The wind howled like a mourning spirit outside the talk tower of black stone. Inside, Princess Arin sat cross-legged in the cold floor, her fingers glowing faintly with ember-like sparks. She watched them dance in her skin, little flickers of fire that came and went with her emotions.
Eighteen years.
Eighteen birthdays spent alone in the Tower of silence. No family. No friends. Just the sound of the wind, and the voices in the fire.
She had stopped crying years ago.
From the narrow window high above the ground, she could see the kingdom below- fields bathed in moonlight, torches glowing along the castle walls. It looked peaceful. But Arin knew better. The people down there feared her. The flame Princess. The cursed child.
They said she would destroy the world.
"Maybe I will." She whispered, smiling bitterly.
Suddenly, the iron door creaked which was unusual. Arin jumped to her feet, the fire in her palms flaring. A guard stepped in - he looked nervous with his torch flickering in his hand
"Your Highness," he said, "your mother...she is dead."
Hearing this, the flame in her hand flickered our of control.
"What did you say?"
"She died in battle. The King...he blames you and they're coming, to execute you at dawn ."
The fire surged, and the stone beneath her creaked.
"No." Arin said, her voice trembling with fury.
"I'm done waiting. I'm done hiding."
Her body ignited with golden flame - not burning, but glowing with raw magic. The walls of the Tower exploded outward in a wave of blazing heat.
She then lept into the night, soaring on wings of flame.
And for the first time in her life, the cursed Princess was free.