Chapter 1：Welcome Home

Ava slipped the sleeves of her dress on her arm, the soft black fabric teased her skin as the dress hugged her waist. Long black boots ran up her leg to her knees and heels boosted her a few inches off the floor. She was dreading this well-fitted almost as much as she was nervous about her visit to her hometown, but it wasn't something she had control of especially since it was something that had been planned for more than a century. She picked up her jacket hanging on her wardrobe and walked out of her room, the clicks of her heel accompanied by the soft jings of her large earrings bumping into her face.

Ava stepped out of the elevator and onto a long winding pathway in a forest with trees running along the side of the pathway housing light green leaves with white flowers hanging off the branches. The branches spread up and forward reaching for the trees on the other side of the path blocking sunlight from tainting the ground beneath. It reflected a calming green light to shine down on the path and filled the air with a light angelic feel. Bushes populated by white wildflowers grew at the feet of the trees hiding the roots of the tree. The green light from the tree canopy above bounced off the flowers illuminating them with a bright light that reminds one of looking at the white puffy snow on a sunny day. The beauty of her surroundings was the only thing Ava looked forward to when visiting her home, but at the end of the day, it was all an illusion.

Ava continued down the path examining the area around her with slight amusement, this was the first time she actually felt something other than hate and regret in her long life and she had to admit that she wasn't hating this feeling. It was a good thing to be put in a good mood, especially if it's the day of your coronation and wedding, to your brother. Ava slowed to a stop in front of tall, wide gates with gold bars. The mist had formed a thick cloud with a height up to her knees surrounding the gates.

"I'm home," She announced to the air around her. After a few seconds, there is a click and the gates open wide for her.

Ava took a step forward and the mist parted for her to pass-through. The gates started to close behind her as she stopped to stare at the structure in front of her. A fortress rose from the mist stretching up as far as the eye can see. The walls of the fortress, a sturdy design showing no signs of decay or possibly turning into a tumbledown even after 100 centuries of standing. Towers made of glass with gold lining sprout from the sides of the castle each with a gold embedded tip and a king on a throne. To be honest with the amount of beauty the fortress displayed it could even be called a castle and hide all the commotion that happens behind its walls.

Ava continued forward to the tall fortress gold and transparent door and pushed it open. She walked in and closed the doors behind her. In front of her was a long corridor leading her down and down into a large ballroom in which three thrones sat at the front of the room facing the back of the room. The throne in the middle was, of course, the biggest and the most luxuriously decorated and ornate. The second to the right was silver in color with gold accents and very ornate. The third was bronze in color and was definitely the least decorated but Ava's favorite. Its simplicity was one of the things that were basic in this detailed world, her world the one she finally had the pleasure to visit.

"Welcome Isis," A man sitting on the biggest throne exclaimed. The two-winged creatures at his feet purred in agreement, "Or should I call you Ava?"