The Crest

Chapter 7

 Chapter 7

I slide myself over to the Queen, the King is not in sight. She is wheezing and coughing.

"Mom!" I say, feeling a sudden connection to her, "Mom?"

She reaches for my face and a smile forms on her's. "I...am the mother of all." She whispers gently.

The mother of all? Wait a minute...

"Mother Nature?" My eyes widen in shock.

"Mother Nature is so formal. My name is Liv. But yes, I am the creator of this Realm, I am the Earth." She slowly removes the sword from her gut. I wince as I see the blood stained blade. She forces herself upright, then coughs up blood.

"Queen Liv...I'm not Melani, Melani was killed." I whisper, tears began building up behind my eyes. Mother Nature probably has a connection to everyone, but I feel like I know her.

"I know she is dead Shay. You should read that journal." She gestures toward the journal poking out of my jacket pocket.

I automatically pull the out journal and open it.

Private Property of Melani Demana, KEEP OUT if you want to keep your head!

The elves are so lucky! They are formed straight from nature and they are automatically assigned to be Demana's warriors. But I can't do squat! I want to become a hunter when I grow up, hang with the elves, train with them, learn camouflaging techniques! That would be so awesome!

I skip a few pages ahead. Looks like Melani was a true warrior at heart.

The crest (necklace) my mom gave me when I was a baby has been acting weird lately. It symbolizes nature and in the Realm of Nature (Demana), nature is at its strongest at night. It just doesn't feel....right wearing it.

That was it for that page. I flipped ahead a few more pages and my eyes were immediately glued to the page.

I know what I have to do. Demana is dying and my father is the reason why. Technology helps to preserve and save nature and when father took that away (I recently had a dream), it caused Demana to secretly grow weaker. Apparently, the Stone of Sepeia was the size of a Svart Lion (black lion). So yeah, I did a lot of research.

I believe my necklace can communicate with the Stone, but I feel as if the necklace I was given at birth...isn't truly mine. I can't summon any powers from it, so it mustn't be mine. Who its proper owner is, no idea. But I'm going to find out.

A few more pages...

I just came back from lurking in the shadows of the Human Realm. Shavonte Cross...that's her name. She looks exactly like me, and I doubt it's a coincidence. But I know that I cannot exist in two worlds, even though we are two different people, I feel a connection that makes us the same. I know what I have to do...

I will deliver the necklace to the proper owner, then I will sacrifice myself. I will feel the cold blade dig deep into me to save the place I'm willing to fight for. Screw Demana...the reason I want to fight with the elves and explore is to save Cartillia, and this is the ultimate sacrifice.

I close the journal and wipe the tears streaming down my face with the sleeve of the outfit Isla gave me. All this time, everyone thought Melani was killed, but she sacrificed herself...to fight for the place she loved. She basically gave up her dream of actually fighting for Demana-no-Cartillia to save her home. Isla is wrong. I'm no hero if I kill the King and use the necklaces' powers to bring Cartilia back, the real hero is Melani. It will always be Melani. It was her from the beginning.