• Thick, dark clouds had drawn closer to the Elvelinn Forest, and threatened the city of Elvelinn with a storm of unnatural elements. But miles from the city, Lĕandria and her twin sister, Lĕanna, were trapped deep in the forest, unable to escape the storm’s clutches. Even though on fast, powerful steeds, the two were forced to surrender to the storm’s strong power, but not without a fight. Still, pursuing their destination, the twins did their best to ignore the defining roar of the storm behind them. They sustained their battle with the storm, but however, never imagined that they would have more than one enemy after them. Only a couple of miles from Elvelinn did the twins start to see their defeat. The storm was now only a few yards away, and the twins could now see the city ahead of them.

    A piercing scream disrupted the silence of the city further ahead, and the howl of the storm behind them. At first, Lĕandria thought the scream came from the city. But after sensing something wrong with her sister and a glance behind her shoulder, she realized that the shriek did not come from the city, but in fact, from Lĕanna. Enemy soldiers had her captured and off of her mount; she was defenseless and was now in the enemy’s control. A second cry came from Lĕanna: “Andria, run! Save yourself!” Her words rattled in Lĕandria’s body as she followed her sister’s command and continued for Elvelinn, soaked to the bone with rain from the storm overhead. Her sister’s words were repeating over and over in her head, like a tape on repeat. Andria, run! Save yourself! Andria, run! Save yourself!

    *************

    Lĕandria woke up abruptly. She did not know where she was or how long she had been unconscious. The last thing she remembered was a dark sky, rain pouring down on her, and riding on her stallion towards Elvelinn. She looked around her to identify her surroundings. It was dark inside, but a splinter of light came through a crack between some boards in the ceiling. She laid on a bed of straw and when she put her feet down on the floor, Lĕandria found more straw covering a wooden board floor. She found only a few more beds of straw in the corner across from her, in a building that was unmistakably small. She looked towards a blank wall where a door might be, and ran her fingers on the wood of the side of the house until she came upon some hinges, and soon a door handle. Glancing around the room one last time, a thought suddenly struck her, where is Lĕanna? The door flew open before she was able to answer her own question. Light flooded on and around her, and she barley could see the figure before her.

    “Oh, good. You are awake. Mother sent me to check on you,” the figure said. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Lĕandria found a young girl in front of her. “Are you ready for breakfast?”

    So it is morning, Lĕandria thought. She followed the girl out of the room into another room where there was a door-less opening that swamped the room with light. In front of a blazing fire in the middle of the room, stood a woman leaning over a pot on the fire. In the corner were two other children: a boy who looked older than the girl who came to fetch Lĕandria, and another boy who was obviously younger than the other two. As the woman came to great Lĕandria, a man (most likely the father, thought Lĕandria) came into the room from outside.

    “Fiona, is my breakfast ready? You know I have to leave soon,” the man bellowed.

    “Just a minute, Manta. Our unexpected guest has just woken up,” the wife said to her husband. For the first time, Manta noticed Lĕandria standing in the room.

    “Oh, don’t mind me. Go ahead and eat so you can leave,” Lĕandria quickly said.

    “I’m Rayna,” said the young girl to break up the silence, “this is my older brother Avyri, and my younger brother Thymas.” To continue the conversation, Lĕandria said, “You can call me Andria.”

    “My name is Manta, and this is my wife Fiona. We are honored to have you under our roof,” Manta said.
    Once breakfast was ready, Fiona quickly dished it out onto wood plates for everyone. After many moments of eating, Lĕandria asked, “How exactly did I end up here?”

    “It was Manta who actually found you. You see, because we live on the edge of town, we can here everything that goes on outside the town,” Fiona explained. “Manta had heard a scream some time last night and went outside to go see what it was. When he finally came back into the back room, he said ‘Fiona, there are some soldiers out there and some other people.’ The next thing we knew, you were running on your horse, which by the way is in our barn, towards the city. He said that your horse had tripped and fell, and you hit your head and went unconscious. It wasn’t till Manta brought me out to you when we decided to nurse and house you for the night.”

    A moment of silence followed, and then another conversation, on a different topic, began. Once everyone had finished eating, Manta left, Fiona started her house chores, and the children began doing their chores, leaving Lĕandria with nothing to do.

    It was about an hour after breakfast when Manta came home suddenly and called out, “Everyone to the back of the house!”

