Serena hesitated to answer and looked away. She wanted to be loved by a man, but in her own way. The thought of being chained by marriage made her feel like a bird with broken wings. She wanted to love without shackles. To have a man by her side as a lover and best friend, not as someone to command her. She imagined marriage as an end to her personal freedom. It was a labyrinth she still had yet to figure out. Darn it father, don’t make me swear, she wanted to say but feared she would disappoint him.
“I will…find a best friend to have by my side,” she finally answered.
Severus chuckled again then coughed and said, “It is fine. You don’t have to lie to me. I pray that you have the strength to carry on my legacy. You are a Sarbock. Thousands of years of history run through your veins, my love. I believe in you.”
Warm tears trickled down her cheeks. Her father smiled and she kissed his forehead. His servants waved the lamp, spreading the scent of menthol to keep him calm. His long black hair was messy so she fixed it using a comb made of bones. As she fixed his hair she got the urge to ask that question again. That question that her father hated.
“Father, what really happened to mother?”
He remained silent and cleared his throat. “I already told you,” he answered, but Serena persisted and asked again.
“Papa, if I am to become queen, I must know,” she said. “How can I ever move on if you never tell me about my real mother? I know she is still out there somewhere.”
“She is dead, Serena,” Severus said unpleasantly. “She died in the war. Killed by the Laguans.”
“You lie, father, I know you lie,” Serena replied and frowned. “My mother’s maidens raised me. They told me that mother never entered the battlefield as a warrior woman. The very maidens that served my mother and watched her everyday would not lie to me. So tell me father, please, I beg you. Tell me the truth. Where is my mother? How did she die? Where did she go?”
Severus could not make eye contact. He looked away and lay on his side. Serena tried to turned him but he shoved her away. “You are making me ill with these memories, you should know better, Serena,” he said.
“And you have kept me in the dark from the truth for years,” Serena remarked. “If I am to become queen then I must grow out of this.”
“If I tell you then you will attempt to find her,” Severus said, voice cold.
“So she is alive,” Serena whispered.
“Fine I will tell you,” Severus said unpleasantly, finally surrendering to his daughter’s desire to know about her mother. He turned his body again facing up. His servant fixed the sheet and he sighed so deeply he looked too sad to tell the story. Serena almost felt guilty for pressuring the old man into telling her the truth but it had been so long and she was no longer going to hold it.
“Your mother was the greatest healer the country had ever seen,” he began. “People from all over the world came to her. Warriors, mages, scholars and even foreigners who had heard of her healing abilities. She received messages from the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel and people believe her to be the chosen one, the crystal bearer. While legend says that the Laguans were the original bearers of the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel, chosen by Oceamus, the dragon god of water, we refused to believe such tales because the jewel had been in the hands of the Sarbock dynasty for centuries. The Laguans claim that it was stolen by our people hundreds of years ago and they will continue to wage war until they reclaim the jewel. However, your mother had proven to be able to use the power of the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel so well that we could not just surrender the jewel and hope the Laguans would leave us alone. You mother could heal the blind, the sick and had prevented many people from dying. She invigorated the waters of the capital city and given life to dry lakes. She could heal poison with the sapphire jewel. She turned blood into wine and poison into sweet juices. She was a brilliant woman. A mage like none we had ever seen before. However, something happened thirty years ago when the Laguans decided to rise again after centuries. Maer Weeyar went to war against the Laguans. The first day of battle, the Laguans used their magic to summon the sapphire jewel back into their possession, and sadly it had worked. That day I saw the jewel creating a blue ribbon in the sky and crashing into the Theemas River where we fought. The jewel hovered over the water and when the Laguan king tried to grasp it the jewel rejected him. Unexpectedly I saw your mother, the woman of my life, streaming down from the sky like a river spirit. The Sapphire Jewel willingly floated towards her. That day she told me to take good care of you and then vanished creating a large wave that almost dried up the Theemas River. After that, she never appeared again. Everyone wondered where she had gone. After she had disappeared the Laguans never struck again until six months ago. That’s thirty years without war until now. I lied and told you that your mother died because I knew you would try to search for her, but I wanted you to be happy. I wanted you to live in the castle and live without worries. Your mother took the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel and ever since she disappeared many people have been apprehensive. Without the sapphire jewel people saw nothing but omens. They thought the Laguans would one day rule Maer Weeyar or that many people would die of diseases and there would be no one like your mother to heal the sick and bring light back to the country. This country is missing the touch of a woman. Which is why I wanted you to be the next on the throne. You could carry on your mother’s legacy. You are a great water mage just like her.”
Hearing the story of her mother brought a smile to her face and more salty tears. “I don’t think I can be as good as her,” she said. “Chosen of the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel. Who could be greater than that?”
“Serena I am sorry for lying to you. I just wanted you to live a life without worry and pain, but perhaps that was my mistake,” Severus confessed and then began to cough again.
“Say no more father, you need to rest,” she said.
“Princess Serena,” a servant called her.
Serena looked over her shoulder and saw Sheimeh with a small glass bottle containing the lunar fish oil. Sheimeh gave it to Serena and she observed the green sticky fluid. She dropped a bit of oil on her finger and tasted it. It was very unpleasant but she had seen it work before.
