Prologue

On the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year of the seventh century on the seventh planet orbiting the seventh star of a seven-star constellation, there was born a girl.  This girl, as she entered adulthood, would display great courage in the midst of great adversity.   Her name was Mairien Pure, the youngest daughter of King Baron of Veritas Pure and his wife, Queen Claier.  Mairien was of noble blood, the Pure family having sat on the throne of Veritas Pure from the beginning of Beulah Prime’s�"their home planet�"recorded history. 

The youngest of seven children, Mairien was doted upon and adored by all of her brothers and sisters.  Her four brothers protected her feverishly; her two older sisters coddled her constantly.  She was the quintessential youngest child, precocious and spoiled…but not grossly so, for the mothers and fathers of Veritas Pure taught their children right from wrong, good from evil.  All the people of Veritas Pure lived lives of activity and productivity; a slovenly Veritan was an anomaly. 

Veritas Pure, oddly and aptly enough, quite resemble the figure of a seven and was located on the smallest major body of land on Beulah Prime.  Veritans were predominantly farmers.  The land was rich with wheat, corn, and barley.  The valleys of the foothills in the south were full of vineyards�"grapes and olive trees blanketed the land, and the rolling prairies were excellent grazing land for ranchers and shepherds.  Veritas Pure shared the landmass with four other countries, however only one of those countries is relevant in this tale.  That country is Maleficus Cruel, which bordered Veritas Pure to the north.  It was a rogue and uncivilized nation led by the tyrannical fist of Lord Luciforus and his Legion Armada.  Though some forestry from its southern neighbors crossed within its borders, the nation was mostly desert and frozen wasteland, and its people were uncivilized barbarians and nomads.

In her youth, Mairien often spent her afternoons gazing out of her bedroom window, across the Veritas Bay to the horizon where the indigo ocean met the cerulean sky, wondering what amazing lives were lived on the other landmasses.  She daydreamed of deep-sea fishermen hauling in the mackerel she ate for lunch, of tiny, blue-lipped men and women living on the ice-covered tundra to the far, far north, of the inhabitants of the Erus Islands as they ran across the black terrain away from the volcanic summits of its mountains.  Circuits passed and Mairien’s childish daydreams soon gave way to dreams of love and marriage and motherhood.  The tiny daughter of the king had grown in stature, wit, intelligence and wisdom, and her dreams were far more grounded now than before. 

We meet her on her eighteenth circuit-day, a fine young woman with long auburn hair that curled in ringlets and deep green eyes that are at once penetrating and inviting, with a confident yet humble carriage and kind, though not immensely beautiful, face.  On this, her eighteenth circuit day, having recently returned to her home after graduating from a preparatory school in Libens City, our young princess was now ready to enter society.