Chapter 1 The Betrayal

• “King Jerald, it's your wedding day today….. are you sure you want to do this??” a sweating Rachel asked between breaths.
• “I want to taste you for the last time before I marry that irritating Clariss and spend the rest of my miserable life with her. Now keep quiet before the guards notice my absence,” Jerald said while placing kisses on Rachel's neck. His statement got Rachel all excited and she giggled.
• The pair were so caught up in so much intense heat that they had no idea they were being watched. Standing in the middle of the barn was princess Clariss, Jerald's wife to be in a wedding dress.
• She had gone to the Teras fountain on top of Crystal tower for a quick goodluck wish. She was supposed to go at midnight according to tradition but abstained because she was not the type that believed a simple fountain would bring luck into one's marriage. It was custom for all the young women of Ergad kingdom to go up the crystal tower, place their hands in the Teras fountain and make a good luck wish for the prosperity of their marriage the day before their wedding day but she had earlier declined.
• At night she kept tossing on her bed because for the past week she kept having the same dream over and over again. In the dream she was standing over a crying King Jerald who was asking for her mercy. She had initially brushed it off but again she had the same dream last night.
• The whole morning she had been thinking about the dream but finally decided to share it with her cousin Miranda. Who convinced her to go up the tower for a quick goodluck before the wedding ceremony proceedings began. She finally agreed and wearing her wedding gown, princess Clarris flew to the tower but stopped halfway when she saw a figure that looked like her husband to be with a lady that looked like her best friend running playfully into the barn. “Jerald!” she stammered.
• She landed on one of the stairs and tried to convince herself that it was not her king but curiosity got to her and she flew to the barn. She was meant with a gruesome sight of prince Jerald on top of her best friend Rachel. Her legs became numb and she stared at them with fury in her eyes. Her heart was torn into pieces and she could hear it beating fast.
• It was Rachel, her best friend from childhood that felt a shadow in the room and opened her eyes, red green hateful eyes stared back at her, she quickly pushed Jerald off of her and cried out, “Clarris!”
• Jerald looked behind and saw his fiancee smiling at him with teary eyes
• “Please go on, do not mind me,” Clarris said. Deep inside her head, she was recalling her dream, it was quite different from the scene she was seeing. Jerald was not begging for forgiveness but was staring at her with shame in his eyes.
• Jarald wiped the sweat off his forehead and quickly put on his trousers.
• “Clariss??!! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be getting ready for the wedding.” an embarrassed Jerald asked without thinking.
• Rachel covered her face in shame, she couldn't look her best friend in the eyes.
• “How long have you two been screwing?” Clarris asked.
• “That's not important,” Jerald replied.
• “How long!” Clarris screamed.
• “Not sure, years, Jerald replied.
• Clarris felt her heart collapse, she took two steps and held on to a box for balance.
• “Clarris our relationship was forced upon us by our parents, you and I have nothing in common. Rachel completes me, Just from our abilities, she is water and I'm fire, we are compatible.” You are just a girl….
• that….. can fly.” Jerald added.
• “Jerald no, please don't say that, Rachel intervined with tears dropping. Clarris it's not like this,”
• “Shut up! Jerald go ahead please,” Clarris shouted out.
• Jerald only stared at the floor in shame.
• “I'm….. just…. a... flying... girl??” Clarris whispered between sobs. The room became quiet and Clarris stared at them with a smile on her face for what seemed to be forever then turned and began walking away. Jerald called out her name but she kept walking. She was filled with so much hate and rage that she couldn't hear her name being called because the sound of her heart beating overpowered the sound of anything. She pulled herself up and flew in the direction of the forest.
• Both Prince Jerald and Rachel couldn't go after her because they couldn't fly. And she had taken off at the speed of light. Gerald's ability was to whirled fire and Rachel's was to whirled water. They both run to the castle and Jerald ordered his dark knights to go in the forest and fetch his wife to be. He was distraught and was all over the place. The guests and family members noticed that the bride was nowhere to be seen and they became impatient and began asking questions that king Jerald declined to answer.
• The sun went down and the Dark knights returned with no Clarris, “My Lord we have searched the entire forest but there is no sign of her,” the knights reported.
• “What do you mean you fools go back in the forest and only return once you find her” Jerald shouted out.
• “But my Lord, it's past curfew and the creatures of the forest have come out to feast, we barely escaped.” Darell the leader of the dark Knight and whose ability was to shapeshift cried out.
• Prince Gerald whirled a fireball, aided it and stopped it a few inches from Darell's face, “repeat what you have just said,” he ordered him.
• “Prince Jerald what's going on! Where is my daughter?” King Charles, Clarris's father asked.
• Jerald turned off the fire and faced the king, “We are looking for her, she flew into the forest but do not worry my king, the knights are on it.”Jerald lied.
• The king's face turned pale and he felt like his weight was collapsing on him, “how! Why! Would she run in the forest on her wedding day”
• Jerald walked over and gave the king a seat, “We had a simple misunderstanding and she ran into the forest,” he lied again.
• “Misunderstanding!!! Why didn't you run after her??” the king asked shocked.
• “ She flew away but I have sent the knights after her and they have been searching for her the whole day, they will soon find her.” Jerald signalled his Knights to go immediately and they all ran out with fear written all over their faces. The forest was not the place to be in at night, no matter what kind of ability one possessed. The place crawled with blood thirst creatures and demons that looked for bodies and soul to quench their thirst on. And if those did not get you, the Night catcher would, he was the faceless monster that roamed the forest looking for people with abilities and stealing them away. But the knights had no option but to go in again.
• “But why didn't you inform us about her disappearance all this time,” King Charles shouted.
• “I thought the knights would bring her back,” Jerald stated with shame all over his face.
• Deep in the dark forest, princess Clariss finally stopped flying, she was so tired that she felt her legs cripple down her and she fell to the ground. She had no idea which part of the forest she was in because she had been flying the whole day without stop. It was like she was flying towards something rather than running away from something. She and king Jerald had been betrothed since they were toddlers. And their union would strengthen the two kingdoms, Egrad and Arthora.
• Her kingdom Arthora had the weapons and army while prince Jerald's kingdom had the resources, land and alot of people with abilities. It was not everyone who was born with the gift of powers, only a few were chosen. And among all the seven kingdoms, Egrad was fruitful with people with strong abilities.
• It was an alliance that both their parents had come up with in order to merge the two kingdoms and make them powerful. The two grew up knowing each other and it was Princess Clarris that first fell in love and worshiped Prince Jerald. She had spent all her years learning to love him, accepting his flaws and vise versa.
• But that dream now seemed far fetched, seeing him on top of her best friend brought out so much hate and anger. The wasted years was all she could think about, the mockery, how long had they been sleeping together boiled her guts. She had been a fool all these years.
• She lay on the ground and cried her heart out, tears kept flowing and the ground she was lying on became soaked up. It was like she was crying a river of tears.