Typhan opened his eyes. He found himself dangling from the branches of a tree. The pain from the broken bones all over his body assaulted him all at once.
What an absurd level of growth in a couple of weeks. He cast his eyes back toward the ancient city. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was scared of what she'd become if left to grow stronger. His bones cracked painfully as he set about disentangling himself from the tree. He hit the ground with a small thud.
"Status," he mumbled.
Name: Typhan Lochmoor Level: 20 Health pool: 25/200 Mana pool: 50/50 Strength: 2[8] Constitution: 3[7] Dexterity: 1[6] Agility: 1[7] Wisdom: 2 Intelligence: 3 Status: The host is suffering from severely crippling injuries. Give up any thoughts of having children.
That was just a warning? The blood drained from his face. He painfully rose to his feet and began his long and slow journey back to his camp, limping away as quickly as his injured body would allow. This isn't over.
The air in the forest seemed to change and become heavier as he made his way through the undergrowth. He continued making his slow progress as the feeling that he wasn't alone permeated his mind. The forest seemed to open a path to his left, the trees and undergrowth in the direction moved out of the way. He cast a wary glance at it as the path in front of him quickly became congested with thick brambles; in his current state passing through that was near impossible. After considering his options, he came to the conclusion he really didn't have any. He took a heavy breath and slowly limped down the path that opened for him.
The path wound around and took him back in the opposite direction. All the leaves on every tree surrounding him suddenly rustled vigorously, but the air was deadly still. A tiny phoenix flew down from the sky in front of him, floating near effortlessly in the air with far too much space between the flapping of her tiny wings. It wasn't very intimidating, but he felt danger from it all the same.
"If I had my way, I'd kill you right now." Isa caught him in an icy glare that locked him in place out of fear. She slowly approached him and placed herself between him and the path behind him. "Any thoughts you have of returning, I suggest you abandon them. Never come back, not now. Not ever."
The leaves rustled again, catching the attention of the tiny phoenix. When the leaves stopped, the little phoenix addressed him again.
"Follow the forest in that direction. It will lead you to your camp, I assume that's what you were looking for? Your people have all abandoned it, though, as they've all fled after waiting a week for you. And that was a week ago. Consider yourself lucky to be alive."
Two weeks?! Typhan felt the blood drain from his face at the thought of how strong that grey skin would be now that another two weeks had passed. Isa simply smirked while watching him turn pale.
"The caretakers of the forest have returned." Isa spread her wings wide with her feathers pointing toward the sky. She adopted a truly majestic appearance as she paid homage to the grey-skinned race. The sunlight lit up her pink feathers giving her an almost ethereal appearance. Her reverie was interrupted by the rustling of leaves.
"... Very well." Isa sighed as she returned to her relaxed posture, "I hope she learns something valuable."
Typhan, still frozen from the phoenix's gaze, was wordlessly abducted as vines wrapped around his body and carried him off.
Typhan was grateful for the gentle embrace the vines offered, limping along with both his legs broken wasn't the hardest thing he'd ever done but it was certainly the most painful thing he'd experienced in a long time.
"Where are you taking me?" Typhan asked in as tiny a voice he could muster.
"You can drop the weak act, you're not fooling anyone." Isa retorted and flashed him a wicked smile, "The Caretaker has requested your presence, so we're taking you to her. I'll advise you not to show any disrespect. Or please do. That would suffice as a proper excuse to kill you."
Typhan swallowed unconsciously as he maintained silence for the rest of the short trip through the forest. He kept his eyes open, blinking sparingly as he took in the sights and sounds of the forest. It was far more robust than he remembered from two weeks ago, and it was teeming with wildlife. Then he saw the city.
The city looked every bit as majestic as the kingdom he hailed from. Gone was the rubble and piled remains of collapsed buildings. There was a fascinating beauty to the way the plants were interwoven into the very foundations of the structures. Anya swelled a bit pridefully when she felt his astonished gaze upon her territory.
Typhan felt himself speeding towards a section of the city, from his vantage point it looked like training grounds. A wide-open area with wooden dummies spaced to have a strategic advantage over the trainee.
