The Sun Children V - The Princess' Crown - Prologue - Draft 1

The new prologue for my novel, completely different to my last one. This one is much more relevant to the story, as what was said in the old one could just as easily be used in the plot to make it more interesting. This relates directly and perfectly to the mystery the first book holds. I didnt want to make it long, but i wanted to introduce the cause of the mystery, so hopefully ive done it justice. Im not expecting reviews or comments at all, i just put it up because i felt the need to post something honestly ^-^

EDIT: 27/8/13 - edited and resubmitted here with corrections.

Prologue

YEAR 88ES

Elansar the Bloodburner, ruler of the Empire of Narashar and last of the first Sun Children, was dead. As her body was burned in the greatest pyre ever seen, her once loyal servants, an Order of five lords, broke into her sealed vaults and sought to destroy the very thing that put the fire in Elansar’s blood. The Sun Stone lay dormant in the darkness. It was the late Empress’ wish that the stone be destroyed, but the Lords had their own way of dealing with her final will.

They boiled the stone and forged its matter into five items of a wash of golds and bronzes. Their beauty was mesmerising, but they were made for the Sun Children, and no others, should they come again. The items kept within them the ability to resist fire whilst also empowering those who controlled the flames. The Sun Children were known as the tamers of the fire within them.

They had one other thing about them which no-one was to expect, and it would be some time before it would become known.

More than six hundred and fifty years later, the Emperor of Narashar was given a daughter. She was always overshadowed by her parents’ love for her younger brother and older sister. She had bronze hair and flawless skin and eyes of pure blue. They were said to be sapphires, and so she was named ‘Sahfire’. She was given the crown by her mother, for it had a Sapphire within its crest, and it became an everlasting part of her identity. The crown was one of the five items of the Sun Stone. It had been kept hidden since the Great War of Gold that sought to find it centuries before.

Something then began to change within her. She felt the crown doing something to her fragile mind. As she started to grow, her mind began to contort and the beginning of all her troubles ignited. She played with fire, manipulating it through nothing but her own mind and will, but such abilities were not looked kindly upon. Something deep within the crown corrupted the girl’s mind. She began to speak to people no one else could see. She often woke up from her sleep screaming. For fear of what she was to become, her father exiled her. He knew all along that she was a Sun Child.

She spent her years being taken care of by priests and priestesses, servants of the sun. It was there in the Sun Temple that she learned much about herself, but she still had many unanswered questions, but they’d have to wait until there was time. The Order had returned to destroy the Sun Child and take back her crown that their ancestors forged, and they started by slaughtering her parents back home and dragging away her sister. The death that ensued was to act as bait to draw the Sun Child from where she hid. She did not know why they wanted to kill the Sun Children, but she couldn’t stand by and watch her dynasty fall. Even if it was not hers by the written word, it was hers by blood.

She had a duty.

Hearing the bloodied legacy of the Sun Children, Sahfire sought to redeem the name and she called all those loyal to her father, to her side. She was to defend the monarchy and tradition of her people. Many came to her call and soon enough a great war tore the country through east and west. Sahfire had a strong mind, but it was forever weakened by the crown.

Her own brother disappeared for reasons unknown to anyone but Sahfire herself, and thus ended her belonging to a family. Her thoughts began to grow dark. In the months that followed, her heart fell for her first love. She felt herself come out of the darkness for a brief moment in her short life, but she was not destined to be happy. Sure enough the night came when even he lunged at her with a knife and amidst the struggle she laid waste to his life. Her deep sadness began again.

In her sorrowful solitude she began to read into the history of her bloodline. She read of Elansar the Bloodburner, and her darkest and deepest secret. It was a secret that was to drive her to the edge of insanity. In search of something far greater than she could imagine, Sahfire went on a long campaign, but when she found what she was looking for it brought her only pain. The secrets she had learned haunted her thoughts. Darkness crept into her. Her sleepless nights and cries of mental agony shook the moral of the men who fought under her. Often she would go wondering into woods alone only to fall down and grovel in pain. Slowly all that she trusted began to turn their back on her. Many legions left her and tore the country further into pieces. Sahfire began to beg her crown for answers, but she was forever in pain. Ever she regretted her curiosity for learning the secrets her ancestor had kept away. They should have been buried along with the rest of her memories, but it was not to be.

Sahfire whispered to the crown gently, but her voice became ruthless in battle. Her wrath ended the lives of two of the five Argarian Lords who stood against her. Two Lords refused to face her and fled. One more stood in her way. On a day that became known as the ‘Black Morning’ she went into one final battle. Her sword was ablaze as she ran into the enemy ranks, soaking herself in the blood of her foes. It was said that with each man she killed she shed a tear of regret, but she could not contain her anger. Her veins ran black and her hair was said itself to be aflame. The once green lands her father fought to maintain were black and scorched, smouldering for weeks as the fires settled. She was rumoured to have made a statement, that she was to be looked upon as an example of taking vengeance too far, and that any Sun Children who followed after her should do all they could to avoid following in her footsteps.

Her days were numbered.

There were many stories about how she eventually became bereft of life. Many say she was dead from the moment her heart crumbled.

After her death the crown was taken from her and hidden once more. When the Sun Child rose for the fourth time the Order also returned, and their conquest began again. Rather than fight, the Narasharin blood fled the lands and braved the stormy seas to go back from where they came, taking the five items with them. They landed in a strange world of which a new Empire was built. Its name was Calamara. The Order quietly followed the Narasharin people and took the crown without anyone noticing.

For years the crown disappeared until by chance it found itself in the presence of a family in Aringalgar, the land where the legacy of the Sun Children began. A day came when a red sunrise dawned on the horizon – the sign that a new Sun Child had been born. Arinalgar went to war with Calamara with her own motives for ending the Sun Child’s life, but after two years of bloody warfare, the whereabouts of the Sun Child was still not known. Thousands died in the ‘Southern Twin Wars’ whilst they were hidden from the world. They died for her, and she had no idea what chaos her birth had brought. The King of Arinalgar was betrayed by his most loyal subject. He was assassinated, and the line of kings ended. In its place, his killer established a new republic, as a means of keeping the Order at bay should they return. Still the crown of the princess was yet to be recognised, and the memories of the girl who wore it were forever locked within…

But it would not be long before they were awoken.