Princess Selena looked out from her balcony, her gaze affixed to the cold winter night. She watched the small snow crystals fall from the heavens and dance in the gentle, cool breeze. She shivered, the thick blanket draped around her shoulders was not enough to keep her warm. She sighed and trudged back into her room. She brushed a lock of her slick black hair behind her ear as she traveled to the large bookcase in the corner of the room. She grabbed a nearby torch from the wall, it’s bright and warm colors glowing onto Selena’s face. The fire crackled and sputtered as she inched closer toward the bookshelf. She grabbed a single book from the shelf and pulled it back ever so delicately. The wall behind the bookcase started to rumble. It slowly shifted to the side, revealing a secret passage. Selena stepped into the dark, old passageway, and the bookshelf slid back into it’s proper position.

Selena sighed, her dense breath pushed gently against the flame of the torch. Her heart was pounding rapidly as she stepped further into the passageway. She was nervous, for she was finally going to finish the potion she had been experimenting with for weeks. Selena was very interested in alchemy, and she wanted to use it for a good cause. Selena knew her mother and father, Queen Alinor and King Williferd, would surely not approve of her performing such magic, so that’s why she did it in secret.

She ventured deeper into the long hallway, the only light was the flames of the torch wavering with each heavy breath Selena took. She reached the end of the dim corridor, a small wooden door in front of her. She carefully pulled a small, bronze key from the satchel slung around her arm, and slid it into the keyhole with ease. She twisted it delicately, until she heard a soft ’click’ and the door loosely opened. Selena stepped inside the room and took a deep breath. The small room was illuminated with more torches, but the flames quickly starting to die out. She walked over to the desk at the very end of the room and placed the torch aside in a small holder. She opened a cupboard and pulled out a thin, crystal vial, filled with a purple bubbly liquid. Selena pulled out a book from her satchel as well and skimmed through the pages. She stopped at the right page and set the book down, the pages still open.

Selena crushed enchanted nuts and grinded them into powder. She plucked petals off of a tiger lily and juiced the fragrant liquid from them and poured it into the crystal vial. She poured in the nut powder as well, and lastly, took a bottle of red wine and poured in a single drop into the vial. The concoction in the vial turned a dark red color and fizzed. Selena had finally finished her spell. The only problem was, she had no idea what it did. The potion in the spellbook she had didn’t have a name or a purpose, curiosity beckoning Selena to try to find out. She set the vial back in the holder it was in before and picked up the torch again. She went back through the passage the way she came, and the bookshelf slid open once more. She walked to the rocking chair in the opposite corner of the room and sat, as the bookshelf slid back into the proper position. She remembered the old times when her mother used to read her stories and sing her soothing lullabies to her when she was younger. Now Selena reads by herself in her bedroom and sings herself to sleep. She enjoyed it, though it could get rather lonely sometimes. But she was usually always lonely, King Williferd and Queen Alinor always attending meetings she was never allowed to go to. Her parents simply thought she was too young, though she’d be turning 16 years of age soon. A soft knock was heard at Selena’s door. "You may enter." she said.

Her mother opened the door and emerged into the room. "Did the meeting finish?" Selena asked.

"Yes." her mother replied. "It just ended."

"So why did you come here?" Selena asked.

"I know you have been doing alchemy." her mother stated.

"What?! N-no!" Selena lied. "I don’t...it’s not...what’s alchemy?"

"Selena." her mother began. "Alchemy is dangerous business, and it’s not something you should be handling. You are simply too young for this kind of magic, do you understand me?"

"But mother!" Selena exclaimed. "You say I’m too young for everything! Too young to attend meetings, too young to go out into the forest, now too young to do alchemy?!" she knew it was not right to talk back to her mother, but she did so anyway.

"Selena, darling, please just do as I say and stop brewing these potions?" her mother sighed.

"Fine..." Selena said, but began to bargain. "But only if I can attend the next meeting--"

"Selena!" the queen snapped.

"Okay..." Selena pouted.

Her mother swiftly left the room without another word to be said. Selena groaned in annoyance. ’Too young...’ she thought. ’Too young for anything. I’m turning sixteen years in a couple of months! I’ll be practically an adult, why can’t mother see that?’ The now saddened Selena stepped out onto the balcony again. But instead of the cold winter air, she was met with a rush of warmth, and a bright luminescent glow. She squinted to see that over by the forest, a fire erupted.