The story/prompt:
The prologue/the start of the story:
There was a beautiful crystal kingdom in a fantasy realm, a fantasy world if you will. They were at peace for as long as anyone could remember. Things were great for them. The queen was happy alongside her husband, and they ruled with kindness and compassion. Years passed without a serious issue like war or threats of assassins or the like. One day, a new addition was welcomed into the family: their daughter, a princess, their baby girl. Everyone celebrated. They welcomed her with all the love a kingdom could muster. However, this happiness.... was not to last.
-A year later-
The baby princess had just turned a year old. They were celebrating her birthday. Happiness was abundant. But then.... something terrible happened. A threat was made against them. While a maid was watching the child, they were targeted, attacked if you will, by a mysterious force, an unknown being. It would seem a dark queen had grown jealous of their kingdom, the royal family, their...well.... everything. This jealousy had turned into anger, even hatred and possible resentment. And so, she had sent assassins into their midst, in the hopes of not only 'ending their happily ever after', but to take their kingdom for her own, to weaken them in order to achieve her goals. The child had been spared, if only because the maid had sacrificed herself to make sure the baby princess stayed safe. Word would get back to the royal parents, the king and the queen, and they would try to fish out the assassins and put an end to them and what they were up to. However, when the royal family had succeeded, it wasn't the end. An army was sent in their place, and they would target their one weakness.... the child. And so, they had no choice. The king gathered an army of his own, and went to confront the enemy. This would buy the queen some time. Time for what you may ask? Well.... it would buy her time to flee, and to take their child with her.
And so, the queen, in the dead of night, gathered up her daughter and left. But, she knew that no matter where they went, or how far they went, or for how long they would be gone from the kingdom, the dark one would pursue them, or those sent by her would rather. The queen, in an act of desperation, had a portal opened to another world, our modern world, where she would raise her child until she grew old enough to come into her powers, and fulfill an ancient prophecy, one that spoke of a great power, a great light, part of a pair, that could chase away the darkness, and would save them all. The queen would enter the portal.... and not look back.
-Years later-
Many years had passed since that day. No word had been heard about what happened to the king. But, the queen sensed some success at keeping their kingdom from being overrun, from being destroyed, if only to an extent. As far as she knew, they had gotten very close, the dark one and her army.... too close. By this time, she had raised her daughter to adulthood, and her daughter was unaware of her true self, their former lives, as she grew up in our modern world, and always thought of herself as a modern girl. There was no magic, no fantasy, none of it. It did not exist. Those were all just fairy tales, stories told to children. Her mother never corrected her, chose to keep it a secret from her up until this time, and for good reason, obvious reason. No risks could be taken after all.
One day, the girl was walking home, when she saw a light coming from an ally. It was rather bright. She frowned, eyes narrowed. Where was that light coming from? Why was no one noticing it? Everyone was walking by as if nothing was happening, that everything was fine and normal. She made to continue on her way, thinking of how odd it was. However, something would draw her to it. Curiosity would get the better of her, and it was like she did not have any control of her own body as she began to walk towards that ally and towards the source of that mysterious light. The girl would keep walking until she reached the dead end. Where the brick wall should be.... a mirror like one was in its' place. It glowed brilliantly. As she got closer, a male silhouette appeared on the other side. As soon as she was nice and close, a hand shot out from what seemed like inside the mirror wall. She cried out as she was.... dragged inside! There was a flash of light.... and she blacked out. She would not remember what happened, at least not at first.
-The other world, the castle-
The girl would not be sure how much time had passed, or how she got here in the first place. But, she would wake up in an elegant four poster bed, in clothes, a style, that was not hers. The room was not hers. She was in a very unfamiliar place. The last thing she remembered was being in that ally... and seeing a white light. Before she could have much time to think about it all, however, four men would surround her bed, men who clearly were not human, or at least not fully human, acting like they were protective of her, as if they knew her and all that. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, and she was about to even freak out, panic, but then, she felt a kind hand on her arm. She gasped and looked to her side... to see her mother sitting there! The woman was dressed differently, and seemed to be acting much differently than the woman she knew. Her mother now looked like someone straight out of the fairytales spoken of earlier, and now seemed much for elegant, regal, and majestic. As the girl made to ask where she was, what was happening, and all that, her mother held up a hand to silence her. With a gentle voice, a gentle tone if you will, she explained everything, or as much as she could, to her daughter.
Everything would be revealed. The girl would refuse to believe any of it though. Her? A princess from some crystal kingdom? HER?! A land of magic and magical beings?! There was no such thing as any of those things! The girl kept shaking her head over and over again. But, in the end, there was no denying what was in front of her, what was before her. She WAS a princess, one who was to possess a great power, and be paired up with the one warrior who could help not only to bring that power out of her, but to defend the kingdom alongside her, help her come into her own, and even rule it alongside her for many years to come, pushing back the darkness forever, and keeping their kingdom, and their people, safe. The question was this: Who was she to be paired with? Another question was this: How was she to defeat the darkness and fulfill the so-called prophecy?
That is where the story TRULY begins......
What will happen now?