HIATUS | The Great Dragon War [Prequel]

Chapter 1: Change

Why do people write stories? Why write?

Why account for history, why do people search for traces of the past?

Maybe they want to justify. Maybe they want to show that great empires fall when they become too greedy. Maybe they want to tell tales of how heroes defeat villains, how the good of the heart can defeat any darkness. Maybe they want to inspire, to teach their children how to live; how to be good, how to not lust, how to preserve their empire for years to come.

I do not write for that reason.

I do not write because I want to share a happily ever after. I do not write to lecture on morals or the state of the world. I do not write because I have a legacy to preserve.

I write to tell.

I write to tell that some stories are unheard. I write to tell that some histories are missing voices. I write to tell that some happily ever afters are tragic endings for others.

My name is Rosada Camila, and I was a graduate of Auradon Prep, founded by King Beast and Queen Belle when they united neighboring kingdoms into the domain of The United States of Auradon. I was an ordinary high school student--scratch that--I was a rather bland high school student, crowded among the elite princes and princesses of Auradon. My only saving grace was my best friend, Lina Emeria. Because of her, it didn't matter that I didn't have a name or a title. I was as important as Jasmine or Snow White, even if it was in the eyes of someone normal, like me.

Enough of my babbling, though. I'm here, today, to write. To tell you the story of my last year at Auradon Prep. The year that changed everything. And naturally, our story begins with the first chapter, corresponding to that exact word: change.

Chapter 1: Change

Auradon. Three years ago, nineteen fairy tale kingdoms were united under the hands of King Beast and Queen Belle. They thrived, from the shining domes of Agrabah's palace to the furnished corners of Charming Castle. New rulers popped up everywhere: Queen Cinderella of Charmington, Empress Mulan and Emperor Li Shang of the imperial palace, King Phillip of the Enchanted Dominion, and many others. Each of these kingdoms had recently suffered through their sort of revolution, from fire-breathing dragons to evil stepmothers, which were compelling enough to be written into Auradon's history as the first fairy tales. At the surface level, Auradon seemed quite stable. Beneath the surface, however, in the small kingdom of Luxibris, a conflict between two friends would boil into a full-scale revolution against the newly crowned King Beast.

Ping.

Rosada  Camila slammed her book shut and jolted at the sound of her phone. She  propped herself up, so that she was sitting upright on her dorm bed, and  picked her device up. There was only one person that it could be.

Lina <3: ;c

Rosa: ...is it bad?

Lina <3: It's wayyyy different than last year

Rosada frowned, tapping her fingers on her knee. The two of them have always had the same schedule before. Somehow, as if by magic (which Rosada was starting to believe), she and her best friend, Lina Emeria, had the same exact class schedule down to lunch for their past three years at Auradon Prep. Lina always told her that it was fate ("We're two parts to one whole, the teachers can't just split a person in half!") but Rosada knew it was only luck. And it looked like this year, their luck had run out.

...

We were close. Lina and I, that is. I can't remember Auradon Prep without her. Even if I think back to freshman year, she's always there. Her presence follows me, back to when we hadn't officially met.