The Princess

Alisha slowly opens her eyes and looks around her bedroom. It was a very beautiful room that is very decorated with various decorations. She then sat up and stretches her body, before finally standing up and walking towards the window. She opens the window's curtain and was greeted by the sunrise. Moments later, she would hear a knock on her door.

"Milady, may I enter?"

"Oh, yes Maria. Go ahead"

The door opens and a young maid enters the room carrying a basket of fresh clothes. She then smiled and bowed to Alisha.

"Good morning milady"

Alisha sighs "You don't have to be so formal when we're alone, remember?"

Maria smirked "Ah, my apologies. But how could I just act so carelessly around you"

"You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"Alright, I'm sorry. Sometimes you're just fun to tease around"

Alisha clicks her tongue "Just help me wear my dress"

"As you wish milady"

Alisha rolls her eyes as she then walks towards the mirror. Maria then helps Alisha put on her blue dress, as well as taking care of her hair and makeup.

"Hey Maria, any news about the meeting later?"

"I overheard the queen when she was discussing that. It looks like things are about to get intense"

"I know what you mean. It's about the war, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Sooner or later, our kingdom will have to join in as well" Alisha then smiled "But don't worry. Father is the supreme president of the Interstellar Federation, and as long as our kingdom is a part of the Federation, no harm will come to us"

"You're right. As usual, you always had a good judgment of the situation, Alisha"

"Of course I do. You're talking to the future queen of this kingdom. Gotta always look sharp, you know"

"Whatever you say, your majesty"

The two of them laugh as Maria continues to help Alisha wear her dress. After a while, they finished and Alisha looks at herself in the mirror.

"Not bad. Better than the last time"

"Thanks. Had a lot of practice and lessons after all"

"And you certainly gave good results from it. Well, time to go now"

Alisha opens the door and walk through the hallway outside of her room. Maria followed along behind her, and the two would make their way towards the throne room. After they arrived, the door to the throne room opened. Several royal knights of the kingdom stand at attention, lining up across the carpet towards the throne where the queen is currently sitting. Maria gave them a bow before walking away and leaving her. Alisha then proceeded to walk inside. It was pretty tense, but she was able to walk elegantly. After she arrived in front of the queen, she gave a bow and greeted her.

"Good morning Mother"

"Good morning Princess Alisha"

The queen then pointed towards a spot next to her. Alisha then proceed to walk there, then stood right next to her. The queen then smirked at Alisha and whispered to her.

"Feeling nervous, Alisha"

Alisha sighs "Yeah, this is my first time doing this kind of stuff after all"

"Then you better get used to it. You'll be facing a lot of this when you finally take over"

"I know, I know"

Several nobles then walk inside the throne room and kneel before them. The two then stopped talking as their faces began to look tense. One by one, the nobles began speaking up, and each brought about their own topics that they wanted to discuss with the queen. Alisha stood there and listened to all of them closely. Some are addressing the various aspects of the kingdom, while others were addressing the upcoming war between the Interstellar Federation and the Akadia Empire. Several hours then passed, and the meeting was concluded. The nobles then left the throne room, leaving only Alisha, the queen, and the royal knights there.

"That was quite a long talk. So, what do you think Alisha?"

Alisha suddenly collapsed on the floor and grunted "First thing when I became a queen, I want to make a chair right next to the throne so the person next to me doesn't have to stand here for hours"

The queen chuckles "At the moment, you are acting as a royal aide. You must have the strength to stand there for hours"

"Come on, even my legs have limits, you know"

Suddenly, a little girl wearing the same blue dress as Alisha came running in and hugged her.

"Big sister"

"Hey, Ana" Alisha gently hugs her back "How was your day at the tutor?"

"It was boring. I want to fight you again. I promise I will beat you this time"

Alisha chuckles "Alright then"

She then looks at the queen, to which the queen then nodded, approving the two of them to take a break and play with each other. Alisha then stands up and looks back at Ana.

"Let's go, Ana"

"Yeah!"

Ana ran out of the throne room, but Alisha still walked politely through the royal knights until she left the room and their sight. The two of them then head towards the training yard, right outside the castle. Ana arrived there first, already picking a wooden sword and swinging it on the air.

"Take it easy little knight. The battle hasn't started yet"

"Then pick up the sword already. Come on, fight me"

Alisha chuckles and pick a wooden sword from the weapon storage that was on near the wall. After that, she then get into her fighting stance.

"Show me what you got Ana"

"Here i go then!"

Ana gets into her fighting stance. Then she charges towards Alisha and began swinging her sword aggressively. Alisha perfectly and calmly counter all of Ana's attacks, then knocks her to the ground by hitting her head with the hilt of the sword.

"Not bad, but you're still sloppy. Your movements are still not balanced"

"Aw come on. You're not fighting fair"

Alisha then offered Ana her hand to help her up "On the battlefield, your enemies aren't going to play fair. A good knight must know this and how to counter them as well"

Ana took Alisha's hand and stood up with a smile "Oh. Is that why you are strong?"

"Of course. So, you ready for round two?"

Ana gets into her fighting stance again "Yeah. Let's go!"

The two of them continue on with their fighting for several hours. The results are always the same, with Alisha always beating Ana and ended up as the victor. Then noon came, and the two of them stopped.

