By Keerthi Mahadevan (11G) & Aadi Abhyankar (12K)
The castle was barely still standing. The empire that held eternal power
and wealth was almost down on its knees. And then there it was, a sound as loud
as thunder raged from the gods themselves. King Josiah Perkin was no more. The
mighty throne was no more entitled to goodness. Evil had won. But this doesn't
mean goodness had faded away. Though elusive in nature, strength always stood
by it. There were only 3 that could bring it back into the open. All could be right
in this godforsaken world again but the 3 were backed into 3 corners. Resultantly,
only prayers, apart from screams, were heard for the next 14 years.
Lillith looked across the window from king Josiah Perkin's room. Evil
surely did win but what good was a noble and kind king when he did nothing but
plunder his kingdom and his people into eternal wars, trading their lives for his
power, their future for his triumphs. She had heard the stories, 3 mortals backed
into the corners of the world were the keys to the recovery of this kingdom. ‘If
they were just as kind-hearted as old king Josiah Perkin, I would welcome them
back with open arms,’ she thought, the corners of her mouth lifting to a smile,
‘and crush them with my bare hands.’ She ran her cold silver hands across the
broken wooden structure of the threshold. It had been fourteen long years, but
she was back home.
After the cold wars in Rangshire, Haden was crowned King. Lillith was
one of Haden’s daughters. She ran away from the Empire when she was a mere
child. No one knew where and how she survived without revealing her identity
for 14 long years. The bigger question that ran through the heads of everyone in
the empire was... why was she back?
Lillith left the room and entered the Great Hall and faced her father who
looked at her with no obvious emotion. He said, “Lillith, you ran away as a child
and managed to live by yourself? I must say I'm rather impressed. You have
proved that you don’t need my protection.”
She thought to herself, ‘I’m back after 14 years and he’s impressed. Hah. I
hope the speech is short. I need to get it soon and leave.’ Haden continued
talking.
Haden was no righteous leader, he killed who he saw fit and promoted
unfit imbeciles to the role of ministers, his was a country governed by gluttonous
pigs with fingers fatter than their citizen’s children. She looked around the room
in disgust, she had turned deaf to her father’s words a long time back. she didn’t
care for these men or their selfish needs.
Anger filled her body and once her chalice had gone empty, she dropped it
on the floor.
“Lillith, what is this?” her father demanded, his little pudgy face turning
red with rage.
Her lips were lined in red and she gave him a wide smile, ‘Daddy finally
knows how to pay attention,’ she chuckled at the thought and silently walked
forward. The hall went silent, every man had their eyes glued on her. There was
always something a bit special about Lilith for they all knew she wasn’t all
human. There was power in every step, her robes of silk always seemed to float
just an inch above the ground, her hands were decked in silver, and she stopped
just a foot from her father whose expression turned from rage to confusion. She
looked around the hall one last time, everyone had their eyes on her, the guards
were armed and ready to attack if she so much as placed her hand on her father’s
shoulder.
And so, with a single snap of her silver fingers, King Haden of Rangshire
was dead.
Or so she wished. She wished more than anything that it was true; that
she had magical silver hands that would erase everyone that bothered her from
her sight. But she didn’t have that sort of power. She was extraordinary, but not
magical. Magic would dilute her greatness. After she was done imagining, she
came back to reality. She wanted to be fierce more than anything, but now was
the time to have patience.
Haden finished his speech by giving Lilith 2 choices. He said, “Listen
closely now, Lillith. My Kingdom is prospering more than ever. The morale in my
country is rising. Your return will shatter it all. I need to give my subjects a
story. They would want to know why you’re back. So, here are your 2 choices: you
stay here and live the royal life until we find you a suitor and I shall tell
everyone that you are back for good. Or, you leave first thing tomorrow morning
and leave forever. There will be no turning back and I will disown you as my
daughter. You will lose the title of a royal. I'll tell my subjects that you are a
bastard and have left to live with your birth mother. You need to make a decision
now.”
‘Wow, so this just made everything easier for me. I get to lose my royal
identity and live as I did all these years. And, I have just enough time to get
what I want. Tonight, the legacy shall be mine. Thank you, Daddy dear.’
“I shall leave forever, father. I came back only out of embarrassment for
my foolish acts.”
‘Hah, sure.’
“I wanted to apologise and end your agony. I will be gone tomorrow.”
Lillith bowed and went back to her old room.
