There once lived a magnificent ruler
With the whole world as her empire.
The empress on envisaging her final hour,
Called her three children to her.
"My time has come, and I must leave," said she.
"When I'm gone, this world will be your responsibility."
The three heirs looked at her holding their breath,
Waiting in anticipation, the final decision before her death.
She continued, "Since I won't favour one of you above the others,
I have decided to divide my realm into three independent spheres.
Tell me my children, what is the greatest power of all?"
"Love," all three of them replied without a moment's stall.
The empress was much pleased with the reply
And said that one wish to each of them she would supply.
The eldest of them was a girl; Nymphadora was her name.
She wished for the power to seduce each and every man.
"Very well," said the mother.
"Like a man falls in the water
Every man will fall in love with you
And after he makes love to you,
He will draw his last breath
Like he drowned in the ocean's depth.
The siblings were in shock.
The mother spoke,
"Go into the ocean, you won't drown.
I give you the water crown."
The empress gave her the sphere of water,
And nymph was the name given to her daughter.
The middle child was a boy named Star.
He got so terrified by his sister's power
That he asked to be very very far.
He said, "I don't want to fall in love, ever."
"Very well," the empreaa said as she had before.
"You will not feel love, neither the pang nor the pleasure.
You will be free as the wind," said the empress.
Before he could smile she gave the curse.
"The wind will blow away
Any love that comes your way.
As you are not willing to give love
You shall not receive love
From nymph or human. This is only fair."
The empress gave him reins of the air
And the ability to fly as high as he might.
His descendants are called the starlites.
Now the empress turned towards her youngest,
Who was the dearest, strongest and wisest.
"I don't want a name for me, I don't need a power,
Mother my only wish is for love to be everywhere."
"I bestow upon you my finest creation
No one knows love better than the human.
Your siblings and their descendants will be
Kings and queens. But they'll see
That humans with love in their hearts
Will rule the empire and all its parts."
Prince Neal closed the book with a heavy hand. He extinguished the flame at his table and the room became as dark as the night outside, synchronising it's colour with the tone of his hair, his eyes and his mood. He had just finished writing a letter to a queen. Its subject matter would be giving as much displeasure to the reader as it had given to the writer, but the prince had deemed it necessary.
The past few months in the secluded forest had given him a lot of time to think. He had thought about his life; the lies it contained and the future it held. But most of all, he had thought of Sophie.
In contrast to before, the thought could make him smile now. He tried to hide it from himself, unconsciously drumming his fingers on the back of his hand.
Neal glanced out of the window where a building caught his eyes. It was home to the royal ministers and officers of high rank of the court. The moonlight, accompanied by the light of a few torches, enabled him to see the traces fire had left on the stone. "So much has happened in my absence." He sighed.
The noise of the guards changing places claimed his attention. It was midnight. The prince looked at them with displeasure. When death came knocking none of them could help.
His thoughts wandered back to her.
"I wish I were a starlite. Then maybe I could fly over to her window, declaring my love, claiming my happily-ever-after."
Neal's subconscious laughed at the irony of the situation. If he were a starlite, he would not feel such a need. "I don't love her," he lied to himself. "I can't do that to her."
He walked away from the window and into his inner room. The little room contained only a cupboard, a chair and a table. On the table lay a map of his empire Midos. It showed a peninsula surrounded by snowy mountains on the north and ocean on the remaining three sides. A huge wall ran along the entire coastline. It was built centuries ago, to keep the nymphs out. The ocean contained the words 'Nymph Territory' just as the hilly terrain had 'Starlite Territory' inscribed on it.
Not bestowing a single glance on the map, Neal took out a set of keys from the table's drawer. One of the keys opened a cupboard. It was filled with documents, seals and other such decoys; its main purpose being the concealment of the passage to another room.
This secret room contained only one piece of furniture, a cupboard. Paintings covered almost every part of the four walls and the ceiling, most of them featuring the same female. The centre of the room contained a blank canvas, ready to capture the artist's imagination.
Neal opened the cupboard. It was divided into two parts. The left part contained colours, brushes, plates and similar things that assisted in the prince's hobby.
For a clueless spectator, the things in the right part would not make any sense. It was a curious set of things for any man to have in his cupboard, especially so if he happens to be a crown prince. But that's what secret cupboards are made for- to hide what society thinks to be abnormal. This curious set was made of seven things- a wooden bowl, an ornate teacup, a game piece from a nisiman set, a silver ring, an ice blue ball gown, a small knife with blood clotted on its blade and a feet long braid of platinum blonde hair.
The prince gave all of it a fleeting glance and smiled. He took out his tools. Painting always calmed him. He knew what he was going to paint- a girl with fish like pout and chocolate brown doe eyes, dressed head to toe in white fur. Her square face- a little flushed by travel and adorned by a few stubborn strands of hair falling out of her helmet. He remembered her to be splattered with water, dirt and a little blood.
The memory was about a year old but it was as fresh in his mind as if it had happened a moment ago.