The Exiled King | ✔

Chapter 6 - What Has Been

Lirya was seated at a sturdy wooden dining table in a cozy room that was warm and inviting. The room was filled with laughter and the delicious scent of the food spread across the sizable table. Lirya wore a comfortable, though simple lavender dress adorned with hand stitched flowers. Her mother had added them at Lirya's behest. Lirya briefly thought she'd once worn far fancier dresses, but she dismissed that crazy thought and focused on the present.

"Lir! Pass the bread," Her brother, who was sitting on her left, tapped her shoulder insistently.

She glared at him and said, "Don't call me that!"

She reached over and grabbed the bread basket regardless, but when her brother stuck his tongue out at her, she held the basket out of his reach.

Lirya handed it over to him with a sugary sweet smile and retorted, "Here's your bread... Eri."

Eryian's face contorted into a scowl as he roughly grabbed the basket from her hands, but he stayed silent and surly instead of talking back at her. They always knew who won the battle of words anyways.

Her father looked over at the twins and asked them if they'd done anything fun that day.

With a grin, Lirya replied, "Oh yeah! Pri'jafi taught us magic!"

Her father raised an eyebrow and looked over at the ever-youthful wizard king, who simply shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips.

Looking at Garyth, her father asked the twins, "And what magic did your pri'jafi teach you guys?"

Eryian piped up eagerly, "Fireball! It was fire and explosion and sooo cool!"

Both of their parents directed shocked gazes at Garyth.

Garyth leaned forward slightly and with a mirth in his eyes and said smoothly, "It was perfectly safe, don't worry. I just thought it'd be fun to teach them something a little more... interesting... than the petty spells they learn from their tutor."

The conversation progressed in companionable light discussion and Lirya couldn't keep the smile from her face. She loved it when their pri'jafi came to visit, but he didn't come often because his duties kept him busy.

Later in the evening, Lirya sat with Eryian and Garyth on the couch by the fireplace. A soft rug tickled the soles of her bare feet as she kicked her feet absentmindedly while the wizard king told them stories. Listening avidly to the story but fiddling with the threading of the couch, she crawled further onto the seat and gazed at Garyth. His pretty inky blue-black hair was longer than hers, she noted with interest.

She scooted up to him and asked, "Pri'jafi, can I braid your hair?"

He stopped and chuckled and nodded, inclining his head towards her. As he continued the epic story of the first guardians, Lirya braided his long hair into a number of small braids that hung around his face. All the while, he sat complacent to her ministrations and finished up the story.

His words began to quiet and his face came in and out of focus. She dimly registered that he'd stopped talking and was looking at her with concern. Lirya blinked, trying to clear the sleepiness from her eyes when suddenly the comfortable room melted away and warmth became bone-chilling cold.

Everything came rushing back to her as she sat in pouring rain and Garyth's body lay beside her, covered in bleeding lacerations.

I killed him.

I-I... killed my pri'jafi...

She looked at her hands and at first they were merely mud-stained, but she blinked and they were covered in the same crimson blood that gushed from Garyth's open wounds.

Garyth's mouth moved, a little blood spilled out of the corner of his mouth, and he spoke in a harsh and grating voice so unlike his own, "It's real."

"I loved you, and you killed me," He continued accusingly, his face morphing into a scream and blood pooling from his eyes and nose and mouth and ears.

A bloodcurdling scream ripped from his mouth that faded into a bubbling, choking gasp.

Then, Lirya was somewhere else entirely. Amid the rumble and fallen marble columns, Lirya saw Taryn Aegivyl and herself and the creator god. She watched as Taryn caught her unconscious body and stood in front of her protectively.

There was a dim ringing in her ears as the creator god spoke, muffling his words. Then, he directed his swirling golden eyes at Taryn and Lirya let out a choked cry.

Time seemed to slow as Taryn shattered. Her feet wouldn't move, nor would her arms. She felt tears streaming down her face as the last pieces of Taryn faded away, as if he'd never existed.

No, no, no, nononononono-

Lirya woke up screaming.

Cold sweat coated her skin and she drew in deep, heaving breaths as she took in her surroundings. She lay in a large four poster bed that filled the majority of the room. A window on the wall opposite the foot of her bed let in some cold moonlight that dimly illuminated the dressing table adorned with a vase of purple hyacinths and all around her, shadows rippled and curled like a dark fog.

Lirya forced herself to take deep, steadying breaths. She looked down at her hand, watching the shadows wrap around her like a comforting second skin. Letting her hand fall back down on the duvet with a soft thump, she peered out of the window at the brilliant moon. Gradually, her powers rescinded and her shadows melted away into the true shadows of the room. Lirya sat up and pulled her knees close and rested her head on them.

She wanted to shut her eyes and go back to sleep, but every time she did, the memories returned. Memories of the things she'd rather forget, but could not. Painful memories that twisted in her gut and brought on a bout of nausea if she dwelled on them too long.

The door to her room burst open, the light from the hallway momentarily blinding her.

"Liryaaaaaa!" Eryian cried, throwing the door shut behind him and climbing onto her bed and making himself comfortable.

His eyes seemed to glisten in the dim room as he looked at her and asked quietly, "Are you alright?"

<--<< >>-->

In case it's not obvious, pri'jafi means great-grandfather :)