The room was dark and empty, every single corner had been covered in
dust. The red curtains drawn. Lillith had everything under control or so she
thought, until the memory of this place resurfaced the rage she had learned to
control all this while. Lillith grew up with accusations - black magic woman,
Satan's spawn, witch. Her mother was no saint either. For all her life she grew
up surrounded by men and women of power abusing their position. She might
have fled the country, but she had never wanted to leave.
Now she had until tomorrow to get the sceptre and she was going to get it
at any cost, even if it meant she had to wipe out the Kingdom.
Since Lillith’s childhood was disturbing, she knew she needed an escape
route. The only thing keeping her sane for 12 years was her escape plan. Every
second of every day she would concoct a brilliant plan to leave. In her years
away, she learnt about the sceptre. She didn’t know it was in the possession of
her father when she had left. She knew that her sole purpose in life - and in
death - would only be complete with that sceptre.
Lillith left the room past midnight. She took a small collapsible container
with poison from her personal collection. She also had a spray bottle which could
cause drowsiness. If one had to choose one thing that Lillith was best at,
he/she/it would definitely say potions and poisons. She wore a black outfit that
stuck to her flawless skin, making her dressed body looked like her naked
silhouette. She clandestinely sped into the dungeons through the secret
walkways behind King Josiah’s room. Everything looked the same; except, a
huge boulder stood in front of what used to be the room of the great sceptre. She
expected many things from this hunt. Finding a huge rock instead of a sceptre
wasn’t one of them.
She had been in the room before, long back as a child. The sceptre was
reserved for the royal family of Perkins. She rushed out of the room knowing
where to find it, or most importantly, who had taken it. As the sun rose, she
stepped foot into the little wooden cottage of the oracle. The oracle consisted of
three men and women born into great wisdom. Her mother was one of them until
she was banished. Now there were just two old women into their later hundreds,
together having with less sense than a stone.
“Where is Adam?” she asked, her voice angry and powerful.
The two ladies wrapped in their patterned scarves and jewelled turbans
looked back at her with kind smiles, their dark skins hadn’t lost their shine.
Adam was Lilith's brother, they were born of the same flesh and blood, they had
the same power and wit. Only she knew that she was better... much better.
Their response still echoed in the back of her mind. “My dear, you killed
him.”
Her mind was blank for 10 seconds. No thoughts entered or left. She was
baffled and bewildered. And then she spoke. “And when exactly did this
happen?”. ‘I know I didn't kill Adam. But he isn’t here, and the old croaks think I
killed him. This could mean one of two things. Either he left and told them he
went out looking for me and never returned or someone has been spreading foul
rumours about me. I have a million guesses who that could be. I want to believe
option one.’
One of the old women replied, “Lillith dear, he left about 8 years ago with
the sceptre and he said he needed something important from you. He was so
hellbent on it that he quit the oracle just like your mother”.
‘I knew it. But something about that didn’t seem right.’
I replied, “Wait, you said like my mother. She didn’t leave, she was
banished!”
The old woman looked at her with pitiful eyes. This brought rage to
Lillith. She hates pity. “What? What is it?!”
The woman replied, “You were a child who was fed lies by your father.
Your mother wasn’t banished. She left. Word is, she’s still alive.”
‘My, my, this is going to be a rough ride. I need to find Adam. I need the
sceptre and the other 2 parts to complete the legacy. My mother is alive out there
somewhere. I have to find the 3.’ She knew she had to go back to her old life. She
had wasted enough time in the castle. She requested to stay the night at the
oracle’s. ‘I need a plan.’
Goodbye, Lillith.
Aura, welcome back.
By dawn, Lilith had tied up the two old women to their old wooden chairs.
They would randomly go into fits speaking in Latin, their eyes rolling back to the
back of their heads, foaming at the mouth, and rattling around before the
exhaustion kicked in and then they would lay still. This was purely on impulse,
but she was desperate. she had a few more hours until the sun rose. if she
couldn't get the sceptre she needed something else.
The oracle had predicted the three mortals. Lilith knew better.
Her mother was the first wife of King Josiah Perkin, their family had
ruled the lands for centuries, and perhaps because it was of the redundancy of
the old texts, or because with King Haden, they had abandoned all the
conventions of the last kingdom; but this land was promised to Lillith and her
blood only.
She had run away as a child only to come back enriched with the
knowledge of the land, no one knew the richness of the soil around river Erve
like she did, the language of the people, the power of the sceptre, the secrets of
the land, and the power of her blood like she did; however, when she came back
she was not the same, her body had changed, and so had her name.
