We are all horrified. Written on the ground, in the spy’s blood, right in front of me, are these words:
YOU’RE NEXT KALLAN!!! I WILL KILL YOU AND I WILL RULE
EVERYTHING!!!!
-Hametsu
He’s a demon. An absolute monstrosity to humanity. My insides shake with anger and fear. I swear he's probably laughing right now with his sister and girlfriend.
“That horrible person.” I whisper to myself. I begin crying. Not out of fear that he's going to try and kill me, but because he kills people for his own amusement.
I really hate him. I don't want to stoop to his level and kill him, even though he deserves it. It's impossible to know how many people have died by his hands.
I cry for the dead spy. He doesn’t deserve this. He doesn't deserve to be slaughtered mercilessly by Hametsu's powers. He probably has a family that he was trying to take care of. I wonder what sort of lie Hametsu is going to tell his family? That we killed him?
I know that the royal blood of Aelfdene would never kill anybody.
I hate the Yamashi bloodline. They're all cruel. I can just imagine what his sister is like. Just as cruel, just as vicious.
Mother, father and Aidan hug me and comfort me.
“I can't believe what he does to people. It's so cruel, just so inhumanly cruel,” I said in between tears, “what is wrong with him?”
“Mental insanity,” Aidan said, “you've mentioned it to me before about how 70% of his sanity is gone.”
I nodded, still bawling my eyes out.
One question surfaces in my mind.
“How did he kill him and write that message in less than a minute?” I asked.
Father shakes his head.
“It's a mystery. I wondered the same thing when Romeo was ruling,” he said, “he caused the Dark Ages and spread sickness and fear as well as chaos and misery as an attempt to conquer the Human Realm and Fae.”
“And he failed miserably,” I said, choking on my tears, “what happened to him?”
No one answers. They’re hiding something from me.
“Father, what happened to him?” I asked again.
“Why don’t we head to the archives.” he said, avoiding my question.
Maybe I can find the answer to my question there.
There is a long passageway to the archives, decorated with murals of my ancestors. I stopped to look at King Arthur. I look like him, nearly a splitting image. Except his hair is longer and slightly darker. He has a beard on his face. This mural was probably painted when he was in his thirties because he looks like me only twenty years older.
I, personally, am not one for beards. I don’t want a beard. But besides that, Arthur and I look nearly the same.
I look down the line of my ancestors. A few of them have red hair. Some have dark brown hair. Others are actually blonde or have really light brown hair. They all have green eyes but the shade varies from person to person.
Then there’s me and my brothers. Aidan, the warrior, Adair, the healer, and Kallan, the savior. The mural of me must’ve been painted a few days ago because it looks fresh.
And, yet again, I am reminded that I have to go to war.
1. Hate. War. War bugs the living crap out of me.
The doors to the archives are huge and decorated with the Mother Goddess surrounded by nature and butterflies.
Now I have a better understanding as to why butterflies are very important here. They’re most likely sacred and viewed as symbols of the Mother Goddess.
Father recites some sort of incantation and the doors open, revealing a giant library filled with scrolls and books.
This is the archives. The entire history of Fae and its rulers as well as its secrets is in this massive room. The room is dimly lit by torches. It’s light enough to see and read.
I just want to read all of them, all of the books and scrolls. But I know I can’t. It would take years to finish reading just a corner of the archives. That’s how many books and scrolls there.
Father leads me to the back of the archives. There are three thick books. One reads “Aelfdene”, the second one Eolande,which I'm guessing is mother's side of the family, and the third read Yamashi, Hametsu's bloodline.
I want to read my mother's side of the family. I'm curious to know if I have any cousins or not.
I skip ahead to the part where my mother's name was listed. She did have a sister but oh my lord I’m shocked about who it is.
I just stared at the name, trying to make sense of what I just learned, and praying that it wasn't true, that I read it wrong.
Juliet is my mother's sister, her younger sister.
My mind can not wrap around this one fact, this one horrible fact.
Hametsu and I are cousins. We are family.
I absolutely refuse to believe it. I am utterly speechless. I just can't accept it.
I am related to Hametsu, that lunatic, that horribly cruel lunatic. I just can't even believe it.
“Father….” I finally said when I found my voice, “is this true? Is Juliet my aunt?”
He sighs a heavy sigh.
