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Chapter 4

"Ah, the peasant boy... Come in," said the man at the end of the long, empty room. I took in the place, it was large, long enough to fit a line of one hundred griffins. It looked like a king's throne room, as it probably was. I hadn't studied the kings of every race, not yet. My mother had wanted me to, but I had refused. The only king I knew was King Kisiow, the king of the U'Ahdak. But this was not that king. He was a middle-aged U'Ahdak with brown/grey hair. He sat on a throne higher than the rest of the room with firebowls on each side with Illujazi lighting them. Illujazi are tiny creatures about half the size of a fairy that glow. They are made of fire, pure fire, so if you have them you must be very careful that they are trained well so they don't burn your house (or in this case, this place, which was definitely not a house) down. In this room, I saw a few floating around, lighting it up along with the tall, tall windows that stretched almost to the high ceiling and that ran along each side. Out of these windows I saw green, lush forest below us, like we were on a mountain. But, as I observed even more, I found that we were on a cliff. The edge of a canyon. As I took my eyes off of the view, the large doors behind me shut like a cage. I whipped my head around, then shuttered.

"Don't be afraid little boy, you're not going to get hurt by me," the man assured, but as I turned to face him I knew he was lying. I felt the hairs on my back raise, then took a breath and stepped forward. The man smiled, his brown tunic wrinkled. I winced as he stood, using the armrests on his throne to pull himself up.

"Yes, I think I am," I spat. "You're just a lying brat who takes little boys like me and turns them into dust. Nothing."

"Oh, manners boy, manners! When you're meeting a king, show respect!" He smirked, then sat back down, his sitting position obviously not regal. He appeared to be a U'Ahdak, but he's not the king, I know that. No... So who is he?

"You're not a king, at least not of my race, yet you are part of my race... Aren't you?"

"Oh, you're so clueless it's funny!" His beard wiggled as he laughed, it made me want to throw up on his nice attire and push him out one of the tall windows. "I'm not a U'Ahdak, at least not fully one. I'm King Hildsiff of the Hybrids! The known Hybrids that is..."

"So what are you?" I ask, almost curious now to find out what this man is a cross with. He simply reaches his hand out to one of the Illujazi and held it. I gasp, no one could ever hold one of those unless they were wearing special gloves.

"Yes, amazed aren't you?" He chuckles, I am beginning to get a little irritated with all of his laughter. Then his eyes seem to glow with fire as he puts down the tiny creature. "Now, what do you know of this prophesied boy?"

"The prophesied boy? Oh, um... He ran away a few days ago and I haven't seen him since." I do a silent prayer, then open my eyes to see an unpleased king.

"No. You know more... I can feel it. Tell me, now." His eyes glow with anger more. No... Think Akoni! Think!

"Um, I knew him once, we played together at my house." I struggle to find the words, searching my brain for a lie that would work for this wretched situation that the stupid prophecy had put me in.

"More. I need more! Tell me about him!" Hildsiff demanded.

I gulped, then muttered, "I don't know more."

His eyes glowed, then he lifted his hand and I saw an orange flash from his eye that ran down his pale skin and onto his arm before a fireball came rushing out from his hand and flew towards me so fast that I couldn't duck or dodge it. I screamed and covered my eyes just before it hit me, but it never did. I opened up my hands and saw that a ring of flame was surrounding me. I focused my brown eyes up at him, anger flaring in mine now too.

"Now, tell me everything you know." King Hildsiff stared straight into my eyes, his glowing ones seeming to burn mine. I gazed around at the fire surrounding me, then looked up.

"No. I already did. Now please! Let me go!" I pleaded, trying to act like one of the village boys who lived close to me, they were terribly timid and scared of everything. I wasn't, I was always strong and brave like my father.

"Fine, I'll take you to where I take everyone who is of no use to me." He challenged, and when I stayed silent, he lifted his chin and waved his hand, putting out the fire. "Guards! Take this pathetic boy to the Ice Monster."