Highlander Princess | Otherworld #1

P R O L O G U E

•♛•
A C H I L D   O F   W A R
••••♛••••

Just because you are young, doesn't mean you're a child.

I would have loved to have a normal childhood like most children had.

Being a child, you have a certain naivety and innocence about you in the choices you make and way you think. It was a 'ignorant bliss'— as you are free of responsibilities and can do whatever you please to a extent and no one could hold you responsible for your actions because you haven't learned them to be wrong yet.

You were allowed to make mistakes and have a chance to learn from them.

Unfortunately for me, I never had this 'bliss' that other children had.

Nor have I had the innocence either.

I was always held accountable for my actions, no matter if I knew it was right or wrong. I was always expected to anticipate my mistakes, and anything that could put me in jeopardy. I was expect to never make mistakes and get it right the first time.

My father was a King, who never had a son and wanted his only daughter to succeed at being the Queen he knew his people needed. I was being taught from a young age how painful the world was, never to trust anyone completely but yourself because you could never be sure of others intentions.

I was a Princess, and that title meant more than other people cared to know, or understand.

Trust me when I say, it was no fairytale. Once your taught to see the ugliness in people it's hard to try and find beauty in anything they do, and for a child that was scary, morbid thought.

Ever since I could walk I've always known the cold truth.

People are dangerous and are prompted by greed.

When I was four years old, I was given a dagger by my father that I never parted with and carried everywhere I went. My father taught me how I could stab a enemy in the heart with it, so I thought it was normal to always be on guard.

And boy, did I have many enemies.

I wasn't just a princess- but a freak of nature who possessed scary powers like that of my father.

At six years old, I discovered about the elements- the powers that were passed down from my family before me and that made us powerful leaders but dangerous people.

As the kingdom was made of many fearful people- my family who despite rules this country where never allowed to use it unless completely necessary. As a result, my father taught me the art of movement- how to fight in complete silence, holding my first sword to learn how take a man down on one-on-one combat.

At eight, my father would take me into his study, and teach me about war. The dangers of our powers and what responsibilities came with it. He would place my light frame on the hard stone table in his office, making me feel heavy with knowledge I would have to use one day.

You see, I never played with dolls; never had play dates or invited my friends over to play dress up and have tea time with our teddy bears.

While others where being children, I was already on my way to being an adult, with a duty and responsibility to my family and my country.

It wasn't fair, but I never complained.

I rationalised that living this way made me stronger- or maybe it was the love and respect I had for my father that never made me question my upbringing. Nevertheless, I thought it would make me ready, preparing me for the future I wasn't sure of.

My father was one of those men that were full of wisdom- and you never understood how they still where decent human beings after what they had gone through. He was a King, so not many people got to see him be a father.

He was a amazing father.

His wisdom about the world was something I always looked up too. One day I asked him how he was so smart, how he could always make the prefect choices in any situation, he looked me hard in the eyes before replying.

"My choices have never been perfect, Aura. Everything we do has consequences. That is the burden we must carry as rulers. We will never make the perfect choice, but we can make the right one for as many of our people that we can."

And he was right.

Be as it may, you can't prepare to face adulthood.

You can't prepare to face betrayal.

You can't prepare you heart to combat pain.

So how could possibly make the perfect decision in a situation where all these factors come to play?

My father taught me what it was like to be a child of war.

Not with just outside forces, but the war we have inside everyday. Never knowing if we are good enough, or if we are right.

And that was the greatest gift he ever left me.

••••♛••••

Please star and comment! I love reading the readers responses!