The Three Enigmas: The Diamond of Strength

Chapter 4-Hail us! The Kings and Queens of Regnum!

The news seeemed to hal them abruptly, as if they had just been shot from behind. On the night of their arrest, Rebeckah and James were paralyzed by fear, now they were paralyzed by just the overwhelming shock of all the previous events. James appeared to be sweating profusely and hyperventilating. "But...i..we," he stammered. "I don't undertsand.! Sir, i haven't even been alive for sicty years! I can't be a High King!"

"you weren't always a high King,"said the man mattter of factly. "Not until you're father died."

"Our father's not dead!" squealed nRebeckah in indignation, forgetting the mater at hand. "he left us. When we were only 5."

"Oh no. He's certainly dead. He died right on that red stain on the arpet. He was struck through the heart with a sword." Rebeckah quickly  backed away from the stain, with the knowledge that it was blood. "Until you're father died and Mom stepped down, you two became High King and High Queen"

"high King and high Queen of what?" Rebeckah asked the man, challenging him. "We;re newly fifteen! We're not even table to drive yet! We're not the King and Queen of anything?"

"Of course you are! You're the King and Queen of Regnum," said the man calmly.

"Regnum?" asked James curiously, as if the word rolled off his tongue. "Is that where we are?"

"Yes. You're in Regnum. Don't look for it on any world map of yous. You;re not going to find it. Regnum, which shares the island of Rivters with the country of hostibus, the country to our east, is a whole other dimmension. a whole other world, i daresay. It has no place in ou're universe. the only way to enter and exit Regnum is through a portal. what you just came through last night."

upon seeing the bafflled looks on tehir faces, the man decided to introuce himself. "I'm Rupert. Prince Rupert, to be exact. I'm 100 Regnumese years old but only 20 earth years old. We're cousins. Our father's were brothers. "

"You can't be our cousin, we grew up in Minnesota," said James.

"No, you're memory was modified."

And why did you say our arrival has been anticipated fo 60 years?" Rebckah cut him off.

"Everything will be explained. Whether or not you choose to believe it or not is your opinoin. In answer to your question Rebeckah, Regnum is not apart of your universe. Therefore, time is different. Yours is five years behind ous. so your're fifteen years old in the mortal world, you'd be 75 years old in the Regnumese world. but you age the same."

"I never thought I'd be so ols but so good looking," James joked. Rupert laughed at his little joke to please him while Rebeckah snorted and rolled her eyes.

Tehy sat down at the table where  summer breeze wa swiftly enetering the room, and they nibbled on crumpets and muffins. Rebckah swallowd and said casually, "Rupert, if your're my cousin, really explain this to me. From the beginning."

"Here, earth is called the mortal world. It doesn't mean everyone lives forever here, we all die too. but during the middle ages,a groupf of people began to realize they had speacial powers. magical abilities, if you will. These people called themselves the Seers. Seers suffered persecution iin the olden days and in fear of extermination, they made their own utopian society where magical people could live. They just made up a few spells to invent our world and called the land the land of the Seers. Soem non magical people also made it through the portal, which would explain our non-Magical population minority. 

"Anyways, the Seers began feuding on non-Magicl rights, our people saying we should keep the ones we have now, while the others saying we sould banish them back to earth. the Seers split part , our people naming the country Regnum for the Latin word Kingdom, while the other group of Seers called themselves Hostibus, and called themselves the Hostibans. They hold land to all the feircest creatures and most prejudiced people. our teo countries have been fighting for years. Butnot like on that night 80 years ago . Or,"Rupert paued, "16 years ago, in Mortal time.