The Last Queen
Prologue
Written March 2003.

As Seria gazed upon the glowing sword that was entombed within a crystal case suspended in the air within the walls of her manor, she felt an urging to explore her surroundings. The vile depths of her adopted homeland, Arboria, beckoned to her and called her name, whispering to her that the history of its origins was close to her.

She stood up, heading into the forest that bordered her house. She had never ventured too far into the forest, for fear of the wild things that could dwell in it. Right now, however, that fear was overcome by curiosity. She wanted to know what had made Arboria, once a kingdom of great strength, into a wasteland, ruled by power hungry kings and even greedier advisors.

The same king and advisors had banned all non-human races from the cities recently, which was why she, as an elf, had been forced to move into this part of Arboria, a place where trees grew, but the ground was still poisonous. The ground was killing the trees, and no one knew or cared but her.

Hours later, just as she was ready to give up her search, a strange bright ruby glow burst forth from the peripheral of her right eye. As she gaped in astonishment, moving towards that glow, a portal appeared out of nowhere, shimmering in the air.

It could be a trap, she thought. But then, no one knows that I am here. And it doesn’t make any sense for someone to waste so much energy as to create this kind of doorway here. They say in tales that magicians of old could create them with a wave of the hand, but we no longer possess that power. Just another example of the wastage of the current kings.

Stepping into the portal, then out of the thin air, the first thing that Seria noticed was a faintly glowing trapdoor at the ceiling five feet above her with a ladder hanging off it. She blinked upon hearing Melancholy's familiar, if faint voice greeting wandering adventurers cheerfully, and muffled footfalls from above her.

"Hmm, i'd never knew that a secret room existed below Melancholy's room.." she mused aloud.

Finding none, she climbed the ladder. When she reached the room on top, all she saw was a dusty tome, lying open on a nearby table, the only object to adorn this little hide-away, other than a long ladder of oak leading up to the trapdoor.

She nearly gasped in surprise as she gave the book a glance. Flipping to the cover, the title on the tome read simply "Iseria".

Iseria, she thought. The last non-human monarch of Arboria. Also, not so coincidentally, her death marked the decline of Arboria.