Upon closer examination, he noticed a grey skin among the dummies. He gulped hard as he watched the scene.
Vivian was in the midst of warming up her body. She twirled the staff over her head, brought it down behind her back, and around the sides of her body. She increased her speed gradually until the staff turned invisible in her hands. The sound of the staff cutting the air only grew louder, the generated wind gaining strength. She leaped at the training dummies, her body becoming a grey blur as she seemed to be dancing around the dummies. Wood smashed against wood in quick succession before Vivian returned to her starting spot, the staff held firmly to her side in her right hand and passing across her back to the left.
Six of the twelve dummies surrounding her crumbled and fell to the ground, the other six burst into woodchips. Vivian nodded in satisfaction and relaxed her posture.
"You're amazing mother," Jaden looked at her pridefully as he was in the middle of his own staff practice.
"You need to concentrate," Vivian replied to him with a smile. Jaden sighed as he focused on his staff spins. He wasn't as fast as his mother, but he was improving.
That's the monster of the prophecy? Typhan watched Jaden with interest. He saw no flaw in his form, but there was something amiss like he wasn't suited for the staff.
"He's something isn't he?" Vivian spoke to Typhan while her eyes were full of pride as she observed her son.
Typhan looked questioningly at Vivian.
"You're no threat to anyone here now." Vivian laughed lightly. "You weren't plotting to attack when our guard was down were you?"
"I don't understand you, my goal is to kill you and your son," Typhan said flatly.
"I have no doubt you'll succeed in killing me one day," Vivian replied lightly. "When that day comes..."
Vivian paused and gazed mysteriously at Jaden but said nothing further.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Are we going to have tea next?" Typhan asked incredulously.
"Where are my manners?" Vivian asked seriously, "What flavor tea would you like?"
"Matriarch," Daryl presented himself, "I'd like to know what's going through your head that you're offering tea to this... thing."
"Even knowing what the future has in store, I'm going to continue to believe nothing and no one is beyond salvation, I will die proudly with my hope for a peaceful co-existence intact," Vivian answered. And in doing so...
"You know the future?" Daryl asked.
"I'm merely privy to some things I shouldn't know. Typhan here has vowed to kill me for his humiliation two weeks ago... and it would seem I've robbed him of having a family of his own one day."
"And all of this would not have come to pass if there was no prophecy." Vivian continued, "How does that knowledge hit you Typhan Lochmoor of the Authen race?"
"...I'll take that drink now."
Vivian nodded in satisfaction. "Anya if you would please."
"The Authen?" Daryl looked at Typhan disdainfully. "You might as well drop your illusion then."
Typhan's tanned skin faded into a pale green. His face twisted into a wrinkled mess; his teeth turned into fangs that protruded from his mouth as expected of a creature that would eat its meal while the animal was still alive. His ears elongated and curved. His arms and legs grew longer becoming lanky.
"I can see why you hide your appearance." Bayne stated, "Do you hunt us out of jealousy then?"
"Partially." Typhan's deep and gruff voice responded as he sneered, "Our women aren't much to look at. But yours..."
"You don't want to finish," Bayne warned, noticing the lecherous leer Typhan had passed over Molli, Lulu, and Vivian and was going to fall on Emily next.
"Don't ask a question you don't want answered," Typhan rebuked.
"This isn't going well," Vivian remarked as she took a smooth wooden cup from a nearby vine, "all of you go find something to do while I have a chat with our... guest."
"As for you," Vivian directed her voice at Typhan, "Look at any of us like that again and you'll be wishing for death."
Typhan merely shrugged as he took a wooden cup. "I'm already better off dead."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
----------------------------------------
"What you think Matriarch ish talking about?" Emily asked as she weaved flowers she picked from Anya's vines. Red, purple, and pink flowers blended together into a crown wreathe.
"That's what I'd like to know," Jaden replied as he watched her with mild interest, "what are you doing?"
"I'm jusht weaving a flower crown," she replied and worked the last flower into her creation. She looked it over carefully, her task completed. With a nod, she placed it on his head.
