The Rough Road
It was close to midnight. A fire was burning inside the forest, about to die out. The villagers of Dicie-Stellara had just finished celebrating the coronation of their new king. The mood was high as all were glad to have such a splendid ruler as king. He was lawful and exceptionally valiant. All adored him and fawned over him. Everybody knew he was the perfect and only candidate capable enough to rule an empire of such a magnificent scale.
All except for one saddened and broken citizen.
Or rather, one very disappointed member of the Tyzens.
A female figure wrapped in a black cloak was seated near the warm coal embers. The last of the flames were giving the coal pieces a final embrace before getting completely blown away by the wind. Even though the ashes appeared calmer, they were still sunken within the addictive warmth of the loving fire.
The woman in the cloak stretched her fingers near the coals as if wishing for the burnt ashes to rise into flames again and lick the crevices of her hands. She left them there for a while, about to take the coal pieces into her hands, but decided against it and pulled her hands back in, knowing that the coal pieces were still at a high temperature and could cause her serious harm.
She sighed in disappointment and removed the hood to reveal a fair face with the shine of the full moon. Her face had an intoxicating glow, though defused due to a gloom spread across her face. Her full lips were slightly open, sorrow and stress troubling their edges. Her deep blue eyes appeared misty and clouded by sorrow. Her long hair was pulled back into a waist-length braid except for a few strands falling upon her face. A small something gleamed upon her neck, that being the pin holding her cloak together.
The pin was in the shape of a tiger roaring. It was made of gold. The eyes of the tiger were wide open and were gleaming bright red. The woman clutched the pin and just whispered, “All my good luck that I, the one attested with the Roar of Destiny, shall get cheated out of the throne by someone who never valued anything other than strange masculine “honours”, and by someone who never had the future of the people in his purview.”
Princess and Chief Minister Trystilla Rayden Tyzen, a bright young woman who was part of the Tyzen dynasty had felt dishonoured. She knew she had all the capabilities of a promising leader. She had a politically clever mind, a good sense of morality and justice and had grown to nurture and care for her people.
She had also been appointed the mentor to the princes and princesses of the royal family, which was a great honour in the family passed on to only the wisest ones of the family found in each generation. She was a clever woman; she had helped integrate several clinics, better healthcare, improve education, construct schools, give rise to artisans, allow the arts to flourish and had overall impacted the life quality of the empire in her uncle’s time indirectly.
She was known to be a kind woman who cared about the people. She was famed for all her activities in support of the peasants gaining their
Yet, even after having all these qualities and showing a particular interest in the throne, she was refused her purpose of living and was instead given to her chit of a cousin, the Crown Prince, Brastien Edmund Tyzen. He may have been kind and brave, but his major plan of ‘kingly duties’ was expansion. Namely, his wish to annihilate Ad-Astra, a distant land that none dared to traverse.
Brastien was known to be an extremely ambitious young man. He was known to pursue his goals with an odd crazed fervour and would completely disregard everything that was not his goal.
The Tyzens currently weren’t even sure if Ad-Astra existed or not. All the citizenry knew this very well, and yet they somehow believed that Brastien would be the solution as if his arrival would just magically give the army superhuman abilities or as if he were some sort of master strategist, which he was not. He never paid attention in any of the classes, and she should know; she attended all of her classes alongside him.
Tryst, as she’d preferred to be called, was forced to attend his coronation, since her uncle believed she would be perfect for playing the supporting minister role within the country’s administration.
Since she knew that there would be a lot of commotion if she wasn’t seen during the ceremonies and she didn’t want any unrest and unwanted problems to form, she attended the ceremony.
Though she maintained her image, these thoughts were the only things in her mind. She continually ruminated upon them, wondering whether the people considered her a being of authority at all. They focused entirely on the Prince and her uncle, and when she had come up to the Throne, no one paid attention to her. The only people that paid attention despised her.
Except for one person.
A woman with a dark complexion and large hazel eyes had been paying rapt attention to her. She had a strange look about her, one that seemed to combine a knowing look, a look of care and one of admiration. She was unable to remember any of her features, but she could not forget her eyes. It was as though her eyes were painted within her mind by fire.
Those eyes seemed to want to recite poems written in her honour but they were telling of some sort of hesitation. She only saw the woman for barely three deikons (around 4 seconds) before both she and her eyes disappeared completely. She seemed so strange and out of place, even though there was nothing special about her. The former Chief Minister’s attention was drawn to her instantly.
She had shaken it off, thinking nothing of it. She knew that admirers could be helpful and loyal associates and people like the woman who could easily blend into the crowd yet also draw attention to themselves by sheer charm would prove themselves especially useful. Of course, the Ministers of the other States may well have noticed her already. Perhaps that may have been why she had been present at the moment.
There had been several accounts of intrigues. Yet, the woman’s eyes seemed to tell a different story. Tryst did not want to think much about it as she knew the dangers overthinking could create. She shook off all thoughts about the woman and continued to think about other matters.
The fire had burned out entirely as her mind drifted over the happenings of the day.
Trystilla heard some rustling in the bushes. She knows they’ll be looking for her.
She knew she shouldn’t have run out. She knew she should’ve stayed and supported her people. But she had no choice.
She’d come back later, but she simply couldn’t stay there. Not any longer.
She knew she would find another place. Another people to listen. Another fire to ignite. A legend of her own. But the only way she could find it is to venture out. Explore the unexplored to find her destiny. Discover the undiscovered to unleash her full potential.
Until then, she’ll simply have to see where life takes her.
