My name was Ysabeau Kyrthyrdaes, and I was destined to become Queen of all of Solceré.

Now, I know this sentence must raise quite a few questions, the first one being, how the hell do you say that name? It's really quite simple: Is-a-bow. The Y has always thrown people off, a fact I used to complain to my parents about frequently. Worse than the cursed 'Y' in my name, was the fact that my name became quite humorous to my siblings when I entered my teen years and picked up a passion for archery, something that sadly required the use of a bow. My mother, on the other hand, instead found my new hobby disappointing and unlady like.

She would come to learn that she found my whole self disappointing and unlady like. But that was a detail for later.

Now one might wonder, how would someone pronounce Kyrthyrdaes and the answer is, I don't know? I only knew because I'd been saying it since birth and in my younger years, it was with great difficulty. Consider sounding it out?

Onto the more important question: I was going to be a queen?

Which would be immediately followed by: The queen of where?

The Second question is easier to answer. Solceré was a country populated by both humans and elves, the latter being the majority. This was a rarity, due to the fact that humans and elves had been in a violent feud for over six thousand years now, something the two races had gotten passed after emigrating to Solceré. The land was decorated by small farming villages, bustling trade cities, and magnificent gilded castles. These man made structures were nothing compared to the natural beauty of the countryside though. It was an idyllic place made up of rolling hills, magnificent forests, and glistening lakes.

And why was I going to become queen of this enchanting kingdom?

Let me explain by telling you my whole life story.

I, Ysabeau Kyrthyrdaes, was born in the year 4000 on the summer solstice, to a family of elven royalty. Many people in our country wondered if the date of my birth was significant in some way, perhaps meaning I was meant for great things. But as my life progressed this didn't seem to be the case.

Although my mother was the Duchess of Aurea, a duchy within the country of Solceré, I, myself, did not possess a political mind. This was not such a bad thing though, because I was the third born child. My oldest sibling, Darian, was originally supposed to take up the mantle of Duke. Darian realized at around the age of thirty-five (a time comparable to a humans teen years) that he rather enjoyed lavish parties over council meetings and trade agreements. Thus, his birthright was swiftly taken away and handed down to my older sister, Trisrie.

This came to be the better option as Darian had no desire to accept any responsibility in regards to anything, ever, at all, and Trisrie quite loved telling people what to do. She was also sharp minded, level-headed, and an extremely logical thinker, which I suppose would be helpful for the position as well.

My parents probably would have stopped at two children, seeing as they had already produced a functional heir, but then a hundred years after Trisrie was born my mother was almost assassinated. Of course, to celebrate her survival, my parents had sex, and I was born. Truly, very romantic. They then went on to name me after my mother's personal bodyguard who sacrificed herself to stop the assassin. No offence to the woman, but I do wish her name was easier to read. Then again, we were elves, so there was really no getting around having a long name with too many letters.

Thirty-two years later, Bea, my youngest and last sibling was born, and she became my shadow the moment she was old enough to do so. She did not excel in archery like I did but she did enjoy being out in the woods, picking flowers, watching animals, and climbing trees with me. This sadly did not last forever due to an unfortunate event that led to Bea being too afraid to spend time in the woods without guards.

We were still very close in spite of this.

Although neither Darian, Bea, and I were to inherit the duchy, we still had many time consuming duties we were required to fulfill, such as attending royal functions, lessons in manners, and schooling. Lots of and lots of schooling.

Due to the fact that elves aged at a slower rate than humans, it meant we didn't start schooling until we were twenty. Trisrie and Darian were both over a hundred year older than me and by the time it was time for me to start my education, they were long done with theirs and it wasn't until I was fifty-two that Bea became of age to join me. Needles to say, I was quite frequently very bored and lonely while in my classes. Not to say that I didn't enjoy them or learning in general. My personal favorite subjects were herbalism, alchemy, geography, and various language studies. Even though I was a good student, my mother still wasn't very pleased with me, though at least she appreciated my dedication to school more than my love of the outdoors.

