After the fall

Chapter 11

While walking around like a lost child not really paying attention to where she was walking, she bumped into something or rather someone, when she looked up her eyes met with a pair of hooded hazel eyes. She recognized the man in front of her as the raven haired man she had seen at the inn earlier in the morning, without thinking she spat out "it's you!", which seemed to shock him a bit as he took a step back while looking at Lapisa somewhat suspiciously, "No...I-...umm...I mean I saw you this morning sitting in the inn." Before he even had the time to open his mouth Lapisa continued "I work there, however I'm new in town so I haven't learned how to find my way around town. Could you perhaps show me the way back?" The last part came out more quietly as she looked down embarrassed by her own request. "I was going back anyway" the raven haired man said, shrugging his shoulders, Lapisa looked up with a small smile and gave him a soft "thank you so much" before they started walking.

A slight awkward silence was created while they were walking as no one said anything, but Lapisa didn't dare to break that silence, scared she would annoy the man who seemed to help her back. Soon enough Lapisa started recognizing the buildings around them as the buildings close to the inn and before she knew it they had stopped in front of the inn. As Lapisa was about to turn to the raven haired man to both thank him but also ask for his name, she noticed he had already started walking towards the door. She hurried after him but once they had stepped inside he just continued up the stairs to the second floor not even giving Lapisa a glance, so instead of running after him which would have felt even more awkward Lapisa turned to the counter and called out for Matilda. Within seconds Matilda's slightly limping figure came out of the kitchen, "oh sweetheart, did the delivery go well?", Lapisa nodded and handed her the envelope while saying "Dan asked me to bring this back to you." "Oh, did he?" Matilda spoke while taking the envelope, "where's Lan by the way? Did he leave you?" she continued. "Well Lan said that he had to work so I was left alone. Luckily I ran into...umm...I actually don't know his name-" Lapisa looked down at her feet, trying to figure out how to describe the mystery man that had helped her, before she continued "he stays here... I think? Ehh you served him this morning! That man that sat by the counter when I went out on delivery."

Matilda's expression was that of someone who was going through their memories, until she raised her eyebrows like she just remembered something "you must be talking about Theron! He is somewhat of a quiet and non-social individual that looks quite scary and hard on the outside but underneath all of that he is a nice individual. He comes and goes here at the inn, he checked in this morning after being away for a few months. You'll probably see him more often now that he is back in town." Theron, that's his name, huh? Lapisa thought to herself, "I didn't get the chance to thank him, he just walked away" she said looking at Matilda, "that does sound like him" she answered with a small chuckle. "Oh and sweetheart, now that I have you here, I washed your clothes you had when you came here. I almost forgot to give them back to you. Can you just wait there for a moment?" Matilda said as she disappeared into another room before she reappeared holding a few pieces of clothing that Lapisa instantly recognized as her own. While Matilda handed her each piece of clothing her movements came to an abrupt stop as her eyes seemed to have been glued on the cape she had gotten from Lan, "where did you get this from Lapisa?" Matilda suddenly said, still with her soft spoken voice but there was a hint of seriousness in her words.

Confused Lapisa looked at Matilda "uhh... I got it from Lan when I first met him. I traded my ankle bracelet for it because I needed something to warm me up. Is there anything wrong?" "This-" Matilda started of pointing at a small gold embroidered olive tree on the cape, Lapisa hadn't noticed the small but very detailed olive tree embroidered before as the cape had only acted as a much needed blanket she could wrap herself in when her clothes were all wet and cold, "this is the symbol of the other kingdom". "Huh?... The other kingdom?" Lapisa said with a confused and questioning tone, "you don't know about the other kingdom? You must be far from here." Matilda said looking surprisingly at Lapisa that only looked down at her feet not really knowing what exactly to answer. Without saying anything else Matilda took a soft grip of Lapisa's arm and led her to one of the staff only rooms and sat her down on a chair before she left the room without a word. As confused as Lapisa was, she decided to just sit and wait for Matilda to come back, soon enough Matilda came back holding two cups filled with some type of hot beverage. Matilda put down one cup in front of Lapisa "it's tea but be careful it's hot" she said and sat down on a chair opposite of Lapisa holding the other cup in her hand. "Now this might take some time, so sit back and relax sweetheart" Matilda said before she started telling Lapisa the tale of the two kingdoms.

"There was once a kingdom. That kingdom had two beloved princes, the older prince was gifted at swordsmanship and excelled at strategic planning while the younger prince was gifted in socializing, making connections and was kind and humble. Though the younger prince was an illegitimate child he was still cared for and loved. Both princes adored each other and it was uncommon to see them without the other by its side. Once both the princes came of age the queen decided to gift both of them the right to rule the kingdom side by side so that there would be no need to fight for the throne. Once the queen passed away the throne was passed down to both princes as promised and they ruled honestly.

One day the princes wanted to see if they could rule alone and decided to split the lands in two. Both princes had their own castles on their own side and the lands were split with a river running through the lands. Only after a few years it seemed like the younger prince now turned king was succeeding in ruling his kingdom, with increased exportation and importation to and from the kingdom walls, the young king was even able to form alliances with the neighboring kingdoms.

The older king however was not succeeding as much as the younger king. The harvest was bad, the distribution throughout the kingdom was bad and the neighboring kingdoms did not fully agree with the older king's mindset and therefore he had not been able to form any alliances. The older king grew jealous and bitter and started to resent his brother. During one of the brothers' yearly visits the older king decided to put the younger king in his place as an illegitimate bastard.

Both kingdoms had a core that resided deep inside the castle walls that kept the lands alive and flourishing. The older king wanted to take the younger king's core and make it his own so that his lands could fester and grow, therefore making him more powerful. During his visit to the younger king's kingdom the older king thought up a plan, one of the older king's alchemists had brewed up a potion that would weaken the core and cause it to leak its power that the older king could then collect and take to his kingdom.

The older king succeeded in weakening the core of the younger king's kingdom but did not calculate to drain it completely of its power. The core died causing everything on the lands to wither and rot. The younger king, feeling betrayed and heartbroken, hid himself within the castle walls and never showed his face again.

The older king ventured back to his kingdom and gave the power to his kingdom's core, strengthening it, and his power grew.

While the older king's kingdom basically glowed with power, the younger king's kingdom fell into the shadows. Therefore they gained the names the Kingdom of Luminescent and the Kingdom of Calamity separated only by a river that was named after the late queen in her honor."