Chapter One

Life as a prince sucks. And I should know.

My name is Blaine Regem, son of Ian Regem, the King of Western Dragonia, the most boring place to live.

I mean, it isn't too bad. All it really is is a walled off city surrounded by a bowl of mountains. Inside the walls is a huge town. Its a huge checkpoint for travelers who have coins to spare, because everything here is incredibly expensive. It isn't called 'Fortress City' for nothing. The name was my uncles idea.

Centered between all the shops inside the walls is the castle, where me, my dad, and my Uncle Vulcan live together as a family. My mom died in a fire that happened years ago in this very castle, but that's another story. I won't admit life is easy without her here, because believe me, it isn't. I barely even knew her, and dad and Vulcan refuse to talk about her at all. It's frustrating, really.

I often think about how I could stop all the stress going on in my head, and the only thing that comes to mind is the dream every kid has when they hear stories about them...

An adventurer.

They're always setting out on quests to reclaim lost treasure, fight off beasts threatening innocents, stuff like that. I want to be someone like that. Someone who people look to in times when all hope is lost. That's who I want to be.

When I first told my dad and uncle this, Vulcan was all in. He was like, "Kid, that's a great idea! An adventurer, huh? You'll have to train up if you want to get out there in the real world and go do adventuring stuff." Vulcan was always like that around me. Very uncle-y. He could get very serious when it came to battle strategies and defensive protocols, but apart from that, he was a chill guy. My dad, on the other hand, wasn't all in for it.

"You're the prince." he had said. "Your place is here."

So my dad disapproves of me becoming an adventurer. That's his opinion. But my dream is mine. I can be whoever I want, do anything I set my mind to.

I will be an adventurer, no matter who tells me otherwise. But first, I have to get through high school...

I hate going to High School. Every weekday, my dad shakes me up at three in the morning. I blink as hard as I can, but I can't ever shake the feeling that there's glass in my tired eyes.

I stagger around the palace as I prepare for my day. My uncle calls me an elephant because I wake him up at three o'clock because I'm stepping so loud. I don't care to be quiet ... no, I just never remember to be quiet because I'm always tired. I get on my boots, choke down some breakfast, and then I'm off to climb the highest mountain in the bowl around Fortress City. High School, after all.

I climb, and I climb, and I climb. Classmates climb with me. Sometimes someone slips, and sometimes we catch him in time. Other times, we miss completely and he ends up rolling and rolling. We all laugh--it's happened to us all many times before.

Up the path we go. I resent this climb. I want to be an adventurer, not a mountain climber.

"Hey Corbin," I say to my friend one day. "Do you want to take a different path this time?"

"What? Around the mountain? There's a different one?"

"What if we found one?"

"What if we get lost? That's a terrible idea. Or worse--end up missing class. We'll both catch it then!"

"Oh c'mon, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I guess the energy gets used on this climb," Corbin shrugs.

"Alright," I huff. "Guess I'll go alone."

"Wait ... Your Highness, it's dangerous ..."

I'm not listening. I start running off the well-worn path. Excitement races through my arteries. The wild mountain air actually smells sweet for once. How hard can it be? Just get to the top of the mountain. Keep heading up, and I'll get there eventually. Corbin's footsteps pound behind me.

"I don't think this is wise!" he says sharply. "My grandfather says there are dragons on the Other Side."

Today just keeps getting better.