"Time out. It's noon now"

Ana looks down "Aw, but i was having so much fun"

Alisha walks over to Ana and pat her head "Don't worry. There's always tomorrow. In fact, I'll teach you my special technique for making it this far"

Ana lights up and look at her "Really?"

"It's a promise. Now go tell mother that it's lunch time. I'll meet you in the dining room after i finished cleaning up"

"Ok big sister"

Ana happily runs back inside the castle while Alisha stayed there to clean up the weapons that they used. After that, she walks inside to go after Ana. She turn around the corner, heading towards the dining room. However, she then stopped and her eyes were wide opened as she was shocked by what she is seeing right now. There are several maids and butlers lying dead on the ground, all of them have been shot and their blood littered the ground and the wall. One of the maid was sitting near the wall, leaning to it while holding her stomach as she was holding on to her life. She then called out to Alisha.

"A…Lisha?"

Alisha ran over to the maid and kneeled. She then got a closer look at the maid. It was Maria.

"Maria, what happened?"

"A…kadia…Her…Majesty" Maria point towards the throne room, before falling unconscious.

"Maria. Hey, Maria!"

Alisha checks Maria's neck to see if Maria is still alive. Unfortunately, Maria quickly died due to the intensity of her wounds. Knowing the gravity of the situation, Alisha quickly stood up and leave Maria's body to run towards the throne room. She ran as fast as she can and bust through the door. An even more horrifying scene awaits her. The royal knights were all dead on the ground, along with the queen who died sitting on the throne. Among the dead royal knights, Ana was also lying there on the ground. Her lifeless body is all bloodied, as she too was shot. However, there is one person that was alive and standing there. A man taller than her, wearing a black armor and holding an assault rifle. He stood in front of the queen, looking at her lifeless body. Then, he slowly turn to look at Alisha. She could see his menacing look as he was wearing a gas mask and red goggles that shined brightly. It was like seeing a demon. But Alisha was not intimidated by the man. Instead, she only felt anger and hatred towards him. She grabs a sword from the dead royal knights and charge towards the man with all her anger. But suddenly, she was shot on the leg by someone else. She fell to the ground, and a group of black armored soldiers, wearing the same red goggles as the man pin her to the ground. The man then walk towards her and look at her.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you Akadian bastards!"

One of the soldiers then aim his rifle at her head, to which the man then stops by lowering the soldier's rifle. He then spoke with his robotic voice.

"No, this one's coming with us. Bring her in"

"Yes sir!"

The soldier then used his rifle to hit Alisha on the head, causing her to lose consciousness. The soldiers then handcuffed her hands behind her back and begun carrying her unconscious body out of the throne room. The man then turn towards the dead queen again and look at her one last time, before finally leaving as well to join the others.

———

Alisha once again opens her eyes and awaken from her sleep. She gasps and quickly sat up. But after the initial shock subsided, she sighs and scratches her hair. Now she's inside a metallic room and her bed is nothing more than a wooden board held together by a couple of chains. She no longer wear her dress, but instead an orange inmate uniform. She reflects on the things that she saw on her dream. All of the tragedies and losses that she had experienced a few moments ago. After all, it's been 2 years since she was imprisoned by Akadia. Now Alisha stood up and began stretching her body and doing her routine exercises. Even though she has been imprisoned for so long, her resolve and spirit never wavers.

After she had done her morning exercises, she sat down on the bench once more, continuing making her plans to escape. Suddenly, she would hear an explosion from outside of her cell. She looks to the metallic door and would hear the guards outside, screaming in panic. Their footsteps can also be heard, as if they're rushing towards somewhere. Soon, she would hear a footstep running towards her cell. She noticed the opportunity and hid right next to the door. When the door slides open, a white haired young man enters the room and began looking around. Alisha took this opportunity to attack the man, but instead, the man counters her by holding the hand that was about to grab him, then uses it to throw Alisha to the wall. Next, he pins her there and look her on the face.

"Take it easy. I'm not Akadian!"

Alisha gasps for a moment, before finally calming down and see the clothes he is wearing. He is not wearing an Akadian black uniform, but instead a white jacket. She then answered him.

"Who are you?"

The man let's her go and steps back "I'm Fernus Halberd. You?"

"Alisha Sturn. Princess of the Pirusian Kingdom"

"Pirusian? I thought Akadia murdered everyone there and left no survivors"

"Well, you're looking at one. Though judging by how you're asking me, I'm guessing you're not here to rescue me"

"Heh, you're quite sharp, but I wouldn't mind making space for one more to join us. I'm looking for a Proto, specifically an older generation model that is being kept here. Her name is Friday"

"Friday huh? I don't know, but i can help you look for her. And trust me, i know the ins and outs of this place"

Fernus smiled "Then i guess we'll be working together for the moment. Can you shoot?"

"A bit, but i prefer to use swords"

He then took out a pistol from his pocket and hand it to her "For now, a pistol will have to do. Sorry"

Alisha takes the pistol and check its ammo "It's alright. Lead the way"

Fernus nodded and head towards the door, peeking outside first to see if there are any guards or not. Once it was clear, he signal Alisha to follow him. The two left the cell and began walking through the corridor outside. Alisha then smiled because in her mind, this is an opportunity to get her revenge against the man who slaughtered her family and friends. She eagerly followed Fernus as the two make their escape.