Ever since she could remember, Emma had had words such as honour and integrity and loyalty and bravery hammered and drilled into her. As the crown princess of the White Kingdom, it was her sworn duty to obey all orders and to carry out her duty no matter the cost. She was a sworn protector of all the realms, it was her privilege to watch over those whom needed her protection for all of her days. One day, she would have to rule and protect and do what was best for her people, but until then she was sworn to lay down her life for her people.
It was a weight that she would happily carry upon her shoulders, it was a weight she had carried with joy and pride since her last day of training. She knew she would carry it as such until the last breath left her body, until her shoulders bowed and broke beneath the weight, such was the strength of her dedication to her people. Although it was a weight upon her shoulders, it was never a burden.
Ever since she had been born, every moment of her life had been promised to the protection of those who needed her, it was a promise that she would fulfil to the best of her abilities for all of her days to come, as her father had before her and his father had before him.
Her duty was to her people, to see them well fed and content, but most of all safe. Their safety was of the utmost importance, it mattered more to Emma than any other value her parents had instilled in her during her childhood spent training. She would spend her life alone, warding off the evil, the darkness that tried to seep into her lands, just to guarantee her people safety. She would not be shown gratitude or gratefulness for this, it was her duty and therefore it was expected of her.
She would spend her life fighting single handedly against the darkness that tried to consume the purest among them and she would remain humble, a servant to her people for all of her days despite being their destined ruler.
She would do all of this willingly, a protest would never pass her lips, the weight of the lives she had to protect would never weigh her down too severely, her soul would never tire of protecting those she would probably never meet.
She would do it without question, because it was what she was meant to do. She was, quite literally, born to fight evil. She was born to be the saviour of her people. Sometimes that meant killing, although she didn't enjoy it, at times it was necessary. No matter how evil the threat, or how black the heart and soul, after every life Emma had taken, which happened to be a surprisingly large amount for someone so young, she prayed to the eternal gods for each and every one of their damned souls.
Although she may have taken their lives, she never wished for them to suffer after their death. Suffering wasn't something Emma would wish on a person. Pain and torment should never be wished upon a person, no matter the amount of dark acts and atrocities they had committed. Evil was made, not born, a person was made to become evil, moulded in some way or another. She prayed in hope that the innocent soul once born into the mostly dark world would return to its original state and find peace after death.
Emma had faced more evils in the years since the end of her training in her thirteenth year, and yet
the one she was setting off to face now unsettled her greatly. She had heard rumours, stirrings among the people, of the beauty of this evil. They had spoken of its tantalising nature, the threat that drew a person in of their own free will. Every person who had ever faced the threat she was about to face had fallen by their own swords before the threat had to attack. This threat, Emma knew, came in the form of the most beautiful woman and Emma knew she would be a fool to not be cautious of the threat.
She was worried that she would fall under the women's spell, and she was worried that for the first time in almost five years, she wouldn't be able to defeat the treat that had presented itself. The woman was the said to be the most powerful sorceress in all of the lands, she would be able to kill Emma with a flick of her wrist or the twitched an eyelid, such was her power. There was something intriguing in the rumours as well, something that made Emma pause as she thought about it. People tried to say that she had been born evil, but such a thing was not possible. The women's kill count was higher that her own, that was a substantial amount. Hers was an evil that she had to of been driven to, killing another didn't make you evil, it just gave you a higher potential of darkness and a sorrow that had to be carried upon your person, inside your stomach, for the rest of your life.
Emma knew that even the most even felt this pain to some extent. Each time she took a life, the final blow would resound and resonate within her as the life seeped from the defeated eyes. When a life or death game was played, there was never truly a winner, merely a victorious emergent. There was no satisfaction in winning when killing was required, even the most evil knew that.
Less that a year before this new threat had emerged, a dark sorceress had set out to conquer the White Kingdom and Emma, being the champion of her land, yet undefeated, had stepped forward to do what had to be done, no matter the consequences. Her victory had almost cost her life, by the end of the bloody battle between the two Emma had been almost dead, her determination to keep her people safe had been all that had driven her.
As the last dregs of adrenalin had flowed from her veins and as blood gushed from a deep stab wound on her abdomen, Emma had excepted that she hadn't been fated to win this, her final battle, she had excepted an early death, as she was just short of her seventeenth birthday, mere weeks short of coming of age. She excepted death with contentedness that came from the knowledge that she had done all within her power to protect her people. Just as her eyes had fluttered shut, a murmured voice had filled her ears and she had felt a spark of magic bringing her back from the brink.
Filled with renewed energy, but with a gaping, bleeding wound still present on her stomach, Emma had set out to finish the job she had started before the sorceress could start hers. She had taken the sorceresses cursed heart, one that had been previously ripped from her body but kept close to her, and had shoved it back through the woman's chest. The cry if agony she had made as she fell to her knees had haunted Emma since that moment, it was the realisation of what the woman had done to those around her. It was how she knew that even the darkest of souls could be saved, that even the darkest still felt that pain.
