The wedding was in a few hours. Traditional royal weddings had the ceremony early in the morning and had a celebration for the rest of the day. She was completely drained both physically and mentally. She had to wash up and get ready for the practice ceremony but she wasn't even sure if she could muster the energy to make that happen.

She had to steel herself. If she didn't the consequences would be severe. This wasn't fair but for the foreseeable future nothing would be fair. While showering, cleaning, and preparing she found herself creating a mantra

"Fight for those who need you"

The words flowed through her, giving her a sense of calm. She needed every ounce of fight she had in her to not only get through today but for the remainder of her life. She had people who were counting on her to fight on, including herself.

She repeated it again and again allowing the words to burn into her. She needed to hear them. After cleaning she sat down at her desk and on the last page of her journal, wrote a letter to her future self. A letter that she would read once her life had improved. Once she could be herself again, it would be an acknowledgment of her accomplishment. After finishing her letter, she heard a knock.

"Princess Zara, It's time,” said the maid. Wrapping her journal and placing it in her desk she got up, took a deep breath, and headed out to fight for her future.

***

It was time for the rehearsal, the ceremony before the ceremony. Zara loathed it, she hated the ceremony, it made her experience the hellish ritual twice. At the moment however, being in the presence of her future family, was most entrenched in her mind. Ruther was just like his family. They were notoriously ruthless, cunning, and not afraid to break you if you got in their way.

There had been many wedding rehearsals before, but this one was special. It only included the bride and her family plus the groom and their family. Since they had been too busy to attend the other rehearsals. Ruther's family consisted of his mother and father, and 3 siblings all of whom as detestable as the next. If there was a set of people that represented the problems with their nation more than her own parents it would be them.

"It's our cue,” Tommel, Ruther’s father, said breaking Zara out of her thoughts. They were at the entrance of the cathedral inside the castle and it was time for him to walk her to the altar to meet Ruther. They proceeded to walk up the aisle and while Zara outwardly played her role. On the inside she was wanting to rebel and flee. This is the moment she had been dreading ever since she was told that this wedding was going to happen. The sooner she learned to suppress that feeling the easier it would be for her, but that was damn near impossible. She was appalled that her situation had come to this but there was no other option.

As she reached the altar Ruther walked down the steps to give her a hand up. Pulling her up they stood upon the altar. She forced herself to look up and maintain eye contact with this creep. The bishop began to begin his speech about the holy matrimony of marriage and other traditional nonsense. She was never one for tradition or ceremony, believing that they were both a waste of time and a waste of resources. This whole thing was a big political play anyways, thinly veiled under the pretense of love. The whole situation angered Zara, but she kept it in. It really felt like that was becoming a theme.

"Do you Ruther Fallengrad, take Zara Ingelmar to be your lawfully wedded Wife and take her under the wings of holy Matrimony" the bishop said.

"I do," Ruther said, staring directly into her eyes. The way he was staring at her made it feel like he was simply happy that he was getting a new plaything, instead of actually getting married. It took every part of her being not to vomit. Even if this ceremony was just practice and not legally binding in any way. It still felt all too real, which made it difficult to stay calm.

"Do you, Zara Ingelmar, accept Ruther Fallengrad to be your lawfully wedded Husband and follow his lead into the wings of holy Matrimony" the bishop said. The subtle change into question did not escape Zara and infuriated her more. It felt as if the very kingdom itself had it out for her. She detested this and all it represented. However, she still had to say it, or consequences would ensue.

"I...do" she said under her breath.

"Dear you will have to speak up,” mother said, “this room is very big, and those sitting in the back won’t be able to hear you.” Oh how she hated that woman, always making every uncomfortable situation worse. After standing in silence for a moment the mother continued in an annoyed voice "That was an invitation for you to do it again, I hope you're not so dense that the basics of communication escape you." She wondered if her mother even knew how not to criticize others, but she didn’t place too much hope on the answer.

"You may now kiss,” the bishop said. Ruther reached his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. She closed her eyes, despite every fiber of being protesting she could not refuse his advances in front of all these people not after the threats he made and knowing her parents' reaction. Her body rejected it, her mind spinning with fury and horror. She didn’t want this, but if she spoke up. She would be ridiculed and punished. This was her breaking point, she would fight for her life till the bitter end. Unfortunately, she would still have to play it smart however, even if it was the most horrible thing she’s ever done. The two seconds of the kiss were perhaps the longest two seconds of her entire life. They were by far the most repulsive thing she has ever had to do. She would never stand for any of this in private, barely allowing it at this ceremony.

She heard clapping from the members in the audience.

"Zara I do hope there is nothing like that in the actual ceremony,” mother said, "we can't have you embarrassing us." before Zara could give her a piece of her mind the wedding advisor spoke.

"Can all members of the wedding party please vacate the hall, there is still some preparations to be done. You will be called when the time comes" The wedding party headed into the waiting hall to meet with the other participants of the wedding and to wait for the guests to arrive. The pit in her stomach was getting bigger and the dread of the ceremony was looming over her.

***

Guests had finished pulling in and the ceremonies were to begin momentarily, Zara and Mary were waiting outside the cathedral doors for the final preparations. They had been mostly silent, and made some light small talk as the area buzzed around them. Once the area quieted down, only Mary and Zara were out in the entryway. Doors were shut as the guests had finished pouring in and final preparations were being made. Mary turned to her and grabbed her hand.

