The woman begged desperately for the child's life to be spared, clenching it's small body against her chest as the soldiers pushed her husband to the ground. "It is the law," One said simply, as he calmly reached out to take the baby from her. "NO!" She bellowed, backing into the wall, but there was nowhere else to go. "Those who do not follow the law disobey the King himself. This means death." The woman sunk to the floor as the child began to cry in her arms, sensing the fatal danger it's life was in. "Please..." She tried once more to reason with them, but the soldier already held the blade to her baby. "One child per family. All second children must die."

Faye de Lalanne stood silently in front of her bookshelf, trying to figure out which book to read; all of them already having been read once or twice before. After deciding quickly on "Chronicle de la Lune",  she sat down on the cold, dirt ground and opened the book to read it in silence.

By the way she sat, reading in complete silence and contentment, it was hard to tell she was a blood-born princess, locked deep within the confinements of the castle's cellar. No one was supposed to know of course. She wasn't even supposed to exist, being a second child and all. 

 Everyone in the kingdom of the Eastern Land claimed to know the Lalanne family by heart, but all of them were mistaken. They knew about King Torra, Queen Vaila, and the Princess Fhéir de Lalanne. No one knew about the second princess, and they never would know. If anyone were to know, there would be chaos, and the whole family would be in great danger.

She had once inquired of her older sister, Fhéir, of why it was she had to hide away in such a place. Fhéir had explained it to her as best she could.

Years before, when King Torra had taken over the Eastern Lands, the population had become too high and food rations had decreased. So the King declared a new law, forbidding any to have a second child.

Of course, that was a hard law to obey since there was no way to control births. Even for all the families that had already had a second child before the law had been created, this meant immediate death for their children.

Everyday, thousands of second or even third children were found out about and they were killed.Many families were destroyed because of the new law. This heartless and selfish act, caused King Torra to be resented in the eyes of his people.

The king didn't realize it, but when he created this law, his own wife was expecting a child. The child was Faye. He refused to kill his own daughter, but he couldn't remove the law, nor could he ever let anyone know about it. It wasn't fair to say no one else but him could have more then one child. So she was hidden and forced to live out her life in this confined, dirt, palace cellar.

Nothing from the outside world ever came through to her, only in letters from her sister, Fhéir, did she ever have any idea about what went on.

Right now, the East and Western Lands were at war, over reasons Fhéir wouldn't bother to explain. Faye had no real comprehension to imagine what war could possibly be. The only descriptions Fhéir gave her were bloody, gruesome, and heartless; more words that meant little to a person who'd never lived a life to actually experience things like that.

While the East was ruled by the humans, the Western Lands were governed by a race unfamiliar to Faye, called, Reikatsu. Fheir described them as being fierce creatures in the guise of a human body. Commonly at least a foot or two taller than the average sized man, and with unbelievable strength and powers, these were said to be a very intimidating and proud species.

The other race, Kuroi Ketsueki, lived in the North and were at peace with both nations Fheir had told her. Kuroi were very nimble and pale, usually adorned in bright colored clothing and makeup to distract from their colorless skin, these were mostly friendly towards humans and Reikatsu, although their deceptive nature caused turmoil.

None of Faye's books had anything of the two races but humans, but just the thought of the two seemed interesting. It almost made her sad at times to think she would never get to meet either.

Faye was on the sixth page of the book when she heard it. A faint sound, but loud enough to interpret that it had been a scream. She looked idly up at the cement wall above her, and brushed the noise aside. It was probably one of those things her mother had mentioned to her a few times, a so called "Party." Faye heard lots of those screams during those times. She could never reason why screaming during a party was necessary, but always brushed it aside as something that didn't have anything to do with her, since she'd be locked down here for the rest of her life.

Her head lifted once again at the sound of another scream, and loud sounds that seemed like something was shattering. What was going on up there? Faye lay her book on the ground, and slowly made her way to the stone wall, which separated her from the rest of the castle.

"Hello?" She said, only in a whisper, incase someone was listening on the outside. She knelt down to the small indentation in the stone wall, where she received her daily meals; she'd received both breakfast and lunch, but no dinner had come.

She was sure it was past time to eat, and waited patiently at the wall. It was only moments before a coarse smell began to enter into her room.
She covered her nose at the smell and stepped away slowly, as grey and black mist began spilling through the indentation in the stone wall. The smell and taste surged straight through her lungs, made her eyes tear, and her throat burn, as she coughed, trying to breathe.
'What's happening?' She thought to herself, closing her eyes and huddling in the corner of her room, as the dark mist slowly began to fill it!

"Faye!"

She looked up at the sound of her name. Had someone called her? She stared blankly at the stone wall through the mist. That had to have been impossible. No one knew or was supposed to know about her even existing!

"Faye, answer me now! If you don't, you will die!"

The words came from a female, Faye was sure of it. But what did she mean by "die"? Was this dark mist going to kill her if she didn't get out? And how did the lady know she was down here in the first place?

"Quit trying to stall Fhéir! This place is burning to the ground, come on!"
That was definitely a male voice, but what did he mean 'burn to the ground'? Was the palace above burning?

"I'm not stalling! She's down here!" There was a slight pause, and then, "Faye de Lalanne, answer me now!"

Faye huddled as far as she could back into the corner. The voices frightened her. She'd never heard so many voices in her life, let alone loud voices. But the male's voice had called the lady, "Fhéir". Did that mean her sister was standing out there? But why had she revealed her hiding place?

"Who's there?" She replied, raising her voice as much as she could, not even sure if she'd risen it enough.