If I were living in Talamhana, the continent weeks away across the sea, the original home of all elves and humans, I wouldn't have been so looked down upon. Elves had a connection to the earth that could not be ignored, though a vast amount of the elves of Solcere were surprisingly good at doing just that. It didn't matter that every elf had a supernatural power over nature, could perform limited nature related spells such as controlling plants, breathing life back into them, moving the earth to name a few. Our society had been so influenced by the humans that shared the country with us that we truly had lost our roots.

No one liked to admit it though.

But there were still some elves who became druids or rangers or priests of Gaia, harnessing their gifts and becoming more powerful. These people were usually farmers, Court Advisors, religious figures, herbalists, or alchemists. When running around the woods I would take the time to study the local flora and fauna, occasionally sitting and meditating just to feel the breath of the earth below me. I had even learned how to sweep aside mounds of dirt with the wave of my arm, make trees bend slightly to help me climb them. I was no druid, but I was a blossoming ranger.

My mother considered this a waste of time for someone of my station.

That was why I was so surprised that on my ninety-second birthday, my mother agreed to let me attend The Institute of Herbology and Alchemy, the most esteemed college for the specified fields in the country. It was located in Luxam, the neighboring Duchy to the north west of Aurea, which meant for the first time in my life I would be away from my family!

It was too good to be true!

No, really.

It was after about three months of study that I received a very important letter.

Dearest Ysabeau,

I know it has been too long since I was able to gaze into your golden eyes, but soon the pain of our distance will be forgotten. In a month's time, we shall be wed, an amount of time that seems longer than the thousand years I shall spend on this earth. With every lonely day that passes I dream of our life together, knowing seeing your radiant smile will help erase any pain I might have ever felt.

With all the love in my heart, Prince Caelen Elios Gildor Anar

This was strange, because to my knowledge, I was not engaged to the crowned Prince of Solcere. In fact, I'd only met him two or three times in my life. For Gaia's sake, he didn't even know my eyes were green. It was when I read the next letter that had been addressed to me that things became a little clearer.

Dear Ysabeau,

I thought I would let you know that King Gildor Ta'ner Anar and Queen Alina Oriana Cira and I have come to a mutual agreement that you and Prince Caelen would make a wonderful couple. I imagine you should be contacted in the coming days. We have planned the ceremony for a month from now so you may continue your schooling for the next three weeks and then join us in Radium for the beginning of the festivities. Don't forget my dear, this is an honor.

Sincerely, Duchess Venra Si'ria Envyre Kyrthyrdaes

And that was really all there was to it. Word was spread around the kingdom of my engagement and without being in the same place as my mother there wasn't really much I could do about it, no way to argue with her in a productive way through letters. It didn't matter that I had nothing to do with the planning of this massive life decision and that I wasn't necessarily prepared for it. I was only ninety-two! If I were human it was like I was in my late teens or early twenties. Yes, I was on the cusp of adulthood but still, I'd thought I had a little more time to become myself.

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Who was I to complain, though? Who would be upset about becoming queen? You would have to be utterly insane! Unless, perhaps, like so many other useless royals who had never had to work hard for anything in their lives, I was unjustly miserable.

So now I was sitting in a lavish carriage that was as gilded as everything else in Solcere, dressed in my finest and most uncomfortable gown, on my way to celebrate my impending marriage. Somehow my life had all built up to this moment. I thought of the people who believed that I, a child born on the summer solstice, was meant to accomplish something great, and I wondered if this is what they'd had in mind.

When I myself pictured a life of importance, it was doing something adventurous that utilized my survival skills I'd learned in the woods, or helping people by using what I'd learned of herbalism and alchemy. Not becoming a queen whose only purpose was to be beautiful and supportive. But whether I liked it or not, I was engaged and in less than a day I'd be married. Unless bandits decided to accost our wagon, something I was ashamed to secretly hope for.

Just a little bit, of course.

"Ysabeau, aren't you excited?" Lady Aredhel asked, drawing my attention away from the window.

