The Thirteen Trials

At first, every eligible man and woman had lined up outside the palace, eagerly waiting to try their luck. By the end of the year, nearly half the amount of eligible men and women had tried their luck, all to no avail.

The furthest someone had managed to get was trial number 12. They had died trying to complete that one. Nobody knew what trial 13 held, but people had begun to make speculations.

Believing the tasks were impossible to complete, people began to give up and lose interest. The crowd around the palace began to thin. The number of people signing up slowly dwindled down to a zero.

The palace was once again silent, the Prince and Princess locked in their golden cage once more.

All until two years later.