Ismerel Aureventis
That was her name.
A young girl with a huge burden on her back.
She wore a white dress with a golden necklace around her neck.
With white hair and golden eyes, she looks so beautiful.
Like a fairy falling from heaven.
She was just sitting while staring at the tree with crossed legs. Her frown face show that she not in great mood.
There's something that's bothering her mind.
Her hand makes a knuckle and punches out at the air....
Like there was an enemy in front of her..
This all happened because she heard a decree from her dad.
The king of Aurventis....
He told her that she was engaged to someone she had never known.
----
And soon after, to further make her angrier, there was a decree that came.
The scroll came sealed in velvet. With three divine seals, pressed in wax that shimmered faintly with warmth, it marked it as a document of holy binding.
A royal messenger carried it on a silver tray as if it were a relic given by the gods.
Ismerel didn't rise to receive it.
She sat at the edge of the imperial reflecting pool, her slippers off, feet resting just above the mirrored surface. The water did not ripple. It never did when she was nearby.
Now one knows her feelings now. Her face had gone blank like she doesn't care about it anymore.
It's like all her anger disappears all of a sudden.
The messenger bowed deeply, waiting for her acknowledgment.
But...
Only after a long pause did she speak.
"Put it down."
The messenger obeyed without a word, placing the scroll beside her.
Ismerel's fingers brushed against the edge of the velvet, but she didn't unroll it immediately.
She already knew what it was.
This scroll just a formallty from her father.
---
Her father had spoken of nothing of it during supper. Not even afterward, when he summoned her for a quiet discussion in the hall.
He only said, "You are to be prepared."
And then, "Creation was needed to balance his legend."
Now, here was the answer. Her fiancé.
Ezrel Dormir.
The Serene Heir.
---
She unrolled the scroll with a single motion.
Golden script. Ceremonial titles. Embossed names and realms and blessings. She read it all in silence, stone-faced, lips unmoving. When she reached the signature line.
In sacred witness by the Crown of Aureventis," her hand curled slightly while reading that sentence.
It's not hers.
But.....
Her father had signed in her place.
The water around her was boiling as if there was a fire near them .
One of her attendants took a step back instinctively afraid of disturbing her.
She inhaled slowly, then let the breath go.
"So," she said at last. "They bound me to a legend."
" I thought they would send me to enemy's place, but in reality, it's just a myth."...
....
---
Inside the palace, the curtain did not move. The windows had been closed for hours, and yet the air held the pressure of a coming storm.
Ismerel walked slowly to the tower observatory, her favorite place to think. The entire spiral stair warmed under her soles.
When she reached the top, the sun has fallen. The scenes was beautiful.
Ismerel sat alone beneath the domed ceiling. Behind her, the glass caught her reflection: white braided high hari, imperial crest stitched into her collar.
She looked like a queen. Or a conqueror.
Not a bride.
Not someone's offering to others as a sacrifice.
---
She opened her palm.
There a ring a tiny word carved.
My dear.
It was ring from her father.
Ismerel dropped the ring into a glass of water.
The water hissed then went still.
---
"Ezrel Dormir," she whispered. "The one who does nothing."
A boy whispered about in temples, seen by few, heard by many. A noble child who cried a divine tear and blinked slowly like a ghost.
"Silence is not a virtue," she said aloud. "It is cowardice dressed in mystery."
The God of Creation had whispered to her father once.
"Balance must be restored. Legend must not stand alone."
So now she was the answer?
She was the balance?
She scoffed.
---
If Ezrel was the legend, then she would be the world that moved.
It savior...
If he refused to act, she would act enough for both.
If he demanded nothing, she would demand everything.
Not for love.
Not for kingdom.
But for the principle that nothing in this world should remain unmoved.
---
At night in her room.
A knock came at the glass door. Her younger sister, barely eleven, stood outside in slippers.
"Is he handsome?" she asked through the door.
Ismerel didn't answer.
She simply turned her head toward the moonlight and said, "It doesn't matter if he isn't strong."
"Strength rules the world. Without it ... you are nothing but a prey."