BOOK 2: PRINCESS ALENA'S ADVENTURE

PART 1: AWARENESS

Written By Christian A. Ciccone: aka Sykonee (~)

Based on events from Dragon Warrior IV

Chapter 1: The Princess' Lesson

Alena, Princess of Santeem, gazed longingly out the study's window. Her eyes were focused on a flock of birds flying north. Every spring she watched their returning sojourn and the activity had become just as natural to her as the bird's migration.

The princess slowly closed her eyes, imagining her body growing large, white feathers from her skin and wings taking shape where her arms were. A dark, red beak sprouted from her face and, within moments, Alena no longer saw herself as human but as a beautiful, graceful swan, not unlike the ones kept within her castle's gardens.

However, instead of broken wings like the graceful birds in the castle had, her wings could stretch out without any pain. Alena unfolded one wing and let it extend to its fullest length, flapping it a few times to loosen the feathers. She did the same the other and hopped over to the window, letting the warm, noon wind gently caress her wings.

Within moments of her transformation, Alena let herself fall from the window's ledge, her wings catching the warm air and keeping her afloat. It was not long before she started to fly effortlessly, taking in all of the wondrous sights of the landscape surrounding Santeem Castle. She could see the flock of birds a few hundred yards north of her, and Alena decided to join up with the flock, perhaps following them to lands uncharted where adventure and excitement would wait.

She flapped her large wings harder, gaining on the lazy flock with every stroke. Unfortunately, she quickly found herself beginning to struggle, her wings becoming heavier and the flock moving faster. She soon noticed her vision was becoming blurred, the scenery in front losing its focus. No! she thought angrily. This time I will make it further! Furrowing the brow on her elegant face and steeling her almond eyes, the swan pushed forward.

Yet, no matter how hard she flapped, no matter how strong her will might have been, the flock just seemed to be moving further away, the landscape blurring into an obscure blob. Finally, Alena could not move forward any longer and stopped suddenly and violently, as if she had rammed into an invisible wall. Slowly, she looked up, a desperate gaze crossing over the swan's elegant face. She did not feel weary, and nothing seemed to be blocking her path. It should be a simple matter to continue forward, to take just one extra flap to cross this invisible barrier.

However, Alena could not move forward and probably would never be able to. She would always chase after a flock of birds and be left hovering at the base of a great mountain range, never knowing what lied beyond.

...Always to be stranded at the limit of her imagination.

"Princess...!"

Alena suddenly snapped her head up, her eyes wide open in shock. "Aahhh!" she gasped. "I'm awake! I'm awake!"

"You weren't just a second ago," came an aged voice from behind her. Alena turned around to find her tutor, Brey. He was an aged man with deeply tanned skin and balding, white hair. The numerous lines in his face and hunched walking form indicated the old tutor had seen more years than anyone the princess knew. Since her father, the King of Santeem, was the only family she had left, Brey had involuntarily become the grandfatherly figure of her life.

He walked around the study table Alena was sitting at and slowly sat down, easing himself into the chair. He sat relatively still for a moment, save a few, long strokes of his long, white whiskers. His eyes, mostly buried beneath thick, white eyebrows, squinted at her with a disapproving glare.

Alena fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. It was bad enough her full-bodied, beige dress was just a little too snug on her, something not really recommended on a warm day like this. Now she had to deal with her tutor's incriminating expression as well. The things she had to put up with just to keep up appearances.

Finally, Brey shook his head, muttering, "Honestly, I leave you for less than a minute, and you're sleeping. How do you ever expect to learn anything like this?"

"It's not my fault," Alena said, her smooth, delicate face forming into a pout. "This stuff is so boring."

"Is it?" Brey asked, leaning forward. "Do you truly find your lineage to be completely irrelevant?"

"Well, yeah," Alena replied before she thought. Brey looked at her for a moment. Alena stared back. Whenever Brey cast a kind of a look that seemed to ask for more of an explanation, Alena had come to realize she had let her emotions let her do the talking. And, as an heir apparent, she was constantly reminded not to do it, as it was unbecoming traits of a princess.

She then thought about what she had said and realized her words had not come out exactly as she meant. "What I mean is..." she began, trying to cover her error. However, Brey's probing expression made her forget.

Finally, she fell back into her chair, shaking her head. "Damn it!" she casually cursed as she gazed outside. "I don't know. What is it you want me to do?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Brey said, leaning back into his chair as well.

"What?"

"What is it that you want to do?" he asked, clarifying his statement. "What do you want to get out of these lessons?"

Alena looked at Brey for a moment. Very rarely was she asked of her personal opinion, especially from the old man sitting across from her. His words shocked her, and the princess was at a loss for words. "Well, I..." she began, her eyes wide open in surprise.

Her thoughts began to race, a dozen things coming to mind. There were plenty of topics Alena wanted to raise but she did not know whether any of them were appropriate, especially as none of them would relate to the lesson in Santeem's history she was supposed to be studying.

Finally, she flopped back into her chair, an exasperated sigh escaping her mouth. "I don't know," she muttered again, risking a stern lecture in the chance of expressing her feelings. Alena's gaze strayed to the window again, adding, "Anything but this."

