Lux woke up to an explosion outside of her room.

Flailing around, she jumped out of bed in a panic, and her mind started racing as she tried to remember her situation.

Where was she? In an inn in Sidus. Where was Rayne? On the other side of the room, sleeping in a bed. So what could that noise be?

She tried to find an explanation but realized that she didn't know, and her panic spiralled.

Did someone know that they had left the palace? What if it was the Athas, finally deciding to get rid of their family once and for all?

The last question wasn't that unlikely, considering everything that she had heard, so she sprinted to the window and stuck her head outside.

And she saw...

People. Hundreds of people walking around, talking and laughing with one another. The smell of fresh food wafted through the air, with children following each other down the streets, and stand owners trying to convince passer-bys to come and buy something at a discount.

Lux let out a breath and put a hand on her heart.

She had never been outside before, so she had mistaken the noise for an explosion. How stupid.

Calming down, she crossed her arms on the windowsill and smiled as she looked down at the village. If she was a princess, these were her people, and she would serve them, along with the rest of her family, soon.

As she looked outside dreamily, she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder, and she startled, but when she turned around, she realized that it was only Rayne, with messy hair as well as drooping eyes.

"Lux. Are you okay?" he asked, trying not to yawn.

"Oh, erm, sorry Rayne, the noise just startled me," she replied sheepishly and turned her back to the window. As she studied her brother, she realized something.

Rayne had been trapped in the palace as long as she had, so how was he completely okay with all the chaos ensuing outside?

She cocked her head. "Rayne, how come you're fine with all this noise?"

His eyes widened slightly, as if he was caught off guard, but he answered her question. "From what I can remember, it was loud at Chaconas, and despite the fact that I was only there for three years as a baby, I guess I've gotten used to noise because of it." He went to sit down on his bed and cleaned his sword with a cloth.

Another question made its way into Lux's mind.

"What do you remember about Chaconas then?" Their mother hadn't given them as much information as she would have liked, but she understood. She looked like she was in pain every time she even talked about the outside.

He peered up at the ceiling, like he was thinking about it, but eventually replied, "I don't remember much, but I do remember that it was beautiful, even more beautiful than our palace."

More beautiful than Adamas? Suddenly her excitement spiked.

He continued, "I also recall... playing with someone else my age." He turned his gaze back to his sword and propped it on the wall next to him. "Sorry, that's all I can remember."

Lux placed a hand on her chin. Maybe the child Rayne had played with was an Athas?

She dropped her hand and sighed; she was just starting to make assumptions now.

"I'm going to go prepare our horses." She exited the room, feeling a bit defeated.

✦✦✦

Lux and Rayne were stranded in a crowd.

More and more people kept filing in, and atop their horses, it was hard to make their way through.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Lux was quickly getting overwhelmed, and she had to fight the urge to cover her ears. She quickly turned to Rayne and raised her voice so he could hear her. "I think that it would be best if we got off our horses. We can ride them again when we get out of this crowd."

Rayne nodded, and just when she was about to dismount, she noticed something—the source of all the commotion.

There were people at the front of the crowd, wearing blue paint on their faces while they waved a gold and blue flag with a crown in the centre. Lux was completely baffled at first, but then she remembered her conversation with the inn owner last night, and a light bulb went off in her head. Could these be rebels?

She turned her attention back to the supposed rebels, who were shouting at the top of their lungs, but she couldn't decipher what they were saying from this distance. Her curiosity ended up getting the better of her, and though it was hard, as she bumped into multiple people, she ended up at the front of the crowd, with the best view among anyone.

Leading the rebels were three people, a girl and a boy with bright red hair, along with another boy with dark brown hair.

"THE ATHAS ARE MURDERERS!" Lux realized they were screaming as she got closer.

As she looked down on them, she thought that they weren't the smartest. If they believed that the Athas were murderers, what was shouting and disturbing the peace going to do? It seemed pointless to her. At Adamas, if someone wanted something, they'd just ask their mother nicely, and if she said no, then that was that.