“Thank you, Sheimeh,” Serena said gracefully, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Is this all that is left?”
“I brought this small amount for now but I will make more, I promise,” Sheimeh answered apologetically.
“Bring the rest when done and thank you again.” Serena kissed her servant on the cheek then dismissed her. Serena was very loving towards her servants of the castle. She loved them like family.
With haste she removed the cap from the bottle. She sat next to her father again, lifted his head and placed a bigger pillow of feathers under him. “Come on papa, drink the oil, it will heal you.”
She brought the bottle to his lips and Severus drank the green oil moaning and spitting some back out for how vile it was. Serena grabbed his jaw to keep his mouth open and make sure that he swallow every last drop. Immediately his coughing ceased. She removed the pillow and placed his head down again then waited.
It only took a few minutes for the lunar fish oil to start working. Severus veins shrunk. They were still embossed, protruding from his skin but smaller and less painful. Serena could see the relief in her father’s face. A slight smile spread and he seemed to be falling asleep.
“Let him rest,” Serena told the servant holding the lamp. “Turn off all the lights and keep an eye on him by the door.”
She left the room and paced towards her chamber on the right side of the long hall. Before she reached her room she paused and idly gazed at the fish tanks built inside the wall. Her mind wandered as she stared at the fish and her body felt heavy. After hearing the story of her mother she knew that she could not resist the urge to go on a journey and look for her. Perhaps when father heals I can embark on a journey to find my mother, but where would I look, she pondered. Not only does she possess the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel but I must know
why she left me and everything behind. I am so angry at her and I don’t even know her.
“Princess!” a Narb Thale shouted across the long hall.
“Silence,” she replied and hushed the warrior.
When the Narb Thale was close enough he bowed and said, “I apologize, Princess Serena, but this is urgent.”
“So urgent that you have to shout across the hall while my father is sleeping,” she replied with a cocky tone.
“Yes my lady. You see, one of our Narb Thale was found bloodied and lacerated in the Theemas River. He said to have escaped from the prison of the Laguans,” the warrior explained.
“Laguan prison,” she whispered then looked down the hallway at her father’s chamber. She hoped her father had not heard the conversation. “Take me to him.”
“He is in the throne room,” the Narb Thale said.
Serena and the Narb Thale stride to the first floor. Down the stairs they went and to the throne room under the bridge of the second floor. The walls were decorated with sea shells and blue rocks collected from the ocean as well as beautiful gemstones and paintings of fishes. There were fish tanks built inside the walls every turn and as they reached the throne room, the walls were cragged like caves decorated with fish bones like fossils.
The throne room was surrounded by six Narb Thales and two maidens that nursed the injured one, her lover Samird was among them. Much like the castle itself the throne was surrounded by water. Serena approached the injured warrior. His chest had a large gash from lower left abdomen to right shoulder. One of his hands was cut off and his braided dark hair looked as if it had been burned. His forehead pulsed with thick veins much like her father and turned his brown skin purple.
“Tell me,” Serena said softly as she kneeled before him. “What did they do to you? How did you escape?”
“They still believe we have the sapphire jewel, my lady,” the injured Narb Thale said. “They said they are coming and they will strike with all their might to reclaim the sapphire jewel.”
“How did you escape?” she asked gently.
“They used me for one of their games,” the injured Narb Thale said. “They let me escape then hunted me down for sport. I manage to find a glass whale while under water. I hid inside the whale and managed to escape undetected.”
Serena looked at her maids and commanded, “Get him to healing room. Make sure he lives. He has a story to tell.”
“Yes my lady,” the two maidens said.
Two men lifted the injure Narb Thale and carried him out of the throne room. Serena went and sat on the throne. She lay back and already felt the heavy duty of ruling a country. The pain of having to watch so many people die. A truth of life her father had blinded her from for many years.
Samird approached her and stood next to her, on the right of the throne where the most trusted counselor would sit. “Is there anything I can do for you, princess?” he asked.
“Not at the moment,” she answered solemnly then started to play with the water that surrounded the throne. She created a sphere of water and pondered trying to figure out what to do while her father was still ill and the Laguans were threatening to attack.
“What would father do?” She asked herself.
“Perhaps you should ask him,” Samird suggested.
Suddenly, she heard someone screaming in agony and jumped off the throne. From the hallway the injured Narb Thale walked with arms hanging like a zombie and more blood smeared on his body than before. He walked towards Serena as he bled with a spear in hand.
“What did you do?” She snarled and attracted more water using hydromancy.
The injured Narb Thale’s eyes were glowing a dark blue. At that moment Serena knew that this warrior was no longer himself. The Narb Thale then vomited blue ooze unwillingly as if something else was controlling his body. When he had thrown up all the ooze from his body he collapsed then the ooze began to rise and take form.
“Great sea spirits, what is this?” Serena said in terror, watching as the ooze took form.
Samird stayed by her side, horrified by what he saw. The injured Narb Thale was possessed by something and had forced him to kill his comrades.
