It was the first of September, Prince Obsidian's 16th birthday, and he was unable to enjoy any of it.

First, his twin sister, Princess Amethyst, went missing, so he had to help find her. Then, he got caught in an explosion. So now, he's unconscious, bruised, scratched up, and infected with some magic that was working to turn him into a girl.

And after all that injury, Princess Amethyst was still missing.

Worse still, Princess Amethyst was determined to be the only cure for her brother's magical infection, because it was not just trying to turn him into a girl, it was specifically turning him into Amethyst's replacement.

The royal mages had come up with a stopgap measure, to buy time until Amethyst could be retrieved.

Encase the Prince inside a giant obsidian crystal, and send the only other person with a deep connection to the missing princess to get her back.

That is, Princess Amethyst's lady-in-waiting, Mint Schwartzwald. Unfortunately, as the second of only two people with a deep connection to the missing princess, she was involved in the first plan to retrieve Princess Amethyst. And so, subsequently injured in the same explosion that infected Obsidian with magic.

But, a more important consideration for this second plan, the plan to send someone to bring Amethyst back, instead magically pulling her back, was that Mint was another 16-year-old, and utterly untrained for the task at hand. So, the royal mages gave her as much help as they could:

A magical hooded robe, to protect her on her journey, a wand to create magically nutritious sweets, a magical credit card to buy anything else she needed, a magical staff of the deepest black wood, to create the path to wherever Princess Amethyst had gone, and lastly, Bianca, Princess Amethyst's cat, to find Princess Amethyst in the world that she had disappeared to.

And thus equipped, the poisoned Prince's girlfriend, went off to find her best friend, still injured, and travelling off to parts unknown, with only a rushed plan to guide her.

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Author's Note:

Hi, my readers! Lucky for you, if you're reading this, because this is totally different from what it started as!

If you're reading this after Chapter 2 launches and you didn't know this existed. Well, it didn't, until an hour after it originally posted.

The explanation? I forgot how bookmaking worked. As you have the "The Reluctant Princess: A Tale of Seven Sisters" Book. You know I figured it out!

Hope you're enjoying the story!

It was the first of September, Mint Schwartzwald's 16th birthday, and like her father before her, she was cut up, leaving home, and following a strangely visible dirt path in the lightless void between universes.

Fortunately, *she* wasn't fleeing monsters, with only a magical staff to her name, and never expecting to return.

Unfortunately, her love life was on a timelimit, she didn't know where she was going, and she didn't know how to return home.

But, she had a path to walk on, a guarantee of safety, and a plan, and that changed everything.

Armed with her cat at her side, a magical staff, a credit card, and supply of sweets, not to mention the clothes on her back, she was well on her way to finding her missing twin, once she arrived at whereever the path was taking her.

At least the magical bond she had with her twin, was steadily growing stronger, as she walked down the path.

Having always had someone to talk to until being constantly alone for the first time in her 16 years, Mint had been struck by loneliness, and started talking aloud, and to her cat, Bianca, in turns.

"Okay, let's remember the plan. Walk to the end, and you, my kitty, will lead us to Amethyst, then we can walk back home together and wake Obsidian up. Easy. Easy. ... Actually, make sure to eat something before walking back home..."

"Oh, I wish I knew when this path would end! I'm sure I've been walking for hours!"

Suddenly, Mint's skin flashed a soft pink, and a transparent pink rectangle appeared in front of her face. Using purple writing, it said: "Remaining Distance: 362 Meters".

"AH!"

Mint hadn't noticed her skin flash in the excitement, but when she jumped back from the sign's sudden appearance, she could very well tell that it was deliberately staying a little bit in front of her face.

"Wha... What is this? ... Why am I asking? It's not like you could talk, Bianca..."

The startling appearance of the pane of information, broke Mint's calm facade, shattered by the flaws in her plan.

"Oh, how I wish you could talk! I'm walking to who knows where to find someone who ran away, and so, doesn't want to be found, and I'm trusting in magic to fix all this! Magic! Magic that was given by a drunk woman, to a baby, and is now corrupting Obsidian into some thing! Daddy tried to hide it, bless him, but I could feel it! Obsidian is dying, and Amethyst is not what's going to come out of that black coffin!"

As Mint sat on the path and cried into her red cloak, Bianca walked back to Mint and nuzzled her.

"There, there..."

Mint's head shot up.

"Who's there?"

A soft "Me, Bianca.", came out of Bianca's mouth.

"What... How...", Mint struggled to parse this new development, and then, "Hahaha... Ha...ha... Haaa..."

And then Mint stuck her arm in her robe, pulled out her black credit card, and intoned. "I wish to buy information, on what in the world is going on!"

And so, Mint's skin flashed a third time. And her credit card glowed white.

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Mint's Quest Log:

Cure Obsidian:

Cure Obsidian from the corrupted Amethyst magic that's turning him into Amethyst something.

[X]: Get on the dirt path between worlds.
[ ]: Exit the dirt path to a new world.
[ ]: Use Bianca to get Amethyst's location.
[ ]: Travel to Amethyst.
[ ]: Get back on the dirt path, with Amethyst.
[ ]: Walk back home with Amethyst.
[ ]: Have Amethyst take her corrupted magic out of Obsidian.

[First Person] [Second Person] [Third Person]
[Rough] [Coarse] [1:1] [Fine] [Very Fine]


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Hi again, readers! I'm back, with a new story, for a new contest!

This might actually become a pattern... Only writing for contests... Hope not, and I don't think it will be, if I finish writing the first chapter of the Apple Orchard War, before I learn about yet another contest I want to enter...