A Kingdom of Sins

Prologue

Ten Years Ago

    I knew the darkness was the light after the storm but it was always the wave that dragged me into my nightmares. All I knew is that I was surrounded by darkness. It was deep and genuine, and with all my training it seemed almost peaceful. But I knew that not all darkness brought peace. "Kaitlin," I heard a melodic voice call, sending me out of my trance. I knew the voice but I don't who it's from. I knew I was somewhere I just don't know where. "Kaitlin," the voice called again, held down from worry. That's right it's Luck. It sends a deep shiver down my spine. How could I forget one of my closest friends?  I sit up, my memory slowly coming back to me. The darkness always did this, disguising my worries and problems with a curtain of peace that made me forget everything. I had a hallucination, and came out here to let the music of the forest put me to sleep. I look around the dark forest, letting all the details soak into me. I let the waters of the Morgenster Lake sing me a song. I was in the forest right out of Retil, the capital of Torchwood. Torchwood, my home. Even if Lydia does attack, like they've been trying, it will always be my home. I have given my loyalties to the royal family. But I've been hiding something from them, so am I truly loyal? They all believe that Lydia has never attack past the borders, but they're wrong. The Lydian King has experimented on me. He's the one that gave me the hallucination that keep me up all night and  the darkness that come and goes with them. And if I'm not at full power to protect Noah and Ash or throw myself behind the curtains of false peace then isn't that like handing the country over to him? A shiver of fear travels down my spine as Luck called for me again, "Kaitlin."

    I got up and started walking over to where Luck was. The flame coming from his fingertip is bright enough to light up most of the forest. Ignes magic. It was the light of fighting and keeping those dear to me safe that always brought me home, that tore me away from the false hopes The King planted in my head. Ignes Fae's can manipulate and create fire, other than that it just tends to make them cocky. "I'm sorry Luck, I ju-"

    With his hand he cuts me off. "Kat I've told you not to come out here at night to training." Yeah, training was what I always told them. None of them except Ash knew my secret, he was always the one who comforted me, even if it tore himself from his studies. "especially with Lydia breathing down our necks." That's what I liked the most about Luck, he wasn't an optimist. Everyone here is going on and on about how we'll be fine if they attack, "they're ordinary humans and we're Fae," they said. We are much better fighters and have a more stable government but they're army is almost double the size as ours if not larger. For weeks now we've been trying to work out a peace treaty with Ilustrem, "they'll come after you next," we said, but the Ilustrem Prime Minister just won't believe it. The thing is Lydia will go after Ilustrem next, and then they will be an even worse foe. "Come on, let's get you back to the palace, you need to get some sleep." I want to scream at Luck that I've gotten no sleep in weeks, but if they connected the dots that would be guaranteed war. It would be a larger darkness that would cover this world in its curtain. A scene of hope that would distract everyone from the fact. We're useless. There's no way out of the fighting once we a held by the curtains.

    "I'm sorry, I just needed more practice," I shrugged, trying to make a believable lie. I am the most trained sol- fighter and I'm the only Astral and Umbra Fae ever. I've fought use all different styles of my magic, using stars as weapons, seeing my opponent's next move, using their own shadow against them, now I'm even studying how to control different things in the atmosphere. Something a Fae has never been able to do. Ever. It's easy to say I've done my fair traid of training.

    "You're a horrible liar kid," he said ruffling my red hair, creating a flurry of orange fire. "Just get back before I get in trouble," he chuckled as I run ahead of him. In mid step I'm stopped, screeches echoing in my ear. No it's just animals nothing else. I keep on running, my pace quickening from the thought of war.