    “What is the matter?” Fiona asked.

    “Enemy soldiers are approaching the town,” Manta replied.

    Lĕandria went to the window just beside the door, which was now covered with a cloth, and peered out to the street in front of the house. Manta and Fiona came to peer out after they had shooed their children to safety. The soldiers came marching up the street from the left. They looked to the right and saw the Mayor of Elvelinn approaching from the right of the street. When they met, a soldier came to the front of the other soldiers to talk to the Mayor.

    “Where are the Twins, Mayor?” the soldier asked.

    “How should I know? They did not come as expected last night,” the Mayor replied.

    “Are you positive that you are not protecting them?” the soldier asked.

    “I would rather give them to you if I knew where they were instead of risking the lives of my people,” the Mayor said comfortably.

    “I’ll tell you what. If you do not tell me where one of the Twins’ is, I will kill the other Twin that I have,” the soldier announced.

    “I do not know where the Twins are,” the Mayor said, and with that the soldiers followed their leader out of the city. Manta and Fiona turned back to their children to tell it was all right and they could come out of hiding. Lĕandria stood with a shiver running down her spin.

    “What did the soldier mean when he said ‘Twins’?” Thymas asked.

    “The Twins are a pair of messengers for the King that travel together because no one can tell them apart,” Manta explained.

    “And the Twins were supposed to come with a message last night?” Rayna asked her father.

    “Apparently so, but they didn’t.” Manta answered.

    “What was the message?” Rayna asked.

    “No one knows. But most likely something about the war,” his mother told him.

    “What war?” Thymas asked.

    “The war that we have been at for the past few months,” Manta said.

    “Why are we at war though?” Rayna asked.

    “The Enemy wants our land. We have fought for years to keep our land, and now the enemy is willingly enough to fight a battle for it.” Fiona said to her kids. A long silence followed, with no interruption except for a tear the escaped from Lĕandria’s eye.

    “Andria, why are you so silent?” Manta finally said.

    “My sister was whom they were referring to,” Lĕandria finally said.

    “What do you mean?” Avyri asker her.

    “My sister and I are the ones that they, the soldier and the Mayor, were referring to. She was taken by the enemy soldiers, and probably those same ones we saw today, just before I got here.” Lĕandria explained, “We’re twins. Identical twins.”

    After many hours of talking, Lĕandria decided to go to the Mayor with the Kings massage. The King had wanted both her and her sister to be there when they would tell the message to the Mayor, mainly because he didn’t want anyone to find out which twin was which so they would follow the legend about them. But now with such dangerous times and the message being so important, Lĕandria knew that telling the Mayor the truth about the last nights’ events and the message must be told to the Mayor and King could not afford for Lĕandria not to tell the Mayor.

    Once she told Fiona and Monta where she was going, Lĕandria headed up the cobbled stone street through the center of Elvelinn to a large castle in the center of the crowded city. Lĕandria now understood why many people preferred to live on the outskirts of town rather than in the town. It was far too crowded, and Lĕandria realized that in a few short years, the town will expand beyond its borders.

    Upon arriving at the Mayor’s castle, Lĕandria was stopped by some guards at the front entrance. Lĕandria tried everything, including giving her name and the reason she was there, but the guards didn’t let her in. They said that she would have to give them the message and they would deliver it to
    the Mayor. Lĕandria knew that the King would have her head if she did what the guards wanted her to do.

    “How do civilians see the Mayor?” Lĕandria exclaimed.

    “Ever since the King’s new rules, they don’t,” the guards told her. Lĕandria laughed and said, “And how will you know if the King has changed those rules if you don’t let his messengers see the Mayors?”

    “We would know ahead of time if they were coming,” the guards replied. But when Lĕandria told them that the Mayor did know she was coming, the guards still did not let her in. Lĕandria was about to give up when a group of soldiers following two messengers that Lĕandria recognized came up to the castle. The guards let them in with out a single word mentioned. Lĕandria slipped into the crowd and entered the castle. But by the time she entered the main hall, the guards had noticed her and captured her, waiting for the group to finish with the Mayor before presenting Lĕandria to him.
    One of the messengers stepped up to the Mayor and said, “I assume that you received the Kings message.”

    “I have not. The messengers he sent did not come,” the Mayor said. “But some soldiers came into the city and claimed to have one of the twins, if they were the messengers. I do not know what happened to the other, if the soldiers were telling the truth.”

