Silver locks as bright as the moon and golden eyes as warm as the sun; these are the qualities of my beloved prince, Sebastian Xerxes Ashworth. He courageously hunts, he studies like a sage, he trains in the valiant art of swordsmanship, and he has become a well-known helper in our kingdom’s villages. He’s my prince, so ethereal and divine.
     I, Elliot Bluestone, am just his lowly valet, but, I am fortunate for such a position to allow me to stay right by his side and shield him. However, I feel as if I do not deserve to be by his supernal side. I have hair as dark as coal and eyes as blue as polluted water. My own appearance doesn’t nearly hold a candle to his princely and elegant one.
     My duties as his crucial need for a valet consists of fetching his clothes, preparing him his baths, and transporting his breakfast, lunch, and dinner to him. I do all he desires, whether it’s an order or a request. I aid him in any way I can, not because he is my master and I am his servant, but because my own heart aspires to.
     I must be cautious around him, even though I should feel relaxed. I do not look at him as if he is just my prince. I do not think of him as just my prince. What I do for him isn’t just because he is my prince. The way I see him isn’t how a valet should look at his prince. However, it is because of these reasons, that he must never know the truth.

     Today was just like any normal day, I never suspected anything out of the ordinary to happen. I always expected to be by his side. Little did I know, that our time was short.
     As fierce sparks of flames soar in the air, screaming, yelling, and crying fill my ears entirely. I rub my sleepy eyes and hop out of bed. A glass bottle I didn’t recognize shattered as I moved, I didn’t bother to pay so much for an ounce of attention to it. I couldn’t register what could be happening or how I could have slept through so much of what had been occurring. My first thoughts rushing through my brain at this very moment was to find Sebastian. I must find him before it’s too late.
     I almost ripped my door off the hinges as I left my room, corpses, and splatters of blood littered the hallway. By the look of the clothing, the ones of the dead were servants, guards, and soldiers from our neighboring kingdom. I balled up my fist, digging my nails into my skin. My lungs felt as if something heavy was sitting on them, it felt like I had to force myself to take deep breaths or I wouldn’t be able to breathe any longer. I suddenly felt nauseous and sweat crawled down my body.
     “Sebastian!” I finally started to call his name out with a quiver in my voice. At first, I began to tread heavily and quickly, but as I made it further down the castle, I legs began to move more and more rapid, until I was rushing with all the strength my body would allow. The weight over my lungs began to increase in weight as I covered more ground and took more time searching for him.
     Finally, reaching the courtyard entrance, I shouldered away the broken doors. Fire burned the ground, the trees, and the massive amount of lifeless bodies. Nausea attacked my throat in a threatening manner as a real foul stench of iron flared up my nostrils, the blood felt almost too much to handle.
     My eyes frantically searched for the prince. At last, there he was, surrounded by soldiers of the wretched enemy. My only thoughts were to protect him. I have to protect him. I will protect him. I must be his shield.
     A soldier raised his sword above the defenseless prince. While my eyes grew wide and my mind froze, my body defied everything else and moved on its own. I shut my eyes as I slowly reacted to my own actions, unsure what I was just about to do. My ears caught the sounds of screaming mixed in the same resonance of the fire burning. My brain finally began to catch up with my own body’s feelings, stinging, all I could feel was this sharp tingling sensation in my abdomen.
     I unfastened my eyelids, it took a couple seconds for my vision to focus. My prince was the only one who stood in my line of vision. There was something odd about his appearance. Tears do not suit his golden eyes, those seraphic eyes that appeared as if they lit up this dark night. I hadn’t noticed that I reflexively put my hand over my stomach. I slowly removed my hand, my eyes bolted at the sight of blood covering my palm. The pain in my abdomen began to worsen into an excruciating pain and my tongue tasted iron as blood forced its way out through my mouth.
     As my body began to fall on my side, I noticed the soldiers that had been here, alive, were now dead in a bloodied mess. There was another thing I perceived, my prince, who always appeared so angelic, was painted in that foul red liquid. He had pressed his hand to my cheek as he kneeled on his knees.      “Elliot,” he whispered my name. My vision of him began to fade, Sebastian’s face I admired so much, became difficult to see. The smell of blood and fire vanished and his voice faded until I could no longer hear it anymore. I just hope he will be able to continue to gain happiness, now that I will no longer be by his side.
     Tonight, the link of fate has vanished. I sacrificed my own life without a second thought. However, laying down my own life for him out here, it made me wonder what he was doing all the way outside. Why he didn’t find me right away. Why I didn’t wake up like everyone else did. Why my room was the only one not invaded. I wonder, if maybe, he was the one protecting me.
     I recalled a story my mother used to tell me. It was about a young soldier that would do everything he could for his king. He gave up all of belongings, his treasures, and eventually, his own life. However, my mother told me what the soldier did was wrong. It wasn’t loyalty, but the soldier being selfish. The soldier had never realized that everything he surrendered for his king, did not once make the king happy. He didn’t take account of the feelings others felt. The feelings of those who cared about him and the ones who were actively trying to protect him. Sacrificing his own life didn’t help anyone, it only gave them burdens to shoulder, it gave the king a hefty weight he had to live with. He didn’t even try to defend himself. The soldier didn’t satisfy anyone, but himself.
     People who think so lightly of their own lives, do not have the right to protect anyone.