The sound of the Gavel hitting the table is heard within the court room as the judge is about to relay his sentence. Albion Dawnspire was accused guilty of the murder of his father Aurelius Dawnspire, and Supreme Judge Lucius Nightveil. The judge now speaks, he being the new Supreme Judge after the murder of Lucius, "I now sentence Prince Albion Dawnspire to death by execution, this will be carried out tomorrow at noon for now he shall be placed in the dungeon."
Albion is still grasping the situation but tries to keep his cool and follow instructions to the very last detail and think of a way out of this. He's escorted by two guards, he honestly figured he could kill them easily but he decides it's not worth it. He thinks to himself, "if I truly killed these men then I would be what they think I am, I would be a murderer, but is that truly what kind of man I am?"
This question he asks himself weighs on him as he now sits in his dungeon cell, cold, dirty, hungry, and thirsty, he doesn't feel any good. For hours on end Albion thinks, thinks to himself and about himself. He doesn't know if he will live or if he will die. He knows he should accept his fate, that it's inevitable, but he chooses not too. He doesn't let defeat consume him, instead he decides to keep thinking, thinking of ways he can get out of this situation. There's nothing. Many hours have passed but not a single idea had came into his mind. Maybe he was too stressed, maybe there was just no way of getting out of the situation. There is no telling. Only hours await until the execution will be carried out. Those hours aren't much different from the last. Until finally, the guards arrive to escort him out. He hasn't gotten much sleep but now, he doesn't care. After all his thinking, he thought that he hadn't given up but in reality he has. He lets the guards slowly walk him towards a wooden platform in the main plaza of the kingdom. He would be getting executed in front of everyone.
These were the same people who had just supported them a day before. He used to talk to these people. But now as he is about to get his head chopped off he can't think of anything. The more he thought the less he could really think. The last thing he hears is the swift sound of a blade cutting downward. Although, that isn't going to be the last thing he hears. Regaining his self consciousness he opens his eyes and looks. "How?"
Before him, a tall man who's a bit bulky and a noticable white streak in his dark black hair that is a perfect parallel to the scar on his face. This man parries the executioners blade, unarming him and within a moment, Albion not able to even think about what is happening, the executioners head is perfectly cut. The man turns towards Albion. "Come with me Prince."
He says in a monotone. Albion doesn't ask any questions and follows him, they quickly rush out of the place, guards barely able to process everything themselves are late to the chase and Albion along with the man escape into a secret tunnel within the city. They are safe for now and just walk within this tunnel trying to make it out. "You alright back there kid?"
He says. Albion replies, "Yeah, I'm alright who are you."
Curios about the man who just saved his life. "I'll tell you later, I promise, but we have to stay focused if we want to get out of this place alive. Who knows if anyone could pop out at any moment."
Albion nods in agreeance and they continue silently until they reach a ladder. The man speaks up. "Here it is. This is our exit and where your life will change forever. You can't go back to being a prince anymore. Are you ready for that? Albion let's that sink in before replying, "I'm aware of that now, and I'm ready to face that reality. I have to go on no matter what, for my father especially and even Lucius who I may have even be able to save."
Which Albion says especially regretfully. The man likes his answer, "good to hear."
"after hearing what you said about your father and Lucius just now, I don't have any doubts about you being a murderer anymore."
He says now a tad bit more friendly. "Alright, let's get going."
They climb up the ladder into a forest, the sunset glowing in the distance with beauty. At this moment more than ever, Albion knows that his life can never go back to how it was before.
They continue on through the forest heading west and eventually decide to camp out for the night, after gathering all the fire wood and getting everything set they decide to relax. The man speaks up, "It's about time I introduced myself, I am Ciaran Draven, it's nice to meet. You may not know me but I definitely know you since your my Nephew, in other words I'm your uncle. Your mother was my sister. I'm sure you haven't seen much of your mother's side of the family and you likely don't even remember your mother."
Albion sits there taking the information, "uncle? I wasn't aware I had an uncle. And you're right, I don't remember my mother. My father said that she died giving birth to me."
Ciaran nods, "Yes, I can still remember that day, me and your mother Evelyn were close, I was the eldest child so I took care of my siblings after our parents we're assassinated. I'm not sure if your father ever told you this but, your mothers side of the family is also royalty but not of Elandor, the Draven family is of the kingdom of Lionhart, I was actually the king of Lionhart. Until we were overthrown and I had to fake my own death to survive."
Albion is intrigued in Ciaran's story. "We have time, would you mind telling me a bit more detail at what happened and your story? Since I'm gonna be traveling with you and all I'd like to know more about you."
Ciaran nods in agreeance and understanding at Albion's request, "very well then, but just so you know this isn't a very happy story. Nonetheless I will continue. So, in my time of rule as king Lionhart's political situation was very split even more than ever. One side was set on becoming a Republic, and the other was set on staying a Democracy. This was always a debate long before even the Draven's rule in Lionhart but the different political views were as clear as ever in my time. Hundreds of people would battle in the streets in mini wars over it. Killing many innocent people."