"King Jaden," she said cheerfully.
Jaden's face contorted in disgust at the title. Is that what mother feels every time someone addresses her as matriarch?
"I'm no king," he said as he carefully lifted the crown off his head. Seeing her sulking, he placed the crown on her head, "But you can be the Flower Princess."
Emily's face brightened in delight, her azure blue eyes sparkled as she caught him in a hug and squeezed.
"Can't... breathe..." Jaden faked which caused her to squeeze him tighter as she started giggling.
"You should make another crown," Jaden suggested when she let him go, "so Evan can be the Flower Prince."
"Not interested." Evan retorted from not far away.
"Right..." Jaden looked at him skeptically as Emily skipped off to gather more flowers, "You keep glaring daggers at me. What did I do to you?"
"..." Evan said something under his breath.
"Right, it's my fault Emily spends all her time with me now. You're the one alienating yourself." Jaden stated as he walked away, picking up his staff, "Boys are stupid. Honestly."
Evan watched him leave, his silhouette shrinking as he practiced spinning his staff while he walked.
----------------------------------------
"I don't like it." Daryl and Bayne were walking the streets.
"And the rest of us do?" Bayne replied, "She talks of her own death too casually like it was prophesied."
"The oracle hasn't said anything regarding Matriarch to me though." Daryl continued, "Death comes for us all, but to just accept it? She is the last I would expect to simply embrace death."
"There's something wrong indeed. We should keep a sharp watch over her." Bayne replied and the two men nodded in agreement.
"What can you do?" Jaden asked as he crossed paths with the two, he stopped in front of them, "You believed every word she said?"
"Child of Prophecy, you know something?" Daryl asked hopefully.
Jaden shook his head pityingly, "Mother is a gentle woman in mind, body, and soul; and incredibly strong-willed. She holds her own life in high regard along with her own principles. I admire the fact she can face an adversary that wants to kill her head-on and send him away injured but alive. I know this is an act only the truly powerful can perform. And yet... she wasn't always this strong; she suffered countless hardships. I see the pain in her eyes every time I look into them. But there's something else there amongst all that pain. Hope."
Jaden looked at the two silent men before continuing, "Her hope isn't in me, the prophecy, or anything even remotely logical. She is also naive." Jaden sighed, "Naive to think that treating everyone with respect, disregarding countless years of oppression, her strength alone will chart a new course of peaceful coexistence for our race."
Bayne and Daryl both gave Jaden a surprised look. Upon seeing it, Jaden shook his head again, "We were all there, heard her speech, seen her actions... how is it you missed everything? You've even been around her longer than I have."
"You call her 'Matriarch'. I had thought it was out of respect. But it's just an empty title you address her with. Now I am starting to understand at least partially why she hates it." Jaden stated, looking at the two of them with contempt.
"That's not..." Daryl started to object, but he was silenced when the end of Jaden's staff appeared in front of his nose.
"Even me, you merely treat as a tool. A means to an end, that's all a 'Child of Prophecy' is, after all." Jaden relaxed as he placed his staff at his side, "I'm not sure your lot is worth saving."
"We're clansmen." Daryl objected firmly as Jaden turned to leave.
"Then treat Mother and me as though we are. So far, only Emily does." Jaden's words hung in the air as he walked away, "Mother, I'm doing my best to follow your example, but this world doesn't make it easy. How do you do it...?"
Daryl and Bayne looked at each other in silence, neither daring to say a word even after they resumed walking.
----------------------------------------
"Are you all right?" Lulu asked Molli after noticing her shivering yet again.
"The way he looked at me made my skin crawl," Molli replied shaking her head.
"I can't deny that had affected me too," Lulu replied.
"..." Molli looked at Lulu in silence. If it affected her as she says, she's certainly not showing it.
"I wonder why she wanted to be alone with him though?" Lulu broke the silence as she scratched her head.
"Probably to spare us his company." Molli offered as her body shivered again, "I need a bath."