Many things had haunted her since that fateful evening. The cry that the woman emitted, the whispered voice inside of her head, the magic that had brought her back from the brink of death. It troubled her, but she hardly ever had a spare moment on which to think about it. Every moment in which she was not openly fighting the threat or an enemy was spent either drilling relentlessly, day in and day out, or out around the kingdom on scouting missions.
A murmur amongst the rumours said that this new threat, this new sorceress, was the daughter of the women whose cries were relived in her sleep. This didn't trouble Emma, a personal vendetta against her was not a new thing, nor was it a wholly unusual occurrence. On many occasions those who were seen as the most evil, the blackest amongst the dark had some light in the form of a loved one. If the woman was marching for Emma, with an entire army behind her back as Emma knew she was, then Emma would offer her life in return for a blood pact to protect her people from the armies of the woman.
A name had been heard amongst them as well, Emma had been informed that the woman was known to her people as Regina Mills. She hailed from far across the realms. From the more tropical side of the Enchanted Forest and she had travelled a great distance for vengeance against the woman who had claimed her mothers life. Emma wondered if she should be doing this, not because she was worried about the consequences, she was more than willing to die for her people, but because her parents had begged her not to go.
They had said that for once the price was too great for them to ask Emma to pay. They had told her that she couldn't do this, instead they had wanted to fight the armies that had stopped on their borders. They had wanted Emma to lead the army into battle. Emma had agreed, whilst making plans to slip off into the night.
The woman had an army bigger than the population of the White Kingdom and Emma was certain that they would be annihilated in mere hours if they were to meet on the battle field. Emma would not watch on as her people were killed just to spare her life, she would not let a single drop of their blood be spilled if she could help it. Not if the only price she had to pay to stop that was her life, it was not an awfully large price from what she could tell.
The sorceress seemed to be waiting for something t happen any way. She had reached the bored era of the kingdom but she had not entered, it was not known if she was looking for a war or vengeance. She had not stepped onto their lands and so had not committed an act of war. Emma would go to her before people died needlessly and she had to hope that it would stop the bloodshed her parents seemed set upon.
Emma finished with her preparations and set off. She had drugged the gatekeeper earlier in the evening so that she could pass the front gates, but she knew that her time slot was beginning to end, she had minutes before the guards were alerted to her absence and she had to be long gone by then. She urged her trusted steed, Solomon, into a gallop as she neared the gates. She held her breath as she passed between them, hoping against all hope that she would not disturb anyone. She rode furiously for as long as possible, before she slowed the horse below her into a trot, just to give him a bit of a break.
Her parents seeming set upon war was strange to her, they had always strived for peace. One of her first memories, other than her father urging her to pick up a full length broadsword had been of her parents sitting her down and explaining that peace had to be maintained at all costs and that it was her sworn duty to uphold this within the kingdoms. She supposed that they did not wish to watch their only child die so young, although it had always been a strong possibility.
As she rode toward what she was certain meant death, Emma tried to remember a time in her childhood that had not been about her protecting the realm. The only time she could think of was a night nearly two years prior, just before her sixteenth name day, on which she had snuck out. As a child she had not been the rebellious type, but something in her that night had made her want to risk it. Something in her gut, in her instincts had told her that sneaking out was something she had needed to do that night. It had not been an easy task, but she had managed it all the same. She had gone into the woods, and there she had met a girl. The girl had brown hair that shined and captivating brown eyes and was the most beautiful creature Emma had ever seen. They had spent the night in the woods but by morning the girl was gone and Emma had never seen her again, and now she never would. Emma had not asked her name, nor had she given hers. If she were to choose one regret from her relatively short night then that would be it.
Emma neared the eastern boundaries of the kingdom, as she crested the peak of a hill, she saw the masses of the distant queens' army in the valley beneath her. As they saw her ride towards them they parted down the middle and stood to attention as though she were an honoured guest. It surprised her that she was being treated with so much respect, if she was to die before them all soon but maybe as soldiers they understood the value of an honourable death. If dint matter, either way because Emma appreciated it greatly.
She came to a halt before what she had guessed to be the queens' tent and she dismounted quickly. Solomon was taken from her gently by the reigns and led off to the left, in what Emma assumed was the horses' station. She held her breath as she shifted from foot to foot. Before she could evidence what to do the flaps of the tent were drawn up and out stepped the queen and sorceress that was claimed to be the most evil creature in all of the lands and know on realms.
Her breath faltered and stuck in her throat as she looked upon the familiar face before her. The woman who had come to seek vengeance, or so she assumed, was the familiar face from the woods two years before.