Tales of An Escapade

Seventh Chapter

  "We cannot see it from up here," sighed Ane. She was peeping behind a rock, attempting desperately to view anything from Sharran's Valley. That was a disaster anyhow since Ane had no clue as to how Sharran's Valley looked like and she couldn't tell landscape from town.
  "Are you sure we cannot?" asked Elliot.
  Aethul sighed as well and planted rested his head on the patch of grass underneath the rock. A cliff was right behind the set of stones and it was quite a scary fall.
  "Have any of you ever been in Sharran's Valley?" he asked.
  "Never been out of the Northern Bay," replied Ane.
  "Neither have I," added Elliot.
  "There's a very tough world out there," Aethul said. "It's strange royals like you have never explored it."
  "I am no royal," answered Elliot.
   Aethul shrugged. "Anyway. Shall we leave?"
The trio descended the hill and distanced themselves from the cliff, safely making their way back into the woods. The rest of the day, the trio attempted to remain on the safe path and never. Whether that was actually working, was up to fate – like many things in their lives.
   Ane just kept thinking. She remembered when she had just moved into Elliot's, whom she had met through academy. Elliot's mother had always put him in that royal class and Ane never questioned why. She remembered when she had this huge thing for Hellen, the cute human in Kinslot. Ane was somehow convinced that she'd marry her. That light-headed romance quickly made place for an annoying feeling of love which Ane just addressed as "teenage hormones spun out of control"; her feelings towards Elliot. She cast them aside and locked them up in a tiny drawer which she hadn't opened since she moved into Elliot's. She hadn't forgotten – how can one forget who they're in love with? - but she definitely had tried to ignore it as well as she could. She remembered when the King had the important talk with her. Not that one certain conversation, but regarding Ane's departure. Many believed that Ane just ran away, but little did they know the King actually encouraged her to leave. Coward. Lame. Stupid. Dumb. Useless. Words were thrown at Ane from every single direction existent in this universe, but she couldn't bother to respond. She had never told Elliot though. He just agreed. Being a reign was tough, he had thought. He never asked more.
   "What are you thinking about, princess?" asked Aethul.
   "Princess..." muttered Ane. Partially because of the coincidence, and partially because she couldn't recall when she had told him she was a princess. Maybe she was just confused.
   "It's not a miracle," replied Aethul. "Your locks and your eyes are everything a royal needs."
   "What do you mean?" frowned Anevay.
   "Don't you know that people with silver hair and silver eyes are royalties since time?"
   "It could just be passed down," answered the princess.
   "Do you believe that? Descendants origin from way back."
   "My hair is white and my eyes are grey," corrected Ane a bit delayed.
   "In ordinary lighting, yes," smiled Aethul.
   "My mother has brown hair and my father had blonde hair."
   "Are you so sure that your mother has brown hair?"smirked the horned.
   Ane recalled the moment when she returned to the throne and her mother didn't say a single word to her. Could a real mother be so indifferent to her child? Especially after raising her for about a dozen years.
   "I think it's better to try and think about your own family instead of others'," said Elliot.
   "Perhaps," nodded Aethul.
   The company continued in silence and Ane was thinking deeply. Has everything been a lie so far? Unreal.

  "This seems dangerous," said Lewir. The group was standing on the edge of a cliff. It was a scary drop and none of them would really want to go down.
   "I wish I was like Bethil now," sighed Jarco.
   "Who is that?" asked Marrie.
   "A shapeshifter," answered Lewir. "He could fly us down in one of his majestic flying shapes."
   "I've never met a shapeshifter before," said Marrie. "They don't appear as often in the Western Bay. Nothing really does anymore."
   "Druids and doomed," shrugged Hallan. "Nothing special. Not a single human has stepped in our Bay with their nasty feet."
   "Don't be so bitter on humans," said Marrie.
   "They wronged us."
   Marrie nudged Hallan. Hallan's sudden outburst of bitterness towards the human race contradicted his originally calm and peaceful aura that he had always carried around. Then again, it was no miracle. What happened between them was impeccable. The humans definitely learned their lesson.
   "We're now aiming at a greater enemy," Marrie said.
   "Really? Who do you have beef with now?" asked Livi bluntly.
   "It's not a feud," said Marrie. "It's rather a war."
   "With whom?" asked Livi.
   "The demons, of course," Marrie answered. "They're opposing armies towards any single race alive in this world."
   "Why do they actually want to attack us now?" asked Lewir. "I'm seriously curious as to why they're so evil."
   "The first time they broke loose was simply because of their root of evil and their lust for destruction, agony and dystopia. Now, I'm not sure," said Hallan.
   "The seal was not properly sealed," Jarco said. "Maybe they took that as an opportunity to break out again and make another attempt."
   "What went wrong in the sealing spell, though?" asked Lewir.
   "What did not go wrong? I think that the person who performed the spell thought he mastered quartz magic," shrugged Livi. "He was a very praised student in the royal academy of Iccarslot and he was also a very richly acclaimed knight."
   "Who is stupid enough to think they master quartz magic?" cackled Lewir. "Nobody in this world fully masters quartz magic."
   "When people continuously tell you that you do, you shall believe them," sighed Jarco. "Stupid child. At least it brought us peace."
   "So which magic are you the best at?" asked Marrie.
   "I have never tried out quartz, so I'm stuck at sapphire. I'm too afraid that I won't be able to control my magic as witches tend to go all out," answered Livi with a tiny smile.
   "Rubies, obviously," smirked Lewir.
   "Likewise," smiled Marrie.
   "I am trying to become a bit more experienced with quartz, but I do have to admit it has been a while since I have used any proper magic in general," mumbled Jarco. "And you, Hallan?"
   "Amethysts, of course," he smirked.
   Sighs of envy rose.
   "I wish I could do that," sighed Lewir. He raised his hand and lit up an orb with a saturated light. Rubies. The golden aura around the orb mixed with a gentle crimson and created a magnifying, royal colour. He made the tiny orb explode like a little ball of fireworks. Sparks flew around and danced on imaginary dance floors in the sky before they disappeared into the flowery air.
   He let out a sigh. He wished he had his horns. People without horns wouldn't understand losing them. It was a vital part of being a doomed. Now he was just... a magician. Very few people knew the secret of the horn, too. The power that left Lewir's body along with his most sacred body trait was intense and it made him weaker than he had thought. He thought about Marrie, and how much power would disappear when her horns would be ripped off. To a horned, they are the cornucopias of your power, almost quite literally. To an Elf and Dwarf it were the ears. To an enchantress or a wizard, it were the fingers. To an Orc, it were the teeth – which, luckily for them, barely any people knew. To a Troll, the teeth as well. To a fairy, its wings. To a mermaid, its tail. To a shapeshifter and necromancers, its fingers as well.
Lewir sighed. It'd be best if that information wasn't spread out too much. People would definitely take advantage of that. Well, many already had. He wondered if he could ever redeem his lost magical abilities.
   "I'm curious as to whether people are born with bad intentions," he said.
   "No," answered Jarco. "I do not think so."
   "We can't ask somebody who went insane," replied Hallan. "For their answers will always be biased."
   "Ninéya was born with bad intentions," said Jarco carefully. "It has not been embedded in her mind as a separate form of justice."
   "How do you know Ninéya so well?" Lewir asked.
   "Ninéya and I have had some former conflicts," replied Jarco, "but it's over now, luckily."
   Lewir threw a mischievous glare at Jarco, who remained as calm as possible. Livi sensed the tension between the two and decided to spark up a conversation about where the hell they were going, as they were now purely walking wherever their feet would lead them.