    Lĕandria saw her chance to speak up. “Mayor, please if you will let,” the guards holding her did not let her continue and quieted her by placing their hands over her mouth.

    “I do not know what the message is, but I am here to pick up soldiers for the King,” the messenger said.

    “This girl claimed to have a message from the King, but we wouldn’t let her in because she was alone,” one of the guards explained.

    “Let her say what she has to say,” the Mayor said to his guards. They let go of her, but kept Lĕandria in arms distance as she progressed up to the Mayor.

    “Mayor,” Lĕandria started, “my name is Lĕandria. I am a messenger of the King. As you already know, I am one of the twins and last night, Lĕanna, my twin, was taken by enemy soldiers, which is one reason why I am alone. I also fell unconscious last night trying to make my way to the city, which is why I am here today instead of last night. My message from the King is long but will make much more sense of why they,” she nodded over to the other messengers, “are here.

    “Enemy soldiers have been progressing their way through our lands to the capital. Empire soldiers are needed to protect the capital and our King. We need much support from surrounding cities to protect our Empire. Warn your citizens that the war may end up at their front doors and prepare ‘safe houses’ for the citizens to go to, to protect them from the war that we are facing. Now that the war has started, life for the citizens will become increasingly difficult as the war progresses.”

    Silence filled the room when Lĕandria finished. Now that the Mayor had the message, it became suddenly clearer to him why enemy soldiers had entered the city earlier that day, kidnapped Lĕanna, and attempted to take Lĕandria. They wanted cities to know nothing of the war and to keep them in the dark and unable to help.

    Finally, the Mayor asked, “Is that all?”

    “The entire message, yes. But I was hoping that with enemy soldiers about, you could get some guards to go with me back to the capital,” Lĕandria said.

    “That might be possible, yes,” the Mayor replied. He then motioned for a guard to come speak with him. He told the guard to go find his best men to accompany Lĕandria back to the capital.

    While the guard was rounding up other guards to take Lĕandria back to the capital city, Lĕandria went back to Manta’s house to tell them the news.

    “So you will be leaving soon?” Fiona asked.

    “I expect so, but not for a few days. I will need to recuperate and prepare for the ride back to the capital,” Lĕandria replied. “But you need to prepare your selves for war. Find someplace that is safe and stay there until you are certain everything is safe. If you have to, take your family to out of the empire and into a close country and stay there for the war.”

    “Will we ever see you again?” Rayna asked.

    “Maybe, but only time will know,” Lĕandria told her.

    Three days later, Lĕandria said good bye to her new friends. She and the two other messengers follow a route that led through the Elvelinn Forest. Known as the Message Road, the route is a trail that only messengers know for their safety. No one but the messengers knows these routes, not even the King himself. Years ago, when the Message Road was created, some messengers got together and formed a plan to have a secrete route that only the messengers would know. It would follow a windy path that, unless you knew the route, you would easily get lost on. There were also ‘safe points’ for the messengers to stop at or reassure them of the path. And at many points, it went underground or through mountains, to make it harder for non-messengers to follow. The Message Road had many forks and branches that led from the main route to other cities, but all led to the capital. The specific route that Lĕandria’s group was on was known as the Elvelinn Message Road, its end was Elvelinn and it started at the capital. It was a three and a half day ride through mostly forests and mountains, and a few other cities.

    Once Lĕandria arrived at the capital, Doma, she went straight to the stone castle to see the King. War could be read on every thing in the city: the people; the streets; even the animals sensed something wrong. War was the number one topic in the most glamorous city of all times. Each house was perfectly in row and size and shape. The cobble stone streets were perfect to the exact measurement. Nothing in the city was out of line, not even the animals.

    The castle stood in the center of the large city, and was the reason why the city was extensively large. The past Kings of the Empire lived in it and had their very own cemetery as well as many other pleasures. Like the rest of Doma, the servants and guards in the castle were not out of place.
    Lĕandria made her way up to the thrown room where the King spent a majority of his time. Once in front of him, she made a small curtsy and honored her beloved King.

    “Your majesty, this past week has been one of my most horrible experiences as a messenger for you. If you do not already know, my sister has been taken by enemy soldiers. But that did not stop me from delivering the message to the Elvelinn Mayor. I knew it was too important not to tell him,” Lĕandria told the King.