"There's more to it than that, I'm sure." Lulu nodded, "I'm grateful to be away from him though."
Molli returned to her normally quiet self and Lulu opted not to force a conversation. Molli's body continued to shiver after every few steps when she abruptly stopped in the road. "Do you think Matriarch is okay alone with him?"
"She'll be fine," Jaden stated from behind her, "Mom is strong."
"Oh, Jaden." Molli was startled.
"Hm?" Jaden looked her up and down as if appraising her, looking for something and that's when he saw her shiver. "Are you all right?"
"That way that he looked at me...us..." Molli explained.
"I don't fully understand what you felt, but I didn't like that look he gave you all either, especially towards my mother," Jaden stated.
You'll understand in time. Lulu thought as she watched Emily running towards them wearing a wreathe of flowers and carrying another one carefully.
"Have you sheen Evan? I've looked everywhere!" Emily's breathing was deep and heavy supporting her statement; she had just run through the city looking for him in his favorite places.
What stupid thing is he up to now? Jaden frowned, "Based on that, he's somewhere he wouldn't normally be, which actually narrows it down a lot."
A long silence followed, followed by a very brief answer from Anya.
"Thank you, Anya." Jaden replied as his frown deepened. He sighed and spoke to Lulu and Molli, "He's...well, follow me and you'll see. Emily, it would be better if you didn't come with us."
Jaden led the small group to the sleeping area as directly as possible. They walked in silence, with the three women occasionally glancing at Jaden trying to read his mood. His deadpan expression never faltered while they walked. "He's in there." Jaden pointed toward a building and stood at the door.
"Isn't that where you shleep?" Emily asked, "Aren't you going in too?"
"No. I'm not." Jaden paused with a look of disgust on his face, "It will be better if you don't either Emily."
Lulu pushed the door open and a foul smell escaped the building. She wrinkled her nose and walked in, finding everything in disarray; it was a simple home adorned with simple wooden objects: wooden bowls and cups were strewn all over the floor. Objects Lulu had personally made. A blanket of plant fibers had been ripped apart to complete uselessness. Standing in the middle of the room was Evan. There was a puddle on the floor.
"What is the meaning of this, Evan?!" shouted Lulu as she approached, startling him.
"Evan?" Emily asked pushing her way past Jaden who was blocking her way. She forced her way into the building stopping next to Lulu. She looked at the state of the room, between the smell and the disarray her hands clenched unconsciously mangling the flower crown she made. She ran out of the building discarding the crown as she passed the doorway.
"Emily...?" Evan was bewildered and regretful, he hadn't wanted her to see what he'd done.
"I tried to stop you," Jaden whispered to Emily's retreating silhouette as he picked up what remained of the flower crown. He slowly walked away from the building in thought as he looked at the crown in his hands. He corrected his earlier statement, "Boys are incredibly stupid."
Moments later, Lulu dragged Evan painfully out of the building and into the street by his ear. "We have enough problems to deal with and here you are making more." Lulu scolded as she pulled Evan by his ear.
"What's going on?" Daryl approached seeing his wife leading their son by the ear.
"Your son," Lulu looked at Evan angrily, "will tell you what he did."
"He's your son too," Daryl failed to read her mood, and he immediately regretted it when she looked at him and her face scrunched into a scowl.
"THIS," she released Evan's ear and pointed at him, "is not my son. You can both sleep in the mess he made if you insist."
"The mess he made?" Daryl was confused.
"What's with all the shouting?" Bayne asked as he approached.
"Nothing important," Jaden answered as to him, there were bigger issues at hand.
"Is it a big deal or not?" Daryl asked as he became even more confused, which prompted Lulu to tap Evan on the head.
"No it's not." Jaden said with a shrug, "I just need a new place to sleep is all."
Vivian approached with Isa perched on her shoulder. The two of them were expressionless with Emily sobbing and walking slightly behind, "Imagine my surprise when I saw this cutie crying her eyes out and running away as fast as she could."
"How was your tea mother?" Jaden asked trying to steer the conversation to a new topic.
