Taming the Dragon Prince

IV: I am not the Princess!

Night finally sets in, the whole palace now emits a brilliant golden glow from each crystalized chandeliers placed sporadically at the high ceiling. The princess just finished eating dinner together with her three older brothers. The king and the queen both excused themselves early since they have too much to do in handling the human kingdom.

My knowledge about the outside world is slim but miss Vasatti always told me bed time stories when I was but just a mindless child. Stories that happened before the walls were built to separate us humans, from others.  Long ago, the world was shared between different kinds of mythical creatures. Mermaids, sirens, and sea monsters dwelled in the ocean. While orcs, elves, witches, fairies, and humans shared the earth. The sky, however, was only ruled by one race, dragons.

"Aerith, what are you thinking about that made you look so deep in thought?" Princess Thalia poked my arm.

We were strutting down the corridor that will eventually lead us to her bed chamber so she could prepare herself to sleep. My walking pace was fast since I really want to finish my job as her personal servant and eat my dinner but princess Thalia was clinging tightly around my arm that hindered both of us from walking.

"Nothing, I was just curious about the dragons."

What I said made princess Thalia's head perk up, it seems that she has knowledge about what happened to them. I always thought that if dragons ruled the skies then why is it that I have never seen one whenever I look above, soon I find myself always looking at the sky in hopes to see one for myself that it became a habit of mine.

"Oh." is what she said. She released my arm from her clutches, her eyes wandered from me and towards the night sky, looking through the glass window. "Dragons were marvelous creatures that brought peace among the dwellers of land and sea."

Hm, the princess's voice is usually cheery but now it sounded more like the voice of her sophisticated mother. I guess she inherited the memories of the past holder of the holy powers she has now that is why she knows exactly what happened decades ago even though she is just 16 years old.

"I see, the world must have been such a nice place back then," I replied with a small smile, imagining the world without boundaries or walls made me think about freedom. But who am I kidding, even if the walls were brought down I would still be chained to my duties as a palace maid. Forever, until I die.

"It sure is! It was a time where humans co existed with other creatures. The mermaids were really good at teaching how to swim and the fairies gave humans the ability to fly things." Her voice was cheery as if she witnessed it herself how the world worked before creatures were separated but as if a switch was flipped in her voice box, her voice turned sorrowful. "But that was all because of the great dragons... now they are gone."

I stared at her, my gaze looming down at her because of our height difference. She looked troubled, well of course since she received the memories of the previous holder of the holy powers she has now from that old priestess. She must have seen in her mind the horrible scenes as to what really happened 20 years ago, since the priestess was one of the people who was involved in that incident.

Although I am absolutely curious about the outside world, I would not dare push on with my silly questions of an extinct race since princess Thalia looked pained about the mere mention of them.

"We are here, princess." I bowed down as we arrived in front of the huge oak door that leads to her spacious bedroom.

She smiled at me before entering, "Let us have a morning walk at the rose garden tomorrow, Aerith." 

My brows twitched, the prospect of waking early again is not desirable for me since once again I have to help clean the main kitchen later until midnight.

But as usual, all I can say is:

"Yes, princess. I will be here at 6 in the morning."

"That is great! Have a nice evening then!"

I wish to have a nice evening too princess, but duty calls, and I must answer it with a broom and mop.

Making sure that the princess safely retired to her room for the night, I stood for a few seconds in place before turning around to walk back to the direction where we came from. I have to hurry or miss Vasatti, even though she is as soft as a marshmallow, would definitely scold me if I am late and I am sure Angela would be there to chuckle at my demise.

"Huh?" I completely froze in my tracks when the candles that were attached on the walls suddenly flickered, as if something huge just flew past them which is weird since I saw nothing but when I turned my head at the other side, I noticed that all the windows were wide open that made it possible for the candles to sway so much.

"A huge bird?" I asked myself as I lean closer to the window, all the velvet curtains were still swaying from the sudden gush of wind that also made my hair flow back behind my shoulders.

