As soon as Nerys woke up in her big and open bedroom, befitting a princess she felt determined ready to take on the day. She looked outside of her window as the sun shined bright. She relaxed a little and took a deep breath for a second. Just relaxing as she started to wake up completely.

"The citadel!" She gasped as she got up quickly and changed into her clothes. In a short minute she was ready. Her hair a slight mess. She was perhaps already late, she quickly ran out the room and shut the door. She walked down the hallways while trying to clean up her hair as she walked. She usually never wakes up at this hour. She knew needed to rest but she did not want to make her teacher wait.

She walked out the palace around the side of the high district. It was called "The proudness" as it had the most beauitful houses and properties. Sometimes called "The forest" as well coming from lower class people who were too jealous of other's great work, as getting to that district was only available that way. She took a right at the majestic fountain as birds chirped in the sky and people looked at the princess who was always calm and collected, now almost running through the streets as her fair hair blew in the light breeze. She got out of the streets and walked down some cruved steps towards a fort similar in size of the palace. A stone pathway lead to the bridge that connected the Citadel with the city.

She got to the bridge, she never been through this point yet now she was on her way to learn the arts. Crows flew away from the archway at the bridge towards the building. The girl looked at the birds and started walking, the crows flying above her in circles as they were seemingly guiding her. She got to the gates as the spikes opened up to her. Inside there was a fountain some white flowers. Perhaps the water was made from darkness? It looked majestic as it was three times the size of our young lady. She carefully made her way inside as a slightly older girl came out from the grand double door opposite of the gates.

"Nerys! You have finally arrived, perhaps there were some kind of issues getting here?" She never met this lady yet she was calling her by her name. There were stories that the Citadel did not care much for statuses, and it seemed that way.

"Yes... troubles, we could call it so." The girl answered silently as she was still digging through her hair trying to make herself look elegant.

"Let me help you." She walked behind the girl and ran her fingers through Nerys's hair. It became smooth and befitting her beauty. The lady walked in front of us her, looking back as she was waiting for the girl to follow her, and so she did.

"Where is Serene?" The girl asked the lady but she stayed quiet. They got through the grand doors into a warm yet cold looking hallway with huge archways loowhatming over. There were bowls hanging from the wall with fire in them enlightening the place. Seemingly nothing fueled them yet they burned bright. As they kept walking they got to a smaller passageway. They walked through and found themselves in a huge open area. There was a balcony above the entrance and a smaller pond in the middle. There were also mirrors without any reflection hanging off the walls at the sides. Opposite of the stairs there was a huge window, looking out at the sea and the hills. A dark haired woman in a black dress was reading a book sitting in the chair at the side of the water.

"So you've arrived, princess." A familiar voice called out to her as they stopped a few steps away from the pond. They have met a few times when her father invited the woman over to talk about The woman who guided her left back through the hall, and as she closed the doors Serene stood up and looked at the girl.

"I am hoping Pikki was no trouble? She does not know of your status, we have our own hierarchy in the Citadel." She explained to the girl who stood silently and respectfully. She walked towards the pond and looked into it. She saw a few fish swimming around in the dark water. Serene stood next to her and gazed into the water as well.

"Your father told me you want to learn the arts. Do you feel like you found your destiny? People do not voluntarily come to the Citadel to learn such things, lady." The girl looked up at her, she was taller than her by a little and stayed silence, not knowing how to answer. The lady put her hand on the girl's shoulder as she felt the morning tiredness escape her and felt more energized. Serene put her hand down and smiled.

"Ready to begin then?"

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"Yes, more than ready mistress Serene!" She nodded and answered in excitement.

They spent half an hour by the pond as Serene showed Nerys the arts as she tried replicating the movements. The energy. The passion enthusiastically. She showed her controlling fire, water, the air around them. Of course the girl herself could not control them, but she tried copying the woman's body. They stopped for a second, the princess waiting for the next presentation.