Lady Aredhel Sylia en Celeb was the Duchess of Luxam, and she had done me the kindness of allowing me to stay in her palace during my studies in her duchy. Seeing as she was a Duchess, she was invited to Radium as well to celebrate my wedding, so naturally we were travelling together. We were riding through the lush, green countryside, passing the endless expanse of the hundredth field of grass, what could possibly be the same couple of trees in the distance that I'd seen during every leg of this journey. I smiled halfheartedly, lacing my fingers together in my lap, the layers and layers of fabric that made up my gown pooling over my hands.

"Of course," I said, eyes drifting back to the window, back to the vast miles and miles of grass that passed us. My reflection gazed back at me, hazel green eyes barely able to conceal my disinterest. "I'm getting married. Why wouldn't I be excited?"

"Tell me, dear," she said, putting a hand on my knee. I met her golden eyes that were alight with an expectant curiosity. Lady Aredhel was beautiful, dressed as if she herself might be getting married off tonight, wearing a dress of varying and complimentary shades of blue and gold, sparkling jewelry going all the way up her long ears. "When did you know you were in love with Caelen?"

Oh, gods, no.

"Oh, my, what a very broad question," I said, hoping I seemed flustered by my love for Caelen and not my complete and utter lack of thoughts on the given topic.

Caelen Anar, to explain in further detail, was, as I previously stated, the crowned prince of Solceré, living in the capital city, Radium, which was right smack dab in the middle of our vaguely spherical continent. Aurea, my place of birth, was directly below Radium. It made sense that a Lady of Aurea would be chosen to marry the prince, seeing as it was the largest of the five Duchy's Solceré was made up of -other than Radium, of course. If Trisrie were not expected to become Duchess of Aurea than she would have been the one getting married instead of me. Our case was also helped by the fact that the current queen had been a lady of Vellun, the Duchy in the north west of Solceré, and the one before that had been a lady of Luxam. We as a nation proudly did our best to avoid incest.

It worked for the most part.

If only Caelen had a preference for men, then perhaps it might be Darian sitting in this wagon and not me. Darian would love being prince consort. He'd do exactly what he did now, which was go to parties and lounge about all day, but instead he'd have a better title.

Why couldn't I be more irresponsible like Darian? Maybe then I wouldn't have been considered a good match for Caelen. I suppose he was good looking. He had golden blonde hair and golden brown eyes like the majority of elves in Solceré, chiseled features and a nicer smile than most people. From my dim memories of him I thought his voice was nice. He was nice.

Since it had been decided we would marry we had exchanged one letter each in a weak attempt to get to know each other. They'd been very formal and proofread by about a thousand of the nation's best scribes, edited and refined to the point that we might as well not have written them ourselves at all.

I was still stunned and appalled at how conniving my mother had been by allowing me to go to school in Luxam. She'd gotten me out of the way so that I couldn't have a say in my own engagement. Why else would she have allowed me to study a subject that a lady had no use for?

Aether forbid I go purely because I enjoy something.

"Please, Ysabeau, I've been married for four hundred years, I must live vicariously through you," Lady Aredhel said.

"My apologies, there's just... so many factors to consider. I suppose... it was his smile that first caught my eye. He has a lovely smile."

She made a delighted sound, clapping her hands together, the many rings she wore clinking together, and the blonde curls that were strategically hanging loose from her braided bun on top of her head bouncing. Were she a four hundred year old human this might have been a shockingly youthful response to some mildly titillating news, but seeing as we were both elves, it was not. We were destined to live all the way to be a thousand years old, give or take a hundred years.

Elves were the governing race in Solceré, though there were many human families that had risen to become nobility over the thousands of years since the country's establishment. A long time ago this had been a cause for some contention for the humans but eventually... well, honestly, those people died off, humans only being able to live to a hundred years if they were lucky. After a while it became clear that the point was moot. Elves would always outlive humans and therefore it was easier for them to claim the power.

