Prologue

Tyne castle – Spring of 1017 BE

“Will he be like a giant?” asked the little girl as she looked up.

“No one really knows your highness, it has been over a thousand years since the Guardian entered the bridge, artists have made paintings that portray the Guardian as everything from a legendary beast to a man the size of a Titan, some few even say it was an order of knights that defended The Bridge to the last man.” Said the old man as he led the Princess to the courtyard.

The Princess looked away from the old man and over to her father, the most powerful man she could think of and tried to picture this guardian, or guardians, as being more powerful. It was a difficult task. As she approached her father she could hear him speaking with his advisors.

“The seal is degrading your highness, we will need to act soon if we hope to prevent it from opening.”

Her father looked at the speaker as his booming voice responded, “what is the chance that we will succeed?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“better than it has ever been your highness, we believe we understand the bridge enough to break it.”

Her father didn’t look pleased as he responded, “yet the seal itself will need to be opened first before you can collapse the bridge.”

“Yes your highness, but this will allow us to retrieve the Guardian.”

Her father did not look impressed and nearly snorted with derision. “I don’t care about fairytale stories, there is no guardian. The seal has kept us safe and now that it is failing, we must take action.”

“Of course your highness, I merely…”

“Enough of this, call upon all the lords and our allies, we will marshal our full force in front of the seal. We will open it, bring down the bridge, and end this looming threat to the kingdom once and for all.”

Her father’s abrupt tone as he cut off the other man nearly made the Princess turn around and flee. She didn’t like it when her father got this upset, even if he rarely did so with her. Her father’s voice was stern, an end to the conversation, and all the men around her quickly broke up and headed on their way.

“Can I watch?” Came her timid voice from behind her father. “I’d like to see the Guardian when he comes back.”

“There is no guardian Alisa, and I would not want you near the seal when we broke it.” As she looked up at her father she could see his eyes shift from the intense look they had to the much softer one he often used with her, “it is good to dream, but never place all your hopes upon those dreams because if they fail to materialize you must still have a way to keep your people safe.”

After a few moments of thinking her father added, “I hope the Guardian exists as well, I would certainly like to meet whoever, or whatever, they are.”