“Unfortunately, it is. We never knew that she conceived until a hundred years ago when her son returned to claim the throne of the Death Fairies.”
I can't believe it. I read through Hametsu's family tree. Sure enough, Juliet did marry Romeo and had two kids, Lilly and Hametsu, the latter being the older twin. I shut the book and went somewhere else.
I wander around for a little bit, looking at the covers of books and reading a few scrolls. One book caught my eye. It’s called “The Legendary Battle.” The cover is black and the writing on the cover is gold. There was a sinister looking symbol on it in dark purple. I figure I can read it some other time, so I walk past it.
I saw Ryan was sitting down, reading a book near the left wall of the archives. He looked up.
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“Your highness!” He said, scrambling up to stand at attention.
“Ryan,” I started. I take a deep breath and say rather quickly, “Hametsu is my cousin, I don't know what to do or think, please help me!!”
“Dude slow down! All I got out of that is ‘Hametsu’ and ‘help me,’” he replied.
“Hametsu is my cousin. What do I do?!” I pleaded.
Ryan looks just as shocked as I felt about the news.
“That bastard is related to you?!” He asked, unable to hide the shock in his voice.
“I wish it wasn't true,” I replied, “but apparently it is.”
Ryan shakes his head in disbelief and disgust.
“That vile monster,” he said, “I heard about what happened about your encounter and that you know about him. One of our spies managed to make it home alive and told us about his plans.”
“Genocide. He wants to kill the human race and considers them as disgusting.” I said. I actually think that he thinks that everyone is disgusting judging by the way he killed his own spy and the fact that he tortures and kills whoever he wants to torture and kill. He's disgusting. I despise him, even though we're family.
“I don't want to kill him. He's family. But he seriously deserves it. I'm so confused.” I said.
“Who said you have to kill him?” Ryan asked, “just give him a taste of his own medicine. Let's make him know what it feels like to be tortured.”
“I will not stoop that low, no matter how much I agree with that,” I declared to him, “besides, what would his sister do to us if we did that to him?”
“He has a sister?” Ryan asked. Wow. Just, wow. He doesn't know. That's pretty sad. He's the son of the captain of the royal guard. He should know about that. Spies are a part of the guard… I think. I dunno. I know Hametsu’s spy spilled the beans, but there have got to be some spies that survived and told
them.
“Yes. He does.” I said, slightly annoyed.
“Huh,” he stated, “ya learn something new every day.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I retorted, “anyway, what book are you reading?”
He shows me the cover. It's King Arthur's guide to being a good warrior. Arthur wrote it himself. The thing looks ancient. How is it still in one piece? Probably some sort of magic.
“I want to be just like my dad and Aidan. Noble warriors, with good hearts.” He said. His eyes shine with admiration toward my oldest brother.
Aidan must be popular. While I was wandering around and talking to people before the banquet a few days ago, some of the younger boys said that they wanted to be like Aidan. Some of the older girls said that Aidan was heartthrob to maidens everywhere. I think one girl said that she wanted to marry him.
Adair is popular too. Quite a few people want to be his apprentice. But I don't think Adair really wants an apprentice yet. According to him, he's still an apprentice, even though he's one of the most skilled healers of Fae.
Thinking about him made me think about Juliet. She is rumored to be the greatest healer that has ever lived.
Thinking of Juliet makes me think of her lunatic son Hametsu and thinking of him makes my blood boil.
I still have a hard time believing that Juliet is my aunt and that Hametsu is my cousin. This is a fact that will probably never sink in.
And I still can't believe that he's the Death King and that he was only getting close to me so that he could kill me and take over the world.
“Hey Kallan, do you have any idea what his sister is like?” Ryan asked me, pulling me from my thoughts.
“No. Not really,” I replied, “but I assume that she's similar to Hametsu in behavior.”
“You're jumping to conclusions again.” Ryan teased.
He's right. Maybe Lilly or whatever her name is, is actually a lot nicer to people. Either that or she's somewhere in between.
“I'm actually very curious now.” I said.
“Kallan!! Come over here!” I heard my father shout at me. I flew over to him.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I believe I found the book you are looking for.” He said, holding a thick, ancient book with a chestnut colored leather cover. It was titled The History of Fae and it was also written by my ancestor, King Arthur. About every book that I have seen was written by him.
“How many books did King Arthur write?” I asked.
Father thinks about it for a while.
