Igniting A Flame {Kingdoms #1}

Twenty

Theos casually ambled through the shaded streets, the air still and thick with despair. He shivered, ice cold shooting down his spine like a lightning bolt. The kingdom surrounding him is faint and half formed, scattered street vendors and seemingly debris of resident houses the only clear view. The misted, unclear faces of silhouettes glided through the street like motionless dolls. Some darkness—a power of some sorts—shrouded their entire body, whilst some remained half indulged by the black mist.

The world contorted and flashed, changing its scene. That crippling anguish dispersing into a calmer yet stifling solitary. A fire crackled as flames whipped and smouldered. Embers sizzled in the hearth, catching light and dimming. A woman swayed in front of the blazing fire, her back to Theos, as a sweet tune echoed through the small room. Her voice is strident yet mystifying, the sound piercing yet beautiful. A turquoise bracelet dangled on her wrist, gleaming in the lustreless golden glow.

The scene switched again. A swirl of red flushed his mind, clouding his vision. The colours danced and flicked fiercely as if an iron tipped whip. Theos stood helpless in the crowd of red, no body to control or world to comprehend. A wicked laugh reverberated through the small box of his mind, the tone feminine and unbelievably sinister. A snap of bones and the world turned black.

~~~

Theos's eyes fluttered awake and he found his body huddled by the dreaded oak door. He hadn't recalled falling asleep by it nor if his father bothered to notice. He groaned, lifting his puny body off the cold wood. His back straightened and he gently placed his ear on the door, attempting to hear any life. Some days, he longs for that invisible mother to barge through the door and embrace her long lost son with open arms. He has to remind himself that his species had no mothers. Did his species even have a name or were they just the companions to Aera, the guardian of the skies?

Theos forced the desperate yearning for the world beyond deep into his heart, pushing away the petty dreams of children—as his father would say. He willed his stiff bones to stroll into the sitting room, adjacent to the oak door. His father sprawled himself across a mangy sofa, the mere fabric worn and tearing at the seams. In his hand, he riffled through pages of a book once read to Theos many times before, the times of innocent childhood where Theos asked no questions and merely accepted existence as it was.

Theos spied a steel box, clamped shut and sitting atop the frail table. Its grey glimmer tantalizing to Theos's curious eyes. Sometimes his father would pop open the box and gaze upon its contents, contents unknown to Theos as opening the box himself is forbidden. He would press his body around the corridor wall and peak around the corner, attempting to glimpse what may be inside. His lips pursed as a twinge of that hatred crawled up, but he soon subdued it to avoid any disrespect to the gods. Loathing, a severe insult to the divine force his father would lecture.

Theos edged closer to the sofa, cautiously seating himself beside his father. His thin legs crackled as his body contorted onto the surface. He marvelled at his father's burly figure and wondered what he endured to gain such brutish muscle. His father must have seen the world beyond. There is a world beyond, so why are the gods preventing such exploration?

Theos opened his mouth to express one of his many repetitive questions, only to be interrupted by the gruff booming of his father. "It is rude to question the divine power. Tend to the garden and do not come out until you rid your mind of pointless inquiries."

Theos tilted his head, disappointed but not shocked at his father's guess of his own unspoken words. He kept his stare to his father, who didn't bother to look up from the pages riddled with symbols unknown to Theos. His jaw snapped instantly, bits of flesh tearing and spurting from the distorted bone. Theos shot up, taking sharp breathes. His father eyed him, that horribly disfigured jaw returning to normal. Theos forced his gaze away and rushed out of the sitting room.

These abhorrent and gruesome visions struck at random, sending shivers down his very spine. His knees buckled at the very thought of another vision corrupting his mind. Sometimes, it would be a dismembered limb or a bludgeoned body beginning for saviour. Theos suspected it to be some cruel force of Lin's doing. He decided that his father could not understand the supernatural forces toying with his mind and he would learn to control them on his own.

Theos carefully opened the thin door leading to the labyrinth of greenery. Trees, shrubs and flowers greeted him with sorrowful whining as if their very soul were being tortured. The dull green held no life or growth and some even whittled into a dark black, dead. He desperately tried to water them and aid in their thriving growth to no avail. This dreary, confined room held no mercy for the poor plants. The only light source being small square windows lining the tops of the back wall.

Theos ran his hands through the dry leaves of dying plants and stopped at a bulbous tree. He locked his bare feet onto the brittle braches leading to thick, drooping leaves. With a pathetic whimper, he lifted his body up and crawled atop the tree. He peered through the window, the glass misty and scratched with a view barely visible. Theos could make out the faint outline of greenery and grass, glittering in comparison to his own drab garden.

He tapped the thick glass, careful as to not be too loud. A small black hound bobbled towards Theos, excitedly whipping his metal spiked tail draped in dark silk to mimic fur. He wondered what horrors he saw to gain such an injury and who had fixed him. Theos placed a hand on the glass, longing to embrace the tiny dog across the emerald green grass. The hound's deep red eyes seared into his own so fiercely, those sharp canines wonderfully predatory. A true hunter dog. Theos wished to see the mighty packs that may inhibit the world beyond.

He sighed, retracting his hand and beginning to slide down the tree. The faint wince of the dog shattered his heart but he couldn't risk being caught. His father would beat him into dust if he ever knew of Theos's common spying sessions past the window. Theos stepped back, frowning at the pathetic greenery before plopping onto the dirty ground. Lin seated herself next to him, that dark cold energy enveloping his body once again.

"Find the box and open it," Lin stated blandly, looking at her grey hands in boredom.

Theos sighed, blatantly ignoring her incessant beckoning. He started to think perhaps Lin were a formation of his deepest desires, a meaningless mirage. His shoulders perked up as he spotted a small item dug into the dirt by a tangled shrub.