    “I did not know about your sister until just now, when you told me. I am truly sorry for your loss and hope to rescue her as soon as possible. But war has taken most of my time,” the King replied. “I am glad though that you went ahead and told the Mayor my message. As you said, it was too important to ignore. Thank you for your services, Lĕanna?”

    “Lĕandria,” Lĕandria corrected the King.

    “Well, thank you Lĕandria. I will most likely not need your services until after the war is over,” the King said to her. And after another small curtsy, she left for the southern part of the castle, where her family lived.
    For many generations, Lĕandria’s family has served the King as messengers, giving them rights almost as equal as a kings’. Only two other people in her family’s long generations have failed the past Kings by some fatal accident of some kind. And Lĕanna’s kidnapping adds a third incident to the family’s record.

    Lĕandria reached the large apartment sized living quarters that her family lived in about five minutes later. To reach it, she had to cross a small garden that allowed the family some outside space. Her mother was outside watering some plants when Lĕandria arrived.

    “Lĕandria!” her mother cried out. “We were expecting you a lot sooner.” She set down the watering container and hugged her daughter.

    “Hello mother,” Lĕandria exclaimed to her mother. Her father came out next and hugged her very tight.

    “Where’s Lĕanna?” her father asked.

    Lĕandria looked down at her feet and said in a sad voice, “She was taken by enemy soldiers, just before we got to Elvelinn. Where are Elizya, Luken, and Taytum?”

    “Elizya went to take a message to the Vinae Empire, and will stay there for the war. Luken finally finished his messenger schooling and is with Taytum on their way to the Vinae Empire. Like Elizya, they will stay there for the war,” Lĕandria was told by her mother. Elizya was the oldest child and daughter to Lĕandria’s parents. Taytum was the second oldest child and oldest son, and Luken was the youngest child and last child of the family.
    A thumping sound interrupted the family reunion. Lĕandria turned around and came face to face with Quartetchra, the white dragon of the castle. Lĕandria was good friends with Quartetchra, even though she belonged to the king.

    “Lĕandria, I heard that you were back in Doma. I also heard about your sister, I’m truly sorry,” Quartetchra said.

    “Oh Quartetchra! You’re as brilliant as ever. Thank you, but by any chance, do you know were Kymo is?” Lĕandria asked.

    “Last I saw him, he was with Fire Stone,” Quartetchra told her best human friend.

    “Thank you again,” Lĕandria turned quickly around to her parents. “Mind if I go and find Kymo?”

    “No, not at all,” her mother said.

    “Here, I’ll give you a lift,” Quartetchra said and kneeled down for Lĕandria to climb on top of her. “Ready?”

    “Yes,” Lĕandria answered her, and Quartetchra jumped from the ground and soared through the sky for countless seconds. As she began to fall, she through her wings into the air and with one flap, they were climbing higher towards the endless sky. Lĕandria’s heart flew with Quartetchra. It moved as the huge dragon did, flapping its’ own wings to gain higher heights and folded them to dive deep into the depths below. It twisted and turned as Quartetchra did in the sky that belonged to the dragons. They flew high above the castle and city, but always kept the city in their sights. Lĕandria had forgotten how many dragons had dwelled in the area until she sat on Quartetchra as she flew through the air.

    Lĕandria had spotted them first. Just above the horizon where the sun met the earth, flew a sparkling blood red dragon. Quartetchra made her way towards the glorious flyer. She flew around the dragon once, than made for land. Her red companion followed her.

    “All hail Prince Kymo and his glorious dragon, Fire Stone!” Lĕandria exclaimed when they had landed.

    “What a wonderful entrance, my dear Princess Andria. Though, my curiosity wonders, where might Princess Anna be?” Kymo answered.

    Lĕandria ignored the questioned and hugged her dear missed love.

    “She was taken by enemy soldiers just before we arrived at Elvelinn,” Lĕandria told him.

    “Oh Andria, I’m so sorry. But we can get her back, I’m sure of it,” Kymo said positively. A few more words were exchanged between them and the dragons. But their get together was soon interrupted. An alarm sounded from the city.

    “Enemy soldiers have finally arrived. Lets get back to the castle before it is too late,” Kymo sulkily said. They flew back to the castle on the dragons, and together ran to the thrown room to see Kymo’s father.

