Prologue

In the dark alley, Aurora stared out helplessly at the group before her. The wind blowing ferociously as her pale yellow-orange eyes widened in fear.

"So it's come down to this, Mercov?" She whispered as the fierce wind finally caught hold of her light brown hair.

Mercov scoffed. "My dear young one, you have broken our people's greatest law."

"I haven't broken anything!" Aurora growled, and then added more, with a cautious sneer, "Not unless you count the fact that I'm about to break your face..."

The group behind Mercov tensed, as soon as Aurora had made her threat. They feared that she would make good on it.

Only Mercov remained calm. He raised his hand to restore peace amongst his men. "Settle down...She's not going to do anything. She's all threat...but unfortunately...no bite."

The men laughed.

As did Mercov.

"You damned bastard!" Aurora spat at the devilish man that stood opposite her. "Why exactly did you come here?"

"You dishonored your family's sacred name."

Aurora laughed bitterly. "And why should that bother you? You haven't any connections to my family!"

A smile fell upon Mercov's face, his dark eyes glinting with malice. "My dear child, you don't understand exactly what kind of situation you're in."

"And you do?"

"Of course I do." The smile grew larger as he announced what Aurora was missing. "His Majesty, King Arcadia, and Her Highness, Queen Iris no longer acknowledge you as their daughter any more. You, Aurora, are nothing more than a petty commoner here in the Kingdom of Aura now."

Aurora's body went numb. She was trying to convince herself that he was wrong, but her voice wavered as she spoke. "You lie!"

Mercov laughed with malevolence. "You even doubt yourself! What a shame!"

The men surrounding Aurora roared with merciless laughter. And in turn, they each agreed with Mercov.

"Yeah, a true pity."

"I think I'm going to cry."

Tears flooded Aurora's eyes. "Stop it!"

The men laughed again.

"Is the little peasant girl going to cry?"

"Do you want your mommy and daddy?"

"I said stop it!" She turned around, preparing herself to make a runfor it, but found that the ground behind her had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a one hundred foot drop. She turned back and faced her enemies.

Mercov stared at her calmly. "There's no where else to go, Aurora."

She gasped and turned back to face the void. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"A world of trouble."

Laughing quietly, she whispered, "For once, Mercov, I agree with you. If I had've known that what I did would've gotten me into this much trouble, I would've just have rathered listen to the old legends." She slowly closed her eyes as she felt a pair of hands pressing against her back.

And when Mercov spoke, his voice was right in her ear. "But you didn't listen."

"Really Mercov, is this really what it's come to?"

The hands pushed harder, and Aurora fell into the void.