Wolf Queen (The Fate of Berrilium)

Chapter 13 - The Horrid Truth

Chapter 13 – The Horrid Truth

"When the gods and goddesses created the kingdoms, they searched for the perfect rulers. Each ruler had to fit the needs of the kingdoms and its god or goddess. For us, our goddess chose the one with the purest heart and fiercest soul. Her lover, the god of flames, gifted the werewolf ruler some of his flames, while our goddess gifted his with the love of the moon. The kingdoms were united. The two ruler's queens and soul sisters. It was a beautiful time, especially when both found their mates. The wolf queen was kind and through her, our kingdom flourished. Her beauty as well as her kindness was enough to bring any man to his knees. Eventually though, she caught the eye of the corrupted. Underneath the earth sat hungered creatures who only wished to feed. Their ruler, a king in his own right, heard word of this werewolf queen and wished for nothing more than to take her soul. Feed off her power. A soul as pure and light as her would keep him fed and powerful for centuries. The dark king sent many after her, but with each our queen vanquished them. She was too strong too powerful. He sat back and thought. A very long time passed. By then the wolf queen had many children each holding a small size of her gifts, she knew without a doubt that one of her girl's will be chosen as her successor." Mark continue to stare at the painting as did I. I can almost see the trees in the painting move gently in the breeze, along with the fluttering of her hair. She was incredibly beautiful.

"As you know, here in Berrrilium we live for a very long time, the need for a successor was not great. There also wasn't any worry that one of her children would try to kill her to take the crown since only our goddess choose. Only the one with the purest and fiercest soul will hold the crown." Mark sighs. "In the very long stretch of time, the dark king grew ambitious. Like many of the evil that walked the earth, the dark king wanted to rule all, but he knew that he must start small. First, he must feed off the wolf queen, then take her kingdom. He formed a simple plan. One filled with dark magic, but also one with consequence. Instead of sending one of his subjects to do his bidding, he decided to go himself. In his employ, the dark king had three strong witches. He allowed the witches to cast a spell on him, in order for his plan to work. The dark king came in the dead of night disguised as an old merchant. He walked to the castle doors screaming for the guards, for the queen. The wolf queen was compassionate to all, she never ignored one in need. The old man claimed that he was walking in the woods, on his way to the village's market with his boy, and something took him. He begged the wolf queen for aid. A guard quickly offers to help, but the old man begs the queen, saying the beast is strong and terrible. It was foolish of her, but she believed him, saying that she would go and help, taking only two guards with her. She was too kind, and never doubted her strength. The old man grabbed the queen, dragging her away with her two guards in tow. As they reached the woods the night grew darker, strangely so. The old man falter, his steps clumsy as his grip on the queen brings her down with him. In that moment, the man transformed slowly and took piece of his soul and merged it with hers. The queen awoke and searched for the old man, not sure how her and her guards fell asleep. She called others to search for the old man and his boy, thinking that the beast may have done something and taken them. The old man and his supposed child was never found." I stared at Mark in disbelief. Completely unbelieving.

"Oh come on! She was not that gullible. That's a made-up story right. One of your lessons?" I snort. Mark turns to me, his eyes holding a smidge of irritation.

"In those days, honor was more valuable than anything, and also those that wished to do harm to the queen or the kingdom were not able to touch their lands. There was a spell in place that made it so. A spell done by ancient witches. But like I said, the dark king had his own trio of ancient witches." Mark sighs and shakes his head. "It is true, the story sounds very unrealistic, its due to it being watered down by so many. There are different variations of the tale, and old magic hiding most of the truth. This is simply the version I learned."