An Ominous Message

Once upon a time, in another world, there was a princess named Kallie Rose. She was born at the height of her powers and spent many happy years training to rule her kingdom. When she turned eighteen, she began to receive a message that had been waiting for her all her life, sent by her great grandfather, King Alfor. The king wanted to meet with his granddaughter, and tell her all he knew of their future and why it was so important to him to see her.

On this day, Kallie rose early to be on time as her grandmother often told her, and headed out to the palace grounds to wait for the king. As she approached the royal garden, she noticed two figures sitting together near one of the ponds. She stopped short and stared with wide eyes when she saw who they were; two young princes in a tuxedo. They looked to be deeply engrossed in conversation and didn't notice her approach until she cleared her throat loudly enough for them to hear her.

"Your Highness." The boy greeted her politely.

"Prince Keith," she replied curtly and continued toward the pond. She could hear the two young royals following after her. Once they made it to the water's edge, she knelt on the ground and dipped her feet into the cool green liquid before taking off her shoes. The two boys followed suit, doing so slowly to keep their balance.

When they finally got the hang of it, Kallie stood back up and started walking around the pond while the two princes watched her curiously. She took long, graceful strides through the water, letting her hair fall around her shoulders in waves like a river of dark gold. A sudden flash of lightning illuminated her face from within the clouds above, and the three young royals paused, watching the sky expectantly. The moment was broken when something large fell from above, causing both boys to squeal as they instinctively threw themselves over each other to hide from whatever danger was threatening them. When they both resurfaced again, Keith looked at Kallie with concern written plainly on his face.

“What was that?” he asked. Kallie shrugged, but the corners of her lips curved upwards slightly, which the prince noted and grinned back at her. They stood in silence a moment longer before Keith gestured at where she’d been standing moments before. “Did you know my mother was a swimmer too?”

Kallie shook her head and said nothing. It seemed as though the entire afternoon had passed before she spoke again.

“I am sorry about your loss, Your Highness,” she said simply. Her voice was soft and full of sympathy and the Prince could detect genuine sadness hidden underneath her polite façade. He offered her a small smile and nodded his thanks, then turned away to watch the rain falling around them. His eyes caught sight of something shiny and wet hanging from a nearby tree branch.

“Princess!” he cried urgently as the droplet hit his upturned face and ran down his cheek. The sound made Kallie turn around and she gasped.

“Keith, run!” she ordered, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward, but he wasn’t fast enough, and the droplet hit her in the nose. She stumbled backwards, tripping over a rock. By instinct, she dropped to the ground to try to shield herself from any further damage. The two princes, having recovered from their fright, moved to help her, but she waved them off, trying not to cry out from the pain. “Don’t touch me!” she pleaded. “Please, just go!”

The two princes exchanged glances and quickly decided to follow her orders and get out of the park before something else went wrong. With one final glance at the princess on the ground, Keith grabbed the prince closest to him and pulled him toward their carriage parked in the distance. When the horse came trotting over to them, they mounted and took off as soon as possible. Kallie watched helplessly as they sped past her. For several minutes, she remained sitting on the ground, unmoving.

She eventually stood up slowly and walked toward where the horses had disappeared and stared sadly at the muddy tracks in their wake. Slowly, she made her way back to the castle, still thinking about what could have possibly gone wrong for her to receive such an ominous message from her grandfather. She wondered if maybe her father had accidentally sent it. He did seem to have a habit of sending messages to people he disliked without ever telling them why.