princess of some sort after all, my mother said that my aunt was the perfect princess though she was a warrior. A princess on the outside, but a true warrior inside.

The dress was a regal one but not quite so, the skirt was long and went just below her knees. A pleated skirt with a white cloth hanging at the sides for details, pearls and opalescent white diamonds lined the bottom of the skirt as a feathery and fuzzy boa wrapped around the collar of the corset.

Serena used the fluffy towel to wipe the excess water from her wings then she donned the dress, got a hairdryer, dried and curled her hair slightly, but not so much that it was too curly and then stepped into some orange orche coloured platform boots. She put on gloves and a pearl necklace around her neck. She then looked into the mirror and saw a new person. Someone who did not care what her mother thought about her and had tons of confidence, something Serena clearly did not have. Then she picked up the crown, the one from her own coronation a year ago, and carefully placed it on her head. And for once, she actually smiled at herself.

Serena opened the door and confidently walked out of her room, wings perfectly poised, and walked down the various hallways she'd come to remember how to navigate past. She reached her mother's throne room, walked on in, dropped into a curtsy, and waited till her mother asked her to rise or something else, knowing her mother. Queen Cordelia's wings were spread casting a dark shadow like two looming mountain beasts, her mother calmly said,

"Rise my daughter, We-" just then, some words got caught in the queen's throat as she noticed her daughter wearing her own sister's dress, but she continued "We are to attend the Eagle Queen's daughter's coronation, and I want you to befriend her, that is all."

Queen Cordelia then stood up and stalked over to the entrance of the throne room and motioned for her daughter to follow her. Serena got up and hesitantly walked over to her mother, head hung low, wings drooping slightly as her mother kept walking on, so she followed her mother. She was furious, her mother never told her why was she to befriend the Eagle Queen's daughter, or anything else. she did not like being involved in her mother's plans, and she did not even know what was going on.

Her mother had asked her to do something she had no idea how to proceed with, she didn't have any information on the Eagle Princess and yet her mother had asked her to befriend the princess. She had to do all of the searches by herself, for years her mother would ask her to do things she didn't know how or what to do. She would search for the answer or just a little bit of information for hours before finding a small hint of what her mother expected of her.

Just then her mother took off along with some guards trailing behind her, Serena's wings were nearly as tall as her body. Each long, narrow feather tensed and shook in her heaving fury. They slammed upward and when they came back down in a flash of ivory and browns. Then, she was off the ground and away.

After some time, the strain was welcomed as Serena pushed herself to avoid all the sky-high trees and mountains and made all the sharp turns to prevent them. It meant her own strengths were being tested, and she was maintaining herself for the current moment. The broad curves of her wings usually allowed for taming the wild currents and gliding and they allowed her to trade short bursts of speed for long-distance travel. But here she was, struggling with the often appearance of trees and mountains out of the clouds, whereas someone with aerodynamic wings, wings meant for short bursts of speed and for agility could have handled this circumstance with ease. She was nothing if not relentless and continued avoiding the elements and she knew that she would make it.