As she pondered, she suddenly heard an angry voice call her name, and she turned around frantically to find Rayne, who looked thoroughly annoyed.

"Kira, why did you run off? You didn't even tell me," he asked, raising his voice so she could hear him.

"Oh, um," She scratched her face with one hand sheepishly. "Sorry, Darrion, my... curiosity got the better of me."

He sighed, but she knew that he wasn't really mad. She often acted like this after all.

"Now that we're at the front of the crowd, we can get out more easily. Let's leave," he told her, and Lux nodded.

But as she made her way out, she noticed that the red-haired boy was staring her down, and a shiver made its way up her spine as she exited the sea of people.

✦✦✦

Lux was riding through the woods with Rayne, on her way to Polemus, and to Chaconas.

The wind was in her hair, the moon was shining down on her, and she knew that this was truly the best feeling in the world.

After leaving Sidus, they had continued traveling, making sure to avoid villages and cities in the area, and even though Lux would like nothing more than to go through every single one and take in the sights, she knew that they had a mission.

It didn't matter that much when Lux would get to the castle, as she would be sneaking and blending in, but Rayne only had one chance, seeing as the guards' exam was annual.

He slowed his horse in front of her, and she followed his actions.

"Are we stopping here?" she asked, a bit annoyed that they had stopped riding.

"Mhm." He dismounted and began setting up their camp.

Lux also dismounted and moved to help him, but she furrowed her brows when she saw that he had taken his sword out.

"You're not going to practice again, are you?" she asked, but didn't wait for an answer and sighed dejectedly.

There's no real reason for him to train so intensely, she thought to herself as she took her bag off of Gilia.

Lux had no doubt in her mind that Rayne would crush the exam. He had trained relentlessly every day of his life. She was sure that no one was better than him when it came to swordsmanship, but still, he trained at every given opportunity.

Once they had finished setting up, Lux sat down and watched her brother practice on a tree.

"You should sleep, Kira," he said in between lunges, and she got a sense of déjà vu.

"You're going to use that name in the middle of the woods?" she pouted.

"Yes, and you should too. Kira." His tone showed that was the end of discussing that.

"Okay, Darrion." She replied with a hint of salt in her voice and continued to watch him.

After night had completely fallen, Rayne finished his routine, and Lux got up to prepare to go to sleep.

But that's when he tripped and fell.

Not wasting a second, she rushed over to him in a panic and kneeled in front of him. She studied him carefully and asked, "What did you hurt?"

He didn't say anything at first but eventually muttered, "My knees." She nodded and moved closer to his knees, hovering her hands above them.

Magic was useful in many ways, and this was one of them.

Water could potentially be used to harm, but more importantly, it could be used to heal.

Lux summoned a small pool of water above Rayne's knees and concentrated hard. Eventually, he grunted, and she knew that her job was completed.

"You have to be more careful. You don't need to train as much as you do." She stood up and dusted herself off.

He stared at the ground for a minute but eventually nodded and turned in for the night.

✦✦✦

Lyra was aggressively practicing her handwriting.

It was the middle of the night, but she just couldn't sleep.

Yesterday, she was prepared to leave the castle with Lux and Rayne.

But her mother had stopped her.

She had led her to believe that she would leave along with them, but their mother didn't even trust her enough to tell her that she was continuing to trap her in this goddamn castle.

Everyone underestimated her all the time, just because she didn't dance like Kaia, play the piano beautifully like Luther, paint masterpieces like Vivianne, excel at magic like Lux, or dominate the sword like Rayne.

No, because she spent all her time in the library, gathering knowledge, everyone else thought she was weaker.

If only they knew how wrong they were.

She crushed her pen accidentally, causing ink to splash on her hand, and she let out a sigh.

Staying in this stuffy palace was doing her no good.

So she grabbed her cloak and headed for the servant's quarters.