Ada felt her knees weak, blood rushed down the side of her face. Another slap slammed into her, pain pushed her to the floor, the scent of the hay next to her being the only thing keeping her conscious.

"Get up!" A woman hissed. The hostage's step mother, memories pulsed through Ada, worsening the pain that threw her down.Her eyes took to the long discarded glass bottle caught in the the rays of the sun that  filtered through the tiny window.

"Did you think you could get away with the prince?"

"At least the man had some sense to take heed to my threat." Cinderella's stepmother had threatened the king's life, successfully taking out the chief advisor not long before by using the fairy godmother's wand. The mouldy floors grappled on her fresh wound, making it difficult for her to move. She grabbed onto the bottle. She rolled to the corner, ripping herself from the floor.

  She hulled back at the woman, raising the bottle over her head. It shattered, pints of glass breaking in its millions. Her stepmother fell unconscious, her body slumping against the floor. Her stomach rumbled as she ran out.

  She emerged from the door, running as her hair whipped behind her. Not long after the kingdom began to modernize, a drought hit, rendering the soil infertile. The only crops grown were under artificial conditions, only accessed by the supreme leader, servants of the house and the royals while the rest of the population died.

  The barren lands...