"Such as?" Brey said, raising an aged eyebrow. A tiny smile crept onto the princess' mouth, a little thankful her tutor was at least curious about her personal opinions.

A dreamy gaze filled Alena's eyes as she let her sight lose itself on her country's relatively flat horizon. "I guess just seeing more of the world," she said, twirling her shoulder-length, auburn hair with a finger.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Brey asked, somewhat cynically.

Alena's brow started to furrow and a bit of anger welled up inside of her. When her dreams were concerned, she did not enjoy being mocked.

"You want to know what I mean?" she said, her voices raising a little as she faced her tutor. "I mean I want to get out of this bloody castle and go exploring a bit, even if it's just a little bit from the castle."

"Princess-" Brey started but he was quickly cut off.

"And don't go lecturing me about how I cannot," Alena said, her voice rising with every word. "I've heard it all of my life, how it will be dangerous for me to venture out of the castle unprotected." She leaned forward, eyeing Brey with steel eyes. "Tell me, what good are these combat skills Hun taught me before he left if I can't use them?"

Brey tried to respond but Alena did not even wait for him to speak, her anger getting the better of her emotions. "They are good for nothing!" she said. "Everywhere I go, Cristo will protect me from everything." She quickly stood up, slamming her fists into the table. "Once, just once, I would like to fend for myself!"

"Why?" Brey calmly asked, relatively unfazed by Alena's outburst.

"I don't know 'why'," she said, becoming more than just a little angry with Brey for not taking her seriously. "I just want out of here!" Out of sheer frustration, she grabbed the book she had been reading and threw it at the wall with a growl of rage. Somehow, it made her feel a bit better and she decided to continue her rampage. That would show Brey she was serious.

The closest thing in grabbing distance was her chair, so she picked it up and threw it against the wall as well, screaming with added anger and frustration as she did. It shattered into several pieces, spraying several tiny splinters into her face. The stinging pain made her flinch and she absently touched the area the tiny fragments of wood penetrated her delicate skin. A trickle of blood spread onto her finger.

She heard someone anxiously call her name but her mind was far removed from reality at this point. The anger and frustration constantly being built inside of her, the pleasure of seeing the chair shatter against the wall, and now the sight of her own blood on the tip of her finger spurred forth a burst of adrenaline through her body. All she wanted now was to destroy something, to put the combat skills the martial artist specialist Hun had taught her as self-defense to a more practical use.

She saw the window just a few feet in front of her and, just beyond that, the open world. Out there, she would have to fend for herself against the harsh world, against the elements of nature and the many monsters she was told roamed the land. Out there, she would have to rely on her martial arts, her own strength. Out there, she would be able to prove to herself she was more than just another boorish aristocrat.

Excitement began to creep into her adrenaline filled body. Alena was now determined in her mind to go forward. Focusing her body's inner strength, she brought her hands together, took a few deep breaths, and violently lashed forward with her right leg, screaming as she did. All of the anger, adrenaline, and excitement combined formed more power within her leg than she had ever known could be possible.

In her blurred state of thought, she did not even aim for the window but for the stone wall beside it. Alena's leg came into contact with the wall and her sheer power was more than the ancient structure could bear.

To Alena and Brey's astonishment, her leg did not just break a small hole in the wall but made the entire face crumble, sending rock flying out. A large hole, big enough for her to walk through, stood in front of the stunned princess.

Brey shook his head a bit then stared at her. His normally beady eyes wide open in amazement. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed, more in a stunned tone than anything.

"I..." Alena began, staring at the large gap in astonishment. Not once had she thought she was capable of this! If she could accomplish this in a berserk frenzy, what could she be capable of if she truly focused her strength?

There would only be one way to find out. She would have to practice her skills, making full use of them in any given situation. And she doubted she would be able to learn at the castle, where the only trainer, Hun, had left a year ago to wander the world.

A warm, gentle breeze from outside caressed her skin where a dry streak of blood stained her cheek. Alena saw it was an invitation.

She took a step forward towards the open wall. "Princess!" Brey cried. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out there," she absently muttered, focused entirely on the world just beyond the broken wall.

"What?" Brey cried out but Alena was not paying attention anymore. She stepped to the edge of the hole in the wall and peered out. The study room where they were in was in one of the lower towers of Santeem Castle. Despite the ground being nearly fifty feet below, the stone rooftop of one of the lower levels of the castle was only fifteen feet below. Alena would be able to jump from the tower to the roof without hurting herself. Slowly, she began to fall forward.

Before she could even lift a foot, however, Alena was roughly grabbed from behind and dragged back in by a pair of guardsmen. The outside world had been so engrossing she had not noticed Brey summon them to stop her. However, Alena would not let this deter her from her plan. With all of her might, she squirmed and kicked, trying to break free of the guardsmen's grasp.

Her anger gave her an extra surge of strength and she was able to knock one of them off of her but two more came to replace him. She started to scream in frustration, spitting out various curses at everything in her life that had made her miserable. She fought with every ounce of her strength and even began to resort to biting and scratching. Soon, five guardsmen had arrived and Alena was still putting up a strong fight.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. Just as fast as her wings had spread, they were broken once again.