Choose a side.
That's what she was forced to do; choose a side. The side she chose would surely be the side she would fight for. The cause of conquest or the cause of defense? On these plains, she was torn of which one she would choose. There was one family she knew, nearly all her life. The ones that had a hand in raising her to be their princess. Then, there was the family that she rediscovered, one that she had been taken from a long time ago, that had been so relieved to see her well, unharmed, safe and welcomed her back with open arms. The family that her mother had loved and sided with, whom she lost not long ago…
Her two brothers, the older brothers and crown princes from opposing sides, were awaiting her answer, poised to attack each other at any moment. Their hands were firmly upon the hilts of their swords, daring the other to make a move. Looking frantically between the two families she had come to love, even the one she hadn't known for only but a week and half's time, she loved them just as much. In her ragged, exhausted mind, there was no way she could decide. If only… If only there could be no war…
The princess lowered her head, her eyes to the ground, a sacred sword gripped in her hand. In the end, she couldn't decide between them. She loved them both too much. Unbidden tears rolled down her cheeks from her eyes, powerful emotions swirling inside her as her heartbeat escalated in an unsteady rhythm. Intimidated by her older brothers and their stance on this upcoming and inevitable war on the brink of execution, she couldn't face them, with these tears and feelings of betrayal.
When she finally strengthened herself to look up at them, her expression was all they needed to know her decision without her saying. The princes shared their own looks of sorrow at the princess before grim resolution placed them as enemies once more.
They knew their princess was lost to them.
She was now their enemy.
Regardless of that, they would continue the war on the opposing sides, one for conquest and the other for defense. Despite her words against them to stop before the fighting began, the two crown princes and their armies started the fight, engaging one another. The princess knew she would have to make them listen to reason, but she wasn't sure how to go about this. It was all confusing; if they understand her stance on this, then why didn't they stop? The commanding officers from both sides were advancing towards her and towards each other, one a skilled samurai and the other a skilled wyvern rider.
Rushing up to her side was a songstress, whom she had met days prior and felt a connection to, and her most trusted servant, a butler that she had known for many years. With them at her side, she was able to defeat both commanding officers, forcing the two armies to retreat from the battlefield, a once peaceful looking plains. The songstress urged the two to follow her and they did so, knowing both armies were behind them, but not too far—they would surely be in pursuit. Once coming up with a plan to avoid the two clashing forces for some time, the trio went ahead towards their next destination.
It was practically a blur for the princess, heading for a deep, desolate canyon with its unending lightning and thunder storms, blackened skies and unnerving atmosphere. This was the place she had lost one dear friend several days prior to her arrival to the other kingdom. The songstress had carefully stepped over the bridge's roped railing, steadying herself. She made a backwards glance to the other two, the butler and princess, and gave a single nod of approval before she let herself freefall. Startled, the princess hurried over to the side, watching as the songstress was getting further away as she fell.
Turning to her butler, she gave him a firm nod and gave him instructions—just in case something happened. She knew he was only going because she was going and he wanted to follow. With that, she mimicked the songstress and, with a deep breath taken, let herself freefall as well. The experience brought her panic, as she waved her arms wildly as she descended down the canyon at a rapid pace, the rough wind rushing by and into her face and through her locks of hair. Her butler, she could see him from above her, having done the same as she had not a moment too soon. While he seemed to panic as well, he was stoic and focused on their destination below, making sure he wouldn't hit any of the canyon's cliffside walls. Turning back around, she did the same as well.
Eventually, both caught up to the songstress, who turned her head slightly to nod at them silently once more before the entire canyon suddenly became brighter until the light was too bright to handle, forcing them to cover their eyes.
However, that hadn't lasted that long, as the two uncovered their eyes, they were met with a strange scenery; the sky was as blue as they were used to seeing, a light, obviously from the sun, shining down. The land was eroded, but a lot of greenery existed. It was broken off in different ways, and even some parts of the land was floating and others were floating and flipped towards different directions. One of these strange islands had water flowing through them like streams and rivers and those weren't effected by the terrain's current predicament whatsoever. It was as if gravity didn't exist here physically and it was defying all laws of physics itself. Old ruins of what used to be towns or villages could be seen all around, ravaged beyond repair.
