Prologue 3: Darkano.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU DID?" a gruff, male voice shouted through the castle walls, Soleil lowering her head in shame at the noise "you were almost Kidnapped!" King Cicero Darkano, Soleil's father, shouted, his gray hair cascading down to his shoulders, as his two blue eyes stared at Soleil, who was shrinking under her father's angry gaze.

"I'm sorry, father, it's just..." Soleil tried to explain.

"just what? that you're an idiotic, reckless, child?" he asked, a frown in his face, Soleil's head hanging down in shame, tears threatening to fall from her golden eyes.

"I just...I don't want to be stuck in the castle..." she said in a low voice "I want to go out, meet people, have friends" she raised her head, staring her father in the eye. "I don't want to be a prisoner here any longer!" she shouted.

"Soleil, by the sun, you are not like the others! you are special!" The king shouted back.

"and can you just recognize that I'm a person? that I want to meet the people I will have to one day rule over when you inevitably die?"

"do you not understand the sheer *magnitude* of what you possess? how many people would kill to have you serve them!" The king shouted once again.

"and can you just recognize that I'm a person? that I want to meet the people I will have to one day rule over when you inevitably die?"

Soleil's father frowned and shook his head "you are 16, you are not ready to rule. you do not understand what your role is here, you are a healer, it is your gift, you have to fulfill that role" He stated.

Soleil's expression darkened, as she looked down, her expression grim and sad.
"is this what I am to you?" she asked "a tool?"

King Cicero frowned, and put his hand on her shoulder "Soleil, you have been bestowed with a powerful gift, a gift that can help so many, why stand idle, and leave your powers unused? when you can help so many?" he asked her, wiping a tear from her face "Your mother said those same words to me a long time ago, may she rest in peace, when I refused to help a small town because I was lazy and snobby" he explained "I believed that those peasants were not worth my time, but your mother...she made me help them, and those same peasants helped defend me from assassins" he spoke with a fond smile "you are so much like your mother, Soleil, and she would have told you the same, had you told her about this" he stated, and Soleil sniffed, tears going down her eyes.

"really?"

"I mean...she didn't actually persuade me...she coerced me, really" the king muttered under his breath "but yes, I believe she would have said the same to you" he stated, and Soleil sniffled once more.

"look, you promise not to escape the castle, and I'll allow you to have combat training" he spoke, and Soleil's expression immediately brightened.

"REALLY?" she shouted, jumping up and down like a little girl "YAY!" she said, before hugging her father "thank you THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" she thanked him over and over "You're the best!" she stated, before happily skipping off to her room.

"...you really need to stop coddling her like that" the king's general, and right hand man, Marcus said, his hand resting on his sheath, his white armor, inlaid with the sun insignia of Solario, glowed in the soft light of early morning "that girl's your biggest weakness"

"Trust me, Marcus, when you have a kid of your own, you'll understand how hard it is to say no to them" King Cicero stated, a small smile on his face.

"She's so much like her mother" Marcus stated "It's almost like looking at a younger version of Lady Cassandra"

"yes..." the king muttered, a look of sadness in his eyes "it does" he stated, before walking back to his throne, and resting his weary old body on it.

"do you believe she if fit to rule, Marcus?" he asked, leaning his back on the throne, his hamd on the armrest of the second throne next to his, the one which used to belong to his late wife.

"Do you want the truth?"

"Yes, I want the truth"

"I...do not believe she is, my king, she is too...kind" Marcus stated "she will not survive in the cruel word of leading a nation, because she sees good in everyone, even when there is not"

The king sighed, seeming saddened, yet not against the observation "I know..." he trailed off, staring at the portrait of his wife, which hung on the left wall of the throne room.

"her mother was like that too, always seeing light, even in the depths of darkness"