Elements: The Chronicles of Katerina Starling

Chapter 3: Queen Katerina

The echoing sound of techno music filled the room. Crowds of people dancing and laughing at the centre of the room, others huddled together in corners talking and drinking. All of them were friends from C.A.N.D.I.E. Kat was in the living room, sitting silently on the couch. Scott was somewhere probably dancing. The floor was scattered with plastic cups and an assortment of chips.

The music seemed muted to her, like a ringing noise in her ear. All the voices blurred together. Normally Kat loved parties and she knew the effort Scott put into organising this one but she was still recovering from the conversation with her parents earlier. Her eyes stung, she reached for her cup of beer and took a sip. Instantly she put it down, Kat never liked alcohol. Still the pain remained; she lied down and remembered her last encounter with her parents.

She laughed "You want me to be a queen"

"Yes dear, It is your twenty-first birthday" Her mother replied

"It is Elementian tradition" Her father took her hands

It dawned on her that they were being serious.

"Well isn't there any other heir to the throne? Does it have to be me?" Kat could feel her palms starting to sweat

"Believe me dear. We were not expecting this either" Her mother gave her a sad smile

"Laura, my only question is why now?" Scott asked intrigued

Her father took a deep breath as if they had rehearsed how they would explain this.

"Element is slowly dying. Our cities are getting poorer, the Dark Elements are rebelling. We need a new ruler. Someone who is wise and strong but also fair." Her father explained

"You posses all these qualities" Her mother gave her a sad smile.

Like Tom she thought.

Tom was her older brother, he died fifteen years ago when their kingdom was attacked by the Dark Elements. Dark Elements were Elementians who were given the power of darkness instead of light. For example, blue fire instead of red, ice instead of water, etcetera. Not all of them were evil but because of the acts of some of them, they are generally all labelled as 'the bad guys'.

Kat was disgusted by this however it was rare to find any Dark Elements in the kingdom. They had their own kingdoms and usually stayed away from any other Elementians. She remembered Gray called her 'Daughter of Light' like it was an insult. It was people like Gray who give the Dark Elements a bad name.

"Look if it's that bad, why don't you deal with it yourself? You can't ask me to uproot my entire life just because you can't deal with a bunch of angry citizens" Kat's voice had a tone of resentment, it surprised her. Her parents couldn't barge into her home on her birthday after not talking to her for two years and demand something like this.

"Katerina" Her father only said her whole name when he was mad

"This isn't just your choice, think about what Tom would want you to do" Her father continued

That was it. All of Kat's strings broke.

"You think that you can come into my house and guilt me into doing what you want by using Tom's legacy" She felt the tears falling on her cheeks, her voice radiating resentment

"Kat" Her mother reached for her hand, she pulled it away

"I'm not going to be queen that is my decision." She said sternly