I shifted my head from side to side, all I can see is the town from the distance, illuminated with the lights from each house that almost looked like a thousand stars. Thinking about stars, I instantly looked up to gaze at the much brighter stars.

The sky looked so beautiful especially at night, so vast and boundless. It made me wonder if only I was not born as a pathetic maid then I would be able to explore the world and meet numerous magical beings, but then again, it made me also wonder if the dragons never disappeared in the first place then the world peace would never stop and the boundaries between each country was never built. According to miss Vasatti, the dragons were ruled by a powerful and brilliant queen called Stheorla 'The Eternal One'. She gives peace within her sky kingdom while also maintaining justice down below and because they were overlooking the whole world from above, they were deemed as gods and goddesses.

But as I have mentioned before, they all disappeared without a trace, and because of their absence, the world fell into chaos. The dragons stood as the world's peacekeepers and now that they're gone the humans, sea dwellers, fairies, elves, and every other race walled up and built borders to prevent anyone from invading their homes. Hence why I can't run away and live somewhere else.

"All because of those stupid dragons, leaving us behind." My gaze dropped from the endless sky and down on the grassy floor below, thinking that it was foolish of me to even think about ever getting beyond the walls. Well, whatever. Since I have can't do anything about it might as well just accept this horrid fate of mine as a palace maid.

"If only I could fly..."

-

"Wake up! It is 5 in the morning!" I already know that Angela is going to use this opportunity to slap my face again and say that she is just trying to wake me up so before she could lay a hand on me I proudly stopped her with my hand while my eyes were still shut.

"Hah! You thought you could-" I was about to boast about my extraordinary reflexes for managing to stop her attempt to slapping me but she used her other hand to slap my hand.

"Ow! Why are you so violent it so early." I groaned, sitting up whilst scratching my unruly hair.

"Tch! Why don't you do something with your hair, it's always so messy that it can get into the princess's food. If the queen finds out that a strand of hair was in her daughter's meal then you will be hanged. You know how deeply everyone in the royal family loves princess Thalia." 

Angela was already in her uniform, as usual, she does not like to be late since she wants to give a good impression to the head maid miss Vasatti for her to be promoted. I think the reason why she wants to get a promotion so bad is that she could stop being my roommate, I know I snore too loud.

"Well, thanks I will keep it tied today." I head towards the bathroom and prepared myself for the day.

After waking up the princess we immediately head down to the rose garden so she could witness the sunrise in that scenery. Of course the princess, with her wild ideas, came up with pranking the guards who were half asleep in their posts.

Princess Thalia forced me to wear her dress, pushed me into the guard's direction and the next thing I know is that I was whisked up to the sky by something that has sharp claws. When I tried my best to raise my head to take a good look at what captured me, I could not muster up the courage to scream when I found out that it was a dragon.

A freaking dragon.

What? Why? I thought they were extinct? Why capture me? 

The desperate voice of princess Thalia calling my name from down below quickly became inaudible as I was pulled up higher in the sky. Although my situation is considered as a top level danger threat, I could not bring myself to think that it was dangerous as my eyes landed on the clouds and the sun that felt so much hotter now that I am so close to it. The warmth was nice as well as the clouds that felt like water when touched.

Is this... my freedom?

The dragon flew past the walls surrounding the human kingdom and I did not miss a chance to see what it looked like outside. It was... magical. Everything, no matter where I look, all of the living things were slightly glowing, gaudily colored plants encompassed the forest and mountain. I can see weird-looking creatures that were running around at an empty field, mermaid tails were visible when we flew past the sparkling blue ocean.

"Woah! Hi mermaids!" I waved my hand to get their attention, it was my first time seeing one after all so despite my situation I still managed to say my greetings to the mythical creatures.

All these happiness of mine soon vanished when I was brought to the deserted sky kingdom that was just a huge piece of land suspended in the sky, completely covered with thick clouds that made it impossible to see from down below.

It was this time that I saw the colossal dragon that kidnapped me shift into a human form and angrily said the words to me:

"You are never to leave my side, princess Thalia."