Althea

Chapter 1


"These were your mothers, it's an ancient sword that has been passed down your mothers lineage, the sword was her breath and her life, she treasured it with her heart and she wanted you to have it" my father said handing the sword over to me, it was dusty and it also didn't look ancient, the silver was still glistening but it didn't look special, it looked like every other sword in Agora except the word engrafted on it "AMBROSIO".
"AMBROSIO- what does it mean?"
 My father reached under his oak table and retrieved a black book and gave it to me wiping away the dust all over it.


"This book might give you answers about your mother, her Kingdom and the sword, she never asked me to give you this but she always read it, she read it every time every single day" he said looking so distant. 
Elisa was in bold letters on the front cover, my mother's Kingdom. I read out the words below it "Eternal and Indestructible". What an irony! Absolute nothing was left of the kingdom now, only void in people’s heart, no one was spared, not even my mother, their queen. This is the best treasure I have ever received, I embraced my father tightly. During these past years I seeked for answers desperately about my mother and her fallen kingdom, I asked around, no one had answers or no one wanted to talk, they all avoided the topic and when anyone dared to bring it up everyone went silent as if someone was going to cut their heads off if they dared to speak, it was like they were afraid of something and I wanted to know.
 I was desperate to know

"Belle, you are all I have left, for years I grieved your mother not knowing if she's dead or alive, be cautious" my father said.


“Do not worry about me Father I can take myself, worry about the war and the kingdom and be cautious too. I will write to you as soon as I can”.



I sighed as I opened my eyes,


another dream


even if I wanted to give up, these dreams were constant reminders of why I still breathe, why I live


to find answers.


I stared at the dimly lit room, I walked to my trunk and retrieved my sword, the one my father had given unto me, I put on my dark hood to veil my golden hair, I looked out of the window, immediately the cold wind slapped my face, the moonlight wasn't so bright, my eyes skimmed around the palace, there was no motion anywhere, the guards must have fallen asleep like they always do. I climbed down the window slowly and climed down the walls avoiding windows before jumping down.


I walked down the forest and into the cave, into the innermost room, it's hardly ever quiet here, as I entered everyone kept quiet and stared at me, these were the people I brought together from my fathers kingdom after the war, they were undergoing training here, some of them knew I was their princess while others were oblivious but they all called me Althea, it was my Agorian name but no one knew the meaning, my mother gave it to me, it wasn't Agorian, it was an Elisian name.

Adrianne walked towards me.
"Althea, there is a matter that needs to be tended to" he said keeping his voice low. I nodded as I walked into the inner courts, with him following behind, heads bowed as I walked past, they all saw me as their savior after the war but many feared me still because of my reputation.

The large oak door creaked loudly as it was pushed wide open. The cave was old and many still don’t know it existence.

“We failed the mission" he stated.

I removed my coat sat down.


"What went wrong" I asked him. as I grabbed a book by the side shelf to read.

"The palace guards are always active, they are never off guard"


"Were you planning a secret attack"


"There are rumours that the King has trained warriors who use their inner powers"


"why do you train if you lack the courage to battle them?" I asked and he kept quiet.



"You were not expected to pass the mission, I wanted you to see what we are up against and take their trainings serious, the King has recruited more warriors and they have more weapons than we do. I wanted to give them a reason and a motive to train harder, upgrade all the levels and make them train harder, I will train the squad on how to use their inner energy to combat starting from tomorrow night".


He nodded with a shocked look.


I stood up and he followed me,

Adrianne was my mouth and ears, I gave all the orders and he executed them. I watched as he called everyone to order.


"The squad, step forward" he ordered, they all stepped forward from the young to the adults. The squad were the most trained warriors in Agora Kingdom before the fall, not all of them survived. Only the ones that were my escort were here and that's because my father ordered them to keep me away. They were all good, my father always made me train with them since I was little. Adrianne and I grew up together, we also trained together, his father was my father's personal guard and they both died in the war, even if my father told me not to trust anyone, I trusted him.
"From tomorrow, every night you will train hard, our guardian will personally train you" he stated.

Gasps erupted from the crowd.


"Quiet everyone, the rest of us will upgrade to the next level and we will train harder, those who fail to train will be dealt with" he ordered.

As the crowd dispersed, I turned to him.
"Has anyone tried to escape the walls recently" I asked. He shook his head.
"They all know they will be killed if they are found out by the King, they are all terrified, they feel safe here".
I nodded and walked out of the cave heading to the palace leaping from roof to roof, the outskirts of the kingdom looked shabby, the only place that looked beautiful in the kingdom was the palace, the king was selfish to his own people, many hated his reign but none dared to talk.
I clung my coat closer as the night wind sent cold chills down my arms, A noise caught my attention which immediately made me crouch lower, it was the sound of a carraige.

At this hour.

I followed it in curiosity the journey was long but just before it reached the intersection, it finally stopped.

A short plump man came out of the carriage, then suddenly an arrow popped out from nowhere scraping the tyre of the carriage.

I looked back to see the culprit.

A tall man cloaked in dark clothes approached the carriage,

I moved closer quietly to have a glance of his face but of course it was veiled.

He walked to the plump man and yanked him up swiftly pinning him to the wall of the carriage and drew out a long pointy golden sword.


"Who are you" the tall man asked with a deep growl, the plump man said nothing even if the sword was pressing against his neck,

after a second, he started foaming in the mouth, the tall man dropped him in disgust and buckled his sword, he reached into the carriage and brought out a box,

it was filled with coins,


he closed the box and carried it then he walked away,

he was a thief.


I followed him quietly, then I paused when I saw him go into the palace,

A palace thief.

I couldn't follow him anymore.

I waited for him to be out of sight then I climbed up the wall but to my room instead. I changed quickly after I had a nice bath and climbed into my chamber for a long sleep.