"Informative and I've sent Typhan on his way," Vivian replied cryptically as she scanned the crowd, taking notice of the crown made of flowers in her son's hands, "Emily told me everything she saw. I just don't know the why, but I can guess."
Flower Crown A beautiful wreathe of flowers Emily made for 'King Jaden'. He gave it back to her, dubbing her the 'Flower Princess' instead.
Damaged Flower Crown A matching wreathe of flowers Emily made for Evan at Jaden's suggestion, for the 'Flower Prince'.
Vivian scanned everyone present before she spoke, "Emily and Evan used to spend every day together, and while I've been busy dealing with matters... Emily was the only one of all of you to treat Jaden as a person, and I'll attribute that to her young age."
"You did that out of jealousy?" Lulu shook her head as her eyes fell on Emily.
"What'sh jealoshy?" Emily looked at Jaden for an answer.
"He didn't like you including me, and treating me like a brother." Jaden answered her, "A silly thing really. But that's what made him do what he did in my room."
"I made him do that?" Emily asked shocked.
"No." Vivian shook her head, "you're not accountable for the actions of others."
"Then what did?" Emily asked unable to understand.
"Change in the daily routine." Vivian answered. "Before Jaden came along, you spent your days with Evan. Afterward, you started including Jaden. There's nothing wrong with that, in fact I'm grateful to you for it. But Evan just didn't like it, and... Jaden is special in many ways, Evan might have thought he was losing your friendship."
Emily fell silent as she tried to digest that, as none of it made any sense to her. Jaden is special? Evan thought I didn't like him anymore?
"Jaden, you didn't do anything to provoke him?" Vivian asked.
"I only spoke the truth," he replied shaking his head as he recalled what happened.
"I see. You pointed out how his own actions brought about his dilemma. Yet, he still looked at you as the cause of that. That part about boys being stupid isn't exactly 'truth'... but it's not necessarily wrong either," Vivian thought back on her own limited experience. "As for his punishment, Evan can have your old room. He needs something to think about so he doesn't repeat this foolish action. Are you fine with that Lulu, Daryl?"
"Yes, Matriarch." the pair responded together.
"My word isn't law. If you disagree, say so." Vivian sighed.
"It's a fair punishment. He made his bed, now he can lie in it." Lulu responded.
"He's only eight." Daryl replied, "I don't think he'll learn the lesson you're trying to teach."
"He's your son after all so you're probably right," Lulu stated.
"What are you trying to say?" Daryl retorted.
"He's just as stupid and stubborn as you are," Lulu replied.
"You say that like you're not."
"...Let's get back on topic here." Vivian shook her head. "What would you say for his punishment?"
Daryl relayed his idea.
"I won't." Jaden flatly rejected.
Vivian looked at Daryl incredulously. "You want Jaden to do the same thing Evan did? There's so much wrong with this I don't even know where to start."
"Listening to the oracle over the years has dulled your mind." Lulu was just as shocked at his proposal.
"I'm teaching my son the value of being calm and collected, that two wrongs don't make right. Are you trying to say he should grow up thinking it's his birthright to slaughter the world because of what happened to our race?" Vivian struggled to keep her voice under control.
"I...didn't think that much into it. I'm sorry." Daryl bowed his head.
"If you deem that appropriate, do it yourself." Jaden said as he walked away, "I just want a different place to sleep."
Vivian looked upon her son approvingly as his figure became smaller. Her gaze lost all emotion as she looked upon Evan. "Evan."
"Yes, Matriarch?" he replied with his eyes glued to the ground.
"You'll be sleeping in Jaden's old room from now on." Vivian passed judgment, "You're forbidden from cleaning it today."
He looked at her dumbfounded.
"As Lulu stated previously, you've made your bed. Now you can lie in it." Vivian stated and turned to walk away when she paused as she twirled her staff. "Daryl, give your... 'ideas' more thought before you voice them. I'd hate to have to thump you over the head in an attempt to get your brain working."
"Yes, Matriarch," Daryl replied as a bead of sweat ran down his face, grateful that she continued turning and walked away.