The owl finished and latched back to Alias’ arm. The room was struck with silence. Everyone stared at the blank space in front of them. The princess could not hold her emotions. Lost in the images which would forever scar, not only her mind, but everyone’s as well. The room slowly goes into murmur.
“The gate city has fallen!” one shouted.
“What are we going to do?! We have no time left!”
“We need to act now!”
“This is your fault Menoich!” one bellowed and caught his attention.
“Me? Why me?!” Menoich roared back but everyone seemed to agree with the councilor.
“If you have not pulled out the troops there, they would have had a fighting chance!” he continued.
“Are you serious? They would not stand a chance, councilor!” Menoich said.
Tamara wiped her tears, fixed herself up and intervened on the escalating exchange of words.
“But the image showed that no one got out of the city! They could have evacuated at least half of the population to safety!” the same councilor continued.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said. All eyes turned to him, “but there is one survivor from the city, a child.”
“A child?” Tamara stood up, “Where is the child?”
Composing herself from her emotions, she waited for Alias to answer but the doors opened again. Aragrad came in along with a group of Imperial Phalanxes.
“What is it? Is something going on?” Tamara asked him immediately. Aragrad threw something on the floor wrapped in green clothing.
“Take a look at it, Your Highness,” he said in a shaky voice.
Tamara didn’t like Aragrad’s tone. She kept her composure as she approached the cloth with bewilderment.
Her heart raced as she looked at the cloth. Somehow she felt that something was wrong but still proceeded. She glimpsed again at Menoich who was surprised as well. Something is definitely wrong here, she thought. His look at her with uneasy eyes bothered her. She unwrapped the cloth and gasped to find her dagger, dripping with blood on it.
She quickly let go of the dagger. She lost back in Remolussium then it was here. She looked at her hand, shaking drastically, so she clenched it to try and stop the shaking. “Princess, this is your dagger?” a guard asked then faced Aragrad.
“Where did you find this? This dagger has been missing from my bed chamber in the Remolussium Palace for two months now. You better have an answer and make sure it will be pleasing to my ears,” Tamara said as she imposed her authority for she knew, the dagger showing up here with blood on it could only mean bad news.
“On His Majesty’s chest, the King. Buried deep to his heart. The King is dead,” Aragrad said matter-of-factly. The room quickly erupted and the guards rushed out of the room to the Imperial King’s chambers.
Tamara stood still as a rock upon hearing Aragrad’s answer. Her father, the King, now lied cold in his bed chamber. She held everything in as she clenched her fists. She looked at Aragrad as Menoich approached her slowly.
“His personal guards were all dead with their throats slit,” Aragrad continued.
“You harlot!” Menoich shouted as he ran towards her with personal guards covering her but the imperial guards quickly ran to the Prime Minister’s aid.
“How dare you walk back in here only to kill your own father? Despicable! Just like your brother!” Menoich shouted at her.
Tamara tried to hold back her tears but she could not bear it. First her brother, now his father murdered in her own home. She held her poise but deep inside she was already falling apart. She was already at her edge and it felt like one more push could do her in. But she understood that she needed to show strength. Even with tears, she needed to prove her innocence.
“I want to see my father. Let me through,” she said in a calm voice as she tried to pass, but the guards in the throne room blocked her way.
“No you will not! Enough of these games! And you even used the Dagger of Sacred Blood on your own father! How could you?” Menoich shouted at her. “Throw her in the dungeons!” he commanded. But Tamara’s personal guard was on his way. “Arrest them all for treason and murder!”
“I did no such thing!” Tamara shouted and her guards crouched, ready to strike.
“Tamara enough! Go with them now! Enough blood has been spilled! We will investigate the matter. For now the council transfers all the power of the Crown to Menoich, as keeper of the Royal Crown,” The head councilor said, surprising everyone in the room.
“You can’t do this to me! I‘m innocent! You are all fools if you think I did it. I was with you the entire time.”
“You could’ve ordered one of your personal guards to do this! A skilled one at best for the King’s personal guards were murdered without even knowing an enemy was in their midst. It was your dagger that was found in King Madarick’s heart! No one could’ve had it but only you! Arrest this murderer and these traitors now!” he commanded and one by one, her personal guards were taken into custody.
Tamara looked at Menoich, and there she saw, behind the mask of tears for her father, was a grin. A maniacal grin she would not forget.
“You traitor! You set me up! You’re going to pay! I will not stand for such treachery!”
The loyalists charged for the imperial guards despite being outnumbered. The council was pushed back as swords and arrows flung the room. They were easily subdued by the imperial guards and were sentenced to suffer the same fate of Tamara.
Tamara screamed and struggled as she was dragged to the dark underground cells.
“It was Menoich!” Tamara bellowed.
A full hour had passed and the council and Menoich was still debating what to do with Tamara.
“She is of Royal Blood. We cannot just sentence her to death. This is Tamiron all over again! Enough with illogical reasoning. We need to think this through,” a councilor suggested to which Menoich replied.
“She killed the King! She killed my friend! I will never let him die in vain. I will set things straight,” he shouted then he rubbed his forehead and tried to change the topic. “Any reports on the warriors that I have assembled?”
