ALTHEA

Chapter 1

A NEW DAWN

"This belonged to your mother, she wanted you to have it when you come of age , it's an ancient sword that has been passed down her lineage, she used to say it was her breath and life, she treasured it with her heart and she wanted you to have it" my father said handing the sword over to me, it was dusty and it also didn't look ancient, the silver was still glistening but it didn't look special, it looked like every other sword in Agora except the word engrafted on it "AMBROSIO".

"AMBROSIO- what does it mean?"

My father reached under his oak table and retrieved a black book and gave it to me wiping away the dust all over it.

"This book might give you answers about your mother, her Kingdom and the sword, she never asked me to give you this but she always read it, she read it every time every single day" he said looking so distant

Elisa was in bold letters at the front cover, that was my mother's Kingdom. I read out the words below it " Eternal and Indestructible". What an irony! There was nothing left of the kingdom now, no one was spared, not even the queen, my mother. This is the best treasure I have ever received, I smiled and hugged my father tightly. All these years when I seeked for answers desperately about mother and her fallen kingdom, I asked around, no one had answers or no one wanted to talk, they all avoided the topic and became silent when it was brought up, it was like they were afraid of something and I wanted to know.

"Bella, you are all I have left, for years I grieved your mother not knowing if she's dead or alive, please be careful" my father said.

"Father, you know I am good at taking care of myself, I will be fine and I will write to you".

I sighed as I opened my eyes, another dream, even if I wanted to give up, these dreams were constant reminders of why I still breathe, why I live to find answers. I stared at the dimly lit room, I walked to my trunk and retrieved my sword, the one my father had given unto me, I wore my night clothes and wore a hood to cover my unreal brown hair, I looked out of the windows, the cold wind slapped my face, the moonlight wasn't so bright, my eyes skimmed around the palace, there was no motion anywhere, the guards , ust have fallen asleep like they always do. I climbed down the window slowly and climed down the walls avoiding windows before jumping down.

My night walks comforts me, I walked down the forest and into the cave, I went into the innermost room, it's hardly ever quiet here, as I entered everyone kept quiet and stared at me, this were the people I brought together from my fathers kingdom after the war, they were undergoing training there, some of them knew i was their princess while others were oblivious but they all called me Althea, it was my Agorian name but everyone knew it was because of healing power, my mother gave it to me, it wasn't Agorian, it was an Elisian name, they all knew as their healer, Adrianne walked towards me.

"Althea, I need to discuss a matter with you" he said keeping his voice low. I nodded as I walked to the inner courts, he followed behind, heads bowed as I walked past them, they all saw me as their savior after the war but many feared me still. I pushed the large oak door open and it creaked loudly, I hated the sound.

"We failed the mission" he stated. I removed my coat sat down.

"What went wrong" I asked him. I grabbed a book by the side shelf and opened it.

"The palace guards are always active, they are never off guard"

"Were you planning a secret attack"

"There are rumours that the King has trained warriors who use their inner powers"

"Then why do you train if you can't fight against them?" I asked and he kept quiet.

"I did not expect you to pass the mission, I wanted you all to see for yourself what we are up against, the King has recruited more warriors and most of them have powers. I wanted to give them a reason and a motive to train harder, upgrade all the kevels and make them train harder, i will train the squad on how to use their powers to fight from tomorrow night". He nodded with a shocked look. I stood up and he followed me, Adrianne was my mouth and ears, I gave all the orders and he executed them. I watched as he called everyone to order.

"The squad, step forward" he ordered, they all stepped forward from the young to the adults. The squad were the most trained warriors in Agora Kingdom before the fall, not all of them survived. Only the ones that were my escort were here and that's because my father ordered them to keep me away. They were all good, my father always made me train with them since I was little. Adrianne and I grew up together, we also trained together, his father was my father's personal guard and they both died in the war, even if my father told me not to trust anyone, I trusted him.

"From tomorrow, every night you will train hard, our guardian will personally transfer you" he stated. Gasps erupted from the crowd.

"Quiet everyone, the rest of us will upgrade to the next level and we will train harder, those who fail to train will be dealt with" he ordered. As the crowd dispersed, I turned to him.

"Has anyone tried to escape the walls recently" I asked. He shook his head.

"They all know they will be killed if they are found out by the King, they are all afraid, they feel safe here".

I walked out of the cave heading to the palace leaping from roof to roof, the outskirts of the kingdom looked shabby, the only place that looked beautiful in the kingdom was the palace, the king was selfish to his own people, many hated his reign but none dared to talk.

I clung my coat closer as the night wind sent cold chills down my arms, I suddenly heard a noise which immediately made me crouch lower and looked down, a carraige was passing by, I followed it with curiosity of where it was heading to this hour, the journey was long but just before it reached the intersection, it stopped, A short plumpy man came out of the carriage, then suddenly an arrow popped out from nowhere scraping the tyre of the carriage. I looked back to see the culprit. A tall man cloaked in dark clothes approached the carriage, I moved closer quietly to look at his face closely but a dark veil covered half of his face. He moved to the man who stepped out of the carriage and yanked him up swiftly pinning him to the wall of the carriage then he drew out his long pointy golden sword.

"Who are you" the tall man, his voice was low and deep, the carriage man said nothing even if the sword was pressing against his neck, after a second, he started foaming in the mouth, the tall man dropped him in disgust and buckled his sword, he reached into the carriage and brought out a box, it was filled with coins, he closed the box and carried it then he walked away, he was a thief. I followed him quietly, then I paused when I saw him go into the palace, I couldn't follow him anymore so I waited for him to be out of sight then I climbed up the wall but to my room instead. I changed quickly after I had a nice bath and climbed into my chamber for a long sleep.