As soon as she'd spoken, the stone wall began to tremble furiously, and then burst into nothing more but a few measly stones! Faye stare bewildered at the fragmented pieces, and then to where they had once been held. There now stood two men, bodies covered in shining silver. Had they broken the wall?

"So, you weren't just pulling our tails, eh?" The voice said.

Now she was confused. The voice was male, and the men were standing right in the doorway, but their silver lips weren't moving. Did this mean that men could somehow speak without moving their lips?
That didn't seem right, but then she saw the source of the sound. Behind the men was someone else. She noticed him right away because of the pale, blonde hair that hung past his shoulders, and also the pointed ears sticking out from his hair. But what came to her attention most of all were the scars on the man's face, a deep red color.

The two men separated to both sides of the room, as the scarred man came closer to her. She couldn't help but get nervous and shake as he grew near. This was all happening too fast all at once.
It had been years since she'd been in contact, or even seen another human being, or was this man even human?

"Not much of a talker are you?" The scarred man asked, as he got nose to nose with Faye.

Faye didn't say anything. Her shaking just grew worse. The man right away noticed the shaking and a smile came across his clean, tannum face. Faye didn't know what was going on, but she didn't like it at all.

"What is wrong with this one?" He asked, glancing idly back at someone; a woman with long brown hair and green eyes. Could that be Fheir? "Is she scared of everything just like this whole coward family?"

"Just as I said before, " started Fhéir, who was now at the man's hind quarters, "father broke the law so he hid Faye here. She has never been out of this room before. She doesn't know what is going on, and don't you dare insult this family, Duccano."

Faye brought her gaze from her sister, Fhéir, to the man she had called "Duccano". Was that his name? And why was he insulting their family?

"Feh," Duccano grunted, "Fhéir, incase you haven't noticed, you are in no place to argue with anyone, especially me. You know I could have just let Rheyne handle you and then you wouldn't be standing here right now. I might even consider sparing you unlike my older brother would."

Faye blinked. So there was another scar-faced man in their home? 
Wait, nothing was making sense. Why was Duccano saying he was going to spare Fhéir? Was Fhéir's life in danger? Was her life in danger right now? Now she was wishing she hadn't said anything when she was locked away in the cellar.

"So, Faye is it?" Duccano asked in an irritated tone as he turned his attention back to her, "according to your sister here, you are probably in a bit of shock right now, well let me explain everything to you right now. Your father has pissed my father off one too many times, so he sent my brother Rheyne and I to kill your sister and parents."

"What?" Faye nearly yelled. She didn't want to talk to this guy, but now she knew her life was in danger as well as her parents'. She didn't know them, but they fought for her to be able to live. She couldn't just forget about them.

"Your parents are already dead, "Duccano said with a smirk, "I am sparing Fhéir here for the time being because she has been of great use to me and our kingdom in the past. Rheyne had just begun to burn this place down when she informed me that there was another filthy Lalanne that was locked in the cellar."

So they had already begun to burn the palace down, that explained the dark mist. But what was up with Fhéir? She wasn't supposed to tell anyone about her, no matter what, but she did anyways. Faye was trying to figure that out while trying to grieve over the thought that the people who once protected her were dead. Fhéir noticed Faye's confused look.

"Faye, I am sorry. I have never kept anything from you and I won't start now. You are going to be killed by the Western Lands. I thought this would be better then burning to death in this prison you spent your whole life in. This way you can die free."

Faye nodded. So that was how it was going to be? She was going to die. She was happy that Fhéir had made that choice actually. It was like Fhéir understood what it was like being a captive of the cellar. It would be better to die free and exist rather then to burn after never existing at all.

"Hold on, "Duccano said in a softer tone, that wasn't so loud and obnoxious, "I never said anything about killing this one. We were ordered to kill the Lalanne family. Under the law of this country and ours, she is not a Lalanne. She was never legally registered."

Faye was a little happy to hear that there maybe a chance she would live, but still she was overwhelmed with fear and sadness. She didn't get the one thing she wanted and that was to be a legal Lalanne. She wanted everyone to know who she truly was.

"Duccano, just shut up!", Fhéir snapped, "don't even think of giving her false hope! She was born from my mother and she is the daughter of my father so she is a Lalanne whether the papers say so or not. I know you would just turn around and kill her."

"Jeez Fhéir, do you think I am really that cruel? You're right though. She is a Lalanne whether she has been locked away her whole life or not. As much as I know it won't help out her life any, I have no choice but to ask Rheyne about it."

"See, she doesn't have a chance."

Faye was getting confused. They said the name Rheyne a lot. Before Duccano claimed it was his older brother; also, he'd said that if it wasn't for him not being here at this moment, Fhéir's life would be doomed. Rheyne was probably the one who'd killed her parents. Rheyne would be told about her and she would be killed, but that was good. At least she would be killed as Faye de Lalanne and everyone would have known she existed.

"Come along girl," growled one of the silver men that had broken the wall, as he came closer to her.

She found her small, skinny arm trapped by his muscular hand. She was going to be taken somewhere. But where? Was she going to die right now? She was forced out of the room so fast she didn't even notice she took her very first step out of the place she'd spent her whole life. Soon she found herself being led up the stairs. She was going to find out what the castle looked like before it was completely burned down. 

Before she knew it she was already totally off the cellar floor of the castle. She looked up ahead and saw a huge light fixture hanging over her head. Surrounding her were frames of pictures, drawers, carpets, and so much more-all burning. This was too much for her. She had never seen this much before in her life.

It was all happening too fast. Everything around Faye seemed to spin and she could feel her body numbing. She heard a deafening ringing in her ears suddenly, black spots began to invade her vision that eventually took over completely. She collapsed into complete darkness.