This is working a lot better than I thought. I think I'm definitely making up for what I did before. I think I might have a better chance at being chosen to be queen now. I don't know what happened with Lily when she wouldn't keep fighting.

I mean, I guess I kind of understand why she didn't want to fight a young girl, but it wouldn't take much to stop her from fighting. Surely there was some way she could have gotten the fan away from her and sent her away. It's too bad for her that Vincent finally had to take control and make her keep fighting for us.

I wonder what's going to happen to her. If she had to be controlled and forced to keep going, the master will definitely punish her. Not to mention, she made it harder for me and Vincent by not helping us there, and Vincent couldn't control anyone else the rest of the time because he had to stay focused on keeping her from betraying us and ruining everything.

We've just beaten the last of the rulers. Vincent sends us back to his home. We open the door with the bookmark and find his master standing in the same room he was when we left. Now there's only a small handful of soldiers in the room. Where are the people we trapped?

"Excellent work my children," he says, turning to face us, "We might be able to keep control this time. Lillyana, I must say that I'mvery proud of you for how well you managed to put aside yoru doubts. You all did very well for now. Now, Vincent, are you absolutely sure that you captured everyone who could interfere with this?"

"Yes, sir," he says.

"Excellent, are you three ready to address our people?" the master asks, "After all, if one of you is going to rule in the future, they should know who you are."

The master puts his hand on the screen and in the next moment we're standing in the throne room of an old palace. I don't remember seeing this one when we were capturing the world leaders. Were we even in this one? Where are we?

This one is much simpler than any of the offices or throne rooms we were in before. This one simply has a blue carpet with the same crest on it that the guards in that one throne room had or we had in our school. It's closer to the one in the throne room though. It has more intense colors and the blue tint at the edge of the white light. The crest always had more muted colors and the blue tint wasn't there. I like this version better.

There are tapestries adorning plain white walls. There are three thrones set out for three royals. The center one has a blue cushion and a gold frame. The other two have the same golden frame as the center throne, but they have cushions in red instead of blue. The master lifts his hand and creates a fourth one just like the smaller two.

"What is this place?" I ask.

"This is the palace that the redheads ruled this entire world from all those years ago," the master says, "This was also my mother's palace when she ruled. Now it's become a relic of the past that tourists come to look at. I've only been back a few times to check on it. I made it a point to make sure they kept it as close to how it originally was as possible. I always made sure to keep it this way, even when they wanted to turn it into a museum and add a gift shop. Can you imagine having people add a gift shop to your old family home! Not to mention it would ruin the effect of this beautiful place."

"Why are we here?" I ask.

"This is where my family originally ruled from. It's the palace I would have inherited had it not been for the unpleasantness that happened before it could be mine. It's where the last major superpower ruled from. And I believe that the one before my mother ruled from here too for a time. This palace has become a symbol of power and control. Great rulers have owned it in the past earning it the title of being among the most famous buildings on the planet. It seemed only fitting that we use it since we're becoming the next great superpower. Don't you agree?"

We nod silently.

He walks to the thrones and sits in the center one. He motions for us to sit down in the small ones next to him. We each take a seat. The master sets an eraser on the floor in front of us and a screen just like the one back in the cave rises out of the floor. He puts his hand on it and a camera rises and hovers just above the screen. The master taps his fingers on the arm of his throne three times.

Suddenly the master is wearing a black and white cape over his usual black suit. He also has a golden crown inlaid with amythests, sapphires, and emeralds. I glance at Vincent and see that he's now wearing chain mail under a black shirt. He has a black cloak with a dark red inside. He has a long sword that has each of the major symbols on the hilt. He also has a pair of black boots and a pair of black pants. 

I move on to Lily and see that she's wearing a long black dress with a red underskirt. The black outer dress is mostly lace that has been made into patterns of roses. At the trim of her skirt you can see bright red, the color of blood around her feet. She's wearing a small silver necklace with rubies along the chain. I can just barely see black heels peeking out from under her dress.

