Thalaree was oddly quiet this time of year; the markets were empty save for a few stalls selling the essentials. The young prince Jakob sat by his window, enjoying the quiet. He found the silence to be very therapeutic. He breathed in the fresh morning air, humming in delight. He was more than happy to hide out in his room all day until the sun went down, however his peace was rudely interrupted by a hard knock on his door. He groaned, stepping away from the window before asking who it was.

"It's your mother young sire; she wants to see you" a guard called out, not daring to open the door as it was against the rules unless Jakob said otherwise.

"Give me a moment" Jakob grumbled, sighing heavily.

Of course he didn't want to get his mother upset because he'd rather not suffer the wrath of the Queen of Thalaree at this hour.

Jakob slowly opens the door to find the guard is no longer there. He frowns, wondering why the guard wasn't at his post until he saw that just down the hallway stood his mother wearing her best gown and a hard look on her face. He walked towards her, his steps not faltering in the slightest even as he felt the slight fear of his mother's anger rising deep within his gut.

"You need to get out more Jakob" she said sternly, making direct eye contact with her son.

Jakob gulped under her harsh gaze, "what have I done now?"

"Nothing; but that's exactly the problem!" she sighed, rubbing her temple in frustration, "you're next in line for the throne, and you need to be out and about talking with the people" she waved her hands around to get her point across.

"Yes, I know all this mother; I have a responsibility to the Kingdom, blah blah blah" Jakob rolled his eyes, "when it comes time to step up, I'll be a responsible king"

"Will you be tough enough to protect the Kingdom from the foul monsters that we swore to protect our world from?" She suddenly asks, causing Jakob to tense up.

"Don't even mention those things to me" he shuddered, moving to walk past his mother.

He stormed off, not wanting to hear another word but finding himself thinking about the Crows; nightmarish creatures that his mother was referring to when she had said 'monsters'. So, maybe he wouldn't be all that great of a King then, if he was so terrified of the Crows. His steps faltered as he came to that sudden realisation, inwardly cursing at himself.

He then decided he needed to get out of the suffocating confinement that was the Thalaree castle; it was driving him mad and he wanted to be outside in the fresh cool air, then his thoughts wouldn't be so dark. He wandered down the stone steps that the servants normally used which led out the back of the castle, stopping occasionally to say good morning to the cooks and butlers that passed by. He was always appreciative of the servants who worked at the castle; it was one of the things that made people think he would be a good King; what he lacked in strength, he made up for with his compassionate disposition.

Once he reached the door that led to the outside, he swung open the dark wood door and smiled brightly, closing his eyes as he took in the smell of fresh air. He stepped out into the open after a few moments, feeling the long, pale green grass brush up against his legs. He lifted his foot, taking off his boot, and then the other, to feel the soft, muddy light brown soil under his bare feet; a happy hum escaping him.

He leaves his boots behind as he wades through the tall grass, his arms limp at his sides and his hands spread out, feeling the soft grass between his thin fingers. He heads towards Thalaree's lake; a massive circular body of water where the mermaids and merman resided. The water sparkled underneath the bright sun, making it easy to find even as it was mostly hidden due to how tall the grass had grown; the recent rain having worked wonders on a previously dried out Thalaree.

There was the sound of birds chirping and flying overhead when Jakob reached the lake, standing at the edge as he stared out across the shimmery water. He felt completely at ease out in the open, with the cool wind blowing his hair back just a little. He hums in delight, sitting down in the dirt. His mother would now than likely be furious at the fact that he's dirtied his best clothes, but he really couldn't care any less.

Just then, a head peeks out from the water; long, sea green hair floating behind them. Jakob smiles a little, waving.

"Hello Nivera!" Jakob calls out.

Nivera waves back before ducking back under the water, swimming over to Jakob at a quick pace. Nivera raises her head and upper body out of the water beside Jakob, resting her arms on the dirt.

"It's been a while since you've last visited young prince" Nivera pouts.

"I apologize Vera; I've been holed up in the castle for these past weeks because of the rain" a heavy sigh escapes the prince as he leans his head back to look up at the clear blue sky.

He saw little black birds flying closer than usual to the ground, and he reached out a hand to see if one would land on it. When none did, he dropped his hand back into his lap, making a face of disappointment. Nivera giggles at Jakob's expression, the prince's pout deepening upon hearing her high pitched giggle.

"What's so funny?" Jakob huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Your expression" Nivera smiles, splashing a small bit of the cool lake water onto Jakob.

"Hey! Don't do that!" Jakob exclaims.

"Oh hush; your clothes are already filthy, so what is a tiny bit of water going to do hm?" Nivera teases.

Jakob's mouth gapes open and closes like a fish, causing Nivera to fall into a fit of giggles. Jakob eventually concedes that the tiny bit of water splashed onto him won't do much compared to the mud that would surely stain his clothes. A tiny smiles break out on Jakob's lips as he joins Nivera in loud laughter.

He doesn't know how long he's out there sitting and enjoying Nivera's company, but it has obviously been a few hours before he hears his mother's loud, booming voice. Upon hearing his mother call out to him, his gut sinks in fear.

