Legends: The Book Of Venus

Chapter One: Venus

“Till the battles won, till the kingdoms gone…I’ll never run.”
“Give me your loyalty Khari, place your trust in me, light my path, and help me move forward. For everyone has turned their back on The Heart Of Falcon. Only you can restore the peace that once flourished. Send your champion. I will be ever so grateful if you show me some sort of mercy.”

“Every wish has a charm, dear sister.”

Thirteen years later…
“Ya! Ya! Ya! Run away in fear cowards!” Venus swung a gold sword left to right in the air as if she were fighting someone. “Venus just what do you think you're doing!?” Mother Lulu snathed the sword out of her hands, holding it up in the air away from Venus’s grasp. “I’m bored Mother Lulu, I want to train with the soldiers!” Venus crossed her arms and frowned. “Oh forgive her, Khari, for she knows not what she does!” Mother Lulu walked swiftly past Venus, ignoring her protests and carefully placing the sword back onto its holding and whispered something before pouring a glass of water onto it. The water didn’t fall but instead took the form of a glass case and covered the sword. Keeping it safe from thieves and Venus. “When will you ever learn Venus?” Mother Lulu turned back to Venus, putting her hands on her hips before tilting her head to the side in disappointment. “I want to rule Mother Lulu! I want to be a warrior!” Venus said “Hissing hell, Venus!” Mother Lulu crushed, shaking her head “You need to focus on your studies! Not being a warrior! Everyone wants to rule this damned world. Look how that turned out for them! Look how it turned out for your parents!” Mother Lulu sighed, seeing Venus on the verge of crying “B-But, Father Willam said-”
“Don’t you ever mention his name”  She hissed. “Willam is dead. It doesn’t matter what he thought. What matters is that you stop being a foolish child and obey the orders given to you. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mother Lulu” Venus dipped her head, trying to hold back her tears
Mother Lulu took Venus’s hand and guided her to the door of the throne room. She paused “I don’t want to have this talk again, Venus. You know I only want what’s best for you.” Mother Lulu gripped her hand softly and kept walking.
“But this isn’t what’s best for me”
Venus sighed as they walked down the hall. She looked out the window to see her older brother Mars training with other young soldiers around his age. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t do that. Girls and boys were training together, not by force but by choice. They had fun doing it as well. While Venus was forbidden to go anywhere unauthorized by Mother Lulu, and that included the training grounds. Mother Lulu was strict, and she only got worse after Father William died. His death was not intentional. No, it had been an accident. It was a terrible, terrible accident. An accident Venus was sure Mother Lulu hated her for. Venus sat in her room, staring up at the stars Father William and Mars had helped her paint her bedroom ceiling to make her room more “universal” or at least that's what Father Willam had said. “Hey, you okay V?” Mars peaked his head into the room, still in uniform. “Mars?” Venus bolted up, shaking her dress over her legs. She moved her golden brown hair out of her face with both hands. “Where are my hissing glasses?” She cursed as she searched her bed, not being able to see a thing. Why had she even taken them off in the first place? It was impossible to see anything without them. Mars walked closer to her, picking up her glasses from the silk brown carpet before placing them on his sister's face. “Mother Lulu doesn’t like when you curse, you know,” Mars said as he sat next to her. “ Maybe she should take her own advice and shove it up her starpath then” Venus rolled her eyes, adjusting her glasses. “Nice girls don’t curse their guardians.” He stared at Venus in disappointment. “I guess I’m not a “nice girl” then Mars” Venus said, making sure to give her brother a hateful glare before pushing him off her bed. Mars tried to jump back up, “What the hissing hell was that for!” Mars tried to push Venus off her feet, but she threw herself at him, pinning him to the ground and punching him in the face. Mars had been three years older than Venus, but age had nothing to do with the strength she withheld over him. He was older, but she was wiser in most ways. Most days, Venus would take sneak peaks of the warriors' training in the court. She was never trained by a coach, but she found herself mimicking what they did. Soon, she got very good at it. She had more than any other soldier in Falcon had, but still, Venus would never be a warrior. Mother Lulu’s voice echoed in her head.
“You must carry on the bloodline of your elder Khari. It is your only purpose in this life”
It was the ignorance of it all that angered her the most. Venus didn’t want to carry on a bloodline. She wanted to rule her kingdom, not study all day, and get married off  to a random stranger. Why would she let someone else who wasn’t even a STAR to rule Falcon? Khari didn’t let anyone tell her what to do or how to live. She found a husband who respected her for that as well. Venus could surely do the same, right?  “Burning hell!” Mars cursed, Venus pulled on his hair. Mars grabbed her waist and threw her to the ground, leaping up to his feet. “You almost broke my hissing nose bastard! What the stars is wrong with you!?” He hissed at her, wiping the blood from his nose with his shirt. Venus jumped up, folding her arms. “Nothings wrong with me, you're just an arrogant ass baby.” She flipped her hair back. “I didn’t punch you hard enough to break your nose. I’m positively sure you’ll live another day” Venus smirked “You think you're funny, Venus? You're a damn spoiled brat! I work and train all day to protect this kingdom, and you do nothing but run around like a wild Elske all day!” Mars threw his hands up in the air and bent down to meet her eyes. He wanted to make sure she was listening to him. Venus rolled her eyes, paying no mind to his words. She was degraded every other day by someone. Mars wasn’t telling her anything she had not heard before. She knew if she said anything they’d never stop arguing until one of the guards came in to break it up. Or worse, Mother Lulu. So, she had to be the bigger person. “And you're just as bad as any bandit that ever broke into the Falcons Heart! You can’t even listen to simple instructions or read a hissing book without messing up” Mars walked back and forth as he scolded her. Maybe she should have busted his lips instead of punching his nose. Knocking a few teeth out could have prevented this in the long run. “Are you done?” She sighed in frustration, walking away from Mars, no longer paying mind to his endless words of hatred. He gave her a blank stare before saying anything.“This- This is exactly what I’m talking about Venus! It’s like talking to a brick wall. You just don’t care! It’s all fun and games till you get out in the real world! Mother Lulu knows as well as I do. You have no idea how to be afraid, when to quit, or when to just sit the fuck down and listen!” Mars looked as if she was going to burst into flames now. She could see through the anger though, he had hated her, but he was also worried for her. She was what he had said, which made her the one in the wrong. Afterall he was only trying to do his job as an older brother. “I’m sorry for punching you Mars.'' She opened her dresser and pulled out a cloth. “Hold still” She gently placed the dry cloth on the opening of his nostrils. He pulled back and sneezed out a nose full of blood. Venus fought the urge to laugh and pulled his arm. “Breathe out your mouth and hold still” She pressed the cloth into his nose praying her powers wouldn’t fail her this time. “What are you doing?” Mars huffed. “Shh '' Venus put a finger to his mouth and closed her eyes. She didn’t have control of her magic, but from time to time she would heal a scratch or two when she needed to. Healing could never bring harm to anyone and that's what Venus loved about it.
“Counter the blood of which was lost. Set a new string inside this pulse.”
Venus whispered and opened her eyes. The blood was gone, even the blood on the cloth had been sucked back into its place. Mars stood in shock. “Y-you used magic..” Mars backed away almost tripping over his own feet. He sat down on the bed and held his hands in his head. She didn’t expect his reaction to be so cold. “I know you hate me, Mars. You have every right to, but I also have the right to feel bad.” Venus lifted her glasses up to rub her left eye, she knew he hated her. Hate wasn’t something people admitted to with words, but Mars had found various ways to express it over the years. After Father Willam’s death Mars had stopped hanging out with Venus. Sometimes he would ignore her, like she didn’t exist at all. She would still try to talk to him during dinner or lunch, but he would gobble his food down and leave before she said anything other than hello. It felt like her inside was slowly being torn out one by one, but she never told him that. Venus could feel Mars staring at her, but she kept her hand down. She couldn’t look at him, not now, not like this. She knew all he saw was some sort of monster. Then, to her surprise, he started to sing.
“There will come a ruler, whose head is as hard as steel. She will grant you with a song of promises and joy-” Venus lifted her head to her brother, who seemed to be crying with a ghost of a smile on his face. It was awkward to see him cry. She had never seen him feel sorrow for anyone before. Still, despite the weirdness of it all, she joined him in his song.
“Oh lai, Oh lei, Oh lai, Oh Oh lord.” They both sang together “She will grant you with a crown, Oh lai, oh lei, oh lord” Venus went silent, the song was too short for her liking. “I never hated you Venus. I just wanted to protect you” Mars put his hand on Venus’s shoulder. It had been a very long time since she’d seen him smile at her. She blinked back her tears and bit her bottom lip. “I- but I thought-'' she broke down. She couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. She wanted to tell her brother how much she loved him, how lonely she felt without him, how much she missed him. Mars wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. He knew he had hurt her far more than she had hurt him. He knelt on one knee to level with her. “V, I never meant to hurt you. After what happened that day with Father Willam I just didn’t know what to do. I never thought of you as a monster. I know I was wrong. But I didn’t understand what had happened. I-I just knew that it happened and it scared me. Please, forgive me Venus'' He pressed his forehead against hers. “You forgive me don’t you?” He whispered. It was no excuse, it was an apology. An apology that deserved forgiveness. “I forgive you Mars” She had healed more than her brother's bloody nose, she had healed their relationship as well. After all was said and done, Mars flopped down onto Venus’s bed. She joined him, making sure to cover her legs with her dress before laying down. “Where did you learn to punch like that?” He asked. Venus “I watch the senior classes from the Bookery window. It’s not hard to repeat their moves-” She paused “The punch was out of anger though” she smirked at him, he laughed, shaking his head. Venus jumped up, “You wanna watch the sunset?” She opened her balcony doors, throwing a blanket and pillows onto the balcony floor. They laid on the balcony, staring upon the diamonds that filled the pink and blue painted sky, until a void of darkness fell upon them both. As the sun set and a new moon rose, both Mars and Venus could feel Father Willam’s presence. They both dreamt the same dream. A world where they were together, a world where they were happy, a world with Mother Lulu, and Father Willam.

“May you rest well, my darling children”