Courage Comes From Lies

Chapter 30: Yolaris

| 12:27 in the afternoon, outside in the castle courtyard |

It was such a beautiful day. I walked down the rosebush lined pathway breathing in the gentle breeze flowing around me. The bright light rays from the Ursa Sun bouncing onto the Senna Moon shone down onto the courtyard.
"She's finally mine. I have her." Just yesterday my consultant, Jerome, informed me that my goal was nearly reached. Tara Koldem is finally in my grasp. She's being delivered to me in a cage. As I made my way to the centered fountain in the courtyard, I began to think. Jerome has often asked me why it was so important for Tara to be gone. It has been brought up to me more than once. And there's a very specific reason.....

| 3,600 years ago, on a mountain top sitting a jaded palace, flourishing food patches and gardens sitting all around the property, groundskeepers and gardeners working all around |

A six year old boy laughed heroically as he ran through the front garden, wooden sword in hand, dressed in silken blue and yellow royal attire, chasing around a thirteen year old boy dressed the same, wearing a black ogre mask.
"Give up, ogre! The Great Sebastian will slay you and all your kind!" At this, the young prince shoved the blade of his wooded weapon between his elder brother's arm and torso.
"Gahhhh!", his brother dramatically cried out as he fell over, clutching his chest. He lied there still as a rock as Prince Sebastian boldly laughed, weapon aimed at the air.
He held a foot up against his brother's chest, hand on his hip, as he yelled out, "I'm the best hunter in the galaxy!"
Then, all of a sudden, his brother grabbed him and pinned him on the ground to tickle him.
"Yeah yeah, pipsqueak, but you'll never be able to take Triton in a fight." The young prince giggled hard squirming in an attempt to get away from the sudden attack.
"This is an ambush!" His brother laughed rolling onto his back, pulling his younger brother on top of him. Sebastian bounced on his brother giggling.
"Even if I can't take Triton in a fight, I'll always be able to beat you, Zeki." He continued bouncing on his brother thinking to himself then looked down at him. "When Father finishes his studies, let's have a sparring match to show him how good I've gotten okay?" His brother groaned as he was bounced on.
"Yeah sure- okay we can do that but-". As he was about to tell Sebastian to stop, a woman, wearing a flowing blue silk dress, came running out to them. "Sebastian! Ezekiel!" She cried out to them. Ezekiel sat up holding his little brother and looked up at her.
"What is it, Sam?" The woman stopped, panting softly, then looked at them, with alarm flooding her eyes.
"Father was attacked!" Upon hearing this, without a second thought, both boys rushed their fastest to their father's bedroom.
"Father!" Ezekiel yelled as he burst in the room, breathing heavily and flushed from the run, Sebastian close behind him. His father lied in his bed, his breathing labored, the entire bed surrounded by the royal medics and nurses. Ezekiel paled and pushed his way through the caretakers to get to his father's bed, forgetting to take Sebastian with him. "Father- what happened?" The man turned his head to look at his worried son. His state looked worse than either boy would've thought. One eye swollen shut and the other gouged out. An arm missing completely as well as an ear. And a near gaping hole in his left side. The sight was almost too much for Ezekiel to bear to see.
"My son.." He could barely mutter out before coughing blood onto his own chest. "I need you to understand.. You, your brother and sister are my pride and joy... I need you to always protect them-" he coughed again breathing unstably. "-and help Sami protect Sebastian.."
Ezekiel teared up looking at his father in disbelief. "No Father don't say that- you'll get through this. You're so strong and powerful Father. Please." Ezekiel buried his face in his father's chest gripping the tattered remains of his shirt as he started to cry. His father just weakly smiled, placing his fractured hand on his son's head, gently caressing it.
"Don't cry Ezekiel.. you need to be strong for your brother and sister. Promise me that no matter what you'll always be strong for them." Ezekiel nodded desperately, his tears flowing more.
"I promise Father I promise please- please don't leave us- please don't go Father." Ezekiel continued crying until he heard the flat line. He stared at his father's motionless body, a warm smile of leaking blood plastered on his face. A doctor pressed two fingers to the man's inner wrist before hanging his head solemnly.
In a quiet voice he only said, "I'm so sorry, My Prince." The room was filled with the mourning cries of Ezekiel as he clung to the body of his deceased father. Princess Sami held her youngest brother against her chest crying quietly as he sobbed against her. On this day, King Duncan Koldem was murdered by an unknown Yolaris assailant.

