Six years before the grand fall, the city of Eriros had been at its peak. A magnificent prospering city, blooming with regal, white structures painted with the breath of nature; wall plants and trees keeping company and harmony to the stone streets and buildings. Large aqueducts and bridges connected parts of the city to the others. The avenues were always gleaming, packed with travelers, merchants, spices, clothes, goods, foods, and the likes. Most impressive of all, was the palace. The core itself of Eriros. Built on marble pillars and white limestone, it was made to glow brighter than the sun itself, and to reach higher than where eagles flew with its intricately sculpted composite columns and arch gateways. It made sure to be more beautiful and captivating than the most affined bride in all of the kingdom. An architectural miracle, it was called. That’s where the royal family resided. The royal family, who had succeeded in a monopoly rule around the closest islands and cities. A powerful and influential family, nonetheless. Their sole line was the reason for the neighboring five regions to be unified and called a kingdom. 

A small pair of dirty, unwelcomed feet were tapping their way through one of the many secret passages of said castle. A peasant girl was making her way up to the castle's kitchen grounds quietly and unnoticed; the guards that she had encountered on the way were currently lying bruised on the stone ground, unconscious. Taking a small, dimly lit up staircase the child enjoyed the cold contrast of the stone against the flat of her bruised feet. When she reached a tiny door, the girl carefully pulled down the handle, revealing the welcoming scent of various foods in the making. Her stomach churned uncomfortably at the sight. She hadn’t eaten in days. 

There stood numerous ladies in the kitchen, preoccupied and seemingly stressed by their current tasks. Fortunately, no one had seemed to notice the presence by the door and so the girl took the chance to grab an apple from a nearby basket lying on the floor and throw it straight to the opposite side of the room. With a thud, the fruit made the women turn around sharply and investigate the source, grumbling. She waited a few seconds before making a run for it to the exit. Well, actually the entrance to the rest of the palace but an exit to the kitchen.

”Hey!” One of the women yelled after the girl and she stopped dead in her tracks, in a breath. 

”Who are you and what are you doing here?” the woman asked sternly, and upon inspecting the child more closely, she grimaced in disgust. 

”Oh my God, you’re completely soaked in dirt— get out before I call the guards!” The woman neared her grabbing a broom, and the young girl took a step back in caution, feeling the familair tingle between her fingers and the rumbling in her chest. 

”I just need to know—” she started, but the woman was already lifting the broom in the air, slashing it down to hit her. In a split second, a dirty gold sparkle glinted in between her fingers and she stamped her feet in panic, covering her face with her hands. A wave of golden light painted the kitchen and then all of the women were lying on the floor, grunting in pain. Looking at her hands in fear, the girl noticed that once again golden circles were floating around her wrists - embracing them without actually touching them. A small, detailed pattern decorated them and she took in a few sharp breaths, afraid of herself. Her brother had been the only one who could handle her powers and reassure her, but they had taken him away and she needed to find him as soon as possible. 

It seemed that the women had not all fainted from the impact like the guards had, and were readying themselves for yet another fight, which the girl decided she did not want to have. Looking around for a quick escape, she noticed a small window on top of a counter leading to what looked like another corridor. It was small and tight, which reassured her that she couldn’t be tailed. 

Being small meant being agile and quick. That meant that in a few seconds she had managed to avoid a broom flying at her and diverse screams, and was already jumping out of the window, ignoring the string of curses left behind her. The girl ran , straight, then left to a staircase going downwards, then right, then into a small passage that she barely fit into. She ran until she was sure no mean woman was going to find her and attack her with a broomstick. 

Crawling out of the small space, the girl seemed to find herself outside. She was still in the castle, but this seemed to be some kind of secret garden. Palm trees extended gracefully in an organized line, placed parallel to another row of the same trees. The core of the garden was a breathtaking fountain, adorned with pale white statues of men and women standing proudly, sculpted to the utmost detail. Bushes of roses stuck out by the sides, the scarlet of the flower inviting a welcoming contrast to the green. Large marble pillars supported the corridor around it, making it seem like it was some kind of secret paradise hole in the middle of the palace. Nevertheless, she still ran looking down on the path until she felt herself bumping against something soft. Before she could lose balance and topple on the ground, a pair of warm hands caught her. The girl looked up to meet the gaze of a middle aged woman, curated to the tiniest detail. Her hair was set up in a sophisticated braid, and her silk cream dress, tied with a golden cloth of scarlet damask, extended towards the floor. The woman looked at the girl with curiosity. 

”And who might this little darling be?” she asked softly, crouching down to her level. For some reason, she felt a sense of reassurance - motherly almost. The girl found herself relaxing in her grasp within seconds, though she kept shut, refusing to answer the question. 

”Well, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me your name,” she said expectantly and the little girl sighed. 

”Seoyeon,.” she muttered looking away. The woman offered a warm smile. 

”My, what a beautiful name. How did you find this place?”

The girl shrugged. ”I ran?”

