Prologue Youthful Bonds
The Tragedy of Aryus Ryth’enir
The scene opens to a bright and cheerful day at court. Lords and Ladies talk amongst themselves in regal attire as the young princess and the visiting princes play.
Narrator: As our story begins, we glimpse the past. The royal woe that is present does not yet trouble the young princess and two princes that play the game of kingsmen and thieves.
The court around them whispers of a rumor most concerning, of a darkness spreading east and black flames that keep burning.
Yet none of that bothers the Falls Prince with raven hair, nor the platinum-haired princess with skin quite fair.
Nor the sun-kissed prince from the shores of Venustas, his golden blonde locks quite the dapper illusion.
All three young children gather behind the throne.
Young Prince Daodyn: (in a mischievous voice) Go on. I bet she won’t notice.
Young Prince Aryus: (peering out from behind the throne)
Young Prince Aryus gestures to one of the ladies in the court, and her hat erupts into flame.
Young Princess Adara: (watching from behind the throne) It worked! I can’t believe you can do fire magic!”
The three young royals snicker wildly as they run away. The lady of the court smells the smoke, and the others around her panic to put out the flames. Meanwhile, Adara’s father, King Astarion, watches them without amusement as they run off.
Act I: A Marriage in the Name of Peace
Scene 1: Youthful Love
In the gardens of Arynthia, the air is thick with the scent of blooming flowers. Adara and Aryus stroll through the vibrant paths, their hands brushing lightly.
Narrator: As the years passed, the bond between Prince Aryus and Princess Adara grew, while their close companion, Prince Daodyn, drifted away from them.
Prince Aryus: (looking at the garden walkway) You’re seventeenth birthday is but days away. Do you believe there will be suitors at your ball?
Princess Adara: (blushing) I hope not. My father sounds insistent on a marriage happening soon. My mother remains silent on the matter.
Prince Aryus: (meeting her gaze) Then I will most certainly be there.
Princess Adara: (Smiling, she takes his hand) Then I shall look for you.
They exit stage left.
Narrator: Little did they know what future awaited them.
Scene 2: A Birthday for a Princess
The scene opens to a ballroom full of guests dancing to a string quartet’s delightful music.
Narrator: Princess Adara celebrates her seventeenth birthday during which her father has decided to present her with suitors from Valyrian lands. Prince Aryus, to Adara’s dismay, has been excluded from this list due to his heritage and their once cruel ways.
Prince Aryus: (watching Adara from afar as her father presents her to potential suitors) If only there was a way to change the King’s mind. I cannot change the history of my line, nor the destruction of a wayward god, but his way is not mine. If only he could see that, I would be with her.
Prince Daodyn: (approaching from behind) Why do you pine for her so endlessly? To marry so young. I see not the point.
Prince Aryus: If you cannot see her light, then blind you must be. For there are no greater rays that I have ever seen.
Prince Daodyn: It is not the rays which you should be chasing, my friend. Come. Enjoy the party. For all good things must come to an end.
The stage darkens.
Scene 3: The Announcement
The scene opens to the ballroom where the lords and ladies have gathered for an announcement. Princess Adara stands beside her father, the King, and on his other side, was Prince Daodyn.
King Astarion: (Speaking loudly to the crowd) It is with great honor that I announce the betrothal of my daughter, Princess Adara, to Prince Daodyn of Venustas.
Light clapping from the crowd.
King Astarion: This union will bring Arynthia and Venustas together, forming an alliance never seen before in the Realm. For too long we have been embroiled in war of our own making. Through this marriage, we will prosper and devote ourselves to the restoration of our true roots as mages.
A louder applause erupted from the crowd.
Princess Adara looks down, aware she has lost any chance of changing the King’s mind. In the shadows, Prince Aryus slips away.
Scene 4: The Falls
The waterfalls roar in the background of the throne room where Prince Aryus is alone.
Narrator: Prince Aryus is back in Raven Falls, his heart broken, and his dreams shattered.
Prince Daodyn joins him in his private moment of despair.
Prince Daodyn: Dear Aryus, you surely do not still mourn your ill-fated love. It’s done, it’s over, move on and find fun! How I wish I were you, free to love and to choose. I tried to resist, but my father made clear—should I refuse to marry her, war would be near.
Prince Aryus: (sorrowful and confused) War? What war? Tensions there are not. He’s found an excuse that has torn us apart.