"I know you're strong, I know you'll be able to fight and persevere.” Mary looked so stunning right now, she was more animated than usual. Normally she had a reserved nature to her, but today was different. She smiled back at her.

“I really do appreciate you Mary, I realize now more than ever. Just how much you’ve done for me.” Zara felt lifted from being with Mary. Even if the ceremony decidedly crushed her spirits, they'd been brought back, but she knew this couldn’t last. She had to tell Mary the bad news.

“I have to go back to the Fallengrad’s after the wedding celebrations,” she said. Mary dropped the smile.

“You can’t be serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t.” She would have little influence there. The only long distance communication that civilians were allowed was usage of the mail system. There has been some research into long distance communication, but of course she had never seen anything about it. All messages that went in and out of the House would be monitored and checked. Was this unethical? Yes. Did she hate them for it? Also yes. There was a silence between them, and then Mary grabbed Zara embracing her.

“I’ll fight for you, I’ll do whatever I can to make your life easier. I can’t lose what I just found.” Mary said and began to cry. Zara was too overwhelmed with emotions to cry. She wasn’t sure how long she would be away, and when she returned what would it look like. This was a disaster.

After a while a voice called to them. “Places please, Lady Mary please come this way,” the wedding advisor said. Could she ever find her at a convenient time? Zara was starting to think that wasn’t possible. Mary whispered one last thing in her ear before leaving.

“I love you, Zara” and she whispered back.

“I love you too Mary”

Feeling Mary leave the hug and leave into the cathedral, it felt as if a part of her left. Something she found moments ago taken away from her. Devastated she just sat there for a moment, until she heard the bells ring, signaling the start of the ceremony.

***

After what felt like an eternity, The doors to the cathedral opened, and Tommel was there to take Zara’s arm and walk her down the aisle.

The music from the organ in the cathedral resonated through the entire space, shaking her bones. The Organ took up the entire back half of the cathedral wall with a towering stained glass window, showcasing the goddess, above it. The rest of the walls were lined with banners with the crest of the royal family on one side and banners with the crest of the house of Fallengrad on the other. Zara walked forward, head held high with feigned confidence. This was the start of a lot of obstacles, ahead.

As she stepped down the aisle she couldn’t help but notice that on the window she saw a small shadow that got bigger and bigger. With a loud crash the window shattered revealing a big scaly beast.

It was a goddamn dragon.

A dragon had interrupted the wedding. An inhuman creature had infiltrated the capital city. The only thing she knew about dragons was that they were as ferocious as they were hungry, and they were always hungry.

The dragon charged in through the window landing on top of the organ and let out a blood curling roar. The Dragons gray scales reflecting the sunlight, and eyes panning the room looking for something. Everything had broken out into chaos. Tommel ripped his hand away from Zara and ran straight out of the church, soon everyone followed. Zara was stunned for a moment, unable to fully understand the position that she was in. This was the first time she had seen a dragon.

How the hell had a dragon crashed the wedding? The military is supposed to watch for these sorts of things, and a freaking dragon shouldn't be that hard to spot.

"RUN, ZARA" she heard Mary shout as she hurried toward her, and as she shouted that Mary’s hand grabbed Zara’s. She saw everyone else was already ahead of her, or left via the back entrance. As she took a few steps, her foot got caught on her dress and she stumbled forward, falling on the ground. Mary fell forward as well. They ended up on either side of the threshold of the cathedral, with Zara inside. As she tried to stand up and move forward she saw a line of fire trace the outline of the door and then with a bright flash of light and heat, the door was engulfed in flames, there was no way for her to leave.

“ZARA!” She heard Mary shout.

“MARY! JUST RUN I’LL GET OUT SOME OTHER WAY” she shouted back. Hearing her retreat she focused back on the dragon. Who looked right back at her, it felt as if it was trying to say something until. The dragon suddenly leapt onto the cathedral grounds and opened its maw. Fire was forming in the dragon's mouth. On pure instinct she dived behind the pews of the cathedral to get out of the way of the fire blast, but one never came. Looking up for the seats she saw a big orb above the dragon. The orb had a glasslike quality to it, underneath the surface fire was swirling around. It was beautiful, but also extremely terrifying.

The only way for her to escape was to escape via the back entrance. She started crawling under the pews and tried to make her way around, so the dragon wouldn’t notice her. However when she looked behind her she saw that there were two tendrils of fire moving towards her. They looked like the tentacles of an octopus, except perfectly rounded at the end. She tried to get away from the tendrils, but she wasn't quick enough. She felt one coil around her leg and the smell of singed fabric filled the air. The dragon roared once more and the tendril pulled her allowing the second one to secure its grip. The pull wasn't quick but it was powerful. As Zara was being dragged she grabbed anything she could to prevent herself from being taken, but her strength was overpowered.

She was pulled out of the pews and was being dangled upside down in front of the orb of fire which had grown even larger; it was the size of the dragon's head. Running out of options, Zara started yelling.

"PUT ME DOWN, YOU'LL REGRET THIS". Her screaming was cut short when the tendrils suddenly swung her away from the fire orb and then swung her back releasing her so that she flew right into it. After she made impact with the orb of fire, she thought she heard the word “Sorry”, but the sound of moving fire overpowered her mind and then all went blank.