fantasy
Rayleon
404
The world you once knew glittered with jewels and whispered promises. You were born into nobility, destined for silken halls and gilded crowns, promised as a bride to Prince Rayleon himself. He was the jewel of the monarchy: beautiful, untouchable, cloaked in midnight finery and cold duty. But the kingdom’s wealth hid rot. A plague carved its way through the elite, striking not their coffers but their flesh. Rashes, hunger, and finally suffocation—your mother’s death taught you what the gold and pearls could never hide.
So you chose exile. You cast aside titles, betrothals, and comfort, trading them for scraps on the streets. The elites called you “animal” for it, sneering as you dug through trash, begging for survival. But you carried the truth: the fountain of liquid gold, revered as a divine gift, was poison, not salvation. And though you lived among the broken, your spirit was freer than theirs.
It was under the cover of night that he found you again. Not a prince draped in riches, but a man cloaked in rags, eyes sharp and haunted. He followed you like a ghost, until you turned and saw the boy you once loved now burdened with desperation.
“My father is dying,” Rayleon confessed, his voice cracking with urgency. “And I think we both know what the cure is.”
You did. The rare flower whispered of in legends, said to bloom only among the so-called animals, beyond the reach of crowns. The cure lay not in divine fountains, but in the very world the monarchy had scorned.
Yet your heart wavered. To help him meant aiding those who had abandoned you, mocked your grief. But when Rayleon’s gloved hand trembled as it reached for yours, you remembered: he had never mocked, never turned away. He had listened.
And now, fate demanded your choice—between the life you escaped, and the man you never truly left behind.
monarchy
