“The fourth battalion was on patrol when they saw a woman running in the woods. She was not a citizen of the area, so they were chasing her down when they claimed that she twisted the elements to her will.” My father said, “They caught a glimpse of her face, and discovered that she had the mark of element twisters, and was extremely powerful. She got away, and is currently at large.” 

“So, there is a psycho woman at large in the kingdom. What do we do next?” 

“She is not just a psycho woman, Felicia.” My mother said, “When you were an infant, you had an older twin sister named Ayla. She was going to inherit the throne. She had a birthmark on her cheek that symbolises that she would have the power to control the elements. She disappeared, and we never saw or heard of her again.” 

“Okay, so two things, one; I have a psycho twin sister, who I am assuming wants to take over the kingdom. Two; I have the mark of someone who controls water, so that means I do have magic in my blood, and it is not just a useless birthmark?” 

“Correct, and correct.” My father said, and turned to his advisors. “Damien, Samuel, I am going to put the entire kingdom on lockdown. All studies will continue with strict precautions in place, and all students will be under supervision, and nobody will travel alone.” 

My mother and father immediately started talking with the advisors, so I walked out of the throne room to go on a walk by myself to give me some time to think. It felt like my entire life had been turned upside down. 

I aimlessly walked through the hallways, and didn’t care where I was going nor what time it was. When I looked up, I saw myself standing at the beginning of a long dark corridor. I looked at my wrist watch, and saw that it was late at night. I did not know which part of the castle I was in, but I knew that I would be able to find my way to my bedroom. (which is pretty easy to get to, knowing that it is in the east tower). 

I grabbed a candle off of a table, and walked down the hallway. There were various paintings hung on the wall. Most were depictions of war, and multiple paintings on the ground leaning against the wall; which were mainly old portraits of people that once ruled the kingdom in vain. 

As I walked farther, my candle grew shorter. I was just about to turn around to go off to my room when I noticed some vibrant blues at the end of the hallway. That piqued  my curiosity, so my pace increased. Soon enough, I was at the painting. 

It was a large painting. To the left of the painting there was an image of a faceless woman that had long waist length golden blonde hair who was wearing a simple blue dress and sandals, with water rising up all around her.

“A water twister.” A voice in the back of my head whispered. 

I analysed the painting in more detail. Around the woman, nature was flourishing. To the right of the painting, there was another faceless woman, but with shoulder length dusty blonde hair, who was wearing a blood red dress and black boots. Around her, there were all the elements that are in existence. But they looked wrong. Like they were being controlled in vain. 

“A nature twister.” The same voice in the back of my head said. But this one seemed to be the villain of the story the painting was telling, which seemed off. But something else felt weird about this painting. Almost like it was depicting something that hasn’t even happened yet. 

I inspected the sides of the painting. I knew that if this was a door, there would be hinges, and a latch. The hinges for this painting would have to be really strong, and unmistakable. 

Soon enough, I found the unmistakable lump. It was covered in wallpaper, which to me made sense. I walked to the other side of the painting, found the hatch, and pulled it open. 

As I was expecting, the painting swung open like a large door opening up to a spiral staircase. I paused for a moment, thinking there is no telling what is down there. But I took a deep breath, closed the door, and went down the staircase, thinking I don’t have much to lose besides my life. 

When I reached the bottom of the staircase, it looked like I had stepped into a garden. There was green everywhere. Green vines with purple flowers growing up the walls, green trees with leaves growing around the trunk like a large curtain. There was a wide and seemingly bottomless river  that flowed to the right of the path. The plants  interested me, but my heart was drawn to the river. I checked my watch, and saw that it was nearly twelve o’clock at night. I had at least seven hours until I had to be back in my room for the morning. 

I carefully set my candle down on a rock, took my sandals off, and dipped a foot into the river. It seemed cold, but I did not feel any temperature. I sat down on the river bank, and slowly lowered myself in. When most of my body was submerged, I let go of the river bank, and tread in the middle. I never was taught to swim, but it felt like I had known for all of my life. 

Just when I was about to dip my face into the water, I felt my feet grasp something that felt solid. But liquid at the same time.. I put my face in the water, and saw that there was nothing. That didn’t surprise me as much as the fact that I could see clearly in the water. I kept my face under, and felt that I did not feel the need to hold my breath. It was like I could breathe. 

I felt a burst of courage in me, and decided to swim down to the bottom of the river. I tried kicking with my feet, but I didn't get that far quickly. I felt my feet grasp something that felt both solid and liquid, and I pushed off of that. I felt myself propel forward in the water, but slowly come to a stop. I tried pushing off of what felt hard, but kicked my feet to keep the prepelsion continuous, which ended up working. 

I felt myself smile as I flowed through the water. Just as gracefully as a whale. I felt an instinctual feeling in my gut, so I closed my eyes, and let that guide me. 

When I felt myself slow down, I saw that there seemed to be something that looked like an air pocket. I swam to that, poked my head through, and saw that it was a long stone tunnel. I entered the tunnel,  and walked down it.

After walking for a while, I saw a speck of light at the end of the tunnel. I took a deep breath, and started running to the light. It was taking a while to get to the light, so I quickened my pace, and ran faster than I had ever run before. 

When I got to the light, I paused to catch my breath, but noticed that I seemed to not need to. More odd things adding to the table. I looked up, and saw that the source of light were torches staked to the walls. I walked through the room, and was shocked with what I saw. 

I had stumbled upon the ancient temple. It was real after all!