It was the cocktail hour at night. The moon appeared in a big silver disk in the firmament right at evenfall.
Its platinum-gold beams, accompanied with a gentle flow of cool air streamed in through the extra-large symmetrical circular windows constructed side by side and flooded the big chamber generously, bathing Eliana Winxx with pride.
Her chiseled features with feminine delicacy were covered in snow-white skin. The shiny ink-black loose curls extending below her hips were being playful, swaying back and forth in the gentle breeze of spring.
The striking green eyes, reminiscent of a wild yet calm dense forest, sheltered under the soft-angled full eyebrows could ripple even the serenity of a monk's heart.
A high-bridged sharp nose bore the pride of her kind and the pink symmetrical lips would without any exception, unwittingly, end up weaving desires in everyone's heart; regardless of their gender.
The juicy curves of her body made it difficult for raindrops to roll down her body, yet they seemed to be obsessed with the journey rather than the destination; so much that they would blissfully end themselves in the pathway.
It would be a hackneyed phrase to say, but very rich in its truth that Eliana Winxx possessed an extremely rare kind of beauty, yet the very one that surpassed all the standards her timeline set for the good lookers. It had what it would take to provoke wars and at the same time, bestow peace amidst all the races populating both realms.
Perhaps, this speculation played the chief role behind her father and royal brothers' decision of not allowing her outside the fifty-meters radius of the royal palace.
Nonetheless, the thing that never dawned their realization was the moon shining bright in the sky couldn't be hidden by some dark clouds passing over it nor could the fairy with wings be kept away from the sky.
Unless...it was just a cover-up to cloak her true being in secrecy. But, that didn't change it either, for her root, her blood, her kind and her purpose would always summon her to them.
After all, she was born as a Half-Goddess, meant to evolve into a full one and serve her race.
"Father asked for my presence in his bedchamber, did you say?" Eliana asked, tossing a glance at her maid servant, in the mirror.
In that single glance, apart from her nursemaid, strands of fairy lights stemming from the terrace hanging over the window greeted her vision. These so-called wedding lights of their kingdom, styled and coloured diversely in a vast miscellany—including the tiny globe lights attached at fixed intervals—were carefully arranged with the help of magic devices.
Nonetheless, instead of softening Eliana's eyes, and fluttering her heart with anticipation, their sight fed the fire of irritation in her heart like crunchy leaves and dry branchlets would do to the campire.
"Yes, Your Highness." The maid servant, Laila, could be seen nodding her head, as braided the Princess's ink-black hair over her shoulder. She was a five-hundred years old titaness with slight tan skin, and sparse freckles on her face.
"We shouldn't make him wait then," Eliana stood up, towering over Laila with her five feet ten-inch slender hour-glass frame.
Her feet clad in white nagra full of stonework embroidered with gold thread, silently hit the ground with heel first, then pushed out of the step with the toes.
Full of grace, Eliana put one foot right in front of the other, as though a straight line had been drawn on the floor just visible for her eyes. In that case as well, it didn't make a lick of sense, for her gaze was stationed at least ten meters ahead.
As she walked out of her bedchamber, passing through the wide corridor, lit up by several oil lamps mounted in the wall, her golden blouse encrusted with gemstones glistened.
And, with every step she took, the slits hidden in the white drapes of her chiffon pajama cracked open themselves alternately, revealing a few sneak peeks of her long shapely legs.
"You Highness…" Laila called out meekly, after chewing on some words for a while.
Eliana didn't halt in her steps, but she spared a brief glance to her maid servant over the shoulder.
"You shouldn't leave the castle… at least, not tonight." Laila voiced out her thoughts, picking at the hemline of her peplos. "It's your wedding, tomorrow morning! The grand procession will be arriving at any moment. Moreover, no one will sleep tonight, given the vast preparations they have to make before the sun wakes up."
"Heh!" A short count of mocking laughter left Eliana's mouth. "Don't let such trivial things ruffle your feathers." The words departing her mouth still lingered in the air of the enclosed corridor, when her expression changed subtly into a pained one.
"That place is my origin, Laila. My roots pull me towards it, a call I can't ever pretend to unhear. That arrogant dragon placed a great importance upon his borders...not likely it will be anything easy for me to sneak out from his empire. ---I will be back before it's dawn."
….
"Hermes, is there really no other way out?!" Queen Irene asked. The desperation of a mother's heart, which had been summoned by a harbinger of danger pointing at her only daughter, was floating in her eyes.
"Hades Costello Alarie is not just the emperor of Firebreath Empire, but also a Great Grand Wizard, an Immortal! Forget it, he has even reached the apotheosis of wizardry, and unrivalled apogee of immortality, becoming a God!"
As Queen Irene spoke, she was getting more beside herself with anxiety. Her own words had her shaking in her shoes.
"Many of his concubines died under his wrath. They were also Grand Mages, a red phoenix and a greenish blue peacock possessing the fifth stage of mana augmentation respectively in earth and water elements—both were Battle Queens!" Irene cried out, "I don't, at all, want my daughter to get married to someone, who breathes fire, if angered!"
"My Queen," King Hermes held Irene's shoulder, locking his eyes with hers. "Eliana is my daughter as well—one and only daughter. I didn't wish this for her either, especially when she is only a century old!"
Hermes Winxx, the king of the fairy clan, stopped for a brief moment, swallowing his own grief. He aged years per night ever since the marriage proposal knocked his door, as if the tension sucked all the genes of good looks that had been passed down to him through his royal bloodline.
"However, Hades himself asked for her hands in marriage! It's Hades Costello Alarie, my Queen! I'm just a mere king of Wingland, a small kingdom! How can I disobey a supreme emperor's decree?! He will explode my entire kingdom with just a snap of his finger, won't he?"
The Firebreath was the only empire in the heaven realm, besides seven other kingdoms—Wingland, Featherland, Graceland, Eyeland, Oldland, Darkland, and Witland.
Different from the kingdoms which were dwelled in by fairies, peacocks, phoenixes, eagles, titans, bats, and nine-tailed foxes—the Firebreath Empire was ruled and inhabited by powerful dragons—that being said, Hades himself was a dragon. A very high-grade dragon, who ascended heaven, reaching the pinnacle of immortality, yet decided to rule his empire instead.
"You are just worried about your subjects!" Queen Irene removed King Hermes's hands from her, jumping down with an accusation.