The Legend of the Promise Ring
Summary: In the land of gods and goddesses roams a girl who is coming into her own. She has many a resentment against her home, and looks for something better than her run-of-the-mill life. Little does she know of the things about to befall her home, the Citadel of Italy.
Chapter 1: Dizzy Spells
This story begins with a girl who was deep in sleep. Her name was Diana. As of yet, she had no last name. In her time, one had to earn a last name. Her time was far before Ancient Rome. She lived among the gods and goddesses. Many of them, like Diana, were no more than adolescents.
A servant came in to bring Diana out of sleep.
"Lady Diana! You must wake! The day's Mentoring starts at dawn! Dawn is swiftly approaching," the nervous servant whimpered.
Diana groaned as her grass green eyes were blinded by sudden light.
"Oh no! King Jupiter knows! I tell you; I implore you; Lady Diana, please get up!" The servant's voice climbed louder and louder, as to bring Diana awake, as she was created to do.
Diana sighed as she sat up. "Look at me. I am awake. Will you leave me in peace, now?" she snapped. Her hair was in silver knots and frizzes. She stood up and stretched as she tried not to think about the day before her. She hated Mentoring. What was the point when she wasn't ever going to use what was being taught?
Diana took her black tunic she wore for everyday things, and put it on. She attacked her hair with a bone brush and a vengeance. After about five minutes, her rat's nest had been tamed to a gleaming silver waterfall. She grabbed her black cloak and in a swirl of the dark fabric, she started her day.
"Diana!" a girl shouted behind her. She was the daughter of Mars, and she was born without power, immortality, or a proper birthright. She had nothing but a fiery temper, a fierce intellect, and an amazing sense of strategy. No one would dare challenge her to a chess game.
"Good morning, Pyralis," Diana said coolly. She didn't want company on the way to Mentoring, but Pyralis had the annoying habit of imposing her presence, and then not leaving well enough alone.
"Bad night? Or did you just forget about Astrology class last evening?" she asked.
"We had Astrology last night?"
"Yes. I take it you forget," Pyralis explained.
"Fortunately. Astrology makes me sleep. Simply because it's too late at night." The curt manner of this statement told Pyralis to shut up. Or so Diana thought.
"What are you doing for the Spring Equinox? I've got to get a costume made, but all you have to do is wave your fingers, and you've got the most beautiful outfit out of everyone…" She chatted infuriatingly on.
I must go, Diana thought. She slowed her walking until she was behind Pyralis. When she was looking at the back of her head, Diana turned at the sudden corner, and took a detour to the gardens, where Blazing was being taught. Of everything gods and goddesses were taught, Blazing was the most intriguing to Diana. The ability to conjure fire appealed to her very much. Many of her classmates thought she's be a shifter and sprout scales and wings. Privately, Diana almost wished it would happen. She gloried in her powers.
When she was by herself, sometimes she'd try her hand at creation. She'd made a very minuscule dragon with silver scales and green eyes. It had breathed little tufts of fire. Diana smiled at the memory. It was such a beautiful dragon. Sadly, Diana had forgot what it took to keep life sustained, and the dragon had died. Its scales had turned from silver to gold, and his eyes from green to red. He had become frozen, and he was a statue in Diana's room. Tears still formed in her eyes at the thought of that life she couldn't maintain. From the tragedy, Diana was unable to attend Mentoring for awhile. She still had missing assignments.
"The lesson today will be the history of Blazing," the Mentor explained.
Diana only listened with half an ear. A weird feeling of an impending event overtook her. Her eyes rolled as she saw a great ship dock into port in her mind's eye. A flash of gold and red signaled the port officials.
"Diana! Are you paying attention?" the Mentor asked.
"Yes, of course," she replied quickly. "I just had a dizzy spell."
"Try not to let it happen again," the Mentor scolded gently. Teens had dizzy spells all the time. That was one of the side effects of having powers come in.
Teenage gods and goddesses were thought to be emotionally unstable until they reached the age of their powers. Until that age, they were not allowed to travel. This angered Diana. She disliked the Citadel with a passion. She wished she could leave, and never return.
The day passed, and Diana sighed as she thought of all the things she could have done if she wasn't in Mentoring.
The next day happened to be a Free Day, so Diana could do as she pleased on the grounds. Of course, she chose to do her writing at the docks. It was as close to the rest of the world as she could get. Diana sat, her feet dangling in the water, and she fancied the water flowing from different places. Oh, the magical lands she thought up.
She was half-way finished with the first page of her new endeavor when a speck appeared on the horizon. Diana squinted in her effort to see it. When she knew her eyes wouldn't reach that far, she ran to room in the High South Tower to retrieve her Seeing Device. It was designed for the sky, but Diana knew it would work wonderfully, as long as she didn't look at the sun. The fiery ball of the day was inconsistent. None of the grown gods could care completely for it.
Diana set up her Device on the edge of the dock, and pointed it to the horizon. Through it, Diana saw a grand ship. Large in size, it glided on the seamless water, not even making a ripple. The sails billowed like silk and the middle mast seemed to her taller than the Citadel. Rows of oars were sitting along the bottom, not used.
Diana's sight moved the deck. A large group of men were all standing on the edge, excitement etched on their faces. She saw one of them mouth, "Land before us!"
Diana looked at the man who was standing on the railing of the bow. Bright golden hair shone on his head as alert red eyes looked out around him. His clothes told the world that he was captain. Diana could barely breathe. Her eyes widened and she forgot that she had midday meal in a few minutes. She forgot the guardian of the meals was horrible; she forgot everything and only knew that this man was breathtakingly handsome.
She kept her eyes on him for a bit before she noticed that everything was getting closer. She readjusted the Device, but when she looked through it again, the captain was gone, and she was looking at a red-haired deck-swabber.
Diana sighed as took down the Device. Flashes of memory from her dizzy spell came back to her as she took her Device back to her room. Then she realized that she was late for midday meal. She ran as fast as she could, only to find that the guardian of meals was waiting for her.
"Lady Diana," the guardian sneered, "Late again, I see." A sinister smile grew on her face as Diana stood there, daring the guardian to say more. "You shall have half the portion of meal for your tardiness."
Diana just glared at the guardian, too angry to say anything.
Teenagers weren't given a sufficient amount of food to begin with. The reason behind that was that if the teens looked forward to a life of their own servants, they'd try harder to work on their powers. As if they had any control of when they came in. Diana wondered how long it would be before they realized they were wrong.
But now, that fat cow of a guardian was taking half the food Diana was allowed. She would not stand for it. She had a list of things she was going to do once she received full powers. Some of them were malicious, some of them motivational, but all of them were for reform. The system for children was in dire need of reform. Rules were unfair; Mentors were tyrannical; and the curriculum needed mending. After the things on her list were completed, Diana planned on going to Jupiter with her bigger plans, like the government, the justice issues, and the penal system. Oh, yes, Diana had lots of plans. Now she was going to add, "Fire guardian of means. Literally." But Diana's vicious thoughts turned to daydreams of the golden halo-ed captain of that ship that was coming to port in a few days' time. What was his name? It would probably something grand and wonderful, mused Diana. Strong he looked, and so enchanting. He'd set this place straight.
She found herself wrong about the time the ship was going to dock. It came in at about mid-evening, while everyone was asleep.