Prince Daodyn: (sighing) Something of the west, the folk from across the sea. He believes they are weak, but he cannot see the forest for the trees.
Prince Aryus: What do you mean? What forest? What trees?
Prince Daodyn: He believes this alliance, a union of two beasts, of Venustas and Arynthia, will quell the coastal city, where the dead souls feast. He says Rykanshir is vulnerable, and will not survive, that this will bring them to ruin, unless they seek the souls that are still alive.
The lights dim, and the two friends share an ominous look as the curtains close.
Act II: In Love and War
Scene 1: The Throne Room of Venustas
The curtains open to the throne room where King Daodyn sits with his wife, Queen Adara. It is a party being held with diplomats from all over the Realm and some Elven delegates from the West joining them to celebrate.
Narrator: A few years have passed since the marriage took place.
King Aryus has been busy, and a visit he has not paid.
Through marriage and diplomacy, war was stalled once more.
The first child of the royal couple has been born, and as he turns one year old, the entire kingdom celebrates.
There is, however, an odd tension in the court.
King Daodyn: (sitting at his throne beside Adara) I’m surprised the western courts sent diplomats. They haven’t been on this continent for decades.
Queen Adara: (wearing the amulet of the Saints) It is because of our marriage. And the amulet.
King Daodyn: (he looks to her amulet) You don’t believe those stories, do you?
Queen Adara: I don’t know. But it appears the elves do.
King Daodyn: (turning his attention to the elven dignitaries) We must speak with them then. Learn what they know.
Queen Adara: Do as you will, but I will not go.
King Daodyn: I need you to stay. What hurries you so?
Queen Adara: To the prince, my King, or do you forget—your first-born, your heir, whom you’ve only thrice met?
King Daodyn: (pausing and turning his attention to Queen Adara) Of course I remember. He consumes all your time. But that is not why he is there, and he looks quite fine.
Queen Adara peers at her infant son in the hands of his nanny.
King Daodyn: It is Aryus you seek, your first love, your desired seed.
Queen Adara: (still and stoic) Will you stop me then, if it bothers you so?
King Daodyn: I care not for whom you desire, but for this, and only this, it is you I require. See to this matter then do as you will, for your hold on him is mine that you do strengthen still.
Angry, Queen Adara rises and goes to the Elven dignitaries with King Daodyn.
Narrator: And so, despite her attempt to love a man who did not love her, Adara realizes she cannot change the man that Daodyn is.
Scene 2: The Hidden Garden of Arynthia
King Aryus and Queen Adara meet in the hidden garden, alone. They embrace and share a passionate kiss.
Narrator: After two winters apart, the ill-fated lovers reunite.
King Aryus: Your presence is unexpected. What does this mean, my love? I’ve missed you so, and to taste your lips is as welcome as the first ray of light after the long darkness finally breaks.
Queen Adara: I’ve missed you, my love. My days in this sunbathed city have been the darkest I’ve ever known.
I’ve tried, how I’ve tried, but there’s nothing within him but thick blood and hard bone.
Love—it’s not there, not anywhere, not within him, not without, in any shape or any form, for me or my son to find.
Our child, bless him, Daodyn’s and mine, has at least brought me joy of a different kind.
But alone I am here, my heart no longer mine.
It is you, dark prince, for whom I doth pine.
The ill-fated couple share a kiss.
Narrator: In their hidden sanctuary, they stole a moment that had been forbidden to them, setting into motion a tragedy that would end in destruction for all.
The lights fade, and the curtains close upon the troubled lovers.
Scene 3: The Fall of Rykanshir
The stage is set with remnants of battle—broken weapons, tattered banners and bodies lie amidst the rubble of a great city. Daodyn, Aryus and Adara are observing the aftermath of a great battle in Rykanshir.
Narrator: Years have passed, and Aryus and Adara’s affair stayed aflame.
More children born—to both houses they came.
For King Aryus too, had now shared his own name—but it came at her cost, and to Daodyn’s gain.
As it worked out, the King’ friendship thus grew, for they shared not only wives, but their battle mages too.
Daodyn took the Realm to war, in a slow gentle gait, drawing his allies in, to their deaths, or to fame.
For that is how war, no matter how far, draws you into its’ core, where the darkness then touches, the truth and the lies, of all that it clutches.
King Aryus: Was this the result you desired, Daodyn? Was this the forest that your father could not see? It was this very day that he sought to avoid! It was never I who was ill fit for your Queen. This massacre is yours to claim.