The Uprising: Age Of The Dirimati

I Had A Dream [II]

Gia

Malìk returned three days later with an armful of times setting them on Gia's study table with a thud. Fiona, Gia's roommate looked at him confused 'The door was locked.' she informed him.

'A few spells did the job.' he replied curtly and turned around his feet and left the room. Gia was still besides herself at the sight of the tomes stacked on front of her.

'Gia, do you have any idea who that is?' Fiona asked worry lines creasing her forehead. 'I don't know him, but I know his name.' 'Oh.' Fiona nodded slowly as Gia snapped out of her it and tore her gaze away from the tomes in front of her.

'His name is Malìk.' she told her 'And how do you know this Malìk?' Fiona pushed. Immediately, a slight pang of headache passed through Gia and she winced quickly raising her hand to her temples.

Fiona's brows creased further as she asked worriedly 'Are you okay? Is it the migraines again?' 'No, no.' Gia hurriedly replied 'just something minor.' Malìk returned to the room carrying a significant tome in his arms. Interestingly, the tome looked quite familiar to her.

Malìk dropped the tome at the top of the stack of the tomes he already had on her table and went back to shut the door. Gia swallowed before narrowing her eyes at Malìk 'Who ar you?' she asked him 'I am a distant relative.' he replied.

'I am quite aware of most distant relatives of mine who are currently alive.' she informed him.

Malìk grinned at her, his pearly white teeth coming into view. Gia paused for a while to look at him. His clothes showed that he came from a very wealthy family which was in stark contrast to the deep poverty most of her family members suffered from especially the distant ones.

Gia lifted her brows at him and looked at Fiona and as always, the brown haired girl caught up with the joke.

At once, both girls burst into laughter obviously humoree for some reason Malìk could not decipher. He stood before them utterly confused.

Fiona was the first to stop laughing. She wiped her eyes and asked him 'How much does the ring on your finger cost?' Malìk stared at the ring then at her 'It is a family heirloom.' he informed them.

Gia hummed 'Impressive.' and both girls began laughing again. Malìk huffed, obviously vexed, and walked up to the stack on Gia's desk and pulled out a tome.
He flipped the pages quickly and landed the tome open in front of her. She slowly stopped laughing 'What is this?' 'Geanological records.' he told her.

Gia halted in her laughter completely as her eyes took in the page. Fiona took one look at her friend's seriously face and hurried over to her side. In this cruel world, they had only each other and she could not afford to let her down- not after everything.

Gia traced the tree on the page and crooned even as her finger trembled slightly 'Firstly, my parents at Elise and Maccah of Tiglash in Clav and I would have loved for them to come and prove that to you but unfortunately, they're both dead.'

Malìk looked at her calmly, unfazed. Evidently, he knew that little trivial fact that no-one cared to ask about. After all, she was one of the thousands of children that were orphans so that fact bothered no-one else except of course, her.

'Your ral parents are also dead but truste when I say that Elise and Maccah were not your true parents.' when he noticed the doubt in her eyes, he took a seat on the bedpost and turned to face both girls fully.

'Our great grandfather' he said motioning to himself and Gia 'he and his wife -Lea- had two children - Valerie and Malka.
Now, our family has the tradition of marrying relatives to keep the bloodline pure.'

Fiona scrunched up her pretty face in disgust 'So, you want to marry her?'

Malìk ignored her dutifully and continued 'Lea, in this case, was Great grandfather's cousin. My grandmother, Malka, was the first person to rebel and marryboutbof the family this corrupting it. She got married to a crossbreed -a faerie elemental named Jyn.

'Your grandmother however, in order to preserve our heritage got married to Great Grandpa's cousin Alan. Alan's birth was a major surprise as he had been born more than five hundred years after his sister Maya and was around your grandmother's agevby at least a hundred.'

Gia nodded. It was not uncommon for a female to marry a male at least a century or two older than her especially amongst the elves who formed mating bonds.

Malìk continued 'Your mother however, followed in her aunt's footsteps and got married to a stranger. Her marriage was met with less disdain than my mother's who had married an ordinary three-tiered faerie as she, your mother that is, married Blade who was a dark Di-er-sal'm.'

'Ok, let me get this straight. If my dad was a Di-er-sal'm, how did Elise and Maccah lay claim to me?' Gia asked him.
'Elise was a maid at the house and Maccah, a butler. One fateful night when you were about three years old, Dirimat warriors invaded your home to kill you.

'You see as a result of the constant inter marriage withinthe family, the bloodline which runs with extremely powerful and potent magic was  kept pure but when my grandmother and mother rebelled, the potency began to wane on my side of the family. Your mother although she also rebelled, got married to an extremely powerful individual which makes you a high ranking Di-er-sal'm amongst other things and a target on your back.

'That night, your mother was slaughtered and your father captured. His whereabouts were unknown for at least six years before we got news from first hand resources that he had been killed.' he finished.

Gia placed a blank stare at him and asked 'So if I'm so powerful, why can't I get the simplest of spells correctly?'

Malìk sighed 'Elise and Maccah were faeries so when they enrolled you into the Harrow, you were labelled a faerie thus, you have been given faerie training which does not work well for pure blooded Di-er-sal'm. But don't worry, they'd realize their folly soon enough probably at the cost of their own lives.'

'Do you expect me to believe you?' Gia asked him. 'No,' he told her 'I don't because if you do I'd know you aren't ready.' 'Ready for what?' Malìk ignored her as he stood up to pick up the tome at the top of the stack 'Jere,' he said placing the tome in front of her. It had patterned whorls adorning its covers.

She reached out to touch the book and was met with enchantments. She pushed down the dread recoiling in her gut and attempted opening the tome but Malìk swatted her hand away 'I don't know how you survived opening it the first time but trust me, we'd not want to take a bet.'

'The centre,' he told her his voice low 'place your hand there: Fiona whistled gently in the corner.
'What would this do?' Fiona asked him
'Show her the truth' he replied curtly and told Gia 'Don't interfere and if you see this book again, no matter how much it calls out to you, don't open it.'

She nodded as she struggled to swallow a huge lump formed in her throat. Malìk clapped twice and said 'Alright then, let's begin.' and that was the last thing she heard as the book seemed to tug her closer and the inky black clouded around her.