The blue ooze took the form of a human. It stood as tall as Serena with glowing dark blue eyes and a solid body that was nothing but liquid just a moment ago. It had pointy long ears and insides its chest, transparently; there was a glowing sphere that resembled a heart.
“It is a pleasure to meet the soon to be queen of Mae Weeyar,” the Laguan said politely.
“What do you want? You foul creature,” Serena rasped. She had never seen a Laguan until now. Her father did not allow her to participate in war either. She had only heard of the blue shape shifters.
“I want what rightfully belongs to the Laguans,” it answered. “I want the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel.”
“Well we don’t have it, otherwise I could have used it to heal my father and save the warriors and servants you just killed,” she rasped then hissed at the Laguans.
“You are a much better liar then your father,” it replied, voice cold and hissy. “This is a warning, princess. If you do not surrender the jewel then we will spread diseases and poison you waters. We will massacre your people for the safety of our own.”
“You make no sense you shape shifting shite,” Serena said and lunged sprouting sharp nails from her fingers.
The Laguan spat a needle from its mouth. Serena stopped in time to catch it with her hand. With one look she knew that it was poison and tossed it. The Laguan ran away and she called the water that surrounded the throne, using it to surf and chase down the shapeshifter. As the Laguan ran down the hall Serena used hydromancy to break the fish tanks in an attempt to capture the Laguan and freeze it like she had done when catching lunar fish. The shape shifter was fast running on two legs, faster than any human she had seen. She hurled needles at him and summoned chilly winds believing it would slow him down but he was untouchable with his own attribute. He was now near the entrance of the castle, soon to escape into the Theemas River. Serena pressed more maju and like a geyser the water jetted through the halls and onto the twin doors of the castle. He had already squeezed between the doors with its goo-like body. Serena broke through the castle doors with her tidal wave and surfed on to the river. She saw him jumping into the river from the dock. She followed him running over the water and cast a powerful ice spell. “Frostass suz!” she yelled and released a beam of cold energy.
She froze a chunk of the river hoping to have trapped the Laguan but then saw him jumping out and back in ahead of the frozen area. She became angrier and released an even larger ice spell. “Frostass bombriack!”
She hurled a white and blue sphere of cold energy and it fell upon the spot of the Laguan. It exploded causing a giant splash which then turned to ice spears. Serena skated over the frozen water barefooted and scanned the area hoping to have caught the Laguan. She saw it once more jumping in and out of the water, far ahead under the koi fish bridge of the two hills, leaving the city.
“Why do the Laguans still think that we have the jewel?” Serena wondered.
Caim
Pain.
A word almost foreign to a being such as him. A word he abandoned sixty years ago before he became a demigod and now it seemed as though it would never end. His body and mind wanted to surrender but his spirit was stronger and held on to the light.
It had been one day since he was captured by the Specters. Me, a demigod, captured? He thought to himself. He knew that one day he would be stricken by someone or something more powerful than he was but he never imagined it would be a human. And now he was nailed to a cross at the top of the tower with essence of kaminyte. Much worse were the rods that kept him attached to the cross. They were made of omnithium, a super rare metal that absorbed his maju and his cosmo that made him a god. Two rods through each of his hands and one through both of his feet. His white hair slowly turned black the more cosmo he lost to the omnithium rods. He was
topless with only his green trousers to cover him.
The skies were dark and it rain endlessly. The ocean waves crashed on the plateau of the island. The sea was so dark it looked like ink. In the horizon there was nothing on sight. It was a lonely island, a prison, an isolated home for the Specters. It was as if he was taken to another realm. He tossed his head back and gazed up at the sky and could hear the growling thunder above. This pain is only temporary, he prayed. I will rise again. I will endure this pain and get my revenge on the Specters one way or another. Forgive me Effeelions. My human side speaks louder in difficult times.
His kingdom, Kazenolumos, the sky city, was nearly conquered by the Specters. It lay in ruins and Caim thought that it could have fallen from the clouds. He could no longer sense its divine maju and he was too weak and drained of his cosmo. He did not care if he suffered as long as the Effeelions were safe in the city and as long as the Specters did not find his wife and son.
“As long as they don’t hurt the ones I love, my suffering does not matter. I can save myself.”
“Can you?” he heard an annoying voice coming from below.
From below ascended Jairo and Ember. Both wearing their white mask with only the left eye. Their black leather cloaks billowing in the wind. Only their horns set them apart. Ember had five horns on her mask warping upwards looking like a crown. Jairo’s horns wrapped backwards like a goat. They could move through the air unsupported and some mages confused it with aeromancy but Caim knew exactly what it was.
“Can you really call yourself a god when you are near death?” Ember asked, her voice echoing inside her mask.
“Can you call yourself a savior when you intend to rid the world of magic?” Caim replied with a cocky tone.
Ember chuckled at his remark then punched him in the gut and he coughed blood. Caim groaned from the pain but then that groaning turned into a laugh. He stared at Ember and for a moment his eyes shone lavender, his godly hue. He tried to raise his cosmo but every time he did, the rods would rob his energy then his eyes would change to brown again.
Blood of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 3) Page 3