”And just how did you get past the guards? I imagine a petite girl like you must’ve sneaked her way here.” This time, the little girl didn’t respond, still cautious. The woman sighed in resignation. 

”Alright. Do you want to tell me what you’re here for at least?”

”I’m looking for my brother.” 

”I see. But why come to the castle to look for him? Does he work here perhaps?” She shook her head. 

”He was taken here by guards yesterday morning. He stole fruits and I was supposed to wait for him but they took him. I just want him back, we won’t cause trouble, I promise!” she practically cried, breaking under the pressure of the woman’s gaze. The little girl continued.

”He didn’t mean any harm. We’re starving and he was desperate. He had no evil intentions. I promise we won’t ever steal anything ever again, just give him back please!” When she finished, the woman’s gaze softened, albeit darkened a bit.

”How old are you, dear?” She asked instead. 

”I’m six,” Seoyeon whispered weakly. The woman sighed, looking away. Then she met the little girl's eyes with a reassuring smile and held out her hand. 

”Let’s look for your brother, shall we?” The woman extended her hand, and she took it gratefully albeit with hesitance. They walked through and out of the garden in silence, as Seoeyon silently prayed nothing bad had happened to her older brother.

As they entered the main palace grounds, Seoyeon’s irises took in a mix of royal white composite columns, and the glistening glory of limestone and marble. The well dressed woman didn’t bring her through the main arched entrance though, instead she opted for a small opening of columns in the sidelines. Seoyeon was brought into a room filled with weird looking men, her view doubling from time to time due to her state of starvation. They were wearing what looked like saffron yellow tunics, coated with armor and strange looking helmets, where the metal stuck up and released a mane of fiery red feathers. One of them was wearing heavier and finer cut armor, and his shoulders were coated with a paludamentum cloak fastened on his shoulder plates. The moment they stepped in, the room went dead quiet and every single man bowed down on one knee. 

”Your majesty.” The man in the paludamentum cloak affirmed the woman’s presence. 

Your majesty? Seoyeon frowned. She had heard that word before. Her brother had explained that the word majesty was used for the royal family of Eriros. They were the ruling of the kingdom, and needed to be treated with extreme respect had they ever crossed the market streets. Her brother had always talked about them like some godlike untouchable entity, so how come the apparent queen had so calmly accepted her presence and taken her for a stroll in the palace grounds? All Seoyeon wanted was to find her brother again, not bump into a person that had so much power over her. 

The queen turned to the little girl with a soft smile, crouching down to meet her soot covered face.

”Wait here, I’m going to talk to the guards and see where they put your brother.” And with that, the older woman was off. 

And waited she did. Seoyeon stood there for what felt like hours, and as time passed she grew more uneasy. Time wasn’t the reason for that, it was the hushed sentences she could make out while eavesdropping on the conversation between the heavier dressed soldier and the queen. 

”You did what?!” 

”I apologise, your majesty. I was only following orders from higher up. The boy was stealing fruit in the secret garden—”

”He was just a boy! He was starving, for goodness sake! Get a hold of whoever is managing palace laws. I want to have a chat with him. How am I going to tell a little girl her brother was sentenced to death because he needed to get food for her? Without his help she’ll probably die soon out there.” The queen’s voice had acquired an authoritarian tone to its waves, but the moment she turned around to face the little girl, Seoeyeon noticed how her eyes softened and her features creased in a pained expression. She swallowed thickly, feeling her body tremble. Why did she look so sad?

”Listen to me, sweetheart,” the older woman started, crouching down again to her level, and her voice broke the slightest. ”I am so sorry, but—” she cut herself off, hesitating.

Her stomach rumbled violently again - except Seoyeon wasn’t clear on its source this time; whether it originated from her hunger or the preparation for the queen’s next words. 

”Where is my older brother?” she demanded, stumbling. The woman’s warm hands gripped her tiny ones in an act to steady her. When Seoyeon heard no reply, everything around her became dizzier as panic kicked in. A part of her already knew what it meant: living off the streets meant constant encounters with death, and her brother had always been adamant about not stealing food unless it was completely necessary, because it could cost them their life. And here she was, alone, for that exact reason. 

”Where is my brother?!” Seoyeon tried to yell, kick, scream or run, anything to get out of there and into the warmth of his embrace, but she found that there was no such energy left in her body. 

”Where is he?!” Her steps became unsteady again, causing the left sleeve of her shirt to slide down the slightest to her unbeknownst, revealing what looked like a fire opal engraved on the surface of her dry skin, near  the left side of her chest. It gleamed in a light, sunset yellow, except the reflections encarved were of all types of colours - green, purple, blue and more. The little girl had been too shaken up and weak to notice that her and her brother’s secret had been revealed. But the queen noticed alright. She drew in a shaky breath, fingers lingering carefully over the breathtaking yet bewildering sight. 

Seoyeon stumbled again. ”I want my brother,” she whispered weakly before falling forward towards the cream silk and damask embroidery of the queen’s dress before everything went black. Before the little girl streamed out of consciousness, she could’ve sworn she’d heard the older woman mutter something in the lines of this can’t possibly be. 

