Disclaimer: I don't know why I'm putting this in here because these characters are all my own. Don't use them. Just thought I should get that out of the way

A storm. The everlasting example of the power and grace of Mother Nature. Her message to all that even though they can control some elements, they hold within their hands only a fraction of her power. Sitting and listening, watching, feeling the power of it all flow through you. During a restless night there is no better distraction than that of nature. And what of the nature of other beings? Animals show their nature, as a definition of themselves, as open as a book for all to see. But humans? No, we can not be so simple. We differ in every way there is to differ in our looks, shape, hearts, and minds. We are touched physically, mentally, and spiritually by everything in our lives. So this comes to a story. A story about a young princess and her unique nature.

She was on a walk. Nothing at all unusual about that except for the fact that she was in a town just passed the Western Kingdom's border that was considered pretty far from her home. She was here on business with her elder twin and some others from the Northern Kingdom and it was because of said sister that she was on her little walk in the first place. Only this time she was in a new town and because of her two faced, jealous, condescending twin, she had run off with out her weapons. But at least she had remembered to cast the spell that hid her true appearance from everyone. Right now she appeared to have short brown hair and blue eyes but she really had long black hair and deep green eyes. If anyone ever saw Princess Reina second heir to the northern throne running around practically lost in the Western woods there would be trouble. Though even with out her weapons she was pretty well armed, seeing as she could control two of the eight elements. She found a comfortable looking tree and climbed to a branch that could support her weight and pondered the problems that had been plaguing her homeland for the past seventy years.

The country of Iroles was basically a very large island that was divided in to four parts, the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, the Eastern Kingdom, and the Western Kingdom. Everyone in Iroles could control some elements like fire, water, plants, ice, wind, earth, light, and darkness. To control plants was to control things like the vegetation while to control earth was more like dirt and minerals. Light was a sort of holy power that very few people had and those that did were priestesses or priests. Having the power over darkness was rare and you had to be a very strong individual to master it. Depending on how many elements you could control stated how powerful you were and what services you could present to your Kingdom. Most people that were farmers could control things like earth and plants. People that worked at black smiths could control things like fire and earth. People that could control three elements were normally sent off to join the ever growing armies that had just recently been put into action. The Northern Kingdom, her homeland, was famous for two things. The first being that there was always at least one person alive in her family that could control up to five elements. In Iroles that was considered pretty powerful.

All around Iroles there were demon like creatures that stalked the night and those who were not careful were killed. So people in Iroles had a great need for such power, especially since the awakening of the Dark Lord. He was a creature that was neither human nor demon. He was both, and it drove him mad. He was known as Sersani and was immortal like all the other demons but most importantly he controlled the power of darkness. But long long ago he was sealed away by a woman who could wield seven of the eight elements. That was the second reason why the Northern Kingdom was famous. Reina was a descendent of the woman that long ago gave up her life to seal away the Dark Lord Serani. Though she tried to kill him, she only had the power to seal him inside of his own castle. She was the only person in the history of Iroles to wield seven of the eight elements. The Dark Lord Serani's awakening had happened only recently, he had been asleep for more than a hundred years. The stories of his cruelty survived the ages and people were reminded of the horrors he could control. The Dark Lord's fortress was the barren land located between the Eastern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The prince of the Southern Kingdom killed his father in a mad rage one day and then proceeded to the Barren Lands to awaken the Dark Lord. In return for awakening him the Dark Lord gave the new Southern Lord the gift of immortality.

There had been a dilemma in the Northern Kingdom when the Lady of the North, Freya, had given birth to twins and it was unsure which one would hold the power to control at least five elements. The Northern Lord, Theo, named his eldest daughter, Yumi, his heir and expected her to hold the power to control at least five elements. Currently, there was a war brewing between the allied forces of the Northern, Western, and Eastern Kingdoms against the Southern and Dark Kingdom. It was well known that the Eastern Lord, Oren, was pressing Reina's father to test her elder twin's abilities but her father kept putting it off saying that she would grow into the powers. Reina could control the elements wind and light at this point but she had her suspicions about being able to control more than that. Yumi could control the elements of water, plants, and earth and was showing no signs of controlling another. The Northern Lord Theo and Lady Freya were at a loss of what to do currently.

Sitting in her tree Reina wished once again fervently that her family would just see her for once and stop obsessing over her twin. Yumi had short brown hair with brown eyes and she could handle the little things when it came to running the Northern Kingdom but she would never win over the people. Yumi was a snob in every since of the word and believed her self above everyone else. While Yumi was perfect in her father's eyes, Reina was nothing but a person that he had to claim as a daughter. He knew absolutely nothing about her and saw none of her potential to master more than just two elements. Her mother was normally too wrapped up in being the Northern Lady and training her first daughter to be a perfect lady to care about her second daughter.

'But I suppose it is time to go and stop wallowing in my own self pity.' Reina concentrated on the air around her and jumped from her perch in the tree to land softly on the ground. As Reina began walking in the direction of Frein, the town they were staying in, she began wondering what her little brother, Aiden, would say to her when she finally got home. She figured he'd chew her out for running off with out her weapons when he found out she did it. 'I swear he acts more like an older brother to me than a younger one.' She loved her younger brother desperately and would do anything to protect him. Reina again lost herself to her thoughts as they began to drift towards home. Her little brother Aiden was born only a year after her and Yumi so he wasn't far from her current age of 19. Her younger brother had hair like her while he had eyes that were normally grey but could sometimes change due to his mood. Aiden was as good with a sword as he was with paper work, which never ceased to amaze her. Her little brother should be heir to the Northern throne, not that stupid elder sister of theirs, Yumi. Yumi would probably lead the Northern Kingdom to ruin if she was left unsupervised. Reina decided she would talk to her father, however useless it would be, to try and break through to him.

A sudden snap brought Reina violently out of her thoughts of the horrors of her home, to remind her where she was currently. It was beginning to get dark.

'Damn.' ...