My mother used to tell me stories of a kingdom that had magic when I was a little girl. This land was called Renagold and it was full of beauty. The landscape was filled with greenery and life. Plants grew wild yet with order. It was summer all year around, the magic of the people prevented season changes. Creatures such as unicorns and fairies roamed the land living in peace with its inhabitants. 

Magic was performed by everyone in the kingdom, poor or royal. The magic powers of the people were said to be passed down by generations. No one knows why or how the people of this kingdom came to have magic, but they were the only kingdom that had this ability. Many speculated that people of the land were descendants of gods. This made others fear the people of Renagold. 

Due to fear, Renagold was left in peace for centuries. The residents did not leave and no guest came to the land. The world outside of the kingdom grew and changed while Renagold stood the same as if no time passed. Because of so many years in peace Renagold did not have a line of defense nor an army. This was the kingdom's fall.

The kingdom of Valotire attacked Renagold at night. They took the kingdom by surprise and with a technological development called ValBots. Robots created by Elderic Mongolin, the king of Valotire. The bots were controlled by the knights of the kingdom. They wrecked devastation on the land and they secured Renagold by dawn. They killed all of the people in hopes to rid the world of magic. Or so the story goes. 

My mother believes that they were not able to kill everyone and a few escaped to nearby kingdoms. She believes that the descendants of these escapees still exist. I never believed it, it was such a crazy story. Magic? As if that could ever exist. If it did, why haven’t these descendents used their magic to stand up to the Valotire kingdom after the attack?

Valotire was a cruel kingdom yet it was where my mom and I resided. We lived in the slums of the kingdom under constant surveillance by the ValBots and knights to ensure the common folk never had a chance to rise up. Shortly after my eighth birthday my mother was killed under the guise of plotting against the kingdom and I was left in care of my mothers dearest friend who also died a few months later after giving birth to her second daughter. 

******

“This is a bad idea.” I said, glancing around. There were three mid-size buckets filled with lemon water a few feet from me and three other people milling around the roof. I turned away from everyone and leaned over the edge of the building. One story below, there was nothing but a dark road below us that was barely visible. It was empty of people, just like every other road this time of night. The lights of the other buildings were shut off. Nothing surprising about that I thought. They were never lit after the curfew hit at seven in the evening. 

Someone behind me sighed, “You think everything is a bad idea.” 

I turned to the voice. Felix was there spinning a wrench between his fingers. “Because it usually is. Your plans are always nothing but trouble for us Felix”, he chuckled lightly at my response.

“Listen, those guys told me this would work for sure, have some faith in them if not me.” A playful pout was present on his dark face as he rubbed his hand in his curly hair. Valenor, he looked so childish.

I sighed and said nothing more to him. Felix was too trusting of others like a little kid. He was always quick to go along with the whims of others without really considering what was at stake if it meant living another day. I guess I can’t judge him too hard cause I’m also here. After all, I wouldn't abandon my best friend even if it meant certain death.

I turned away from Felix and leaned once again on the ledge. I let my mind wonder. What if tonight was the last time that we would be all together? Would this plan really work? Would those people really give Felix the money they promised for the cores?

I felt someone knock into my shoulder, “Hey, what're you thinking about.”

“Nothing Daphne.” I look at her. The moon light made her golden hair look silver. Even in the dark her face seemed to glow with life and her green eyes seemed to sparkle. Even the dark cloak she had on couldn’t take away from her beauty.

She laced our fingers together and hummed. We stared at the town together. “I know that Felix has a not so good track record with plans, but I have a good feeling about this one. Those people he talked to seemed to know what they were talking about.”

I squeezed her hand. I thought back to what Felix had told us about these people. They saved his life and in doing so they offered him a job. This job with cloaks that would make us invisible to the ValBots. “Yeah, you're right.” I was lying through my teeth. I had a very uneasy feeling about this job, but I didn’t want to worry Daphne. She already had enough to worry about. I brought her hand closer to my face and hesitated. Depending on how tonight went, I might never see Daphne again and I refused to die without telling her how I felt about her.

I gently pressed a kiss to the back of her hand and took a deep breath. “I know this might not be the best time to tell you this but I -”

“Daphne, how much longer until we can leave?! I’m tired!” A girlish voice yelled behind us.

Daphne tittered and unlaced our hands. “I’m sure what you have to say can wait a little longer. Let me tend to her before she makes a bigger ruckus.”

“Y-yeah, of course” I ws sure my face was aflame. I missed my chance maybe for the last time.

I watched as Daphne walked over to Celeste and tucked her into her side. Her head barely made it to Daphne’s armpit. I could hear Daphne shush her and tell her she needed to be quieter. Celeste was eight years younger than all of us, she was twelve years old and Daphne’s little sister. Celeste had a shorter version of Daphne’s hair and shared the same eyes as well. The only difference between the two was that Celeste has a spray of freckles on her young face. They may have looked alike but acted differently in many ways. Daphne was kind, compassionate, thoughtful and level headed. Celeste was annoying, rash, and clingy just like Daphne was at her age so in all I guess they weren’t that different. 

Celeste buried her face into Daphne’s side. Daphne held her tighter and rubbed her back. At that moment I couldn’t help but to notice how young Celeste really was. She should be back in our shared house asleep. Instead she was here on this job with us because we needed whatever money we could get ahold of and there was no one at home to watch her. 

I felt my face dropping to a frown. I leaned back out to look at the street. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Felix, we should go over the plan again” I called out to him. 

“Don’t you think we’ve gone through it enough times?” he groaned and whined. 

He made his way back over to me. I rubbed my temples. “Just once more so I can be sure we won’t die, okay?” I sighed and glanced at him. Daphne took a pause and looked at me, Celeste was still buried in her side.

“Marcelie, for the love of Valenor would you relax? I told you already, they told me all we have to do is dump that lemon water on the ValBots and that should short circuit them for a few minutes causing the guard confusion. In that confusion you’ll incapacitate the guard while Daphne and I’ll make our way down to the bots. And Celeste will stay up here huddled in her cloak.” He spoke exasperatedly. 

I inhaled deeply and asked, “what if the cloaks don’t work like you said they would?”

“They’ll work, trust me. Otherwise I wouldn’t be standing here today. I saw first hand that these cloaks truly scatter the ValBots' senses.” He now stood in front of me.

“How do we know we can trust them?” I said referring to the two mysterious people Felix had met at the market two weeks ago. 

“I know who to trust Marcelie, I’m not stupid. Plus why would they save my life from the ValBots that day if they weren’t trustworthy?” He flicked my head as if to prove his point.

I swatted his hand away from my face and relented. “Okay, okay.” 

Felix flashed his ever charming smile at me. “Don’t worry, we’ll be in and out. We’ll grab those cores from the bots and get a nice pay!” He patted my shoulder and walked away.