Realm of Shadows

Chapter Nine

It was an early rise this morning. Breakfast was brought to me on a silver tray filled with warm pieces of bread and cheeses, jams, and a lovely side of tea.

As I nibble on my food, my thoughts wander to the candle from last night. How could a candle light on its own? Could it have been a self-light candle? Did those even exist? Maybe Thomaas had lit it before he went. Something just did not seem right to me.

After getting ready and making sure that my appearance was well kept, I was escorted down to the dark library to begin my set readings from the prince. Thomaas was already inside sitting down with his feet on the table and twirling a quill between his fingers. His entire body was covered in tight-fitting, leather clothes that made every part of his body put on a show.

"Morning Princess. Ready to get stuck into your books?" He smirked as he placed the quill on the table before him.

"Yes, how very exciting it is to learn about another realm that you are being forced to live in." Thomaas snorts and removes his legs from the table just as I am about to sit down. He brings books in front of me; some were from yesterday which I did not finish reading, but there was a whole new pile to get through.

"The jackass insists you read these books... So, I would not put up a fight about it," he says as he slams the final book onto the already massive pile.

I sigh picking up the slammed book and flipping through the pages, "At least reading is not the most boring hobby." I paused and shut the book again. "Have you read all these before?"

"Nope and I never plan to." Thomaas leans back in his chair and rubs his hand over the light stubble of his chin. "But I can probably answer any question."

"Can the candles in this realm self-light?" His eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head as if he did not understand my question. "Yesterday when you left me alone, the candle had lit on its own."

He laughs, "I can assure you that everyone in this realm, but Cas has to light a candle without magic... pathetic really."

"Why is Cassiopeia the only one who can light a candle with magic?" I asked with hopes that his answer would give me some information.

"She's half shadow, half-light. Hence why people call her half-breed– don't tell her I said that." He quickly changed his tone into a panicked one and pointed his finger in my direction.

"I won't... So, is it because she is from the light realm?"

He answers with a nod, "she can summon flames. It is quite extraordinary yet scary at the same time, but it's why she trains every day; to keep her powers under control." So only people from the light realm could summon these powers? "Are you sure the candle had lit on its own?"

"Are you trying to say that I have gone mad?"

He swallows deeply, "No– I... I have never seen a candlelight on its own. Before you came here, I lit the candles with a flame summoner stick." Maybe I was truly going mad, and the candle was already lit when Thomaas had left. I probably did not notice it before until I was alone.

After his response, I dropped the conversation and began reading. There were texts on what happened between the mortals and the magic bearers. It went through the war that occurred thousands of years ago. The war started the idea of separating our kingdom into four and how the few surrounding kingdoms such as the elves and the merpeople tried to get involved to stop the fight but ultimately failed.

The war was started by the mortals who wanted to take control of the entire kingdom and tried to fight their way to killing and murdering thousands of magic bearers. That is when the shadow and light realms grouped to put an end to him. With the two realms united, they managed to put the mortal king away and then created the separation forest. They say that the old mortal king is in the hidden realms, but nobody has seen or heard from him.