Kingdom of Tales

Prologue (Forgotten Fairy Tale)

A young brunette woman was in the process of going through an old and worn bookshelf, in search of a specific book. The book was said to have been passed down from her long lost mother. Her mother was never the brightest, however, in favourites. The woman found it odd that a scholar like her mother would be such a fan of fantasy. "Finally." She spoke out as she slowly grasped a small book out of the bookshelf. The book was dark brown with torn edges and loose spine. She opened it and began to read, not expecting much of it.

I walked along the worn down trail that I knew like the back of my hand. Subjects, left and right, greeted me with respect and cheerful smiles. I waved back to all of them, still keeping my goal in mind. I headed towards the slightly rusted iron gates of my kingdom's castle, my home. As I greeted the guards and passed them on the way in, I see the side profile of the man I was searching for throughout the day.

"Your Majesty! You did not inform me you were heading to town this morning. I was worried." As the man turned to face me, his familiar aqua-coloured eyes made contact with my rather dull, black ones.

"Alpine, as worrisome as ever, I see. I was actually looking for you." I exclaimed, crossing my arms and looking slightly upwards to his tall stature. For a brief moment, I admired his short, matching coloured hair. He suddenly scoffed.

"Are you," he asked me curiously, "Staring?" I suddenly realized that it has been at least a minute since I began staring and I immediately look towards my feet in embarrassment. I then shot Alpine a glare of daggers and stormed off. Little did I know, a piece of something important had completely slipped from my mind.

As I entered the brightly lit throne room, one of my personal guards greeted me with a slight bow. I raise a brow in suspicion, knowing that he wasn't this courteous before. I walk up to him cautiously, and on closer inspection, he was hiding a devious grin behind his long, parted, bangs.

He then burst out a snort followed by laughter, surprising me and making me jump slightly. He raised his head, looking down at me, partially smiling and taking in smalls breaths as his laughter filled the once silenced room. With a short pause, the white-haired man finally spoke.

"Did I scare you? Not everyday where I'm so formal, eh?" He smirked, causing me to sigh in response. I headed over to my desk and beckoned my guard to stand by my seat. "You... surprised me, that was all." I casually rested my cheek on the palm of my hand. I looked at the stack of papers next to my arm and groaned in annoyance.

"You seem distressed, Noire." My guard noticed my discomfort and placed a hand on mine, attempting to release some tension in my state of stress. "Gaerwn, I told you to address me properly during daylight hours. And also, please do not make physical contact with me so casually." With that comment, I slid my hand that was under Gaerwn's closer to my chest. "My apologies, Your Majesty." He said, with a sarcastic tone and devious smirk on his face. He then faced away, leaving me be with my work.

A few hours later, I was only finished a third of the large stack of sheets but my left hand was already sore from writing the same signature over and over again. Gaerwn seemed to be indifferent towards the current situation and looked behind his shoulder to see me. "Your Majesty, it's been 5 hours and you're still writing? It should be time for dinner by now." He looked outside the stained glass window behind the massive throne that I sat upon. The spacious room was now accented with a dull orange glow as the sun set slowly. "Let us take a break, Noire." I narrowed my eyes in spite as the albino man emphasized on my name. "Daylight hours are not yet over. Don't get ahead of yourself, Gaerwn." I told him off as I rose from my seat. I made eye contact with Gaerwn, giving him directions to keep following me until I reached my quarters.