I was woken up with a start. There were loud crashes and bangs within the palace while guards were hollering and showing. Another window was blown out by an incredible force from either outside or inside. My window shook a little bit as a forewarning that it was the next window. It was Rome’s turn for guard duty and he took my shoulders in his hands before gently shaking me. His face was full of worry as he peered at me. “Come on Elle! Wake up! We need to get out of here!”

I sat up in full alarm as he already had started packing some of my much more plain clothes. They appeared to be much more like a girl of the middle to high class in the structure of our kingdom. Father and I always tried to help the weak and the poor with some of his wealth by building better homes for them, helping them find good work, but also give small portions of money that they could use if they absolutely needed to.

The heavy fumes of smoke started to fill up my nose and I sprang out of bed. I ran and quickly threw on a simple yet nice dress before helping Rome pack up my things. After my closet was cleared out, we took any possessions I would want before running out. Just at that moment after scrambling around for 3 minutes around my room in a panic, my window burst. We were still in alignment with the door so the glass could fly at us. “Get down!” Rome shielded my body with his as he bent down in turn forcing my body down as well. Glass flew out of my room, ripping the bed sheets and some flying at Rome. His long leather duster he was wearing repelled it from hitting his skin or even getting to me. He had my bag slung over my shoulder as he picked me up and took off. I never knew that Rome would be this serious and wouldn’t try to get a kiss out of this situation right now. It was rather a miracle to be quite honest. Maybe alarming events like this bring out the not so weird sides of people.

Down many halls and around corners he took me. The heat of the fire was getting worse and the smoke started to make it harder to navigate through the palace. “Your family and all the other guys are out of here already. Some that can stand the heat and have powers were they can use water to their advantage have gone back in to salvage anything they can. We need to be sure to salvage as much as we can so we can use it as reserves of sorts. If the fire can’t be stopped in time, then we’ll be forced to take you and your family to another kingdom.” I soon started to wiggle in his grasp and hopped down, soon letting my wings sprout from my back. I then took off flying down the halls to the vault. With an empty sack in hand, I knew I would have to bring with me as much as I could carry without being burnt. Through the fires, ducking and weaving I went into the room where we kept a lot of our riches. The tiaras of past queens and princesses, the crowns of the kings and princess, they were put into the bag as they had boxes they were all in. I took the paintings from their frames and rolled them up before noticing that I had taken all the portraits as well. I zoomed out before finding a window with most of the lovely glass gone. Being careful of the bag, I took the treasures to where everyone was gathered.

“Ellise! What are you doing? Are you alright?” My father, the king, ran over to me and checked me before looking at what was in the bag. His eyes grew as he looked at me with astonishment. “How did you get all of this?”

“Father, there is no time! I need another bag!” A guard soon handed me a much larger bag before I flew back into the window I came from. The smoke was getting thicker but I continued to fight through. I went into the vault room and took everything of value our family would need and took all the golden coins I could fit and carry in the bag. The vault wouldn’t last in the fire, I knew that for sure. On the way back, I spotted Kris and Hamin together, helping Hyunsik who had a wound in his side. “Guys! This way!” I managed to get their attention and they started to follow me through all the rubble.  Pretty soon we were back at the opened window where a guard was waiting for me. He handed me another bag as they all knew that if they went on there, they would be burnt to a crisp and wouldn’t be able to make it out. He called over for more people before Hamin asked for a bag as well. The guards handed over another satchel as the two of us hurried to see the fire spread.

“Ellise! We will have to be quick! The fire is getting too big and I won’t be able to keep it back too long!” I nodded as he used his power to keep the flames away from us. With speed I didn’t even know I had, the two bags were filled as much as they could. I spotted two more items of value; our scepter of the land but also a small chest with an extreme amount of decoration. I threw both into the bag I carried and hurried out. Hamin did his best to fight back the fire as we ran but I started to get too weak. My body and the bag just managed to make it out of the palace before collapsing. Hamin dropped his bag as well and shook me by the shoulders. The sky and world started to gain black spots before everything slipped from view. The last thing I heard before falling out of consciousness was the sound of voices calling my name and someone asking for a doctor to come immediately.