In my world, magic is not uncommon. Anything you can imagine will exist in my world. Anything from enchanted forests and magical objects to mythical creatures, kingdoms, and dragons. But with the good things, there is still evil to balance the world. Those who take advantage of our world and use magic for selfish ambitions.

My name is Silvera. And I am not the main character of this story. It is impossible for me to be important in my world. I am only an orphan slave with no friends or family. But I do work for the main character. She is The Princess Mary of Ora, the most beautiful woman in our entire kingdom, and she won't let anyone forget it. I am her right-hand servant and punching bag, apparently.

Princess Mary is an only child and the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Ora. I live here in the castle to attend to Mary's every need. It sounds better than it is. Instead of a room, I sleep in the stables and never have access to clean food or water. When I work, the only thing Princess Mary ever talks about is herself. She constantly mentions how she has beautiful golden hair and bright blue eyes, while I only have brown hair and brown eyes. Since I had never gotten a second opinion of my looks, I've always just assumed I was ugly.

Not only did she insult my looks, but she also looked for every excuse to hit me or yell at me. Ironically, she and I are the same age and she is turning eighteen tomorrow afternoon. I've been eighteen for a few weeks, but I still feel smaller than her. And now that she is going to be of marrying age she is even more cruel. I never thought it was possible, but she did it.

Her story is about to start, and I am nothing in it. I'm just a simple nobody who is always second best, in my case, last place, in her story of a new life. During a silent night full of stars, I lay in the stables after a long day of work, unable to do anything but worry about the horrors that will come tomorrow. I toss and turn restlessly in the prickly stack of hay I use for a bed. Lying beside me is one of the black and white palace horses. I turn to my side and see the horse, who I nicknamed Bruzey because of his dark spots, with his eyes open and looking back at me.

"What are you looking at?" I occasionally spoke to the animals because they were the only ones who listened to me when I wished to speak. Bruzey huffed at me, his exhale blowing my hair out of my face. I sighed and looked down at my tattered clothes and dirty skin, showing bone from my lack of food. I was skinny enough to be a skeleton and I was getting weaker every day. "...Do you think I could ever be pretty?" I whispered, hoping that nothing would crush my dreams as soon as I said it. Bruzey blinked slowly and closed his eyes. I sighed once more and curled up into a ball. "Me neither."

I woke up to the birds chirping and the sun beaming down into the stables and onto my face. I sat up slowly and yawned until I heard Mary screaming from inside the palace. "WHERE IS THAT SLAVE???!!!" I jumped and realized what day it was. 'Oh no! It's Mary's birthday today! I can't believe I forgot! After worrying all of last night too!' I thought. I quickly got up and ran inside the castle through the back door and up the stairs as fast as I could, hoping to not run into Mary.

But knowing my luck, she was already at the top of the stairs waiting for me. "Where have you been??!! Do you know what time it is??!!" I started to shake as I saw the rage in her eyes increase. "A-Actually, n-no." She screamed in anger at my response. "Of course you don't!! You're a stupid slave who can't even follow a simple order!!" I was about to apologize when she slapped me in the face and grabbed my ear. "Ah-!" She then started to drag me to her room. "Of all the days for you to be a worthless human being, you had to be the most worthless on my birthday!!"

After struggling to keep my ear attached to my head, she let go once we were in her room and I found my voice. "I-I'm sorry. M-Malady." She walked to her vanity and looked back at me. "You're always sorry. Can you for once, try not to ruin everything? My other servants have their share of screw-ups, but they have never been so utterly humiliating to have ever been called my slave besides you. Now, don't just stand there like an idiot! Brush my hair and make me a new dress for tonight's ball! Which by the way, you are not invited to. I won't be seen with filth such as you."

I sighed and nodded as I headed toward the drawer of combs and brushes. She sat down and scowled at me through the mirror. "Oh, and don't touch me or my hair with your diseased hands. I can't get your germs on such an important day. And I want my dress to be made of the finest silks of all the land and the softest material from the sisters' shop in Mavington. Blue and orange." I looked up from her hair with surprise. "M-Mavington? But that's all the way across the kingdom! It would take hours on horseback just to barely enter the city!"

Mary's scowl turned into a smirk. "Then I guess it will take all day on foot. So you better get going." She then placed a sack of coins in my hand and my mouth dropped. I couldn't believe she was making me walk all the way to Mavington without any food or money other than for the dress. I looked down, put the brush back in the drawer, and left the room. "Right away, Your Highness," I said as I walked out.

I went back to the stables and looked at the path behind the palace. 'How am I going to do this? Even if I manage to make it to Mavington without dying of heat stroke, starvation, snake bites, bug bites, muggers, disease, thirst, or suicide, how am I going to make it back in time to make an entire dress before tonight?!' I thought. I looked down again, trying to think of a solution to this impossible task when something bumped me from behind. I turned around and saw Bruzey. He somehow got untied and rubbed his head against my back. That reminded me. Bruzey was the fastest horse of all of the palace horses. If I rode him to Mavington, I would be back just in time to make the dress.

The way I saw it, it was my only choice. I had never ridden a horse before but that couldn't matter right now. I pulled the reins and put my foot into the stirrup, hoping that I could lift myself in one motion. I jumped up and on the horse, almost losing my grip, but managed to stay on. "Okay. I've never done this before, Bruzey, so, can you help me out here? I need to get to Mavington as fast as possible." Without another word, Bruzey immediately started to run on the path faster than I had ever seen him go. "Whoa!" I almost fell off from how fast he was running. 'Ow! My butt is going to be SO sore after this!!' I thought.