It was saddening to see, but this place was mystical, in a strange way. To the princess, it felt oddly familiar, but she wasn't sure where she'd felt it before and dismissed it entirely.
Once they learned the location of this place and the background stories surrounding it, they were forced to engage in a battle with shadowy, invisible enemies that the princess and songstress could sense and see, although slightly. Together, and with another that joined with them, they were able to rout the enemies. But, this victory was short-lived, as a powerful mage and more of the invisible enemies had appeared and forced them to retreat. At the songstress' warning and urging, the quad quickly turned heel and fled, heading for the way back to the lands above.
However… the didn't make it back unscathed. Not all of them…
The mage had ordered one of their underlings to attack the retreating group. Obeying, it readied its bow and arrows, knocking one and firing at them. The princess, being behind them, overheard the sound of the arrow piercing the air and, in a second's time, deduced where it was heading for…
Her butler.
With a cry of his name, she quickly rushed into him, shielding him and taking the arrow for him. She bit back a scream as it punctured into her right shoulder, disarming her from her sword. The others turned, the butler already at his lady's side in a heartbeat, angered, worried and fearful for her safety. Still, the princess wasn't down and urged them to go without her. The butler refused immediately. More arrows were launched in their direction like a turbulent rainstorm, coming quickly. Thinking quickly despite her pain, the princess shoved her sword into her butler's arms as she quickly grabbed a precious, blue stone from around her neck, holding it tight as its energy, her own, responded to her desires. Encased in water, the metamorphosis was complete, and standing in the princess' place was a massive beast of epic proportions, dwarfing the three other humans in size and height. With a roar, the princess-turned-beast used her new body to shield her companions from the rain of arrows.
They hardly did any damage to her new form as her scales were tough to handle them, but she knew she couldn't keep this up. With another urge, this time, coupled with a menacing roar, she bid them to go without her, which she would catch up with them. It was with heavy reluctance, refusals from her butler and after two more storms of arrows and now other weapons like shuriken that she deflected away from them that they finally did turn to escape. When her companions were gone, the princess roared and sent a blast of breath magic towards her assailants. While it didn't seem to do much, it created the much needed diversion, in which she took quickly to retreat herself, down a similar path the others had taken. It had, however, taken out some of the invisible soldiers that were caught up in the blast's wake. Unfortunately, she didn't count on that mage using powerful, unseen magic against her, which crashed right into her frame.
The princess cried out in shock and pain from the magical assault. Even in her new form, which was magically resistant, that hit hard and it forced her back, towards the edge of a cliff. Still, she was on her feet, although a little wobbly, but nonetheless. Glaring down at the mage, who took the image and outline of a woman, the princess snarled as her new opponent drew closer to her. Escaping wouldn't be easy, she noticed. The mage woman raised her hand, a tome in the other, forming a new spell, this time, one that looked like fire. Gearing herself for it, the princess reared her head back, powering another blast from her throat. The mage soon called out her spell, a torrent of flames surrounded the princess. Fearing for her life, the princess fired her breath magic as the mage directed her attack at the same time. In a quick flash, the flames exploded at her all at once. The princess in her transformed state screamed in agony as it engulfed her and sent her spiraling off the nearest cliff, the scaled beast of the young woman falling. The mage had been hit by the blast of the princess' last attack, shrugging off some of the damage. After a moment, she callously and slowly approached the edge, watching as the princess' form shrunk until it disappeared.
Satisfied that the threat her king had informed her about was gone and no longer present, the mage turned heel and left uncaringly. The other three that escaped, however, would have to be found and silenced soon. She would inform her king of the news and prepare for next battle to come.
In a castle in this same world, a voice laughed wickedly to itself, sneering at nothing.
"The princess of fate… is no more…"
I know I have other stories, I really want to update them, though I have yet to be truly motivated. I do come back and type the next chapters, very slowly. Honestly, I also need to actually get back into writing. It's been two years-ish, barring the RPs I've been involved in. Ugh… need inspiration. :x Maybe doing this side fic will help, hopefully, lol.