| 2 years later, in the mess hall of the palace |

Prince Ezekiel, now fifteen years old nearing his sixteenth birthday, stormed into the mess hall of his home. "Wyatt!" A sixteen year old boy dressed in contrasting yellow and blue silked robes, looked up from his studying.
"Oh. Prince Bodyguard. What can I help you with?" Ezekiel threw his fist against the face of his maternal cousin, Wyatt Yolaris, before tackling him down to the floor.
"What did I tell you would happen if I heard about you messing with Sebastian again you asshole?" He threw another punch to Wyatt's jaw before he was thrown against the bench of a nearby table.
"Why don't you tell your "Chosen One" nosy little brother to keep to himself then? Maybe he won't get into as much trouble." Wyatt pushed himself up and dusted his clothes off. Ezekiel growled standing and shoved him.
"I'm warning you Wyatt. You and your bastard blooded family already took my father from me. If you so much as trip Sebastian again, I will kill you." With that, Ezekiel left his cousin, rage in his eyes.
Wyatt called out after him, "You have no proof it was my family! Watch your step Security Boy!"

| 3 months following after Ezekiel's birthday, in the Palace Meeting Room, the Yolaris family Queen, Wyatt Yolaris, Princess Sami and Prince Ezekiel sitting in the center |

"What exactly did you call this meeting for today, Queen Roman?" The blue eyed woman looked at the prince as he asked his question.
"I had concerns regarding the upcoming Kämpfen Ring match." She replied to him straight. Sami looked at her respectfully.
"Of course, Roman. Any concerns you have, you're more than welcome to express to us. Please, relay what's on your mind." The Queen sat forward in her chair.
"It's come to my attention that for every match held in the Ring, not one competitor was a Yolaris bloodborn."
Sami looked a bit confused. "Yes, Roman that is the tradition. Only a Koldem can properly harness the power of the Ancient Star Guardian. Without a birthright Koldem to control it, its a danger to everyone. That is why we are training our little brother Sebastian to handle it with care. Adding onto that, you've only been Queen for a week so I don't blame you for not understanding our customs. But that's how it is for our families." The Queen furrowed her brows looking at the princess utterly offended. Then, Wyatt added himself into the conversation.
"Are you suggesting that the Yolaris' are weaker than the Koldems, Princess? We are just as capable of controlling that power as you." Ezekiel glared at Wyatt. "How dare you accuse your princess of speaking ill about your pathetic family? You're still only an APPOINTED noble Wyatt. Know your place." Ezekiel sat at the edge of his seat. "You bastards had better be glad Sebastian still doesn't know it was YOUR FAMILY that killed our father while in possession of this power. Not even your family can withstand the force of the Angered Guardian." Sami placed a hand on her younger brother's shoulder then looked at them, keeping her composure.
"It is not my choice as to who gets to control the power of the Ancient Star Guardian, My Queen. But the Guardian chose our Sebastian. And as such, we will do what we need to, to secure his place as our next King. Now. If there was nothing else you needed to speak of, Ezekiel and I will be taking our leave." Without waiting a second more for a response, Princess Sami gathered her brother and left the Meeting Room with him, leaving the Queen and Wyatt there, more than furious.

| Five weeks after the meeting, 1:36 in the morning, in the bedroom of the eight year old prince |

Prince Sebastian peacefully slept in his dark bedroom. Everything was silent and unmoving. Just outside his bedroom's balcony, a masked figure dressed in all black slowly crept its way up to the willow tree sitting outside the young royal's room. The figure pulled itself up to a branch perched right across from the balcony and crouched steadily as it reached into its pocket. The prince still soundly slept as the figure pulled itself into the prince's bedroom. Silently but swiftly, it moved closer to Sebastian's bed until the figure's shadow was cast over the young boy. Only the piercing yellow eyes of this masked intruder could be seen as they held a ridged hunter's knife at the boy's throat. With a quiet voice and cold look in their eyes, the intruder said, "Long live the Yolaris'."

| Back at the Yolaris castle fountain |

I sighed sitting at the fountain edge. After his little brother's murder, the eldest prince lost his mind. He slayed all but one Yolaris using power from the Angered Guardian that he begged for. That Guardian.. the Ancient Star Guardian. That power is what will be the death of me and my empire. They say only a birthright Koldem is born with that power. To be born with such an immense energy.. If she gets to me before I get to her, I won't have anywhere to run. But. There's no need to worry about that anymore is there? She's mine now.