A sheltered and naive young princess is given a single year to find her true love in a land full of wonderfully eccentric and handsome princes! Romantic adventure and unexpected love await in the fantasy land of Seraphia!
"I couldn't say for sure, your highness, I've never met him."
"Well I know that, but do you have a rough guess, at least?"
"How can you make a rough guess about a personality?"
"Well, I don't know!"
I turn away from Cassius and nudge Azura at my side, shaking him out of his deep thought. He turns his brilliant eyes on me and I smile back in return. I found I sometimes became so enchanted when those eyes fixated on me that I forgot almost instantly what I was going to say to him.
A few seconds of silence go by, and Azura smiles gently at me, waiting patiently for me to continue.
"Ah...." I suddenly remembered and talked myself out of my embarrassment, "Um...I...what do you think about Prince Haga? What kind of personality would you think a fairy prince would have?"
Azura's eyes drifted away from me for a moment as he thought, "Hmm...well...someone who lived in a forest would definitely be very in touch with nature. And the fairy kingdom hasn't had a threat to their existence in thousands of years...knowing that kind of peace, any ruler would probably be quite laidback and relaxed."
I look at Azura, delighted. He was smarter than we liked to give him credit for! I could listen to him thinking out loud for hours and never get bored. The way he observed things was so amazing! He always answered you as best as he could, even if you asked an outrageous question.
"Princess Noel," Cassius looked rather irritated as he watched the two of us, "It wouldn't be wise to expect someone to be a certain way upon meeting them."
"Aw, Cassius, that's not what I'm doing!" I pouted in his direction. He really liked to take the fun out of everything!
"I'm sure he'll be very unique regardless, your highness." Crystal decides to interject before the tension between Cassius and I can grow into an argument. I sigh and give her a grateful smile before looking out of the window at the approaching kingdom. When I see the glowing, massive garden in the distance guarded by a rose gate, I placed my hands on the window and thrust my upper half out so I could get a better look. The wind whipped through my hair, caressing the strands and spreading them out of my face.
"Your highness!" I heard Cassius call me from inside, "That's dangerous!"
"No it's not."
👸🏻
Less than a half hour later, our carriage parked outside of the gates. You couldn't hope to hold me back from my own excitement. I ran outside of the carriage and out close enough to the entrance of the gates to admire the kingdom.
The kingdom of the fairies was absolutely magnificent.
It extended for miles, a grand forest of flowers that towered over our heads like trees. The fairy kingdom was still a mystery, as long as it has been around. A strange spell had been cast on it that distorts the sizes of all objects that enter its boundaries. Fairies could be born as tall as a mountain, as small as a leaf, animals could range from any size imaginable...plants could do the same!
I had only explored the attributes of the Fairy Kingdom in novels — seeing small illustrations hadn't been enough to satisfy one bit of my curiosity. I was so excited to finally enter the kingdom, I had almost forgotten the reason I was there!
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"You guys! Isn't it incredible!" I looked down from side to side and see the gated kingdom extended for miles, like a gargantuan garden. I felt Azura at my side almost instantly. Azura titled his head back to look up at where the top of the gate practically stretched into the clouds. Crystal ran over to admire the golden roses that made up the protective gate. Cassius, on the other hand, decided not to admire it and stepped up the gates where the fairy guards were.
2 beautiful women who had to be at least 8 feet tall stood on either side of the entrance, holding a long spear each. Their wings spread out across their backs, cascading down either side of them like elegant dresses. Their sparkling eyes shone straight ahead at us, their expressions blank but holding a regality to them. If I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed they were royalty!
I grab Azura and Crystal's hands and yank them out of their spell of fascination to bring them with me toward the gates to present myself to the guards.
"Greetings," I curtesy and lift my chin, "My name is.."
"Princess Noel Cosimia Mathias of the Arcadian Kingdom." The guard on the right says.
"His Greatness Prince Haga has been expecting you." The guard on the left relaxes a bit and extends an arm to me. With an echoing clicking sound, the gates slowly start to open. I don't wait for them to open completely and take off running at full speed.
"Wh-PRINCESS!" Cassius shouts.
"Wait for us!" Crystal calls after me.
But how can I wait?! There was a whole other world within my reach! I run into the forest, delighted by the smells and fragrances of nature and the song of the thousands of surrounding animals. The more we all run, however, the bigger everything becomes!
By time I realize my body was surrounded by sparkling light and shrinking down to size, I had to be at least 2 inches tall! I turn around and realize my friends had met a similar fate and were all the same size as me.
"What's happened to us?" Crystal asks, the glow vanishing from her body.
It was the magic of the Fairy Kingdom. The spell would change your size the moment you stepped foot on the territory. I opened my mouth to answer her when a noise — one that would have sounded much more welcoming if we were all normally sized — tumbled through the forest.
"Nyaaaa~~~~"
I immediately tense up and whirl around on the forest floor, my eyes searching frantically for a particular animal. I looked high and low from my position, but I couldn't see anything, nor could I make out any approaching figures. I was beginning to calm down when I heard yet another loud, rumbling meow that nearly rattled my ear drums, only much closer this time, and with a vibrating purr. My heart thumps in my chest as I realize just how dangerous our situation probably is.
"This may not be a very good size for us..." Cassius reaches for his sword and pushes me behind him. Azura guards the other side of him so Crystal and I are standing in a protective barrier between them.
It's not long before our predator reveals itself — a tabby cat about the regular size of your average house stalks with its round body low to the ground out of the shade of a grove of trees. My stomach drops to my feet as I take in its size and the feral, threatening glare in its sharp eyes. Crystal wraps her arms around me and starts to tremble.
Uh-oh...
••••••••
"Where the hell was the royal welcoming committee, anyway?"
The two guards standing outside of the fairy kingdom had lowered their weapons, and consequently, their tough poses. They look at each other and shrug, leaning up against the gate lazily.
"Damned if I know," says the girl on the left, "Prince Haga's cat probably broke out of his cage again and ate them on their way here."
"You're probably right! At least its not our problem." The girl on the right chuckles a bit, but her laughter quickly melts away into shock.
"Wait...doesn't that mean the princess could get lost on her way to the castle?!"
"Y..Yeah..." The guard on the left sank to her bottom, her eyes growing wide, "In that case, that would be our problem."
