Alantii is well known for being a beautiful island country. Waterfalls scattered throughout the thick, luscious forest. The roaring waterfalls would reach over a mile high and double rainbows would sprout from them in the areas that weren't covered in shade. When the water hit the rocks below it would spray up mist that would attract a lot of the wildlife to come and cool off on a hot day, which happened most of the year outside of the rainy season. These waterfalls would attract a lot of tourists into the country, allowing it to flourish.

The tourists kept coming during the rainy season too. They all wanted to see one of the wonders of the world that Alantii had. Other than dungeons they also had salt flats. During most of the year, it just looks like cracked, dry, white ground. However, during the rainy season is when it shines. When it rains, these salt flats turn into a giant mirror that reflects the heavens above. When people stand in the salt flats, they can feel like they are standing in the galaxy or floating in the sky.

Moving into the inhabited areas, tourists can see the locals, go to the markets, and experience the Alantii culture. With the locals, they can see the popular silks usually only available to the royals and wealthy people of the world. They can go to the market and purchase these silks, jewelry, and go to the many festivals that Alantii holds, celebrating its peace and unique culture.

Even the royal family of Alantii goes to these festivals. These festivals are not limited to the city areas. They can sometimes go to the salt flats.

In fact, six years ago, on Princess Haley's 20th birthday, the King, Queen, and the Prince went with her to the salt flats after her party. Along the way there, thieves came and surrounded them.

"What do you want with us?" the King demanded.

"What do we want? Isn't it obvious?" one of the thieves laughed. "We're thieves, we want whatever you have on you! So empty your pockets!" The Queen put a hand on the King's elbow.

"Dear, what should we do? We got separated from our guards," she whispered.

"Don't worry my love. I'll figure something out," he whispered back. "We do not have anything on us except for our clothes."

"Then take off your clothes. We can sell those at the market," the thief said. The Queen gasped as a knife found its way an inch away from the base of the King's throat.

"Dad?" Haley's voice shook.

"Just do as they say honey," he said. With shaking hands, the King started to take off his shirt and placed it into the hands of the thief in front of him. He nodded at the Queen and his children to do the same. Just as they were about to start stripping, a knife flew through the air and landed in front of the head thief. He took a step back and looked around him.

"Who's there?" Silence. "Come out or these people die!" Chuckling came from behind him and he turned around to see a guy. He had long black hair that was in a braid, black baggy pants, a black midriff, and a white choli. "Who are you?"

"Does it matter? I'm here and I'm bored. And honestly petty thieves like you couldn't ease my boredom," the man said.

"How dare you call us petty thieves! Get him boys!" the head thief yelled. A moment of silence came and he turned around to see that all of his men were lying on the ground, dead. Between him and his comrades' corpses were two girls. They wielded swords and one of them had a bow and arrow slung around her back while the other had a spear tied to her back. "Who are you two? And what have you done to my comrades?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the boy said.

"Or are you just too dumb to see the reality around you?" the girl with the bow and arrows said.

"You were trying to rob these people, so we decided to help them," the girl with the spear explained.

"It's pretty boring saving people though," the boy said.

"People still got killed, don't be a spoil sport," the girl with the bow and arrows said to the boy. The boy chuckled.

"That's true. Although you could have made me wait a little longer to see these people's sufferings," the boy said.

"Judar, it's one thing to enjoy the pain of others. It's another to stand by and watch people get stripped of the very clothes of their backs and get thoroughly embarrassed," the bow and arrow girl said.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Judar sighed. "Can I kill this guy yet?" The head thief started to tremble.

"No, not yet," she said.

"We have to see who he works for first," the spear girl said. Judar groaned and leaned against a tree. Meanwhile, the King had put his shirt back on and the other three were huddled together, watching.

The girls walked up to the head thief and pointed their swords at his neck.

"Tell us who you work for," they said, their eyes going dark. Small, black rukh were surrounding them, mostly around the girl with the bow and arrows, although only Judar could see them.

After some interrogation the head thief confessed that he was working for a rival tribe that didn't like the royal family and had hired him and his comrades to take them out. Although that ended in failure and he would most likely be killed when he went back empty handed.

