The Romance of Michael and Violet

Michael and Violet Helerieth were real people, real Heroes who, if the historical record is accurate, were some of the few worthy of the title. The story of their romance is one of the most popular and timeless of our world.

Summary

Violet was a princess, tasked with handling the criminal underbelly of her country, which is thought to have been Uncambel (but was possibly Logenthru). She fought against what was truly a rather horrific crime streak, where the thieves of her country's capital were responsible for hundreds of deaths on top of the massive lack of security that such things will cause.
She did well enough in combating the violence, along the way becoming an accredited Heroine. Eventually, she arrested Michael, as he had been associated with a major crime family as a child, and to be fair hadn't entirely left behind the skills in burglary and pickpocketing that he had picked up then. This was evidenced in how he escaped not even a day after he was arrested.
He represented the first real failure of Violet's burgeoning career, and she vowed vengeance, of a sort. She chased him down, time and time again, and each time she caught him, he would slip away. After a lot of shenanigans, and a few circumstances in which he had to protect her from the aggressive nature of her pursuit, and she had to protect him from the enemies he made as a Hero, they fell in love.
Naturally, they did nothing with it, because Violet was still a loyal princess of the crown, and Michael had made a solid career out of defying authority of all shapes and sizes. But the feelings endured, regardless.
Into this came a prophecy of no small urgency. A man came along, insisting that a volcano was about to erupt where no volcano had previously been seen. (The nation we now call Prazigal did not exist yet, but the territory was still easily seen as a literal hot spot.) The only person to believe this unfortunate prophet was Michael.
He told Violet, and she believed him. With so much at stake, she abandoned her position to join him. They struggled to track down all the elements of a ritual that might tame the volcano, and prevent it from destroying the world, to locate where this might be, and all the while being hunted down by Violet's furious parents, who only saw that this beggar thief of a rebel had stolen away their daughter. And they were hunted by the infamous Kazan Otonos, from whom they had to steal several key ingredients for the ritual.
The day came, and The Day of Fury erupted. The two struggled, the only ones at all ready for the event. They nearly failed. Depending on what version of the story is being told, this is usually the point where they confess their love, and if it's a real slow burn, this is the first time they even kiss.
In the final moments, Kazan came to their aid, putting aside all grievances for the sake of the world. And he even went so far as to save the two.
The world was saved, the two of them were true heroes, and Kazan and Violet's parents left them alone. The story usually ends at Bertel Falls, with a grand romantic moment that is occasionally a wedding.

Historical Basis

By and large, while the details of the story are clearly fictionalized, the people involved definitely existed. And there is evidence of an extensive and catastrophic volcanic eruption in Denyithragorathia that would have happened at around this time. There's also some anecdotal evidence, from various documents of the time, that Kazan Otonos and Michael did work together to what is officially an unknown cause.
In short, this story likely did happen. How it ended is up to some debate, but it did happen.

In Literature

This story is incredibly important to the literary history of this world. Numerous retellings have been written over the years, and a lot of those were adapted into film when that technology became available. An extremely well-beloved story.

Date of Setting

650, approximately

Related People

• Kazan Otonos
• Michael
• Violet Helerieth