Prologue

"Far, far below the deepest delvings of the dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things."
― J.R.R. Tolkien

The Keeper of the Ancient Words stepped up onto the podium and ran his hands nervously through his ponytail. He glared at one of his son, Kaoru, who had just arrived with the text that he needed. The King of the Unseelie Faeries coughed impatiently and the young Keeper ran up to his father and practically threw the text at him. Queen Mab rolled her eyes at her husband. "Keeper Yao Wang, can you not get on with the opening ceremony?"

Yao caught the book his son tossed him, with a pointed glare in his direction as Kaoru returned to his other siblings. The Keeper cleared his throat and began.

"Greetings to you, the Peoples of Fae. I, the Leader of the Keepers, would like to begin the Festival of Fertility. As you know, this festival occurs every one hundred years to commemorate the peace treaty with the humans that allowed both of our worlds to live side by side in harmony. Earlier this year, we completed the Festival of the Barren and sent eight of our own that the human leaders picked to their world to wed their children. Now, the Keepers have been sent out to choose and retrieve the humans that will become one of us. Many of our royal families have participated in this festival; some even are products of it."

A low murmur swept through the crowd of commoners as the various royal families either beamed or shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Many of the Queens, Queen Titania in particular, glared at those who would not keep still and silent. It was no secret that a three of the wives of the Fae Kings were second wives, the human wives having died giving birth. Whether or not the babies survived were a mystery.

"As is tradition, the royal children of each family must prepare for fourteen challenges, one for each of the tribes of the Fae. We will rank each participant on a point system. The top eight winners will pick one of the humans to be their consort and may wed them if they wish. There are no exceptions, all must participate." With those final words, the Keeper of the Ancient Texts, Yao Wang, left the stage. The commoners were beginning the festivities and the royals, along with their advisors, were moving to a tent nearby for a banquet. Yao Wang, being the King of the Keepers (and therefore the Keeper of the Ancient Texts) was required to join with them.

One look inside said tent told him that it was probably a danger zone. King Winter and Queen Mab of the Unseelie Court were arguing… again. The Seelie royals were giving each other the silent treatment. King Draicon was bragging that the dragonoids were the best and that his daughter would win a great trophy of a human consort. The Changeling King Midas was going on and on about how fabulous his son was with King Vladimir and Queen Florica of the Vampire Clan. The Merfolk royal, King Triton was talking with the Ghost royals, King Berwald and Queen Tino, about how similar being dead was to swimming. Berwald, as usual, did not look amused, while his formerly human wife, Tino, was in shock. Of course he would be Yao. Remember? Tino, that poor boy, died by drowning! It may have been seventy-five years ago, but surely your memory isn't that bad. Yao moved on, a little frustrated that he could not find the royal he was looking for. There was King Helsing of the Werewolf Clan with his two children, there was Queen Hecate of the Witches with her son, there were the Angel and Demon Queens, Hera and Netikerty. Where is that oaf?

Suddenly, he was stopped by the King of the Nature Spirits, Francis. "Bonjour mon cher! Our great Keeper of the Texts, I was wondering if I might participate in this year's tournament." The Keeper thought for a moment. The King Francis had never had any children or a wife, had just inherited his throne very recently (about two years ago) and the only other royal was his younger brother Prince Matthew. By Fae standards, though Francis held the title of King, until he was married the Blood Oath would still recognize him as Crown Prince. "Actually, I believe you are supposed to. The Blood Oath will not recognize you as King until you are married anyway." Then the Frenchman blew a kiss and left without so much as a goodbye. While glaring at the stupid Nymph, he almost missed the person he was looking for. "King Romulas! KING ROMULAS! Yes, I'm talking to you."

The King of the Seers turned around from where he was talking with the Crown Princes, Lovino and Feliciano, and stared at the Keeper for a moment. "What do you want Yao?" The Keeper glared for a moment before the Seer got the picture. "Ohhhhh… Boys, if you would mind, I need to speak with our Keeper for a moment." As the boys walked away, the Seer King went rigid. Then, he opened his eyes and smiled at the Keeper. "Don't worry, your child is well and the eight have been located. They will be transported here tomorrow."

I know, a few of the names of the royals are far from original, but I was running out of ideas and countries. Anyway, next chapter I will reveal our eight victims. If anyone asks why Finland is a Queen, I should mention that whoever marries into the royal family is considered the Queen, unless they are a boy marrying a royal girl, and then they can be King. There is also a reason that both Lovino and Feliciano are Crown Princes.

For now, here are our characters (Sorry about the Length):

King Winter: General Winter

Queen Mab: Queen Mab

King Oberon: King Oberon

Queen Titania: Queen Titania

King of Keepers Yao: China

Prince Kaoru: Hong Kong

King Draicon: Absolutely no one

King Midas: King Midas

King Vladimir: Dracula

Queen Florica: The Gypsies

King Triton: Atlantis

King Berwald: Sweden

Queen Tino: Finland

King Helsing: Abraham van Helsing

Queen Hecate: Hecate the Witch (Macbeth)

Queen Hera: Ancient Greece

Queen Netikerty: Ancient Egypt

King/Crown Prince Francis: France

Prince Matthew: Canada

Crown Prince Feliciano: Italy

Crown Prince Lovino: Romano

King Romulas: Roman Empire