Through the Valleys and the Stars

One

When your Kingdom is peaceful, there's nothing to do as the Prince.

Damien's days consisted of lessons focusing on how to run the country and on how to be a good and fair King. He already knew all this, his father had been drilling it in his head since he was a baby. He'd rather go to the town and spend his days and nights relishing in the carefree life he so desperately craved. Instead, he was stuck inside the castle of the crescent shaped island known as Derendia. The land was large with a lovely tropical climate, not too hot but not too humid. Heavy, dense forests rest on the outskirts of the nation, keeping the citizens enclosed but not trapped. All through his life, Damien was told to stay out of the forests as they harboured vicious monsters that would show no mercy. Of course Damien didn't believe that and had been coming up with a plan to sneak out. He thought it was foolproof, especially since no one would think that the Prince himself would even dare to leave the safety and comfort of the castle. Though Damien was no stranger to sneaking out, in fact he considered himself an expert at it. Most nights, he'd head to the town and spend his time in bars and nightclubs, often with the company of a beautiful woman. He was getting to the age where he'd have to find a wife and have children so he thought, why not spend all his time single with as many women as he could. His father of course disapproved but it's not like he could stop his son as he'd just keep sneaking out.

On the current day, Damien's teacher had been droning on relations with the other nations and how important it was to keep the peaceful nature of Derendia. As the future King, his duty would be to prevent war and conflict, keeping relations in good order. It's not like the other nations even cared about the island where the priority was fishing and farming. In a way, the peace was good as Damien was free to do whatever he pleased with his time outside his studies. He took a glance at the clock on the wall and saw that the time was nearing seven in the evening. The young man stood from his chair and raised a hand to stop the tutor mid sentence. "Terribly sorry to cut the lesson short, but I have a prior arrangement to attend to. You're dismissed." He said with a quick and snappy tone, leaving the tutor no time to respond as he left the room with a quick and confident stride. In his opinion, the castle was colder than usual. Damien and his father were of the Itrian race, very few members of this race were left around after a natural disaster left the kingdom of Itria in ruins over a millennium ago. Damien's ancestors took refuge on Derendia and became the rulers of the fledgling nation. The Itrians who survived the disaster died off due to being unable to acclimate in their new surroundings. The Itrians are ones where they feel heat as cold, and cold as heat. Damien's ancestors were able to survive the tropical island by donning thick furs and suede to keep themselves warm. This is something that had been passed down to Damien and his father.

As the Prince headed towards his bedroom, he overheard some guards talking about Toreuna and their King. Damien had never met King Jacob personally before, but he had seen him. Damien was only a child when the King, a teenager at the time, had come to his father for help. King Jacob's sister had been abducted and no one had seen her since. Damien still remembered how the King's skin was tinged purple and his hair beginning to grey, he never understood what that meant. When Jacob came to Derendia with a handful of soldiers in tow, King Dominic of Derendia greeted them with open arms, inviting the soldiers to stay in the castle. It was to keep the relations well, and since the young King was grieving, Dominic couldn't say no. When asked about it, Dominic told his son that the soldiers were there to keep an eye out for the Princess and to bring her home if she was found, but after a few years, all but one soldier went back to Toreuna. That soldier however found a wife and retired to the countryside to become a farmer so it was almost like no soldiers were left. Damien liked the soldiers, they were nice to him and snuck him candy. He always thought that Toreunian's were stuck up and aggressive, but those men weren't. One of them even hand sewed a cape for Damien's tenth birthday. He looked back at those memories with fondness. As he went towards his room, he passed by the throne room and saw his tutor discussing something with his father, most certainly about him skipping out on his lesson early. Hoping to escape a scolding, he ran past the room and thankfully his father hadn't noticed him.