*POV change*

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a princess? Well let me put it this way, it's strict and demanding and the responsibility weighs down a tonne. You always have to put on a strong front and you are forced to question the motives of everyone around you; you don't ever know if the kids around you actually like you or if they just want to be friends with a princess. Everyone expects you to perform to your utmost all the time. Yes you get to wear beautiful clothes and order everyone around, but it's not as good as you might think it to be. You always need to dress respectably and act with etiquette. My royal father use to tell me when I was younger that "with great power comes great responsibility" and that "some day you will get use to it and understand" so I have always tried my hardest for him and up to this date, have nearly performed perfectly, but sometimes I just want to relax and get out of the stuffy castle.

My father having realised this, finally decided to let his precious jewel out into the world. Having shown good results in my private lessons and magical studies, my father preceded to finally find me a tutor to teach me practical magic. Lara, the Royal Mage of Fei was appointed as my tutor, and I studied under her tutelage for half a year before she was brutally murdered one night. I walked into her room that night only to discover her badly mutilated corpse, lying on her bed twisted and barely recognisable. Although arc mages were very powerful magically and had no lack of firepower, they tended to slightly more less adept at close combat. Still, to do so to the countries most powerful arc mage, in the middle of the royal capital and castle, that was really unexpected. Moon Poison was spotted that night escaping from the castle, but my father suspects he wasn't the only perpetrator and that their may have be foreign involvement.

The event became a huge scandal and terror attack. Because her death was so unexpected, her successor had not been announced yet. The vice captains of the arc mage squads, along with their own political influences all began vying for the seat soon after her death was announced. The courts and officials were thrown into chaos, and my father often complained about headaches. The attack also hit quite close to my heart and my fathers and we were both left quite traumatised.

My father also felt the murder unnatural. What was the reason of assassinating the Royal Mage, when there were many better targets inside the castle. Me, my younger brother, the queen. The loss of the Royal Mage did affect the military strength of Fei, but not critically. In the end, my father concluded that they may have been after the Firefox stone, an ancient artefact that originated from before this country was even founded, handed down from the founding of the nation. It was mysterious treasure left behind by the first founding monarch. The story goes that it was a gift from his close friend who help him unite the current Fei when he ascended to kingship, and the story of it is a tightly held national secret. Apart from royalty, there were only a handful that knew of the artefact and only the current monarch knew its usage. Even the duke who was charged with guarding it only knew that it was an extremely dangerous and precious object.

Fearing for safety of the Firefox stone, but unable to do anything that may create a scene, my royal father tasked me with the secret mission of retrieving the stone from the duke. With a trusted personal adviser who is an expert level spell blade as an escort, I was to bring the artefact back to the royal castle where I would 'supposedly attempt to' merge and absorb the artefact. If that failed, things would be complicated, as a change and strengthen in security would be tough to achieve.

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So here I am now with one of the worst possible situations. The artefact had been stolen already. At least that's what the duke and guards say, although I never saw the thief, they claimed it was a small messy boy who was dressed in rags. They claim he must have been a kid from the slums and are currently searching for the boy, but when I left, they claimed they were running into trouble with some of the gangs in the slums. A bunch of useless liars. Either way the artefact was missing, so I was on my journey back to the capital to deliver this message to father as quickly as possible. In fact, we left as quickly as possible as etiquette would allow. Why? I've been in the royal castle long enough to know when something's up. And I could smell a rat. Someone within the Dukes retinue, most likely a high ranking one, had to be a spy. That was the only way so much important information could have been leaked out.

"Are you okay my lady? You’ve been quiet for a while now."

I look back from the tinted window that I was gazing out of. The scenery just changed from some grassy plains and was now filled with a lush forest outside, making it seem like we were some foreign object that were just waiting to be expelled...Maybe that was the reason why monsters existed...a natural balance for humanity.

"Princess-

"I'm fine Mathew. Just a little disgruntled, that's all"

"Is it about the artefact? Don't worry princess, I will ensure you are not found to be at fault. I had originally already advised his majesty to change his security. The intelligence department had been picking up unnatural movement in Aerie for a while already. Alas, I am only a advisor and general, concerned with only military affairs and with no thought for economy."

The only other person in this carriage apart from me, Mathew was one of father’s personal advisers. He had been a friend of father since childhood, and although he was a general, he was surprisingly gentle, kind, dedicated, intelligent and loyal to a fault. Father said he was a good leader and respected by the soldiers, probably because how he understood and roused the soldiers. He preferred to use positive encouragement, only relying on harsh discipline if forced and attempt to share the soldier’s pains and joys. His only problem was that he was quite sensitive and although not very spiteful, held grudges for ages. Currently he was holding a grudge from eight months ago, before Lara's assassination, when the king happened to call him in one of his arguments, 'a man of military background' and 'lacking a deep understanding for the countries economy' This happened to happen in front of some other ministers and advisors, so he had been highly affronted by this ever since. Even Lara's death didn't sober him up entirely.

In fact, I suspect that's why father sent him away on this mission with me. He happened to be an expert spell blade and although his rants and grudge were not getting in the way of work at all, they probably were starting to get annoying and tiresome.

Suddenly, I noticed him stiffening. It wasn't just the carriage jerking movement, his tired crinkled old face became alert and he pulled his eyes into a squint. "We just passed by two kids hiding at the edge of the forest. I think that we just happened to chance on them as they were not even trying to hide their magical energy. Well, maybe one of them was a bit. I think I will alert the guard detail to be on alert though...although it may be a false alarm...your thoughts my lady?"

I toyed with the idea. We may travel a bit slower if we do, but I guess it's better to be safe then sorry? Maybe I should just let Mathew decide himself.

"Just do as you see fit." Father trusted him, so it should be fine to leave the security decision making to him.

He frowned a sec, before replying "Of course, my lady." He reached out and pulled the curtain to the driver partly open and as he opened his mouth...

CRASH!!

Red sticky liquid splattered across my face, staining my clothes and trousers. Multiple giant spikes of earth protruded out of Mathew’s body, it's sharpened point millimetres away from my face and neck. The carriage had abruptly stopped and the driver was staring at me through window, an eerie smile plastered on his face. I gulped, for once glad that I didn't have an Adam's apple.