Alexandria:

I stand on the very edge of the crowded town square, keeping out of sight.

No women in the God-forsaken kingdom would want to be caught alone, even in the middle of broad daylight.

Within Cursica, a woman standing alone, doing anything alone could be a death sentence if they aren't careful.

Still, I stand alone.

Alone...

I'm always alone, especially since my mother's death four long years ago when I was only fourteen.

My mother was a foreigner from the distant Empire of Alteria... the conquers.

Everyone in the Kingdoms around Alteria has already been conquered, Cursica knows that soon war will be on our doorstep.

Cursica isn't the most powerful Kingdom, but from the whispers of the people and nobles, they hope to hold out in a war against Alteria.

All the men who have talked war have said that Cursica couldn't lose as long as the alliance with Haydor holds out.

Personally, I hope Alteria kills every damn noble in this capital.

My mother used to tell me stories of her homeland, she taught me how to survive.

My family survives off of my hunting skills, and yet it is shameful to touch anything a man can do.

Even my father and brothers dislike the fact that I hunt though it keeps their stomachs full.

If anyone in Cursica ever found out that I hunt, that my mother was a hunter I could be executed as a witch, under the law, that magic across the continent is banned for commoners. 

The nobles push thoughts like how could a woman ever do anything a man can do, she must have used magic.

Although nobles are able to use any magic and that is simply because no laws apply to them in most kingdoms.

Looking out into the square, I feel a longing to be able to walk freely among the people.

I cover my hair with my hood, now if anyone looked at me they would just think that I am a prepubescent boy instead of a woman.

I scan the crowd my eyes falling on a man, a beauty, unlike anything that I have seen before.

I have seen plenty of nobles walking around the capital, but this beauty is different.

It is beauty in the most natural way, he needs no ornaments or jewelry to garnish his appearance, he is the most beautiful person I've ever seen, even in plain commoners clothing.

One would think that he is a noble in disguise but no noble ever plays commoner unless they were illegitimate.

What struck me most was his crushing dark aquamarine eyes.

They're clear, focused, and determined, a similar look to my mother when she was alive.

It brought me back to a memory from when I was about eight years old:

We stand in the woods far from the capital.

A doe stands about fifty yards ahead of us.

I remember the first words out of my mother's mouth when we first when hunting when I was a mere six years old.

"When we move, when we hunt, we make no sound, if you need something use your hands to signal to me. If we do this wrong, our family goes hungry."

During the past two years, I had learned the art of hunting, being silent.

My archery improved every day, though I had to practice in secret so no man ever found out about it.

I looked up at my mother in awe as she knocked an arrow.

I looked into her clear brown eyes different from my sky blue eyes.

Her eyes determined to protect her family, to keep our bellies full at night.

Snapping back to reality, the man I'm looking at meets my eyes.

We don't look into each other eyes for long, just a moment.

My mother used to tell me one moment can tell a lifetime's worth of stories if you only know how to look into a person's eyes and read.

His eyes seemed to have pity in them, but strength and determination. His eyes seemed to say wait and watch.

I quickly look away from his eyes dipping my head and surveying the stalls of food and vegetables.

That night when I return, nightmares didn't plague my sleep for once.

I slept peacefully all the way until the screams awoke the entire capital.

I can hear the fighting, sometimes it feels as close as right outside my window, other times during the night the screaming drifts away as only the sound carried to me.

I can tell from several of the screams people flee their houses only to get caught in the crossfire.

From the few scenes, I see from my window it isn't the invading soldiers attacking civilians but Cursica's own soldiers not caring who they kill.

By the time the sun rises the only bodies left are those of civilians, no soldiers decorated the ground only their blood.

People flood into the streets with the first light, some try to flee out of the city only to find the entire city under lockdown.

A barrier stands around the entire outside, not letting anyone in or out.

From the whispers of the people, the barrier was only put around the capital at first light.

Many had fled during the night and managed to get to the woods outside, but whether they survived those woods is another question.

No one in their right mind without the proper training would go out into those woods, it is practically a death sentence.

I step out of our pitiful house in the outermost ring of the capital where the poorest of people live.

The only reason my family even has a house is due to the fact that it has been passed down to my father through the generations.

The sun rises beautifully over the hills, with no clouds in the sky.

If not for the massacre this place had just experienced it would have been a gorgeous day.

I slowly, through groups of people make my way to the innermost ring, the place where nobles live.

Where the King lives.