The royal families of Selin and Arevis are said to have descended from heroes blessed by the Gods, who defeated a terrible evil long, long ago, and brought peace to the land. That is, until a century ago, when they turned their swords on each other. These days, it’s hard to picture a time when they when they were at peace.

 

The heirs to the throne of this generation, however, aimed to change this.

 

The Prince of Arevis had seen the horror of the battlefield and the suffering war left in its wake. It didn’t matter how it started, both sides kept wanting an eye for an eye and the world was going blind. Knowing his history, all there was to look forward were prolonged ceasefires.

 

However, it was the Princess of Selin that dared to reach out to him, wanting to find a long lasting solution.

 

The Princess was was very aware of how the violence affected her people, yet this was not the only reason she desired peace. In fact, she was rather desperate.

Since she was but a child she’d been plagued with terrible nightmares, much different than usual ones. Of the field of battle, pain and tragedy, of things she couldn’t know, and yet the worst was of just a looming, powerful presence she had no words to describe beyond terrifying.

The Royal Mage told her these could be visions, something rare that few people were “blessed” with, but only in times of great impending disaster or very unusual or powerful forces at play. This was not comforting, especially since she couldn’t really fathom what they meant.

Over time, though, she grasped some meaning. Something terrible was coming, and Selin and Arevis would either stand together much as long ago, or perish apart.

 

After some cautious communication it became apparent, whatever the reasons, the heirs wanted the same thing. Eventually, after much discussion, and despite opposition from a fair amount of people on each side, they decided they would marry, merge their two families and kingdoms to finally put an end to the war.

 

Alas, the wedding day ended in tragedy, the Prince killed before the ceremony ended, his assassin evading capture.

 

Arevians immediately assumed it to have all been a plot by the Selinians, and all hope for peace seemed lost. The young Queen was left devastated, having had to both see a man she’d come to see as a friend die, and knowing she couldn’t make his people believe she hadn’t been the one to do it. She was sure conflict would start again, bloodier than ever, and all they’d worked for would be destroyed.

 

That is until she got word from her would-be husband’s younger brother, next in line for the throne, saying he wished to honor his brother’s wishes and go through with the merger.