I look down at myself and see that I'm wearing a long elegant black dress with big bright red flowers along the hem of the skirt. It has another skirt under it in dark red. The black outer dress has a long slit in it showing off the red skirt. It has long black and red sleeves and what looks like small diamonds along the neckline, the slit, and a few mixed with rubies forming a belt. I  look down at a silver necklace with a heart shaped sapphire outlined with diamonds leaning delicately against my chest. It's all beautiful.

I look at Vincent again, hoping for an answer. He looks just as shocked as I am, but he doesn't turn to look at me. I look at Lily for a moment, she seems baffled.I look at the master for an explanation and so do the other two. The master smiles smugly at us.

"It's the first time you're going to be presented to our new subjects. We might as well look like the royals we are. Are you ready to to become who you were always meant to be?"

We nod. I can't even find words right now. I don't know if what I did tonight was right, but I was told when I got my powers that I was destined for greatness. This must have been what he meant. I am going to be a princess. I might be a queen. This is what I was meant to do. Everything I did was at least okay because it was what I was supposed to do. It must have been right. This is my destiny. It's finally time to become what I was always destined to be.

I turn to the camera and try to look regal as the master claps his hands and it turns on. I see a small red light blink to life on the corner of it and I know we're being broadcast to the whole world.

"Hello, my new subjects," the master says, "Sorry for the inconvenience. I know that all of this is happening rather abruptly, but the time has finally come. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Damien Lewis, the rightful King of this world. Perhaps some of you remember learning in history class that before the redheads took power, there was a queen that owned the world. However, the detail that is often overlooked is that she had a son. He was to be killed just like her. He was only an infant. He had no chance to learn to be a good ruler. He had no chance to prove that he could be better than her. Even so, he was lucky. He was able to be saved and taught to be a good ruler. He had to wait for centuries, so he wouldn't be killed just for existing. He found children to be his successors when his time was up. As most of you may have guessed, I am that young prince, even though I'm not too young anymore and have at last taken my place as King."

I can't believe this is actually happening. I am officially a princess. I can't believe it. Do I look okay? What do they all think of me? I hope I look alright. The whole world can see me. I wonder if I'll make a good ruler. I hope I do. I can't believe this is happening.

"Now that you know who I am," the master continues, "I would like to introduce you all to the children who will one day be my successors. The young lad on my left is Vincent. He has been my apprentice ever since I found him abandoned as a small child. His parents wanted him to die. They couldn't recognize the tremendous power within him, but I could. I found him instead and saved him from suffering the same fate that I almost did. Since then I have trained him as a soldier and made sure he could protect a nation when the time came. I'm greatly proud of what he has become under my care."

Vincent stands up for a moment and bows to the people. He looks just as nervous and excited as I feel.

The master turns to me, "The lovely young lady on my right is Rivka. She only became part of this plan a couple of months ago. She is one of the most powerful people of her generation. She earned great power when she was just a child. Since then she has worked tirelessly to hone it to the point of perfection. Then when I found her and took her under my wing, she has improved even more. She has been incredibly loyal even in the face of adversity and strains on her relationship with Vincent. I have been quite impressed with what she has done since then. She will make a wonderful princess and when the time comes she might make an even better queen. I have complete faith in her to become exactly what she was always intended to be."

I step forward and come to the realization that I'm now also wearing high heels. Great. I stumble just slightly before regaining my balance. I give a small curtsy. I quickly sit back down. I hope the stumble wasn't too noticeable. That would be embarrassing. The first time my subjects see me and I trip. I don't think it was too bad though. I hope it wasn't.

"The other young lady on my right is named Lillyana," the master says, "As you can tell, she is a redhead, the only one in the world, in fact. I believe she may have even been descended from the very same ones who used to rule this world. She became involved around the same time that Rivka did, although she took a bit more convincing. None the less, once she was on our side, she became a very valuable asset. Despite only having her powers for a short while, she has grown incredibly skilled at using them. She will be truly great one day, and may serve you well as both a princess and a queen."

