Prologue - Amir

Today was the day of the Lady's coronation. The day where a new rein shall be formed. The day that will have to be perfect for the petite Lady. As perfect as perfect can get. Perhaps that'll brighten her.

It seemed such intrusive manner to have the Lady's coronation the day right after her Majesty the Queen's funeral. Thinking about it brings a sniffle to my nose.

Even now, I still could not understand the reasoning behind his majesty the King's actions. How could he have just married a non-excellent, non-noble, peasant of a woman out of the blue? How long ago was it that he'd still been denying a such thing as love? Ha! How I long for him to be here today. Then again, it is because of him that her Majesty is dead; if he'd never married her, she'd never have to become queen and be assassinated. But if he hadn't, I wouldn't be where I am right now, and the adorable Lady wouldn't have been born.

As I, the royal butler is to do; I shall watch over the Lady with great care as always, and bring her out of her blue.

For whatever reason I might have had for wondering about those things all over again was unknown. Her Ladyships wellbeing is al the concern at this moment. In order to best help that, I need to get out of bed this instant and serve the Lady's breakfast.

Stripping off my nightgown, I whipped on my tailored suit, tucked up my pants, slipped into my leather shoes, straitened my bow tie, groomed my moustache, and put on my half-moon spectacles.

Blasting open the windows, I took in the usual cold morning air, thin and sharp. Just the way it should be.

Pushing through my room's door, I hurried down the hall; greeting some of the maids and other servants along the way.

I stopped at the kitchen counter after going down the stairs, and tapped on the bell; signaling to the chef to hurry it up.

Soon He brought out the tray containing the Lady's breakfast. I gave a short bow, and hurried back down the hall. Everyone was beginning to wake up, mostly more servants and maids, but some royal officials; the halls were getting busier so I had to maneuver my way around everyone.

Finally, I came upon the Lady's door. I knocked gently precisely three times, then opened it and walked on inside. The Lady still had the covers over her. Seeing her like that, I did not want to wake her, but sadly, it was part of my duty to do so.

"Good morning, Lady Victoria. Breakfast is here." I announced out in as comforting a voice I could and set the tray onto the tea table next to her bed.

I waited by the bed with my hands behind my back, and my eyes lightly closed. So to be polite.

After having waited for what felt like a while, I started to feel chilled; even though the heater was on. That is when I realized that the window was opened. I hurried on over there.

The winter here in Vexan could be cold enough to extinguish even the Arch Bishop's sputter ball!

Once I had gotten there, I felt something was off. Other than the window being open with the Lady still in bed, let along opened at all, letting in the glacial air, I felt a strong presence of magic. I tracked the trace of the magic, and saw the diminishing amethyst lines marking said magic.

Its marking began from the window, then shot through the air landing in the snow at the foot of the castle. From there, continued the trail of a powerful aura.

The aura of non-other than the Lady's!

It wasn't difficult to piece together what had happened from the window being open and Lady Victoria's aura at present, to her not waking up right away to breakfast being announced.

I shot through the air landing next to her bed, then yanked away at the covers.

As expected, the Lady wasn't there. In her place, was the modeling mannequin with a note taped to its chest which read:

My most caring Amir,

I have decided that I'll be leaving Vexan for good. Do not expect me to be coming back anytime soon. Good day. Or night–whenever you are reading this.

Yours truly, Victoria

As my eyes flicked through the words a panic came over me, and as if uncertain, I read it a few more times.

When all had been reassured as the day of her coronation had come; this had to happen.

Whatever the case she might have for leaving I do not care, I couldn't let the dear Lady get herself in any sort of trouble.

As my duty of being the royal butler, I am to retrieve the Lady and bring her back in time for tea.

I hurried back to the window and leapt out.

As I got airborne, I straightened myself so my feet were pointing to the ground and used my arms to balance myself. I landed hard even on the thick layers of snow, but all was alright for me.

It'd take more than that to slow me down. I got up and dashed through the thick sheets of snow, following the trace of the Lady's aura into the Black Woods.

Her aura snaked through the dark eerie forest like a bright string of light.

The deep layers of snow were not a problem for me; it was like walking through a flower field, only that the temperature was enough to kill off any sort of living organisms other than the Warden Oaks of the Black Woods. Ay, but it was nothing compared with my harsh experiences in the past, the joints of my old body were starting to get a warm-up. And from every step I took, I flung myself a good distance into the air and far ahead.

At some point, her trail went across a wide frozen lake.

Sigh. How naïve of the young Lady to risk such danger of crossing such a thing than simply taking the time and caution to perhaps walk around it. How unladylike

I leapt about halfway onto the lake. The ice cracked under my impact.

Just as expected, with such force, but have cracked, it would truly have been terrible if it happened to the Lady. Immediately, I leapt again, landing safely on the other side of the lake, and got back on the trail; as the center of the lake collapsed behind me.

As I continued on dashing through the snow, following her aura, I came upon an opening in the woods. A hill, rather green compared with the rest of the plantations, with some bold spots, lacking the heavy sheets of snow.

From this sudden change of scenery, I felt the need to slow down from my prowl into a lighter stride.

It isn't everyday something like this would be seen in the snow-covered lands of Vexan, even more, in such a place like the Black Woods.

It couldn't possible have been natural.

Once I had followed her trail and gotten towards the top of the hill, her trail ended.

I pondered at that, then began looking around. The hill seemed like a sore thumb in the middle of the woods. It was greener than spring in Vexan, neigh, it was green like spring outside Vexan.

There were no other signs of her aura coming from anywhere else but where it had ended. Perhaps she had figured out a way to hide her aura. No, her aura ended here.

I pushed up my spectacles and squinted at the end point. There seemed to be some odd quavers in the air where her trail ended. Could this be some kind of teleportation magic? Had she teleported herself somewhere, I would still sense her aura, even if she was all the way across the world! And other than that, this quavering didn't seem like magic.

I took a few steps towards it. Now, there seemed to be some translucent light forming around it, moving as it were. I reached my hand to touch it, but felt nothing. I walked a few more steps, until it was right in front of my face.

And I walked through.