“One of our border sentries spotted the High Prince flying towards the temple’s direction,” Aragrad answered as he handed over a piece of paper to Menoich.
“They are complete then. I did not expect the High Kingdom to heed our call,” he said.
“My Liege, the diplomat’s are on their way back here. But they sent an owl ahead to tell us of something urgent.”
“Let us discuss that tomorrow,” he said then he thought for a moment as he read the report. “Send a notice to all border guards or to whoever will encounter the seven. Tell them to head straight to where Tamiron is. No need to make a stop here anymore. The capital needs to settle first before they are allowed to set foot here,” he said as he handed the paper back to Aragrad. “So much has happened today. Let us talk about other matters tomorrow. Please leave.”
The councilors greeted each other a good night and left.
Aragrad leaned closer. “Prime Minister, we have located the stone. It was well hidden in the room of the Prince, it is on its way now, Your Highness,” Aragrad whispered.
Menoich finished his wine and sat on the throne. The guards stood up as the room was slowly being lit. A servant approached Menoich and poured him more wine. The door once again opened with the guards approaching fast, holding a small wooden box that bore the emblem of the Prince.
“Finally, everything is going according to plan.” Menoich said as he sipped his wine.
The guards stepped closer to Menoich when three masked men jumped down from the ceiling. They sliced the throats of the two guards, tripping the one holding the box. One of the assassins struck the guard’s chest, burying a small sword into the guard before catching the box containing the stone. They ran straight to the throne room with Aragrad and the other guards ran towards them to block their way.
“Get the stone! We n
eed that stone!” he shouted.
Aragrad drew his sword. He was about to stab the one holding the box when the man slid down, pushing his foot backwards while the other two jumped and kicked the other two guards in the head. They turned towards the right side of the room, shattering the glass windows and leaped outside with no ropes at all.
Menoich followed them hurriedly to the side of the windows. But the thieves have already disappeared into the dark of the city’s own thick black mist.
With the wind strong and chilly on his face, he shook the cold off him. Menoich exploded in rage as the stone that cost him his time, would cost him a lot more this time.
End of chapter XVII
XVIII: THE WORLD’S REFLECTION
EVANGELINE COULD HEAR THE WHISPER of the wind. The light glimmered through her eyelids. Not too bright, not too dim, but enough for to wake her up. She opened her eyes to the clearest sky she had ever witnessed. The clouds were white as the cleanest silk in the world. But she knew that they were not in their world.
She lied as she stared back at the sky. She had no idea where they were. She rolled over and to her shock were more clouds beneath her. She jolted upward and enclosed herself in a giant orb, only to realize that the sky was not only where it should be.
Everyone started to wake up. Their heads hurt and some their backs. Evangeline counted and they were complete yet she stayed in her orb. Ravaen, Sevidon, Glaivel, Kaira, Graveloth and the unexpected newcomer, Aderon.
All of them felt a sudden lightness of their body but after a short while, they were all struck by a sudden jolt that left them unconscious. Graveloth stood up and checked his back if he was injured. Kaira rolled to her stomach. Sevidon stood up and checked his arms as he swung them back and forth. Glaivel stayed lying, conscious but he didn’t want to get up. Ravaen knelt while holding the back of his head as Aderon groaned in pain and then cracked his neck. Sevidon slowly walked to Glaivel and kicked him lightly to get up.
Evangeline slowly hovered over Kaira who she noticed was in pain.
“Are you alright, Kaira?” she asked from her pink bubble.
“What happened?” Kaira asked.
She looked around and saw Aderon and the others noticed the same. “I don’t know.”
Gently, Kaira sat up and was also shocked to see the sky under her. She jumped toward Evangeline’s bubble and she let her in.
They wondered around to check if there was anything to see. But to their disappointment, it was all the same – clouds, and more clouds. Nothing to see but the watery blue sky. They started walking towards one direction, unknown to them whether north or south, or even east or west. They just walked.
Ravaen and Aderon lead the way as they explored the faceless terrain of reflection. Ravaen stopped and summoned his wings, and flew ahead. Aderon paid no attention to this as he still led the group towards one direction. Evangeline and Kaira had walked out of the bubble and started on their feet.
The moments passed but it was like they had walked for hours. Ravaen came back and quickly recalled his wings as he ran towards them only to say, he found nothing but endless sky. Kaira returned from the other direction and said the same.
Evangeline tried to make sense of everything when suddenly Aderon glared at her and pointed his sword at her.
“What trickery is this, Orderian?!” Aderon yelled, not noticing Sevidon’s sword already pointing at his throat.
“Lay down your sword. Calm yourself, Prince. I am sure that Evangeline doesn’t have the slightest knowledge of what has happened,” Sevidon said as he stared at Aderon. He quickly put his sword back and paced away.
“If I find out that this is one of your tricks, I assure you that the Orderians will wake up to a morning sky filled with legions of the Eagle fleet,” he said as he pointed at her.
Evangeline stayed mum and another went in between her and Aderon.
“Calm down. As the general has already said, the Princess did not do this,” Glaivel coolly explained.