But these women had been here since eternity, they knew more than her,
they had named her, brought her up, she was supposed to be queen, but now the
kingdom was built on the bones of her father. The whole place was dying, bit by
bit, the water would poison its own people, its food nothing but a burden.
And that was the kingdom’s fate, and she would ensure that.
‘I need to sort my priorities.’ Aura knew she had knowledge and power but
if what she really wanted was to see her father’s kingdom burn down to ashes,
then the only ones who could help her in doing this were the 3. The Oracle’s
predictions would mean that they’re equidistant from the river Erve. Aura knew
where 2 of those roads went. No one dared travel the third.
And so, she knew what her next destination was. Her blood cells were
replaced by electrons whenever she thought of it. There was just one place she
couldn’t explore. And now, everything depended on it. Excitement didn’t do
justice to what she was feeling. It’s like when you induce life back into a corpse.
Aura felt more alive than ever.
She took her coat and her compass and disappeared into the forest like
wind. Her coat wasn’t just any coat. It was everything she built for 14 years. She
wanted the identity of wind and carrying things around on her shoulders on a
horse wasn’t any close to it. This coat had everything that made her Aura. She
reached the river and met the triple way road. And then, just like that, she
turned right to the road that leads to Dauntpurk.
She looked up from the ruins of the city. Dauntpurk was the place of the
first inhabitants. It's where the river got its name from. For all they knew the
city started before time and ended right as civilization started elsewhere. The
city was ruined. All one could see were its white marble ruins, which was also
what drew the thieves. The tale of a lost treasure. The other half of the spectre.
Aura wasn’t scared of a city of ruins. Maybe it was who now resided in the
city that frightened people. She walked towards the kingdom that used to hold
the most magnificent throne ever built, being cautious every step of the way.
Very few knew about Dauntpurk and the ones who did were never taken
seriously. It’s as if they were describing the city of heavens.
Their stories were written in books as fables and Aura remembered
reading it. She didn’t believe it either, and who would, after humans were driven
to madness in that city? Or so said the stories.
I’m close to the castle.
She walked all alone through the dense forest. She expected the thieves to
turn up any moment... or at least trolls. But all she saw after walking for at
least an hour, was a purple wall made of mist. It rose up so high, she couldn’t see
the end of it. She found that oddly confusing. Maybe it’s what’s beyond the wall
that’s driven them mad. But she didn’t stop being attentive. She took a sip of an
anti-enchantments’ potion from her coat. She also consumed a vision potion that
mutated her eyes. She didn’t know if this was just a wall, or a long journey
within it. She had to be prepared. She made sure very little skin was exposed to
the mist and headed into the wall. Her face was cold, and her body had electric
currents running all over. She felt like every bit of pain caused to her was
removed from her body. She felt pure. Reborn. ‘Don’t get lost in this. Do not get
lost in this, Aura. Keep walking. Keep your eyes and ears open.’ Aura passed the
wall after a minute of walking. When she was out, her coat was gone. She wasn’t
dressed the same anymore. She was baffled. Her weapons and potions were gone.
All she had was her childhood knife given to her by her father. This made things
tons worse for her. She kept her knife close.
Once she cleared her thoughts, she saw the magnificent castle. It was still
in ruins, but the structure still remained. ‘What had happened here?’ It was a
castle made of ice. The weather didn’t seem cold enough. She knew the wall was
enchanted. Dauntpurk looked as if it’d been preserved like this for a thousand
years. The castle wasn’t far from the wall.
She entered the castle and climbed the ruined stairs. It’s like she knew
where to go. The staircase was spiraling about a large radius. It didn’t have a
railing to support it. Instead, it was suspended with only the support of the wall
it was attached to. She noticed the engravings on the supporting wall. It was
telling a story. She could read the story of the formation of the city. She kept
reading until the carvings trailed off. The story ended abruptly at the selection of
the next heir of the throne. She saw the last carving... a young lady being
crowned. She realised during the course of the story that the name of this city
was actually Agarth. The people renamed it Dauntpurk with time based wholly
on their fear to explore the enchanted city. After that last carving, there was a
huge crack in the wall.
At this point, she was high enough, and the clouds interfered with her
vision. But the effect of the potion lasted so she could see clearly enough.
Suddenly, the stair below her started to shake. It cracked and she tried to move
very little so she wouldn’t break the delicate marble. She had the ability to fly a
little above the ground. She never knew how or why she had such an odd power,
only that she could. She tried boosting herself off the ground and felt her heart
break with the ground. The stair collapsed and she fell downward.
