Mythos

Chapter 2: The princess and the frog

Three very stressful and overdramatic years later, in which both the media and the people had with particular eagerness attempted to excel each other with outlandish gossip and rumors about either escaped bloodthirsty monsters or mysterious demons ravaging the capital, the excitement about the arrival of the new royal twins had left even Helen and Madison.

Thus both of the children were able to grow up relatively peaceful under their tutor's thumb and with Anette never too far away. The two girls lived happily in their pretty tower up in the castle and were most well-behaved and ordinary. As all myth children, they started speaking after their first year and would start their education in their fourth year of life. The only notable thing might have been their occasional impertinence but their tutor, Missy, ruled the household with an iron first and nipped every sign of insubordinance in the bud.

And thus another perfect day began, this time in another tower further south. In this tower, the little princess Victoria was still sleeping in her bed, amidst countless pillows and blankets, even though it was nearly noon. Her hair was uncombed, uncut and brightly blonde, almost entirely covering up her small body and from under her hair escaped muted snores. The large, canopy bed beside her own was long empty. Her sister had been awake for hours, running up and down the room in excitement, sunkissed skin with matching hair and widely opened dark eyes, her blue sundress billowing around her naked feet. She cleaned the room and combed her hair and after her many tasks she noticed Victoria had still not left the comfort of her bedding.

With one huge leap she jumped on her sister's bed and started excitedly jolting her until she was desperately shaken off.

''Morning Horizon.'', the young princess yawned as she slowly recovered from the attack.

''How can you still be asleep you dummy?'', her sister chided. ''Do you even know what day it is?"

Victoria pondered quietly while rubbing her eyes.

"Today's the noble's summit! And maybe they'll even let us take part this time.", her sister exclaimed impatiently.

Suddenly, Victoria felt wide awake and looked at her sister who was eagerly fidgeting with her nightgown.

"You have to get ready!"

As fast as she could they rushed into the vast marble bathroom to prepare for the occasion. In a green sundress, the long hair neatly brushed and braided by Horizon, Victoria stepped out of the bathroom and accompanied her sister out the door. They hurried down the twisted flight of stairs, down the tower. The summit would be in the northern tower to which they were now excitedly heading.

"Last one there's vermin.", Victoria shouted and they both started running.

Even though Victoria was a lot smaller than her sister, she easily took the lead. The ran past the many extravagant rooms and chambers they had all previously explored and dodged a handful of servants that eyed them in affright, the sounds of their bare feet echoing in the hallways. Just as Victoria sprinted around a corner and already opened her mouth to proclaim her victory, she crashed into something pretty painful and tumbled to the hard marble floor.

Her sister caught up right behind her.

"What's the matter?", she laughed but then she gasped audibly and came to a sudden halt right behind Victoria.

Slightly dazed, the little girl lifted her head to identify the source of her misery, but giant, black laced boots limited her view. She looked up to render a nasty remark for the owner of those vicious obstacles but the face she beheld caused the words to get stuck in her throat. A giant man in an all-black uniform glared down at her with venomously squinted eyes, his lips under the dark beard pursed in disdain. On all fours she crawled back from him not able to take her eyes off his malicious face. Horizon came up behind her and helped her back on her feet. For a moment the three just examined each other. The girls almost shaking with fear while the man gazed upon them with exceptional revulsion. It took Victoria all the defiance she could muster to not flinch away from his piercing gaze and when he failed to intimidate her he squinted menacingly.