♕ Betrayed ♕

♕ 𝔅𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔶𝔢𝔡 - 𝔓𝔞𝔯𝔱 11 ♕

 After walking for some time, Aurora found herself in a clearing surrounded by a forest- the perfect place to be if you don't wish to be discovered. There were multiple small cabins scattered around the area, which Aurora guessed the other escaped servants stayed. Five hooded figures stood in the middle of the clearing, who seemed to be waiting for her. As they approached, the old lady said, "Remove your hoods, dears, for you do not need them at the moment. This is Aurora. The girl I talked about earlier," she said with a smile.

 "But Ms. Constance, she's a princess! Not a servant!" said one of the hooded figures, removing her hood to reveal a white-haired girl.

 "Actually, there's been a turn of events and now she's actually a former servant, Eleanor. Anyways, why don't you all introduce yourself to her!"

 The other four people also removed their hoods, and introduced themselves as Tasha, Melanie, Isadora and Matthew.

 "There are others who also live here, but we're the first five to join since Ms. Constance created our group," said Isadora, who had brown hair that was styled into double ponytails and chestnut eyes.

 "Your group?"

 "Yes, we mostly consist of people who we've rescued from the castle but some of us are simply normal people who are against the tyranny of the King and wish to overthrow him."

 "I think I'm with you on the tyranny part," said Aurora with a grin. "But how do people end up in the castle as servants anyways?"

 "Well, usually the King just feels like he needs more servants and sends soldiers to kidnap someone who's suitable enough, or he purchases them from neighbouring kingdoms if he spots a good one. In rare occasions, though, when he can't find anyone at all, he sentences someone in his castle dungeon (who probably got arrested for a stupid reason) to a life of servantship. Basically, my case. I was arrested because I saw a man and a woman fighting over a purse, so, assuming the purse belonged to the woman, I helped her. But it turns out the purse belonged to the man and the woman was the thief, and I consequently was arrested for my huge misunderstanding."

 "Wow, that really sucks. But how do you know so much about what the king does? I mean, I'm his daughter and I didn't know that."

 "Well, we have spies obviously. Some among the guards and some among the maids, and it's a relief that we have many people who are willing to join the cause of the Mages."

 "The Mages? What's that? Wait.. Isn't that another word for a wizard?

 "Well, the Mages is the name of our group! We decided upon that name because the secret weapon we are preparing for when we overthrow the King is somewhat similar to magic."

 "But isn't magic.. not real?"

 "Well, it's more complicated than that. Basically the secret weapon is like a physical form of someone's emotions, which, if you learn to control them, can be really useful for basically everything. It's really powerful though, so if you let it get out of control or it falls into the wrong hands, some real chaos could happen. Here we can help train you to use it and save the people of the Diamond kingdom from a rule of tyranny!"

 "Ok, enough questions for now," said Ms. Constance, interrupting the conversation. "Don't you want to start your training?"

 "Of course I do!" said Aurora.

 "You can only train with us if you're in the group. And to join the group you must complete the joining ritual. It's not much, I just have to say the spell to activate your powers, and that's it. But after the activation you must try hard to control your emotions or some crazy stuff will happen. Are you up for it?"

 "Okay!"

 "Good. Then we'll start in the evening. In the meantime, does anyone want some lemonade?"