She was suspended in free fall for too long to be real. Then she felt and
heard the loud thud of her body. She could be dead, but luckily for the water
underneath, she folded inside it. She went in deep and the pressure of the water
pushed her deep beneath. Her consciousness hadn’t left her alone. She reached
the bed of the water and it was just a sheet of ice. She could see something
glowing beneath. She had a few seconds left and chose to take her knife and stab
the ice sheet, attempting to break it. What happened after, took her aback. A
purple light glowed at the crack she made. The sheet vanished at an instant and
she fell 8 feet downward to the icy floor. She gasped as her lungs were fueled
with energy. It was unbearably cold. She stood after making her best efforts and
stared at her glowing knife. What’s happening?
She looked up and saw a small opening to a snow cave and saw purple
light glow from inside it. She found herself in a feast room of sorts with a grand
table in the middle with frozen sheets covering it. This looked like a trail. ‘I
cannot comprehend whether this is a trap or not anymore. I have no choice but to
follow.’ She stepped into the opening that seemed to get bigger every meter. The
cave finally opened to a throne room. A glorious throne room. The throne was
built with icicles and looked like the one from the carving. She saw the top three
icicles of the throne glowing purple. Instantly, she knew what to do. She paced
towards it forgetting her pain and placed the knife on the middle icicle of the
throne. A huge beam erupted out of it. ‘This was meant to be. The 3 aren’t
people, they’re enchanted objects!’ The beam turned into a purple light ball that
seemed to lead her somewhere. She followed it and saw it taking her towards the
feast room. The light ball then penetrated through an ice wall, making it melt.
She stood patiently, waiting for the light to make sense of something. Then she
saw them.
She saw Adam and her mother frozen like ice sculptures. ‘I felt like I was
found, not them. I felt like they were calling out to me this entire time. Why did I
travel the 3rd road and not the others? Surely, travelling the first 2 would bring
some clarity to the legacy. This indeed was meant to be.’
She noticed the two halves of the sceptre in each of their hands. She
waited for the light to bring them back to life, but it didn’t. It just made them
drop the sceptres. She took them and ran towards the other icicles and placed
them there. Alas! There it was. The sceptre completed. This didn’t bring as much
excitement to her after she heard footsteps in the feast room. She sprinted
towards the cave opening and there they were. Her mother screamed her name.
“Lillith! Oh, my dear! How are you? How did you find us?”
Before she could say a word, Adam said, “Mother, it was only a matter of
time until she found herself too. Lillith is the true heir to the throne and she’s
found herself.” Lillith stood silently. Heir? Of Agarth?
Her mother explained, “Lillith dear, I'm sure you know the story of how
Agarth was founded by now. But there are truths you must know about
ourselves. Your blood carries the genes of the Great King Josiah Perkin. I was
his wife before he was defeated, and you were our first child. Adam was born a
year before the Great War. After Haden won, he forced me to marry him and
take you both as his children since he was incapable of love. He needed an heir
and Adam was to be the rightful heir of our kingdom. Little did he know that our
destinies were written differently. You and Adam are descendants of the rightful
heir of Agarth. I’m the last mother of the bloodline and the three of us complete
the legacy. It states that the one who places the knife and unites the 3 is the
rightful heir of the throne. The kingdom fell at the hands of Haden’s bloodline.
This war has been going on for a thousand years. You were raised as Haden’s
favourite child and you’re the closest thing to affection that he has ever felt. You
couldn’t keep a track of your identity because he derailed you from your destiny.”
Adam added, “History needs to be completed and you must write the last
chapter.”
Lillith finally said, “I must say, I am a dramatic author. I want you both to
be by my side at all times. We complete the legacy together after all.” They
nodded with a smile. She sat down on the throne and saw the light reappear and
transform itself to a crown. The throne was finally restored and so was the
kingdom. The ice that had preserved the lost kingdom melted to reveal its true
form. The ground below them rose above and they were high up in the clouds.
The sun shone brightly and brought everything back to life. The bodies lost from
war were recovered and the citizens unfrozen just like Adam and Lillith’s
mother.
Lillith smiled as she saw her very own kingdom come to life. She got what
she wanted even if it wasn’t in the way she thought. ‘Do these people think I'm
the lost daughter of Perkin? I killed her when she was like 10 when she attacked
me with her knife. Cute. Goodness never does win here does it? Evil really has
dominated the world.’
Oh yes, that was a wicked smile. Still grinning, she said,
“I’m coming for you, daddy dear. This time, it’s evil vs evil.”
*****THE END*****
Comments
Post a Comment