The Past

Intro

Still trying to find promotion methods without my own social media— my mom is trying to reach out to book bloggers for me

"It was the first year, the year in which the Mirror came to be in our Realm. Hystemus himself forged it, with Aphol's heat of a hundred suns. Zetha and Ethon both blessed it, giving it the magical abilities of transportation and creation. Of course, the Mirror had already existed in other Realms, but in ours, the Realms were made in that instant. You see, the Mirror is not only the gateway to the other Realms, but also the thing that allows those Realms to exist. If a Realm did not have the Mirror, other Realms could not exist within that Realm-"

"Wait, wait. What?" I had lost track of the story by this point.

"Ah, young Kinheal, your mind cannot comprehend these things," Alarithe said picking another book off the nearest shelf. "You're far too mortal."

"I don't want to be mortal," I snapped. "It's not my fault that my mother is human!"

"You are as much Zalta as you are Ethon, my dear." As she moved back to her seat, her long blonde waves rippled softly. "And your duty is to follow in your mother's footsteps."

"But what if I don't want to be a queen? I want to marry whomever I choose, and live wherever I please."

"You can choose who you marry." Technically, she was right.

"Only if it's a god," I bit out again. I knew it wasn't her fault, but she could have prevented it.

"Well, yes, but didn't you say you do not wish to be a mortal? Marrying a god is the closest you'll get to immortality, my dear."

"You could grant me immortality, Alarithe. And it's not immortality that I want, it's You could make me a minor goddess and free me from my mother's grasp."

"I would prefer not to force you to marry, Kinheal. My friends and I escaped the Old World for that very reason." A small woman now stood in the doorway of the library, looking at me with furrowed eyebrows. She was Queen Zalta, who had run away from her parents' lands to avoid marrying her best friend.

"Mother."

"However, you are of marrying age, Nea, and you have a duty to the kingdom. It's time you go to the Court in Orion. If you do not find a husband, you will stay until you do."

Our stone castle did little to block the chill in the air of the Motherland. Small flakes of snow drifted down outside the window, carried by a light breeze.

I'd always envied those in the lower lands, in their world of sunshine and green, and fresh fruit that weren't preserved by Deftre's magic.

"Really?" I might not have wanted to marry someone right then, but Orion was the island court of the gods. It was much more populated than our home.

"You're as ready as you ever will be. But do not get comfortable. Your home is here and you will return when it is time for you to take the throne. You are Princess Kinheal, daughter of Zalta and you will do right by your people."

"They are your people, mother," I clarified bitterly, "but yes I will."

"And the lower princes will be joining you. In a week's time, they will all arrive here in Amket, and you will travel together to Orion." She was very imposing for a woman of her stature.

"Gods, not Teirr. He's unbearable, Mother!"
Teirr was Doran's son, and someone I'd spent plenty of my childhood with; I wasn't particularly eager for a reunion.

"Casar, Andon, and Heilen will all be there too. You will be fine. Now, enjoy this week to make your farewells and gather your things. Next week you depart for your destiny."

———————**A Week Later**————————

"I don't want to leave, Alarithe. Please come with me."

"I can't, young one, but I send you with my blessing. You will love who you are meant to love." Nothing Alarithe said was ever quite straightforward, so I assumed there was some double meaning to her words, especially coming from the goddess of a thing as complicated as love. "Goodbye, Kinheal. We will meet again, in another life."

"In another life," I repeated.

That very day, I boarded a ship with my best friend, Paves, and an entourage of other royalty. My brothers, too young for court, stayed home with Mother, but Teirr and his brothers were all of age now.

I had already solidified with Paves the plan that we had made for the week: staying in the cabin.

Dear Alarithe, I wrote when my ship had barely departed.  There are some questions I never had the chance to ask you. How did you come to our Realm? Is your power greater than the Mirror's? And why have you stayed? And why have you let me leave the Motherland without you, when you could've returned to your home in Orion?  I don't think I could write down all the questions I have for you. I miss you, Alarithe, and though I have understood we will never see each other again, I wish it weren't so. You are more my mother than the woman who gave birth to me. You are my real Mother.

I signed it and drew a rune in the air, the symbol of Zetha, and watched as the sky swallowed my letter.
Alarithe was truly a mother to all.