"Someday in the future one of them will be next in line for the throne. Which one will depend on who I deem a better ruler and which one of them you the people like the best. Until that day I am your king. I do apologize for the soldiers that I sent out to you. I really didn't want to. It simply felt like a necessary precaution. After all, history has shown us that most people are afraid of change. The guards are only there to make sure that I have time to prove that I'm a better ruler than my mother without having to deal with an uprising. It's the chance I deserved as a child, but never got. Now I actually have the resources and soldiers to make sure it happens. That's all I have to say for now. I will talk to you again soon, enjoy this new world, I have gifted you with. This is King Damien, signing off."

The camera turns off and sinks back into the screen. The screen sinks back into the floor. The master rises from his throne and turns to face us.

"Well children, I believe you should go get some rest. You will have a busy day tomorrow. I hope you both enjoy your new status. You may each pick a room in this palace to be yours. There will be clothes and other necessities waiting for you. We will sort out the rest of your belongings in the morning. I hope you enjoy the palace. Goodnight, my children. Or should I say your highnesses."

He walks away, probably to whatever room, he has chosen as his own. I turn to look at Vincent.

"Vincent, um, can we talk?" I ask.

"I'd rather not," he says.

"Vincent look, I'm sorry about what I did. I will do anything you want to make up for it! I didn't want to do it! I was only seven! I just did what I was told I had to do! I know that doesn't make it okay and I should have known better and I hate myself for it and I just want to make it up to you! Can we please talk about this at least?!"

"Rivka, did you really not understand how bad what you were doing was?"

"I didn't. I'm sorry!"

"You killed me."

"I didn't want to!"

"I kind of want to kill you to make it even."

"Are you going to?"

"Probably not."

"Why not? I deserve it. I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"Just for this moment, you are safe."

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

"No. I still hate you for it, but I would rather not go through that messy business on this first night, especially with Lillyana standing right there. She's already had a hard night. Besides, I think it might be more fun to do it on camera, that way everyone can see you die. Doesn't that sound fun."

"I won't be queen, and if I do get chosen I will give you the power as soon as I have it. You deserve it more than I do."

"I know I do, but he's still going to choose you or Lily, and believe me, when that happens I will have the power of the throne. It doesn't make much difference if you want to give it to me or not. I think by then I won't have as much issue with just killing you for it. We'll all be a little more accustomed to blood by that point. In any case, if we can broadcast things to the whole world, it might be nice to do that when something is happening. Maybe I could even do it at the coronation when the time comes."

"You just said I was safe."

"For now, but it won't be the same thing if I do it now or then. Now it isn't necessary. You haven't been given real power yet. However, if you do become a queen, and I kill you then, it will be righting a wrong. Also, you're still a kid. If I wait until you become a queen you won't be one anymore. At least I won't be murdering a child."

"Can we at least be civil for now?" I ask, "At least until the time comes for one of us to take the throne."

"Fine, but we aren't friends, and this doesn't mean that I forgive you."

"I know. Good night."

"Good night."

We walk away in different directions. At least we're on better terms now than we were before. I wish I hadn't done what I did. I really didn't want to kill him. I hope I can actually fix things with him. I wonder what's going to happen to Lily. The master must have something planned. I hope he doesn't do anything too bad to her. She doesn't deserve to get hurt.

I hope she finds a way to do something to make up for not following the plan. She would make a better ruler and me or Vincent. She deserves to be a queen more that I do. If she had just kept going along with the plan she would definitely have been the one he chose. I hope she's okay.

I wonder what's going to happen to the world leaders we captured. He must have some plan for them. I hope nothing too horrible happens to them. I guess the best thing that could happen to them is that they would just stay captured for the rest of their lives. That's still pretty bad, but at least they wouldn't be tortured or anything. I hope the people who got set on fire are alright. He probably put the fire out before they could get hurt too badly. I hope so.

I really hope I did the right thing. We must be in the right. It's what I'm supposed to do. I wouldn't have to do it if it wasn't right.

Would I?