“I want to say about 90% of the books and scrolls in the archives.” He finally replied.
I’m surprised when I heard that.
Father laughs.
“You should see the look on your face right now. It's quite amusing.” He stated. I blushed a bit and elbowed him slightly.
“How did he manage to do that?!” I asked.
“He lived for about five hundred years. His son took over when he was a hundred years old.” Father explained. “He lived through many generations.”
I’m amazed that my ancestor lived for five hundred years writing books and scrolls for nobility and royalty to read. Do fairies naturally live that long? If so then damn.
I took a look at the book. I cautiously opened it, out of fear of ruining the ancient book.
It started off as Màthair Nàdar creating Fae. It says that the first creatures she made were butterflies, which answered my question as to why they are sacred. Then it explains all the other creatures that she created. King Arthur stated that she created fairies, pixies, and elves to care for these creatures.
The people of Fae were created to care for each type of creature. Water fairies for the rivers and oceans, fire fairies for the volcanos, earth fairies for the land, and air fairies to the creatures of the sky.
The fairies eventually grew into many different kinds of fairies like Nature Fairies, Death Fairies, Island Fairies, Storm Fairies, Garden Fairies, Animal Fairies, Day Fairies, Night Fairies and so on and so on.
With life, also came death. A spirit known as the Spirit of Death came to the world and introduced death to balance out life. Màthair Nàdar was unhappy, but understood. They made a negotiation that the fairies are able to live for centuries, but must die when they are considered elders. They lived in peace with some fairies following the Spirit of Death and becoming Death Fairies to balance out the Life Fairies.
Then it explains how the Spirit of Darkness came to Fae and brought all the evil in the world such as sickness and pain and suffering and corruption, causing the people of Fae to be able to die at all ages, not just elders. Some of the nature and death fairies decided to follow the ways of the Spirit of Darkness and they became the Dark Fairies, who have been sealed away for centuries. It doesn’t explain how they were defeated along with the Spirit of Darkness. It was around that time where the kingdom of Pixies and the Elven Empire disappeared causing the formation of the Barren Lands.
Then it proceeds to explain all the conflict that happened with the population of Death Fairies and the Life fairies, which is literally every other kind of fairy, due to the corruption of the Spirit of Darkness had caused before his sealing. The Spirit of Death tried to calm them, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The corruption was too strong. The Death Fairies claimed that the Spirit of Death wanted this, when it was pretty obvious he didn’t.
The Life Fairies decided to crown a king to lead their people, so the Mother Goddess and Spirit of Death created a quest for someone to follow, it was to pull Excalibur from a stone. But here’s the catch, it was an extremely dangerous trial to get there including crossing a really dense jungle filled with plants that could kill you in an instant if you ate from it, as well as carnivorous plants and deadly predators. It was also full of dangerous trials that one had to pass such as finding some sort of crystal to place on a statue to open a temple where there was some sort of talisman needed to defeat the guardian of the sword.
My ancestor was a skinny, frail boy, but he trained himself for many years until he was 17, my age, and went on that quest to find Excalibur. He spent nearly two years on the quest, frequently writing messages to his parents telling them that he was okay and having the birds send them.
The sword was in the stone in front of a waterfall, Arthur walked up to it, grabbed the handle and effortlessly pulled the sword from the stone.
Only a pure hearted lad could take the sword, he wrote, I really only considered myself as a simple farm boy, but it seems that the Mother Goddess had other plans for me. I am ready to accept my role as the King of Fae and lead the people to peace and prosperity.
He returned home with Excalibur in his hands and he said that the people raised such a shout it shook the ground.
I skipped ahead until I found what I was looking for.
...the Death Fairies have their own king and they claim that he is the incarnation of their God the Spirit of Death. He is a cruel fellow and oppresses his people by fear, he wrote, ...I have never heard of a man with such a powerful desire to dominate over everything…
So the whole war started because Hametsu's crazy ancestor wanted to rule everything. Why am I not surprised?
His entire family from his dad's side are lunatics.
I flipped ahead to the end and I saw a prophecy:
A dark time will fall upon the realm
Bringing death and destruction
In it's darkest hour a shining light will be born
A Queen will bear three sons
The first will become a warrior of light
The second will fall and rise again
The youngest will save us from destruction
Return life to the land.
And lead the people to an era of peace, prosperity, and harmony.