*********

It felt as if her head was going to burst into a million pieces when the little girl opened her eyes, relaxing into the soft material of the bed. But then realisation hit her. In a second Seoyeon had sprung up from the straw stuffed mattress, but a pair of arms held her back from escaping the room. She was met face to face with a surprised looking servant. 

”Why am I still here?” she squeaked. The nurse opened to speak, but as if on cue the doors of the room opened, and the queen stepped in gracefully, along with a fine dressed man. He was also curated to the finest detail. His purple toga picta fell to his feet, embroidered with elaborate patterns that streamed through and around the fabric like streams of golden water, and the tunica palmata underneath gleamed in glory. Seoyeon didn’t understand who he was until the nurse bowed down. 

”Your majesty.” 

Seoyeon had meant to bow down, but at the attempt her legs collapsed in exhaustion and her tiny frame was captured by the nurse. 

”Is this the child?” she heard the king whisper. The queen hummed in confirmation. 

”How did she manage to sneak past the guards and into the secret garden?”

”I thought the child could’ve hidden and sneaked, but looking in retrospect I doubt the unconscious guards, the incident in the kitchen that the palace was warned about, and this little girl showing up today is a coincidence.” 

”You think she used her powers?”

”She must have. There is no other explanation to it.” 

The king hummed thoughtfully, and with slow steps neared her. He reached out a hand towards her, to which Seoyeon flinched back violently. 

”I apologise,.” hHe said softly. ”May you show it to me?”

She hesitated at first, but this was the king and while the concept was still hard to grasp for her, Seoyeon knew that she had disobeyed enough to object to a request from the monarch himself. Her fingers pried down the tunic to her shoulders, revealing the alluring gem. 

The king was quiet for a whole minute, silently inspecting it. Then, he called out to someone without averting his gaze. 

”Kyungsoo, you can come in now.” 

The door creaked open a fragment more to reveal a boy who couldn’t have been much older than her. He stood quiet; frame hidden by the door shyly as he stared intensely at the little girl. He then slowly approached the queen, grabbing her tunic in defense. 

”This is my son, Kyungsoo. He is the prince,.” tThe woman explained. Seoyeon had no idea why she was being told the information until part of his tunic was also pulled down; she noticed that it was the same exact part she had unveiled. She almost couldn’t believe it when the same fiery opal stood out from his chest. His gaze was still burning on her; it was oddly intense for a six year old child. 

”And you have the same powers as him, I presume,.” tThe king filled in. ”So they were right all along.” 

Seoyeon’s headache was returning as the queen smiled warmly at her. 

”Do you have any other family besides your brother?” She asked. The little girl shook her head. 

A silent moment between the royal couple was shared, as the two looked at each other as if they had shared the same thoughts. She could still feel the intense glare of the prince from behind the queen’s intricate robe. They then stood up from where they were crouching. 

”Get her some food,” the king instructed the servant. He then turned to his son with a warm smile, and held out a hand, which the little boy accidently accepted, skipping as he held onto his father. ”We have some matters to discuss about the child’s stay here, but for the meantime, make sure to clean her up and give her new clothes, With that, they disappeared out of the room. 

The discussion went well. At least that’s what she presumed, because Seoyeon was taken in by the royal family ever since then. The palace went from being a prohibited miracle, to her own home. At first she hadn’t understood why, but as time passed, it was clear that they were trying to figure out why a peasant girl had the same gem and powers as the prince. She wasn’t told much more either, only that she was welcome to stay and to be treated like any other wealthy guest would. And so had her new life begun, where she had known nothing but a comfortable bed and a filled belly, something that in her previous life seemed unreachable. 

********

She hated it at the palace during her first weeks there. It wasn’t about the magnous amount of food she’d get, or the comfortable bed she’d sleep in. It was the gazes and whispers Seoyeon was met with whenever she got as far as out of her room. Those eyes that would look at her with pity, disgust, mockery, and sometimes anger. She knew what they were thinking. Even so little, it wasn’t hard to figure out that she hadn’t belonged there. So she stayed inside her room, con. Maybe isolating herself was better.

The only one who didn’t look at Seoyeon like that ended up being the prince. His gaze was intense, and it often looked like he was glaring at her, but at least he wasn’t looking at her with those judging, scrutinising eyes. At least he didn’t try to read through her. 

Those were her thoughts one day when he knocked on her door around three weeks after her arrival. Not long after, it opened slowly to reveal who was probably the only person as tiny as she had been in the palace. Seoyeon was surprised to say the least, to see the prince staring back at her wearily. Her thought process was broken by his voice; an incoherent mumbling as he looked away. 

”What?” Seoyeon furrowed her eyebrows. The little prince sighed, focusing his stare anywhere in the room but on her. 

”...Lesson.” 

”Lesson?”

”Lesson.”

”What’s a lesson?”

At that, the boy hesitated. ”I don’t know how to explain it. You le