The Wingless

Prologue

Farewell, Alfaria

Tears. I was never good at crying. I can't recall a time that I shed even a single drop of tear in nineteen years.

I've witnessed shedloads of tragedies, misadventures for the wandering and lost, where merriment is powerless against misery, vicissitudes impetuous enough to instigate devastation, too much agony that not even love can conquer. In a world full of majesty, yet omitted by serendipity and harmony, only pain and sorrow can prevail.

All that, and not a lone teardrop escaped this lifeless eyes of mine, like a barren land frozen with snow. Too soulless, that not even the proclamation circulating the kingdom could make me snivel.

"The Fairy Queen is dead!"

Surrounded with petals of marigold, chrysanthemums, and roses of different hues, the Fairy Queen's body lies forlornly over the huge trunk of the Sacred Tree, its veined leaves hovering her seemingly guarding her dead body.

Tinges of lavender and rose gold blanketed the sky as the sun slowly bade farewell beneath the horizon, brewing despair, atmosphere of woe prospered throughout the Kingdom of Alfaria.

Faeries of different entities, goblins, elves, pixies, dwarves, and trolls swarmed in the whole palace, attending the burial of the Queen, every single creature mourning for her sudden death. From the window of my chambers, I can almost hear their silent cries and melancholic weeps. There were royal guards destined on certain areas of the palace, supposing that a mishap or situation would happen.

Tears should be streaming from my eyes, also grieving for the Queen's demise, as the Princess of Alfaria, as the Fairy Queen's daughter. Lamenting, I should be.

I am, not just with my mother passing, but also with the faeries' whispers and hushed tones.

"The queen is dead, the one who'll sit on the throne next..."

"It's her, she's the only princess of Her Majesty."

"She's not fit for the throne."

"There's still the other princess, the elf, Princess Siofra."

"I think she'll do better, after all the Queen's daughter doesn't have wings..."

Fists balled, preventing myself from being overwhelmed with these emotions, I closed my eyes and turned my back from the world. Laying down on my bed, I stared at the high ceiling of the room, painted with intricate designs, like that of a history of the kingdom.

Kamamatay lang ng reyna, ngunit ang iniisip na agad ng mga tao ay kung sino ang susunod na uupo sa trono. Everyone was already making a fuss about it, even if the queen is not long dead.