Children of Prophecy

Basil: Chapter 8

I hugged my father crying tears of joy. I had missed him so much. Dad slowly dragged me with him to Astra and mom to do a group hug. I could see the twins and Tabitha smiling from the corner of my eyes. I pulled myself away and wiped my tears to look at dad. He smiled as mom walked beside him.

"I believe you already know the story of a forbidden love between two people right?” dad asked as me and Astra nodded. Dad and mom each took their time to explain their story once again while everyone in the room listened. "When you were born, the same spirit that blessed us with you came to give a gift for your birth", mom said as dad continued, "It gave you each a fragment of the 'light' to keep safe". We all listened to the story about the 'light', mom and dad's relationship, and the two kingdoms.

After the story I clutched on my necklace looking down and thinking about all the things that happened. I raised my head and said, "Grandfather has the substitute core of the lake. We need to get it back". Everyone turned their heads to me. Astra then asked me with our parents, Tabitha and the twins agreeing, "We only need to find the 'light' and it will all be ok". I was a bit furious at the answer and those who agreed about it. Who knows what grandfather will do with it! I was about to argue back, until Eloise spoke out agreeing with me. "He is right. He might have already caused chaos and wrecked the balance at the time the 'light' is discovered", she spoke in a calm voice. I saw Astra trying to say an argument against Eloise, but gave up agreeing. 

Everyone was thinking hard of what we were going to do. "We must go now, we are fading and our time is up", I looked at my parents only to see them slowly fading away with a smile. They stood beside each other with dad's arm around mom's waist. "You can't go yet!” Astra said and with that I also begged them to stay “We still need help!". They faded completely with my mom's last words echoing saying, "You will find a way".

Night soon fell and we were eating dinner around a big table beside each other and some guardians. "Children of Prophecy", Eloise suddenly said causing everyone to look at her, "I do not know where to find the light, however I can give you a riddle to find it". We all looked at her eager to hear the riddle. "I must warn you though that this riddle will not take you directly to the 'light', but to a new task to fulfil in order to find it". She slowly told us the riddle to find the next task:

I leave no mark on the ground, 
nor on the water gleam. 
You see my silhouette where ever you go, but I hide from the sun whenever it’s in tow.

"Take Lynx with you, she will help you solve the riddles", Eloise finished. A woman clad in a teal blue dress suited for the winter cold stood up from the table. She had silver hair with a hint of blue and golden eyes that shined. "I shall do my best to help them in their quest", the woman called Lynx said in an assuring voice.

Dinner was soon over and we all went to the rooms to rest. I was about to open a closet until I heard a knock. I went to the door and there stood Lynx with a smile. "You're prince Basil of Alastar are you not?", she asked as I nodded slowly and unsure, "I have heard some troubling news from your country". I was now curious of what it was. "It seems that Alastar's king is planning to start a war against Euryele", Lynx continued as I stood with wide eyes. Before I could ask her a question, she had already turned her back and waved goodbye. I did what I was supposed to do before she came and went to bed.

I woke up the next day and walked to the dining hall only to find that everyone was already about to start eating breakfast. Me, Astra and Lynx were trying to solve the riddle as Raphael was getting scolded by Spot and Tabitha for having bad table manners as we ate breakfast.

We finished our breakfast and also packed some food before we went to our rooms to pack. I walked out of the room and knocked on Astra's door. Astra opened and I asked, "Astra? Do you think we will find the 'light' in time?”. “What makes you ask?” Astra answers filled with curiosity. I took a deep breath looking down at my feet, "Well...It seems that my grandfather is planning to start a war against Euryele". I looked up only to see her with a face that showed shock and anger. She then closed the door shut in front of my face and came out a few minutes later with her small satchel placed on her back. 

She called out for Tabitha and walked in front of the twin’s room to knock, “Come on now! We need to find the 'light'!", she said. Lynx came by the hallway already packed for the journey. She also had a small satchel on her back and a blue cloak that she wore. The twins came out of their room, "We're ready for the next round!", Raphael exclaimed as his brother only nodded to Astra. We went outside in front the front gates, I turned around to wave at Eloise and the other guardians shouting thank you. "Be careful on your journey, there will be riddles that need to be solved and dangers to be passed", Eloise shouted warning us about the journey.