Ink & Rivalry

Prince Asante laid back at his desk reading through a letter. Excellent paper quality and her words written with special pink ink. A smile on his lips as he read who it was from.

“O.A” He whispered. He quickly grabbed his own pen. He’ll gladly return a letter back. He exits his room window minutes later, and heads through a forest. It’s late, dorms like many academies across the kingdom have a curfew. But for Asante? This was a risk worth taken. Ever since mid-freshman year he’s been exchanging letters with a fellow student.

Asante pushed the letter through a small mailbox, hidden behind some bushes. This part of the forest was off limits for students. Wild beasts roam freely in the day, while the temperatures tremendously drop at night. He smiled at the mailbox, ignoring the boar eyeing him from twenty feet away. A bird chirps once. He paused. A bird chirps twice. He looks back. A pretty blue bird flapping their wings. They stare at him before flying away.

“What? A songbird?” He gasped.

He chased after it, every step he took was taking him farther from the dorms. But a songbird was a rare sighting. In the Kingdom of Res they were a sign that a blessing would come your way and if you had the chance to bond with them and have them become your familiar then prosperity would always be with you.

As he chased after the songbird, there was another student standing over a faint campfire. She turned her head, just as he crashed her. His body turned as he caught her, his back hit the ground and her head hit his chest.

“Ugh…” The girl groaned.

He looked up, his heart stopping. That familiar voice.

“Shonya?”

She looks at him, long brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. The moonlight casted a beautiful glow over her warm tan skin. He swallowed, before pushing her off him.

“Excuse you?” She scoffed, dusting herself off.

“You were in my way. You’re lucky I caught you at all.”

Shonya flicked her hand so that her campfire would get out. “Why are you even out this late, your highness.”

He rolled his eyes. “None of your concern, your highness.”

He looked away with crossed arms, his blood pressure rising just from interacting with her. “Damn you made me lose sight of that bird.”

“My songbird?”

“Yes, your-”

He whipped around, the bird flying back with her whistle. The creature sat on her shoulder. Fitted perfectly in fact.

“Impossible..”

He stepped closer, and Shonya held a hand out. “Uh uh. You can’t have her.”

“I would want nothing that belongs to you.” He sneered.

He stormed off with his gaze lingering on the songbird. “Should’ve been me.” He grumbled. As he walked back to the dorms alone, there was an eerie presence. It was dark and if not for the faint fireflies around he wouldn’t see at all. Asante looked back, and when he did the boar attacked him. He instantly connected his knuckle with its body and sent it back flying.

“As if I’d get caught off guard.”

And like a curse the ground swallowed him up. He did not have a sword. Just his brute strength and sword energy that was already very limited. Before it could fully swallow him up he used his fingers to draw a line. His sword energy slicing the ground. A creature with long black antlers approaches him. It snarls but it also laughs at him.

“A royal. Black haired. Black eyes. I can see you are outcasted.” It cackled. It circled him with its hooves. Like a humanoid deer.

“And you must be a reject from the kronove species.” Asante said lowly.

The creature leaped at him, Asante spun around and kicked it. However its claws dig into his legs, making him wince. He pulled back and drew out sword energy to defend himself. However whatever was in the soil made his heart stop for a moment. His sword energy quickly depleted and the creature lunged at him. At a moment of weakness, he began to wonder. Is this it? How painful would a scratch be? Would my wound be fatal? As his eyes began to close a shadow leaps over him, his eyes widened at the sight of her.

Shonya twirled in the air, a ribbon as a sword hitting the creature in its skull. It groans as it falls, landing beside Asante. He slumped to the ground as she stood over him. He wondered if he was having an off day. During these last few years he’s never had to bring a sword to the forest. Even when it was proclaimed to be dangerous.

Shonya stared at him from above. A smirk on her face and a hand on her hip. “I think you should start having a knight to protect you from now on, your highness.”

He glared up at her. Even when she turned around walking away. His gaze flickered to the pink ink on her fingertips. He scoffed. A hand running over his face as he looked at the sky.

“Don’t tell me it's you, your highness.” He whispered to himself.