Hey everyone! Here's the next fic in the Quest for Power Series. I'm sorry if you don't recognize it at first, but I did warn you I was going to change the title. I'm also sorry it took me so long to get this up, but I'm in college, so I don't have quite as much time to write. But I will get on as often as I can, I promise. Now this prologue isn't very long and I'm sorry for that, but it sets the groundwork for what's going to be my story. And don't worry, this is the last prologue in the series, you won't have to sit through any more of them. Although there is a history lesson you're going to have to sit through in about two fanfics, which will explain more or less the whole series. But I'm not going to give you any details now, happy reading!

Prologue: Attack on the Castle

One thing that most realms have is an heir to the throne. That was one thing that the realm of Zenith did not have for a very long time. The King and Queen were very upset at the fact that they didn't have an heir, because if they didn't, then they would have to turn the rule of the realm over to someone else, to a family of a less than savory nature. Then finally, a child was born, a young girl. Her parents could tell right away that she was going to be an extremely gifted and very bright young woman. When her mother sensed a strong presence within her, she could tell at once what it was and knew that she would have to protect her daughter no matter what. She was named Tecna.

When she was six months old however, the castle was attacked by a prince named Paritho, one who wanted to rule all the realms. He decided to start with Tecna's realm, a realm he knew had a secret power that only members of the royal family could control. His plan was to kidnap the baby princess, hypnotize her, get his servants to raise her and then make her retrieve her powers, which were hidden in the realm until she was old enough to control them. He was planning to put a spell on her that would make her serve him always, never being able to break free or think for herself. Then when she was old enough, he would marry her.

"She will be mine," he would say to himself. "And once she's my wife, her power will be mine. I'll marry her, she'll hand her powers over to me, then she and I will rule all the realms together. It doesn't help that she's probably going to turn out to be a fairy. If she were a witch, that would make everything a whole lot easier. It wouldn't be as hard to hypnotize her and keep her in my control, but I can handle this."

When he was sure that he had enough power to overcome the realm's defenses, he attacked, hard and fast going straight for his target. He didn't waste a lot of time with the guards either. He knocked out the realm's defenses in one blow, then invaded the palace and immediately began to look for the baby princess. However, when he attacked, the King and Queen knew exactly what he was after and hid the princess away, leaving one of their servants to look after her while they fought him off.

The poor maid could hear everything happening above her. She was hidden in a secret room under the palace with the child, protected by several spells, which she hoped would be enough to keep Paritho from finding her and her charge. She held young Tecna to her chest, and whispered soothing words to her, saying things that even she herself didn't believe.

"Relax child," she said. "Please be quiet, I don't want him to hear us."

But she knew that the villain wouldn't hear the baby crying over the sounds of the battle. But they still scared her greatly. She dreaded seeing what the place would look like when the battle ended. She just shut her eyes and tried to tune the whole thing out by humming a lullaby, but she couldn't do it.

Paritho, meanwhile, was attacking with everything he had, destroying bits and pieces of the palace, searching for the princess, but never finding her. He was getting more and more frustrated, but he didn't let that get the better of him.

"I've underestimated how clever the King and Queen are," he said to himself. "They've hidden her well, but they can't hide her forever."

Unfortunately for him, the King was a very good warrior, and met Paritho in the palace. The two men circled each other, speaking for a few minutes before the fighting actually commenced.

"Where is the princess?" asked Paritho.

"She is safe," said King Richard. "She's in a place where you will never find her."

"Give her to me and I will spare this pitiful realm from total annihilation."

"Stay away from my daughter," said the king in a very dangerous voice.

Paritho had no intention of doing any such thing. "I want that child," he said.

"You shall not have her!"

A dark cloud formed next to Paritho and he pulled from it a long, black, curved sword. He took it in his right hand and raised it in front of himself. The King, though not fond of fighting, knew how to handle a sword and removed his own from its sheath. The two of them swung hard at each other, their swords clashing every few seconds, neither one managing to break the other. They stepped back, each breathing hard, swords still raised.

