A young woman was awaken from a deep sleep. She had shot up from her bed, a bead of sweat pouring down her face. She breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath.

‘The nightmare again…’ she thought. ‘Why do I keep having these nightmares?’

She slightly shook her head, trying to push the visions of her recent nightmare out of her mind. But the dark images of her dream would not go away. At least not until the door to her room opened, the light in the hallway, shining into her chestnut brown eyes.

“Kitana?” she heard a woman’s voice say. Kitana adjusted her eyes from the light to look at the person who came in. She was tall with extremely long flowing white hair with a large black strand of hair sleeked back through the middle. She wore an elegant purple robe around her slim body, which was well toned for someone her age. Her pale eyes stared at Kitana with a hint of concern.

The woman sat on Kitana’s bed filled with royal blue sheets, blankets, and pillows. Kitana slightly moved herself over a bit to be closer to the woman.

“Kitana,” the woman said. “I heard you scream, are you all right?”

Kitana looked at her with a bit of confusion at first. She did not remember screaming at all. Perhaps she had done that in her sleep.

“I’m all right mother,” Kitana replied. “I just had another nightmare that’s all.”

“The same nightmare?” her mother asked with curiosity.

Kitana nodded. “I don’t know why I keep having these dreams. I mean, I hardly could even see what is going on. All I can see is dark shadows battling with swords…”

Her mother hushed her softly and pushed her gently back against the bed. “It’s all right now dear. Try to rest now.”

Then, another figure in baby blue servant clothes walked in. “My Queen Sindel, is everything all right?”

Sindel turned around to the young servant. “Everything is fine now Lilah. Princess Kitana only had a nightmare. Oh dear, it’s late, why are you still up?”

Lilah slightly smiled, her blue eyes sparkling a little. “There were some things that still needed tending.”

Sindel too slightly smiled. “Lilah dear, I appreciate your dedication, but you must get some rest. You know I don’t like it when my servants work too hard.”

Lilah slightly bowed to Sindel. “Yes your highness.” Then, she walked out of the room.

Sindel turned back to her daughter. “Rest now. We have a meeting with the Ambassador at noon. Good night my dear.” Sindel got up.

“Good night, mother,” said Kitana. She watched as her mother walked out of the room. Sindel looked over at her daughter and smiled. Then, she shut the door.

Kitana looked up at the white-painted ceiling. The thoughts from her nightmares played in her mind over and over again. Though Kitana loved hearing the comforting words from her mother, this time, it didn’t do anything good.

Kitana was not sure how long she had been staring up at the ceiling, but by the time she turned her head to the window, she realized by the position of the moon that it was near dawn.

Normally, her servants would wake her up for breakfast within an hour after sun-up. Kitana then decided that she needed some fresh air to clear her thoughts from her nightmare. She got herself up and grabbed her heavy brown cloak from her door hanger. She wrapped the cloak tightly around herself to cover her pajamas. Normally, she would braid her very long dark hair back, but she didn’t bother this time. She tucked the straight hair into the cloak, then put the hood over her elegant face. She then took a lantern and lit it, then quietly went out her window and climbed down carefully down the vines on her castle wall.

Ever since she was a child, Kitana and her friends would sometimes sneak through a passageway below ground, which would take her out of the castle grounds and into the woods not too far. It was the only way out without anyone knowing that she had left.

Kitana opened the wooden plank of the passageway, climbed down, then closed it. Kitana held out the lantern to brighten up the dark trail. She slightly bended down a bit, since her height did not match with the trail’s. She then quietly walked for about five minutes down until she reached the end, where another wooden plank was. Kitana knew it was hidden away behind bushes, just like the one back at the castle. She was thankful that only her and her trusted allies knew about the plank even after all the wars fought throughout the years.

She then opened the plank and got herself out. She looked around to make sure no one was around before fully standing herself up and closing the plank. She then walked through the dark woods until she reached an edge of a high cliff, which looked over the sea. It was Kitana’s favorite spot. It was the most beautiful setting of all of her home of Edenia. Down the cliff was a little town. It was not a rich town, but the people there were happy, even if they were extremely poor. By them was the dock where ships of different kinds would park. And by the dock was the large sea, which the sun would rise every morning.

Kitana sat there for a while, watching the sun rise. Sometimes, she would look down at the village to see if anything was going on, even though she could barely see the people down there.

After a while, Kitana realized that it was almost time before the servants would arrive to her sleeping quarters to wake her up. Kitana got herself up and began walking back to the plank.

As she did, she ended up tripping over something. Kitana let out a small yelp as she landed slightly scrapping her knee. She ignored the small pain as she sat herself up to look at what she tripped over. She was a bit surprised to see the object.

“A katana?” she muttered. She crawled over to it and looked at it. The sword would had been a beautiful one, had it not been covered in blood. She looked around a bit before she spotted something that startled her. She spotted a figure in black.

Kitana quickly walked over to the figure to get a better look. ‘How did I not see this person before on my way to the cliff?’ she thought.

She looked at the figure closely, who was not moving. He wore an all black attire with some red on his arms and knees. A clothe went over his muscular chest printed with small Chinese writings on the edges and a large dragon blowing fire. His dark hair was scruffled. Kitana then saw a wound in his abdomen.

Kitana reached over to his neck to check his pulse. She was taken aback when she felt one.

“He’s alive!” she cried. There was still time to help the stranger. Knowing that she couldn’t pick him up herself, she got up and quickly ran back towards the castle. She knew she would get in trouble by her mother later for leaving the castle but she did not care at this point. She only cared now about helping the stranger.

As soon as Kitana reached the castle, her guards pointed their guns at her thinking she was a stranger. Kitana immediately took off the hood of her cloak.

“Princess Kitana!” cried one of the guards.

“I need your help!” Kitana cried. “There is a man in the woods fatally wounded. He’s still alive but barely!”

The guard called out to the others and soon they followed Kitana into the woods, who led them to the stranger.

“Poor fellow,” one guard said. “I wonder if he’ll even make it.”

The guards carefully picked up the stranger and quickly tried to make it back to the castle. As they did, Kitana picked up the katana again. When she did, she noticed a red fabric on the ground. She examined it for a moment before picking it up.

“A blindfold?” she asked herself. “Why would he have that?”

She put the thought aside and quickly followed the guards back to the castle.

To Chapter Two----->