"You have enough out of him yet? I'm itching to kill this annoying human," Judar whined.

"Okay fine. He'll be killed either way. Might as well kill him ourselves," the bow and arrow girl said. Judar smirked and took out his wand and aimed it at the thief.

"You're lucky. You get to die at the hands of a Magi," Judar said. He got his magic concentrated at the tip of his wand.

"Wait! You don't have to kill him! Maybe we can learn more about why this tribe hates our family and we can fix it, or at least come to peaceful terms. No more blood needs to be spilled!" the King said, standing between the wand and the thief.

"Darling," the Queen said.

"Dad!" Haley and the prince yelled.

"This is why I hate humans, other than my Ashley. You let your emotions stop you from doing what is necessary. Get out of my way or I'll kill you too," Judar said.

"Judar, don't. He's the king. We can't kill him," the girl with the bow and arrows said. Judar glanced at her, sighed, and lowered the wand.

"Then you get him out of my way, Ashley. Before I make him," Judar said. Ashley sighed.

"Your majesty, with all due respect, get out of the way and let us do what needs to be done. If we let him live, he will only say things to save his life, including lies," Ashley explained.

"You don't know that. By saving his life now, he could very well become an asset to creating more peace between the kingdom and the tribal peoples that live in this forest," the King said. Ashley walked up to him. He gulped as the cold metal lightly pressed against his neck.

"We saved you from being humiliated by petty thieves. As the royal family, you shouldn't have been so stupid as to be separated from your guards," Ashley said.

"They weren't even good guards. We took them out within a minute," the other girl said.

"You killed our guards?" the Queen gasped.

"No, we simply knocked them out. We aren't stupid," the other girl said.

"Like I was saying. Why should we take orders from a king who is stupid enough to be separated from his guards in a thick forest where his reign does not reach? You're in our territory now, so you go by our rules," Ashley said.

"And we say to step out of Judar's way," the other girl said. The King glanced at his family. His wife and daughter were huddled close together while his son stood in front of them, shaking but standing tall. The King sighed.

"Remove your sword from my neck and I shall let you do what you need to," he said.

"No! Please, don't let them kill me!" the thief begged. Ashley removed her sword and, with a heavy heart, the King walked towards his family. Behind him, Judar raised his wand once more and killed the thief with his ice magic. The Queen stared at Judar, horrified, as he laughed at the way the thief died.

Once it was over, the King turned to the two girls.

"Who are you three anyway?" he asked.

"We belong to a tribal group here in the forest," Ashley said.

"What are you names? We wish to thank the people that saved us from thieves, although you did kill them," the Queen said. The girls looked at each other, then at Judar, who simply shrugged.

"I'm Ashley, and this is my older sister Allie," Ashley introduced.

"And I'm Judar, a Magi and Ashley's boyfriend," Judar said, putting an arm around Ashley's shoulders.

"I see, well words would not be enough to thank you three. I wish to make you an offer, but first I must ask a question. Do you have parents? For I must ask them if it is okay with them first," the King said.

"Yeah we have parents," Ashley said.

"They're the leaders of our tribe," Allie said.

"Then will you let us meet them?" the Queen asked. Ashley and Allie turned away, whispering to one another. Meanwhile Judar watched the royal family's every move. Including the way Haley was looking at Ashley and Allie. The girls turned back around, Ashley folding her arms.

"Although it is against the rules for outsiders to see our camp, I'm sure our parents will make an exception for the royal family," Allie said, Ashley nodding in agreement.

"Excellent, then please lead the way," the King beamed. They headed into what seemed like a random direction and eventually ended up on a flat plain that the tribe had made their home. The girls went onto the plain first, followed by the royal family, and Judar covering the back. Throughout the whole trek the Queen had constantly glanced at him over her shoulder. To which Judar would smirk at her every time.

"Welcome to our camp," the girls said.

Roughly two years passed since that day and a lot happened. Ashley and Allie became the personal guards to Haley, the three of them became best friends, and the darkness that was once so dominant in Ashley and Allie's souls started to become light. This, however, caused friction in the romance between Judar and Ashley, eventually causing them to break up. Judar vowed to make her pay for the heartbreak he felt and that he would eventually bring back the Ashley he once knew.

