Guardian of the Crescent Moon

"The consequences of our acts are the true burden we carry."

-Avelina

Evelyn was a princess, but that wasn't all she was. She was also a witch, and a damn good one at that. And she had to keep both identities secret.

Evelyn stood up from her desk and kicked over a chair as she did so. She needed to get out of this room and do something. Why couldn't her parents understand that she needed some time away? They had always been overprotective of her, but now they were watching her like hawks. It seemed like they were trying to keep her inside their home permanently now. She knew it was because of the new threat on the islands, but it still irked her to have them treat her like a child again. None of them let her do anything fun, or interesting. Whenever she went anywhere with them, they surrounded her with guards in case someone tried to abduct her again. The irony wasn't lost on Evelyn either; they were trying to keep her safe by keeping her locked in their house, but if anyone actually wanted to find her, it would be easy for them to do so now. After the recent attack at the Palace, everyone knew who she was and where she lived. She was basically free game now if someone wanted to go after the royal family again. But what could she do about it? Her parents protected her from everything at home; they couldn't protect from everything out there. And besides, whoever attacked them last week had been far too strong for any of the Guards present at the event to handle properly. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew that whoever attacked was stronger than any of their Guards or soldiers.

"Darn it!" Evelyn shouted as she kicked over another chair in anger. She had been confined to one room for weeks now and there was nothing else left in this room to destroy anymore! She stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind herself with an audible thump. The walls shuddered slightly and Evelyn heard an audible gasp from one of the guards outside her door as he jumped back in surprise when her door slammed shut and hit the wall with such force that it made a loud noise doing so. There went one more guard's chance at getting a promotion soon; he would probably be demoted instead after failing to follow orders regarding protecting Princess Evelyn after hearing what sounded like a bomb going off coming from behind the door he was supposed to be guarding... But honestly, did he really think that anything would happen after hearing that noise? That wasn't even close to being loud enough for someone to notice who didn't have enhanced hearing... But whatever - let him get demoted if he wants, who cares? Evelyn thought bitterly as she walked down the hall towards the exit closest to her room while still being inside of their estate's grounds. She had no idea where this exit led exactly because she wasn't allowed out of their house unless there were enough guards present along with one or two members of the royal family with them all times whenever she ventured outside these walls for whatever reason... But hopefully wherever this exit led would get them away from here quickly if someone attacked again... Because seriously, how many attacks could this family take before everyone just died?

Evelyn looked around briefly after exiting through the front door of their house which opened into a small garden area covered by trees overhead that shaded large amounts of sunlight from reaching their property entirely if it weren't for all of these leaves covering them up everywhere else on their land for most parts... But right outside their house there wasn't any shade at all, as if everything had suddenly gotten brighter despite there being no sunrays hitting them directly at all in this place... Maybe they were getting some light reflected off of something nearby? Or maybe this part got more sun than other areas due to some strange variation in weather? Either way, it didn't matter since Evelyn decided that exploring would be far more interesting than hiding away inside while everyone else pretended like everything was okay... Even though things definitely weren't okay right now when it came to Princess Evelyn's life!

Strolling down a winding stone path leading deeper into their estate's gardens towards some kind of pond surrounded by flowers growing wild in bunches near its banks caused by lack of proper maintenance hungrily taking advantage of this opportunity presented itself before her feet caused by neglecting maintenance on this part of their property - something which happened frequently due to how few people usually ventured into this part of their household since no ones lived here apart from themselves and staff that worked here taking care of this area regularly - Evelyn felt like looking around might make things better somehow... Plus even though she had never been out here before because why would any sane person venture further into these gardens than necessary without good reason (namely needing food or water) when only staff lived here who never bothered venturing beyond a certain point into these gardens except for walking down a path leading deeper into these gardens which ended here at a well where water could be drawn from daily should anyone ever find themselves in need thereof - so clearly nobody ever went past that point where staff lived normally - Evelyn felt strangely drawn towards exploring this area even though none of this made much sense logically speaking because if nobody ever went past that point then how did anyone know how far back these gardens extended? Maybe whoever used to live here before them kept better records about what was here and where? Or maybe perhaps whoever lived there originally had visitors occasionally who explored these grounds until they ran away or left without telling anyone? Who knows? Maybe someone just explored without telling anyone and found themselves curious enough about what lay beyond their home grounds so they decided not tell anyone about what they discovered instead?! For all Evelyn knew, maybe someone found themselves living here who wasn't staff working for their family at all! Someone might have arrived saying they were hired by King Sebastian or Queen Eleanor but then turned out not be who they said they were at all!? Well whatever - curiosity killed the cat....but satisfaction brought it back!

So despite all logic pointing away from exploring further into these lands surrounding their home grounds - plus considering how terrified everyone seemed lately whenever someone asked about what lay beyond these grounds prompting everyone asking usually be treated as idiots for doing so - Evelyn still felt like exploring was worth doing despite everything pointing against doing so... Because honestly sometimes doing something risky felt pretty fun! Especially if you weren't supposed to do it! Plus unlike other days where being hidden away inside meant she could spend time safely reading books about magic theory and practice casting spells with difficulty once security finally managed catch up with her after wandering around aimlessly looking for something useful (because honestly every day felt pointless nowadays) - today meant having nothing meaningful left in life worthwhile doing after being confined indoors all day long! So why not explore before something bad happened again?! It might help pass time until something exciting happened again... Even if that never happened again! At least this way Princess Evelyn wouldn't feel quite so useless anymore! In fact maybe exploring might help keep boredom at bay! Hopefully even if nothing exciting ever happened again (which it wouldn't) at least spending time outdoors might help make things feel less boring since after being forced indoors every day feeling trapped seemed like torture while also feeling incredibly boring as well! What would be worse: Being bored or bored AND trapped forever indoors?! What kind of choice is that?! Worse yet: Being bored AND trapped forever indoors OR possibly meeting serious injury or death should someone attack again today?! Ugh! This life sucked sometimes!!!