"Now, let's get on to creating all of this, purely from darkness. From the shadows for instance, or from the night." She put her hands over each other but leaving some space between them. The lower hand covered by the shadow of the other one. As her hand became darker and darker a smoke started appearing that sparked into fire between the woman's hands.

"You need to feel your shadow as your own skin. Then you need to move it, create warmth in it, and let it all go, and if you might need to." She moved her lower hand to her side as the flames grew and grew. "You can alter it in your own vision and create something more." As it got brighter the room became warmer. The girl could feel it burning her face. Slowly it became bigger than the woman's torso. With a sudden clench of her fist the fire disappeared. The stunt left the girl confused and amazed. Just like before Nerys copied her movements, she tried copying the technique as well. She put her hands over each other and concentrated. A small smoke appeared. It felt hot in her hands, burning her hands slowly. The girl grunted in pain and the smoke quickly disappeared.

"You need to focus on the shadow young lady, not your own hand. Forget the senses in your body and become one with the shadow you create." The girl closed her eyes and tried again.

The smoke was hot once again. It was enveloping her hands. Slowly it started sparking. As she kept concentrating on the darkness in her hands it sparked more, eventually starting a small fire. In a few minutes they stood there as the girl tried all she could, and it harvested good results. From a small little flame it became a fire ball in her hands. The shadow disappeared as from her hands as it became the element. She opened her eyes and lowered one of her hands keeping the one with the fireball up as she smiled.

"Wow, i did it Serene!" The woman smiled proudly at her as the girl celebrated.

"Don't get too excited, Nerys. You manifest great power to do such a thing in a short amount of time. I shall name you an apprentice now and you will be under my wing, starting tomorrow you will learn all there is to know about the shadows at least all that i can teach you and you shall find out on your own the best and wiser way to control it to your desires. For now, let us practice more." After that Nerys closed her eyes and extinguished the fire in a few seconds, unlike Serene she had to also focus on controlling the darkness and undoing her creation.

The woman taught the young lady to control water, she could not fabricate water in her hands so easily, even after a full hour of trying all she could create was a few droplets. She controlled air almost effortlessly, but could not produce more than a light breeze. Her controlling and altering of shadows were good enough for an apprentice but she had to try hard to maintain such powers. After a while she got exhausted, still they did a lot more than Serene originally thought the girl could be capable of.

"You will do great things i am sure. You need to rest now young lady your father would surely be as proud as i am, gather your things from the palace. Tomorrow you will get accustomed and perhaps make some friends among the other apprentices. I wish you a good luck and will see you tomorrow." The girl bowed in respect for the woman and said her goodbyes.

She walked back through the bridge and the dark streets as the lamps were being lit by the workers. One of them had trouble getting a torch to lit up. Nerys walked to him and signalled him to stop. She put her hand up to the end of the torch and slowly lit it as she produced a small fire. She smiled at the man who could not believe his own eyes.

"You... You're the dragon of the emperor!" The smile fell off the girl's face as the man yelled out like a maniac, he threw away the torch and ran towards the other district. As the torch dropped on the ground a huge flame engulfed the torch. The girl looked confused, but shrugged it off her shoulders pretending to not care so much and went on her way.

"The dragon of the Emperor... what did this man mumble about?" She could not stop thinking as she reached the palace. The maid from before noticed her and smiled bright as she greeted the girl.

"Princess! I heard you were going to study the arts with the mages. It is none of my business, but i wish you good luck in your studies, i folded up all your clothes as i thought you would need to move to the Citadel!" The maid said proudly with a smile.

"Thank you so much! And i hope my father treats you well in my absence!"

"Oh don't worry about me young lady, you know he will."

They said goodbye to each other as the girl gone to her room. She gathered all her things in a huge pouch. Everything was ready, the girl looked back at her bedroom from the doorway. She knew she was leaving her old life behind. The dragon of the emperor she pondered on what the main said one last time and gone on her way.

She walked from the palace through the streets to the Citadel. With all the lights now lit as moths danced around the bright flames. The Citadel had white lights coming from it, the stars above it shined bright. The girl smiled and made her way towards the once fearful looking fort, to now a welcoming home.