Chapter Text
It all began about a decade ago, in a large kingdom named Hifadleh. In this kingdom there lived two princes, twins to be exact, around the age of 8. On this particular day there was a festival in town, and the king and queen had hosted a ball to celebrate.
The sound of pattering feet echo through the castle as the twin princes rush down the corridor. “Come on Ro! Run faster!” The one dressed in green yells.
“I’m trying! These shoes are just uncomfortable!” Ro responds, stumbling as he tries to keep up with his brother.
The younger twin rolls his eyes, “you weren’t having this much trouble yesterday.”
“We weren’t running yesterday Re!” The older twin responds, yelping as he looses his footing again.
Re laughs as he catches his brother, “where’s that grace you always love bragging about?” He mocks.
Before the other can respond a voice calls from down the hall, “Roman! Remus! Slow down!” An older woman walks towards them, having been the one to speak. “We have guests coming within the hour, we have no time for rough housing.” She folds her arms, much like a disappointed parent.
“Sorry Mom,” the twins say in unison.
The queen sighs, “I know, I’m sorry for snapping, maid!” She calls to one of the servants, “can you please tidy up my sons and send them to the ballroom when they are ready?” The maid nods and the twins mother turns back to them. “Now I expect you two to be on your best behavior tonight, people from all over will be arriving and we want to make a good impression.”
“Yes mom,” they say in unison again, as much as they love their mom she can be overbearing, so what if they want to play around? The ball is not happening now, it's in a few hours.
“Good, now follow the maid you two, get clean, I must attend to the preparations.” she turns and starts to walk away.
Reluctantly Roman and Remus follow the maid back to their shared room, where they are tidied up before being sent to the ballroom. There they are confronted by their father, “There you two are!” he says as he walks over. The twins grin, meeting him halfway, they don’t usually see their dad much, as he is always caught up in his royal duties, and are always excited when they do see him.
Kneeling down the king sweeps them into his arms as he hugs them, smiling as he feels their tiny arms wrap around him in return. “What have you two been up to?” he asks curiously, unlike their mother he loves his children’s seek for adventure.
“We were playing Dragon Witch and Prince!” Remus says excitedly, “I got to breathe fire!”
“Really?” their father asks, “What kind of fire?”
Remus grins, “The dirty kind!”
“He was throwing mud at me!” Roman pipes up, having played the prince in their game.
Chuckling the king smiles, “is that so? Well I hope you were able to defeat him in the end.”
“It was a tie,” Roman looks dejected, “Mom stopped us before anyone could win.”
“Don’t kids, you’re both winners in my heart.” The king smiles at them and they smile back, but the moment is ruined as a servant calls for the king.
“Your majesty,” They bow in respect, “The head guard has requested to speak with you”
“Very well,” the king stood up, patting his kids on the head, “I will see you two at the ball, okay?”
“Okay!!” They wave to their father as he walks off, once they would follow him, but they hae been told not to do so multiple times.
Servants and guards bustle around the ball room as Roman and Remus sit in the corner and watch, very soon, guests start to arrive. Soon their mom comes to get them, telling them that they need to stand by the doors and help greet guests. This goes as well as one would think, luckily for their mother the twins are soon distracted by their friend from another kingdom.
“Virgey!” Remus grins, running over to a young prince dressed in black with Roman following behind. They both ignore their mom’s call for them to come back.
Turning around the prince smiles when he sees them, “Ro! Re! Mom, Dad, can I go play with them?” He asks his parents.
“Sure kiddo, just make sure to stay by their side so you don’t get lost.” his dad says with a smile.
“Yay!” he meets them partway, “Hey guys!”
The three of them hug, as it has been a while since the friends have seen each other. Grinning, the twins pull the smaller prince into the ballroom, leaving their parents at the door. Sighing the defeat the Queen of Hifadleh realizes she’s not going to get her sons to come back to greet guests anytime soon.
Pretty soon all the guests have arrived and the celebration commences, people commune with each other, being about to talk to others from far off places. One of them in particular being the talk of the party. Being one of the few blessed with magic, Queen Devora of the Qalon Kingdom catches the attention of others. Her magic, though, is the one thing that causes others to respect her, and fear her, despite her being a widowed queen.
On this particular night things start out calm, but events quickly start to go down hill. The three princes are playing around, enjoying being in each other's company again. As they run around dancing, they come close to the Qalon queen. Roman is the unlucky one that stumbles too close to the magical queen, running into her.
“Oh! Sorry, your majesty!” He apologies before trying to run off.
“One moment young Prince,” She calls to him, causing him to stop. “Why is the heir of the Hifadleh kingdom running around recklessly?”
“We’re just having fun,” Roman responds timidly, he is honestly afraid of the lone queen, not liking the ominous aura she gives off.
Queen Devora smiles coldly, “Yes, but your fun has caused my dress to be soiled.” She gestures to the food and drink that was spilled on her dress when the young prince bumped into her.
Roman’s eyes widen and he quickly starts to apologize, “I’m so-” The queen cuts him off with the wave of her hand.
“I do not want your empty apologies, come, I must speak to your parents on this matter.” Grabbing Roman’s arm she starts to pull him, the other two princes protest for their friend but it is no use. Helplessly Roman is dragged to the pedestal his parents stand on, ashamed and embarrassed. The crowd parts for them as they pass, and people quiet, watching the events with baited breath. Soon Devora comes to stand in front of the king and queen.
“Your son has made quite the mess, I wish to see to it that he is punished accordingly.”
“Oh dear! I apologize Queen Devora, we will have a maid fetch you a new dress right away.” The queen of Hifadleh responds.
“I do not wish for a new dress, your son must be punished for his actions,” Devora scowls.
“Surely it was an accident,” The King looks to his son, who nods as if to say that it was.
Unfortunately this seems to make Devora angrier, “Accident or not this is not the first time your sons have done something reckless during celebrations, one would expect them to be more civil.”
“They are children, you can’t-” He is cut off by his wife.
“You are right, we have let this go on long enough, I am disappointed that my sons have not learned to control their behavior.” She says solemnly. “Queen Devora, since you were the one effected, you may pick the punishment Pince Roman endures.”
A surprised whisper spreads through the crowd, is the queen serious? Having one with magic punish her son? The king is appalled by this as he speaks up, “Darling I’m sure we can think of something, I would hate to put the pressure of punishment onto Queen Devora.”
“No, no,” Devora grins, and it is not comforting in the slightest “I actually have just the thing in mind.” Her hand, which is still gripping Roman’s arm, starts to glow red. Roman yelps as he feels a growing heat on his arm and tries to pull away.
“Ro!” Remus tries to run to his brother but is blasted back by an invisible force, the king and queen stand in alarm.
Devora chuckles, “You know, I’ve been waiting a long time to do this, I’ve seen what your kingdom has done to magic users, so it's time for my people to get some payback.” Gripping Roman an ominous glow surrounds him, suddenly he starts to scream.
The king tries to advance towards her but is stopped by the same force his second eldest was, but this time he holds his ground. “Stop this instant!” He commands.
Devora just smiles, “It’s too late, brother,” Her words thunder throughout the room, accompanied by the screams of the scared child. The glow around the prince gets brighter before bursting out, people cover their eyes as they are blinded. When they open their eyes, Devora is gone and the prince is nowhere to be seen. The celebration is over as soon as it began, and people are sent back to their kingdoms with wonder on whether or not the prince will be found.On that day the kingdom lost its crown price, the King and Queen lost their son, Remus lost his brother, and Virgil lost his best friend.