    “The war is finally starting. I need both of you to go to your designated places, now,” the King told both of the lovers. Just as they were about to leave, some guards came into the room. Behind them was a girl.
    “Sir, the enemy has given us this young girl because, as they said, she was of no further value to them,” the guards told the King. The guards stepped back to let the girl speak to the King.

    “Lĕanna!” Lĕandria exclaimed. The twins ran to each other and hugged for what seemed like an eternity. “I’m so glad that your safe and well.”

    “The same with you,” Lĕanna told her sister.

    They hustled to their parents to pack the necessary things and prepare to leave for the safety of the Vinae Empire. Their parents had a quick reunion with Lĕanna, then prepared their things. Quartetchra came to help them make a quicker escape, but she was unsure if she would stay in the Vinae Empire for the war. Once every thing that they needed was packed, the family placed them on Quartetchra’s back, and left the castle for the length of time the war would take. Their family was one of the many thousand families that were leaving the Empire.

    When the family reached the last hill that overlooked the valley and Doma, they looked back at what had been their home for some many years. The city looked untouched, but screams and cries could be heard for miles around. The war had approximately started eight hours earlier. And for how long it lasted, no one would be able to tell.

    After two days of harsh weather and riding, the family finally made it to the border and the Vinae Empire. Once the family was settled in a home built for temporary use, Lĕandria and Lĕanna rode and Quartetchra back to Doma. They promised it would only be a visit to the city, and they would come back afterwards. It almost half the time to fly back than it took to ride there. When they were finally close to the edge of the city, they stopped.

    “They ruined Doma,” Lĕanna said, sadly.

    Most of the buildings of Doma were either burned down, crushed down, or made into some thing else. The once magnificent castle is now a very large pile of brick and rubble. Blood and dead carcasses covered the neatly laid road and piles of debris. Nothing of the capital was the equivalent to what it was before. And to add to it all, there were the corpses of dragons who had risked their lives. It was difficult to count how many because of certain reasons, but less than a hundred or so.
    Kymo came from some where in the sky, upon Fire Stone. He did not look physically hurt, but war has been known to change people mentally.

    “What are you doing here? You could get hurt,” Kymo said when Fire Stone landed.

    “To see how the Empire was doing against the enemy,” Lĕanna replied.

    “You shouldn’t have. it‘s dangerous here. Obviously we have lost the war, Doma, and the Empire,” Kymo told the twins. “Thousands are dead, including my father. And those who survived are making their way to safer and nearby empires.”

    Silence surrounded them. An arrow from the middle of nowhere came flying towards them, breaking the still air. Kymo manage to dodge it, but Lĕanna, whom was in its’ path, did not. Lĕandria barley caught her sister before she fell off of Quartetchra. Lĕandria just happened to be behind Lĕanna and held her tight as Quartetchra flew into the distance with Kymo and Fire Stone behind them.

    Quartetchra flew faster than she had ever flown. They made it back to their temporary house in less hours than what it took them in both trips. After many anxious hours, Lĕandria was called to the bedroom that Lĕanna was in.

    “Andria,” Lĕanna strained to say, “it is not your fault that I have befallen this misfortune, but it was destine to happen. I want you to know that no mater what, I will always be there for you, even when I am dead. I am apart of you and you are apart of me, and never let go of that, nor my love. You are my twin, my twin sis…..” Lĕandria knew that these past weeks had been one of the most horrible experiences that she had ever gone through. But knowledge that her sister died without even finishing her last word, weakened her heart for all the countless men that died without a last word to their love ones. Lĕanna and Lĕandria had often dreamed of a life when they would no longer be messengers and be with their lovers. A life carefree and wonderful every moment it existed. But now that life seemed miles away, too far to try to return. Sure, she still had Kymo, but now, Lĕanna is dead. Her twin sister is dead.



    Even though the empire lost many things, including a king, a messenger, a numerous amounts of men, it still has hope. Kymo will take his father’s place as King and will marry Lĕandria. He will also round up as many of the Empire’s people as he can, and, with other neighboring empires’ help, will take the enemy, take over the Empire, and rebuild Doma as never before seen. Damage has been done, yes, but the spirit of a great empire has only been scratched. In time, it will grow to be a flourishing civilization once again. But no matter what empire, kingdom, of country the land is; it was, is, and will always be the dragons’ land. For they were the first to come to this beautiful land. And they will be the last to leave it.