"I didn't think you'd be very good with that," said Paritho, gesturing at the king's sword. "But you are, much better than I would have thought. Impressive."

"Don't think you can flatter your way out of the life-long imprisonment you'll be getting when this is over."

"Don't you get overconfident, it may just blow up in your face."

The king charged at him again, but Paritho was several inches taller than him and a third his age, making him much more agile. He swung hard and fast, knocking the king's sword out of his hands. Letting his own sword fall to the ground, he walked forward, while the king stepped back.

"I told you not to get overconfident," said Paritho. "But people just don't listen to me. Now, do you have any last words?"

"Stay away from my husband!" rang out a voice from other end of the room. The queen had arrived, and she was angrier than she had ever been before, angry at him for attacking her husband, for endangering her home, for his attempt to take her daughter away from her. She fired a burst of energy at him, but he deflected it. He did the same thing when she tried again.

"You both are quite pathetic," he said, moving towards her. "But you will show me where you have hidden your daughter, then you're both going to be destroyed."

"You will not touch her," said the queen, in a voice of deadly calm.

Paritho chuckled amusedly. He had to admire her conviction, but she must know that doom was imminent. But just as he was about to deliver the final strike to her, he felt something wrap around his ankles and he fell to the ground. He'd forgotten that the king was still conscious, and he had pulled out a coil of rope and thrown it at the young prince.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," said Paritho, using his magic to untie himself. But now, he'd forgotten about the queen, who had ample opportunity to strike at him now. She pounded several energy balls at him, each one hitting him in the back and he fell to the ground, injured and weak. Even though she did not have the power of the realm, she used her strongest imprisonment spell to trap the evil prince underneath the ground, which she hoped would be enough to hold him forever, though she knew better than to hold her breath.

Paritho was stripped of his powers and sealed away forever, but he knew that one day he would get his power back, and when he did, he would go after the young princess again. He would have her if it was the last thing he ever did.

The king and queen knew this as well, and they also decided it would be better if Tecna didn't know what happened until she was older. That would mean never knowing she was a princess.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" asked Queen Tatiana. "We're concealing her birthright from her. When she finds out, she's going to be shocked. I think we should raise her here and tell her what happened."

"If we tell her now, she'll spend the rest of her life wondering when Paritho is going to escape," said the King. "And if we raise her in the palace, she'll find out at a very young age. It's better that she grows up away from all of that, until she is ready to find out all about it."

"When do you think it will be a good idea to tell her?" asked the Queen.

"When she's 19," said the King.

"19? That's too long. Paritho could escape anytime between now and then," said the Queen. "He'll go after her the moment he escapes and no matter where she is, he'll find her. We'll have to tell her sooner than that, especially when he finally does escape."

"He's never going to escape," said the King. "The spell is too strong."

"Believe what you want," said the Queen. "But she'll never be completely safe."

So the two of them came to an agreement. They bought a small house in a neighborhood, across the realm from the palace, under assumed names. They put spells on Tecna, so that she would never find out she was the princess, and would always remain ignorant of her parent's work.

In the mornings, the King and Queen would go back to the palace and do their royal duties and would come back to the house in the evenings to be with Tecna. They sent her to school everyday and she grew into a very smart young lady. When she became old enough, they sent her to Alfea.

But a few days after she started her junior year, almost sixteen years since the initial attack, Paritho finally had enough power to escape from his prison and he did just that. He knew what had taken place all those years ago. He knew that Tecna had no idea that she was a princess or what she was capable of. He could sense that she was in the realm of Magix and decided to go after her and get his revenge on the entire realm.

"Get ready Tecna," said Paritho. "This is going to be a wild ride."

Okay, so there's the foundation laid down, and like I said, it's the last prologue. In the next chapter, it'll be sixteen years after the attack and we're back in present day Magix with the six girls at Alfea, and Guinevere coming to join them. And like I said in the end note of the last fic, if you haven't read the other two, do it now, otherwise you won't know who Guinevere is or what the heck is going on. Stay tuned!