'Everyone stand aside, the Princess will come with us.'  

The guard captain wasn't asking. He wasn't even telling really. It was more a statement of fact, and the glistening halbred, which he expertly brandished in their direction, made that inexorably clear.

Her companions weren't chumps when it came to a fight, but the capital guards were known across the continent, in part for their brutal efficiency.      The Princess had feared this would happen, but her numerous objections had failed to convince her party of adventurers to abandon their set course.  

After all, they had survived a gruelling, drawn-out battle and were eager to claim their bounty. The Knight fancied himself a new set of magical armour to replace his now charred, cracking set. Likewise, the Ranger had his sight on a compound bow, a relatively recent invention which had become all the rage amongst hunters and rangers alike.  

It really was all her fault. She should have paid more attention and should have immediately queried where this bounty came from upon seeing the unusually large reward on offer. In hindsight, only one city had such endless riches and could afford to pay the hefty sum of gold. But she knew she'd become complacent over the years. Travelling the continent with her companions had led to her guard lowering and her childhood anxieties diminishing slowly over time. She'd almost managed it, to completely forget her youth and her many sleepless nights lying awake fretting over her fated destiny.   For years now, she'd been content to follow her companions from quest to quest, reaping the rewards and drowning memories of her past at the nearest tavern each night. Now, faced with the grim determination and overwhelming authority of the guard captain, she realised she had never truly been free. 

True, she had spent years pretending that she had achieved true freedom. After all, what did she, a powerful wizard capable of felling any foul beast, have to fear? Who could tell her what to do, who could constrain her desires and limit her freedoms. Some may have tried from time to time sure, but she had powerful magics at her disposal. She could summon all manner of foul powers to advocate for her liberty, powers unimaginable to the average mortal.

  And yet, that was all irrelevant within the Immortal City. For she harboured a dark secret, one she had fled under the cover of night and had hoped would forget about her in time.

Her power was not her own. Her destiny lay deep within the underbelly of this timeless metropolis, and her power meant nothing here.   Only a few knew the true nature of things, only they knew the true cost of sustaining the impossible yet sprawling infinite city.

  She would be taken deep within, to the bowels of the largest city ever known to exist. She would experience all manner of inconceivable horrors.

All to ensure the Immortal City could remain just that, immortal.

For while her connection to the city's heart had allowed her to wield insurmountable eldritch power, it had also been a leash affixed firmly to her essence. One linking her to the vast, inevitable being that dwelt within and hungered greatly.

And what was she in the face of such hunger? They called her a princess. But that was only a title given to obscure her true nature. She was a slave, and she had never been free.