“And just try to do that Prince, I assure you with my authority, that your Legion will be annihilated swiftly by my Falcon fleet,” Ravaen said to Aderon. Aderon faced his counterpart quickly, meeting Ravaen’s glare.
Kaira broke the two off. “You two! Stop acting like children! We are here for a mission, not for settling our differences with one another!” Kaira yelled at the two who still stared each other down. Ravaen threw his arm but Graveloth and Glaivel held him off while Sevidon grabbed Aderon.
“He just got here and then he is acting like a judgmental Northerner!” Ravaen shouted and pointing at him as he struggled to break off.
“I will have your head, Wingling!” Aderon answered.
“Bring it and my sword will answer, beak head!”
Harsher words were spit when they were all blinded again by an illuminating light. The light came closer and closer. It danced in the air and a shape of a woman with long hair came out, still shrouded by light. The light then dims and dims until the glow became bearable to the eyes. They were once again in awe by the sight of the being.
“I bid thee, welcome, warriors of Unibeltrasia. Eldemensters, guardians of everything that is pure and just,” the mysterious figure said in an echoing, chilling voice as she bowed down to them.
“No need to be angry, Prince of the Eagles, Prince Azure. She is not the one responsible for what brought you here,” she said to the now calm, yet annoyed Prince. “And King of the Falcons. Protector of the Great Tree. No need for violence in such a bliss realm,” she also said to Ravaen.
“Well, his attitude will have to change then, uhm, mysterious being. Tell him that.” Ravaen answered.
Aderon looked at him again with a quiet growl but was held down by Sevidon who was closest to him just in case a brawl did break out.
The glowing maiden walked closer to them, “I assure you, King, I believe he will. But in time it will take its place.” All of them were blinded by the incandescent being but still tried to look at her.
“I am Lyo, Messenger of both the Gods and Animos,” she said further.
“Why bring us here, Lyo?” Kaira immediately asked, seemingly beating Evangeline to the punch.
Lyo softly faced Kaira. She felt eyes staring at her, though the being only had sockets. “I will tell you that I did not summon you to this realm, but the Animos did,” Lyo answered still in an echoing voice.
“Where is this anyway? Nothing in the world will have an unimaginable wonder such as this,” Graveloth asked.
Lyo did not answer. Everyone waited but Evangeline suddenly spoke.
“This is the Mirror Realm,” she answered. Everyone looked at her as she continued to speak. “The realm of in-between, between our world and Vermelia.”
“I’m surprised you have knowledge of this place,” Glaivel said. But she took no notice.
“Well, it is in our books. Plus I need to learn this as my father said. The Mirror Realm is a mythical place where the souls of the departed pass through before going to paradise. Those who are not ready to cross are cursed to roam this plain for eternity,” Evangeline explained. Everyone listened to her, including the immortal being that moved away from them a bit. “The Mirror Realm is the great in-between that is fabled to reflect everything that is happening in our world. I’m actually surprised that it is still light and sunny here, despite what is currently happening in Unibeltrasia. Based on my studies of religious and ceremonial texts, what is currently happening in the Empire should merit a couple of rain clouds here and there.”
“How is that so?” Graveloth suddenly asked.
“Well, as you can see. No dark clouds anywhere. It means that peace and goodness in the world remains. You see, dark clouds in the mirror realm means that the world is in turmoil. And when our world is in turmoil — well I wasn’t able to read that part. The elder who was looking after the library already took the book from my hand at that point,” Evangeline answered. Graveloth though, was confused. Evangeline could understand. She too
wants to find out what that last paragraph was.
“The Mirror Realm. I had a feeling this was it. I just wasn’t sure,” Sevidon said, his vision scanning the place.
“Actually, it’s your people who gave us this knowledge. Back then when my ancestors arrived, it was your people who filled in the gaps in our books,” Evangeline added.
“What? How is that even possible?” Glaivel asked.
“I don’t know either. I kept asking the elders, the council, even my own father back then but they all refused to answer. It only gave me more curiosity to the point that they barred me from our own library,” Evangeline answered as she scratched her head. Because of it, she was forbidden even until now and that really annoyed her. She was only given access to some parts of the library.
“Even in our own history, there are things that are not fully explained. The Orderian filled the gaps of our own records. I am curious as well as to why that happened. But nonetheless, I really don’t believe that this, the Mirror Realm, and Vermelia is real,” said Sevidon as he tried to avoid eye contact with Evangeline and the others.
“I think I know the reason for you to believe otherwise, Prince,” Lyo answered Sevidon.
“Vermelia? You mean the Vermelia?” Ravaen suddenly asked.
“Yes, Vermelia itself, Mystic King. Home of the Gods and Animos,” she continued. Aderon’s eyes widened and he stepped forward.
“Vermelia? I want to see it.” Aderon suddenly said.
“I am sorry, Prince of the Eagles, but only those who are ready to cross from your world to here can see the wondrous lands,” Lyo answered. She waved her hand and suddenly people started to appear. They wandered in different directions. “And these people, are not ready as well. So they wander. Here, not knowing what to do.”
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