"She sounds angry" Nivera blinks, slowly turning to Jakob, "I had better go then"

"Good idea" Jakob mutters as he quickly pushes himself off the ground, looking down at himself.

He cringes at the amount of mud he has on him, knowing his mother would be far less than happy, but he still managed to hold his head high as he walked towards his mother. His hands were closed into fists, but they trembled. Mariana Rein was definitely not a woman to be trifled with, and she seemed highly disappointed at the amount of mud was on Jakob's clothes.

She shakes her head, her eyebrows furrowed as she stares down at her son. She huffs in distaste, turning around as she wordlessly gestures for him to follow. Only then, when his mother's back is turned, does his head drop in shame.

"Honestly, sometimes I wish you were born a girl!" Mariana says, "we were, at least, hoping for a girl. At least then she'd be able to carry my strong genetics"

"And who says that I don't!?" Jakob exclaims, clearly offended by his mother's words.

"Your failure to be a man is proof enough" she glowered, "you hardly leave your room, and whenever you do, you always come back covered in filth. You act as if you are a child, Jakob August Rein"

Jakob winces at the use of his full name, wanting nothing more than to quietly sink into the soft dirt and never be found again, but he knew he had absolutely no chance of escaping whatever punishment his mother thrust upon him, which usually entails him going into town and greeting the townsfolk, and perhaps picking up a bouquet of his mother's favourite flowers.

However, though it was true that he did act like a child, you couldn't really blame him; he was a sheltered child whose parents would never allow him to play with the other children, and his knowledge came mostly from the books he read. He was always fascinated with the world's history, and the rise and fall of the world over a thousand years past. He loved everything about it, except for the nightmare beings known as the Crows. They were a hideous race that existed purely to wreak havoc on the world when it becomes weak, and Thalaree would ultimately be the first to go if the Crows were to ever attack.

He had also read about the infamous Alana Flare, and her fear inducing wrath during the War of the Fallen. They say she was blessed by the Goddess Mihaela herself, and that it was Mihaela's wrath instead of her own, but others say she was cursed at birth by the God of the Underground, Mikaelis. No one really knows the full truth about her not her family history, only that the Flare line was rumoured to have begun as far back as the First War.

In the distance, he hears giggles and splashing coming from the lake that they were getting farther and farther away from, and Jakob pouts. When they re-enter the castle, Jakob goes to retreat to his room but is stopped by his mother. Her harsh glare causes shivers to run down his spine as he stared up into her dark green eyes.

"I'm not going to punish you this time, but you had better go and change before your father sees you in such a state" Mariana tells him.

Jakob makes a noise of agreement, and promptly rushes up to his room. He doesn't particularly want to change at all; rather he wants to lock himself in his room and never come out as per usual, but he knows he has to be out and about within the castle at least, and perhaps he could manage to help the cooks, just to keep himself busy and not be completely bored out of his mind.

As he rushes to change, he sees the open book on his bed and reaches to close it. However, his eyes lock onto the drawing it was open on; a very detailed and realistic illustration of Alana covered with blood as red as her hair, and with the dead Fallen surrounding her and her axe held in her right hand. The way the artist drew her expression caused a shiver to run through Jakob; her eyes were a black abyss of fierceness and killer intent, her face twisted in a fearsome glare.

Jakob was terrified of his mother, sure, but this one picture could induce nightmares for months if you looked at it too long.

He slams the book closed, throwing it back onto the bed and calmly walking out of his room. On his way to the throne room, he couldn't help but think about the fiery princess. Of course, not in the way of a crush, but in a way of respect. She was about 600 years old, and would be far wiser than Jakob. She could possibly make him bow to her with a simple look, though both of them were royalty.

There was also the fact that a small part of Jakob wanted so badly to travel to Laanfier. He wanted to see what it looked like with his own eyes, to taste the food and to breathe in the warmth of the air. Most of all, he wanted to see the ever bubbling Volcano; the one that had bubbled and spat for the past few millennia. It was the main attraction of Laanfier, besides the End Of Summer Fire Festival which was currently happening.

In Thalaree, Jakob could see the beginnings of the cool change of Winter; the biting winds that blew off the lake were one sign, and the leaves falling from the trees were another. Thalaree also experienced snowfall in Winter, although not as badly as Brindor did.

Jakob found his mind wandering to the kingdom in the mountains. Brindor had no leader, and instead was home to a multitude of creatures besides Demons and Vampires. They were a very spiritually driven kingdom, and rather looked to Mihaela as their sole leader. Because of this, their army, though smaller than most, was made up of mostly female warriors. They believed females to be stronger than males, which to the rest of Arraila, was extremely odd and unnatural.

To Jakob, it didn't seem that weird. Jakob grew up believing strongly that females could be just as strong, if not stronger than males. He looked at his mother and saw a chained down warrior; chained down by the beliefs of Thalaree. Then, he looked at illustrations of Alana and saw a warrior who had reached another level above anyone else; he saw strength and power there.

A small part of Jakob wished he could be that strong, but he knew that was near impossible now. All he could do was hope he'd somehow turn out to be an okay king one day...