Story of Silver

Chapter one.

"Long ago, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful princess and brave and strong prince. People from far and wide flocked to have the princess and the prince's hand in marriage. Because of this, the empire grew strong and rich. The suitors brought many gifts from the best diamonds to the strongest weapons, and of course, gold."

"The gold made the kingdom prosperous. The citizens grew rich and happy, and people from other nations flocked to their kingdom. It grew more and more bigger and more and more powerful."

"A nearby nation saw their wealth and power and wanted it for themselves. In order to do that, the prince of that kingdom presented himself for marriage to the princess. The prince was egotistical, being pampered and spoiled all his life, he thought himself a god. The princess had rejected everyone before him, but he thought he'd be different. He believed that the princess would fall for him instantly. However, he turned out to be the same as everyone else."

"The prince was extremely angered by this, and persuaded the king to wage war on the prosperous kingdom. At first, they were losing badly. Until one day, the prince snuck into the Palace and kidnapped the princess. Enraged at his sister being captured dishonorably by the very man who tried to woo her, the prince became blinded by rage and started to throw himself and his army into battle after battle. As his men became tired, of fighting, of marching, of watching their very comrades fall next to them, they started to desert the inane prince. Eventually, he grew insane, fighting losing battle after losing battle, until he died to his own hand."

"After the death of their strongest warrior, the death of thousands of their people, and the capture of the crown princess, the kingdom was forced to sue for peace. In the negotiations to come after, the once powerful and dominant kingdom lost everything. Their riches, their territory, their people, everything. The kingdom fell into ruin, and their few remaining citizens fell with it. The whereabouts of the lost princess was unknown, and the opposing kingdom refused to say what happened to her. Because of this, the kingdom was forced to crown the youngest of the three, an unremarkable, normal child, king after his father died."

"It's said that out of desperation, the king made a deal with a witch. If a hero managed to save the princess, they would be granted three wishes by the witch. If not, they would die a horrible, painful death."

That was the story used to explain why Silver's kingdom was always like this. Bread was expensive; housing was expensive; there wasn't any schooling; and the cities were always a lawless land. And the nobility of the kingdom were untouched as always.

She lived in the furthest outskirts of the kingdom, with her mother and her sickly brother. With her mother constantly away doing maidwork for untouched nobility and her brother always being bed bound, Silver regularly had hours of free time for herself. She used that time to venture into the forest, the countryside, anything that surrounded her house. She came to learn every part of it, becoming something akin to a forest ranger, even though she was only a young child at that point.

She played in the forest often, as she was doing right now. She frolicked in the grass, with her old and tattered clothes that used to be her father's, climbing trees and subsequently scraping her knee on the harsh bark. She could smell the dew on the grass, and the musty scent the forest takes after rainfall. Rain had been pouring down for four days and three nights. It was cold in the house, so when that happened, their mother would carry her brother near the fire and lay him down on sheets. Silver would come inside, changed and dry and they would all sit by the fire while their mother told stories of their father- a strong and strapping young man. He was apparently handsome, kind, an idol that everyone envied or hated. Elders claimed he was nearly like the lost prince.