"Obviously, the Draven family was apart of the side that believed that we should stay a Democracy, but we did not take part in any violence surrounding the conflict. Steering a bit away from that as a young man who was a king I was sort of lonely to be quite frank. As a king I had many duties but one night as an irresponsible king I decided to set my duties aside and drink at a bar downtown. I sat down and instantly I feel in love with this woman who was the bartender at the time, of this establishment. I obviously didn't reveal that I was the king and it wasn't obvious, but as soon as I had sat down she began speaking to me. That first night we had spoken for a few hours. Her name was Violet. We would talk for hours almost everyday from then and our relationship progressed until I ended up telling her that I was the king. Clearly she was taken back by this but she didn't care she continued talking to me how she did before and truly treated me like a human being. Her family though, was apart of the other political party although she wasn't apart of that it still followed her. One day I decided that I knew what I wanted and I decided to propose to her it was beautiful, and she said yes. We had planned the wedding for a month later but we wouldn't make it to that. One day not long before the wedding a huge battle happened in the town and Violet was caught amidst it, a member of the Democracy sided party knowing that she was important to one of the leaders of the other side decided to kidnap her and hold her hostage, the other side saved her but the act of them doing this caused a huge uproar within the Republic side causing a revolution against the Draven family to begin, they raided our castle killing many of my people including many of my siblings and family, me and Evelyn were forced to fake our own deaths to get out but we were captured by another nation who had also gotten their hands on Violet, knowing that I had relation to her they killed her in front of me."
"with a stroke of luck I got out of that place, I couldn't say the same about Evelyn from there. That's where me and her split ways I don't know how she met Aurelius. That's it. That's basically my story, after that I stayed hidden training my swordsmanship and adopting the ways of the Katana abandoning my old sword style. When I had learned that King Aurelius was killed and that you were being executed for it I came right away and saved you."
Albion takes all this in. "I'm really sorry about what happened with Violet, it must've felt horrible that you couldn't save her and even your own people turning on their king, it's horrible."
Ciaran looks up at the stars, thinking about Violet a feeling of nostalgia hitting him, "don't be sorry kid, I've accepted her death now. My new path is to go on adventure with you."
"Thanks a lot for sharing your story with me, I think I understand you a bit better now, anyways, goodnight uncle we will continue our journey in the morning."
Ciaran replies, "Goodnight Albion."
They both sleep well through the night.
Albion awakens as the sun rises, Ciaran is already awake waiting for him, "About time. You ready to get going?"
Albion yawns, "yeah I'm ready I guess, let's get going."
Albion gets up and without any more speaking they had on. Journeying through the forest. Albion finally decides to speak up, "this forest is very quiet almost peaceful, it's nic-"
Ciaran catches and arrow about to hit Albion just in time. Ciaran draws his katana. "Who are you?"
A man appears on the branch of a tree, long blonde hair and pointy ear, an elf. "I am a guardian of Zahiraeth."
Ciaran responds quickly, "Zahiraeth? I wasn't aware that Zahiraeth was this direction. It makes sense why there's so much forest around here."
The elf still holds a cold demeanor and stays calm and collected, "so what are you two doing in this forest? Are you bandits, travelers. What?"
Ciaran seems slightly offended that he'd be mistaken for a bandit but he ignores it, "We are travelers. We're heading west."
The man asks another question, "may I ask your destination?"
Ciaran nods, "We are headed to Zypherion."
The man looks a bit surprised, "Zypherion? That's a hell of a long ways from here."
Ciaran nods again, "I know, but we're determined to make the journey. In our current stance this may be out of line Sir but what is your name?"
The man seems taken back a bit by your manners, "Oh, I don't mind. My name is Sylvan, and I'm the captain of the Zahiraeth Archer's. They say I'm the best with the bow in the entire land. Anyways, I have a feeling I can trust you two mainly the boy though, he hasn't spoken much but I get a feeling he is especially trustworthy."
Ciaran continues, "So be it, lead the way Sir Sylvan. And I must add that your bow skills are certainly impressive, but that's what I expected from an elf."
Sylvan seems to like the compliment a lot, "Thank you, your a humble man, you were easily able to catch an arrow shot from me. I also forgot to ask, what are your name's?"
Albion speaks up first, "I'm Albion, it's a pleasure."
Ciaran the follows up, "I'm Ciaran."
Sylvan is now satisfied, "thank you, Albion, and Ciaran. Now enough delay, follow me"
They don't have much small talk from here as they follow Sylvan through the forest awaiting the sight to behold, Zahiraeth. They finally approach after a short while and the view of a giant white palace fills their eyes. The white palace oversees the city that looks very in tune with nature. The palace and the city look so different from each other but when combined in a kingdom it makes for a beautiful sight. Albion speaks, "Wow. What a view."
After enjoying their appreciation of the kingdom Sylvan finally speaks up, "Welcome to Zahiraeth, the forest kingdom and home of the Elves."