At End's Gate

HIDDEN NAMES

Paige and James arrived home rather confused. They still had confusion as to why their parents and their neighbour chose to lie to them. They went into the house." James you were late today. What were you doing with the debate team?" Claire asked.

"We were preparing for a debate we're going to have with another school in a few months?"

"Okay. Paige how was your day?"

"It was fine mom."

"Okay. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

Paige and James went up to their rooms then they joined Blake on the roof. He seemed to be confused as well." So mom and dad are hiding something from us," he said with a disappointed look.

"Yes B. They are," Paige said with a depressed tone.

"Should we confront them?" Blake asked."

"No. We have to gather more facts. I don't think it's wise for us to rush and quickly question them," James said.

"Yeah. There's something bugging me. Why didn't we analyze the game aspect of the painting? They said it was a game. We have to confirm if it was even truly a game," Paige pointed out.

"Yes. We'll investigate after supper," James said as they got off the roof.

That night, the dining table was a bit awkward as the kids tried their best to fake joy in front of their secretive parents. "Sweetheart," David said looking at Paige," I researched more about the painting you showed me that day. I actually have exciting news. I know the painter."

"Really. That's great," said Paige with a plastic smile.

"His name is Eric Mayfield. He was a painter during the period of war. He painted for one of the greedy kings but he later retaliated and started painting images that exposed the wicked leaders."

"Thank you dad."

"You're welcome love."

The siblings met in the boys room way after bedtime." I wonder where he got that name from, Eric Mayfield. I looked up to that guy but all he does is lie," said an angry James.

"I'm so disappointed. Let's find out the truth," Paige said.

James started searching on his laptop about how colonies where won by leaders. After sometime he stumbled across a page that interested him." I got something.

Paige and Blake stood closer to view the laptop." You see this. It talks about a the game mom and dad described but look at this," James said as he zoomed in on an image on the screen." It's a layout of the game. It's similar to the painting but it's different."

Paige observed the painting and the enlarged image." Yes they are very different. The positioning of the men and their faces."

"There must be some type of symbolism there," Blake pointed out.

"Yeah. Check this out. It says the kings wore robes that differentiated them. The robe colour could be used to identify a particular king," James said.

"So what significance is there in knowing the colours?" Paige asked.

"This is how they formed a name of the society they were in before they began gambling for colonies."

"How did they do that?" Blake asked.

"Each robe represented a king. The kings would take the first letter of each of their names and they would join them according to the sequence they were sitting in.
Red: King Alves
Blue: King Killian
Black: King Isaac
Orange: King Ivan
Violet: King Logan
Scarlet: King Nigel
Indigo: King Uranus
Green: King Derek
This joined would form the society AKIILNUD."

Paige looked at the robes in the painting. The colours were similar but their positioning was different." Let's try sequencing this picture basing on the names of the old Kings."

"Okay. Let's do this. I guess it must mean something
Green: King Derek
Indigo: King Uranus
Blue: King Killian
Orange: King Ivan
Violet: King Logan
Black: King Isaac
Red: King Alves
Scarlet: King Nigel
It gives us DUKILIAN. I don't know if it's a society."

"I don't think so J. I think it's a name," Blake commented.

"Yeah I guess so," James said.

"Anything there that explains the objects they are holding?" Paige asked.

"Let me see. It says the objects they held signified their family names or surnames. King Alves here is holding a feather. His full name was King Alves Feather."

"Okay the kings in the painting are all holding the same stone," Paige pointed out.

"Then there is a name Dukilian Stone," Blake commented.

"It's possible. Check this out. Each face in the painting is similar. It seems to be the same person in different appearances unlike in this image," Paige told her brothers as they came closer to see their sister's discovery.

"Yeah. It's the same person," Blake agreed.

"So it is a name, Dukilian Stone. Will have to confront mom and dad tomorrow night," James said.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really loved writing it. Tell me how you feel about it.