Four more years passed and the darkness had almost disappeared from Ashley's heart, and was completely gone in Allie's. They lived their days in peace with Princess Haley and her family, vowing to protect her with all their might against anything and anyone that might do her wrong. The girls lived in the palace with the royal family and continued to get stronger. Allie learned how to do healing magic since, despite being a renowned swordsman and warrior, she was very clumsy and constantly got herself into trouble, which Ashley had to keep getting her out of. This clumsiness would give her scars, scratches, and the occasional broken bone.

At the present moment, the two girls, Princess Haley, and the Queen were walking around the gardens of the palace, with other guards following a little farther behind them.

"Really, you two, I don't know why neither of you will date any of our guards," the Queen sighed.

"Your majesty, I am simply not interested in any of them," Ashley said.

"Same here. They're all nice, but I'm just not into any of them," Allie added.

"But why not? They're all ten times the men that Judar was. Plus I don't get a strange vibe from any of them that I did with Judar," the Queen said. Ashley sighed.

"Here we go again," she mumbled.

"I mean, what was with that boy? All he wanted to do was cause havoc and chaos. Alantii is a peace loving nation. We have no tolerance for people who crave war and suffering. It was enough to have to witness him killing that thief six years ago," the Queen said.

"Yes yes, I understand. He was a horrible man. But there's something you have to understand, when he and I were on the same side and not fighting, he was actually nice to me and cared about me. It may not have looked it, but that's how it was. He's had a lot of things to deal with, and while he is a crappy person now, it's not completely his fault," Ashley explained.

"I guess I just don't understand him the way you do, Ashley. But that's in the past now. You're 22 years old now, and Allie you're 23. You two need to find men soon. We have all the finest men in the country right at your fingertips. Play the field, do whatever you need to do to find true love," the Queen said.

"Yeah, at least you two have the options. I can only marry other royalty," Haley said.

"Can't we just take our time?" Allie asked.

"In this world, you don't know how long you are going to live, not even powerful people like you two. War, famine, disease, anything can happen. Live now, love hard, enjoy life while you can," the Queen said.

"Yes Milady," Ashley and Allie said.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Worry more about your daughter who seems to get into trouble a lot," Ashley said, smirking at Haley.

"Hey! I do not get into trouble," Haley said.

"Then what about last week when we went to the festival?" Allie asked.

"Okay, so maybe scaring the tiger wasn't a good idea…but you two took care of it and no one got hurt!" Haley said.

"And what about when we took you to that waterfall?" Ashley said.

"It's not my fault I got stuck on a log and almost fell down the waterfall!" Haley said.

"You tried to save a frog….which is able to swim by itself," Allie said. Haley went silent.

"Exactly," Ashley and Allie said. The Queen simply sighed.

"If we didn't have you two protecting her, I don't know what would have happened to Haley," the Queen said.

"Well that's just rude," Haley said. The others laughed.

Meanwhile in the throne room….

"Your majesty, there is a visitor for you," one of the soldiers said.

"Who is it?"

"He says he's from the Kou Empire," the soldier said. The King stiffened for a moment.

"Bring them in."

HELLO ALL!

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

WELCOME TO THE STORY!

SECOND:

IF YOU'RE NEW TO MY STORIES, I WANTED TO POINT OUT THAT YES I AM AWARE THAT HALEY, ASHLEY, AND ALLIE ARE NOT NAMES THAT FIT IN WITH THE REST OF THE CHARACTERS OF MAGI. I USE THESE THREE NAMES SINCE THEY BELONG TO ME AND TWO OF MY FRIENDS, WHOM I MAINLY WRITE THIS FOR.

THIRD:

I HAVE MANY MORE CHAPTERS ALREADY WRITTEN FOR THIS STORY, BUT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REVIEW/COMMENT IF YOU SO WISH TO. ANY FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS WELCOME SINCE I CAN STILL EDIT THE FUTURE CHAPTERS.

MANY THANKS AND STAY TUNED TO REWRITES OF MY OLDER(SHORTER) STORIES AND MORE CHAPTERS FOR THIS STORY!

THANKS!