"You two will make such a beautiful couple! If only I had daughters, perhaps a Lady of Luxam could have been the one becoming queen!" she said with a sigh. "Again."

The current queen, Alina, had not been a duchess like Lady Aredhel, but instead just been a Lady of noble birth. Lady Aredhel and her husband, Duke Lunan Sylia en Celeb, had six sons. Lunan also had a daughter, but only three people were aware of this fact, and it was important that it stayed this way.

"Yes, if only," I said.

The next four hours I did my best to distract myself by asking Lady Aredhel questions that she was eager to give me the answers to, starting with how she met her husband. Unfortunately, any talk of her husband made me extremely uncomfortable due to his previously mentioned secret daughter who I knew intimately. Eventually though I found a few safe topics of conversation, such as her youth as well as her schooling, so we settled on those for the rest of the journey.

It was about an hour before sunset when we reached Radium. Garlands were hung in the streets, and cords of brightly colored greens and golds were woven together into intricate braids that were strung between buildings and street lamps, all in what I assumed was celebration for my engagement. It would have been more clear that the people of Radium were beyond excited for the announcement of our imminent marriage if there had been a single person in sight.

But there wasn't.

The moment we reached the front gate of the city that was usually manned by up to twenty guards we discovered that... no one was there. Initially we had wondered if perhaps there had been an attack, maybe the guards had been forced to retreat further into the city and so Lady Aredhel and I had excited the wagon, attempting to be discreet by removing our shoes and travelling by foot.

The further we got into the city though the more undeniable it became that there was... no one. It was empty. But there couldn't have been an attack because there was no blood, no bodies, not even shattered windows or broken down doors. It was as if the entire city had decided to get up and walk out the front gates.

The only sign of a disturbance was when we entered the grand banquet hall of the palace and found the long tables half set. Strewn across the floor in a trail leading to the kitchen were bowls and plates and forks and knives and goblets. It was as if the palace staff had just decided to quit halfway through their task, dropping everything at their feet.

"I- I don't understand," Lady Aredhel said, voice shrill and panicked. "I just don't- I don't understand. How can a whole city be empty? This doesn't- It doesn't make any sense!"

I myself was feeling the same way but couldn't find my voice. But then something occurred to me. My family was supposed to meet me here. My parents, Darian and Trisrie were coming from Aurea, and Bea, my youngest sister, was coming from Vellun.

If they had already gotten here had they disappeared as well?

"My family- my family was supposed to be here. What if- What if whatever happened here happened to them?" I choked, clutching onto the back of one of the many grand dining table chairs.

Lady Aredhel was too distraught to hear me, too far gone in her own spiral to answer. Because Lunan -her husband- had been doing business in Radium for two weeks now, he was already here as well and so were three of her sons. Had they all suffered the same fate?

My breath became trapped in my throat, my whole chest feeling like it was collapsing in on itself. I wheezed, stumbling out of the dining room, barely making it down the stairs into the foyer before bursting through the heavy doors of the palace and being met by warm evening air. I collapsed to my knees, dry heaving, ropes of my golden hair falling loose from the braids Lady Aredhel's chambermaid had taken so much time to do for me.

Could this really be happening? Could thousands of people really disappear from one spot without a trace? Even with all the magic in this world that was a little far fetched. Elves were only capable of nature oriented magic, which could only mean a human mage could have done this. But something this grand scale would have required so many! We would have known about this kind of rebellion, we couldn't have been this unprepared.

Fear swirled around faster and faster in my mind, each labored breath I took becoming thinner with the arrival of every new question. Who would do this? Why would they do this? Could it be undone? Where had everyone gone? Were they still on this plane of existence? Were they alive?

Was my family alive?

I thought back to the day I left for Luxam, when I was filled with nothing but unrestrained joy and bliss at the idea of being away from my family. But this was not what I had wanted. I didn't want to be without them forever. With that thought racing through my mind, my vision washed away, my weak arms collapsing from where I sat bent over on the ground, the earth coming up to meet me as I asked myself one last question.

Am I all alone?