Chapter 3

 

L

ucian took his task.  He was now headed for the wall surrounding the city, where the royal messages were held.  Lucian arrived at the building and continued inside.  There he found the royal post office.  It was a tiny little wooden room with a few pictures of the recent and previous kings, a royal blue carpet with the kingdom insignia in the middle colored gold, a brick outlined window facing the plains, and a wooden desk placed at the far side of the room, there Liam sat leaning back on his wooden chair twiddling his thumbs.

            Lucian shut the door behind him, breaking Liam’s trance.  He stood up, put his arm across his stomach, and gave a respectful bow.

            “Welcome Prince Lucian.”  He said straightening up.

            “Good afternoon Liam.”  Lucian responded equally polite.  Liam plopped back into his chair,

             “I hope you’re not expecting me to be that polite through out your visit.  I can only take being that polite for so long you know.”

             Lucian smiled giving a small laugh, “Don’t worry.  It’s alright with me.  It’s actually kind of nice to be treated as an equal every once in a while.”  Liam smirked,

            “Well you’re sure a heck of a lot more understanding than your brother.  He comes in and makes me stand at attention like that for hours on end.  Sometimes I think he just hangs around here to make me suffer just that much longer.”  Lucian nodded giving a sheepish smile. Well that sure does sound like Konda, he thought.

            “Anyway,” Liam interrupted, “What brings you here?”

“I’m here to check for royal messages.”

“Ah, doing Fargo’s monthly job are you?  Well, I’m sorry to say that you took a meaningless chore; there hasn’t been a letter from the Villenore Kingdom in about a month.  Normally we get one at least once a week.  As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen the kingdoms messengers in about the same amount of time.”

“Really, what happened?”  Liam shrugged unknowingly,
“Wish I had an answer for you.  But hey, keep this underground, I don’t want any of the citizens worrying themselves about this.  It’s probably nothing.”

            Lucian nodded, “I’ll be sure to keep it to myself.”  Liam smiled and gave a nodding “thank you”.

            “You have some outgoing mail in your pocket?”  Liam asked, noticing the scroll.

            “Oh, no,” Lucian replied taking the scroll out of his pocket and showing it to him, “my brother and I are to study off of it.”

            Liam nodded, uninterested.  Then he noticed the seal holding it shut.  His eyes grew as he took a silent gasp.  Liam bowed his head,

            “May the goddess Aria have pity on our souls at this dark time.”  When Liam lifted his head, he saw Lucian looking absolutely confused.  He gave a little chuckle, then blew it off,

            “Never mind, me.  I’m sure you have plenty of work to get to.  So you may be on your way.”  Lucian shook his head,

            “Actually, I have nothing to do at the moment.  Would you mind if I took over your job for a while?”   Liam cracked a smile,

“Heh, sure, if you want to take over my job for a while, be my guest, just don’t expect anything big to happen, this job is about as dull as it gets.”

            Lucian reassured that his post was in good hands, and Liam reassured that he really didn’t care.  Liam said he’d be back in a couple of hours, and headed out the door.

 

            Lucian took a seat in Liam’s chair and sat contently enjoying the peace and quiet.  Apparently Lucian liked doing other peoples jobs even if their job was just sitting around doing nothing.  Lucian leaned back in his chair and turned his attention to the window.  Outside was nothing but re-growing crop fields, and mountains at the bottom of the blue cloudless sky.  But this time, there was more than just scenery, there was a man stumbling up to the castle walls.

            Lucian immediately jumped out of his chair and ran outside to see the man.  Rights as Lucian got to the man’s side, he collapsed.  He was badly injured and losing blood rapidly.  Lucian turned the man over onto his back and realized that it was the royal messenger.  The messenger weakly lifted his hand and dropped a scroll into Lucian’s hand.  Then he muttered with his last breath, “…war…” then fell limp.

 

            Lucian was frozen with fear.  He had no idea what to do.  He had never, in his whole life, seen a soul die.

            “Prince Lucian!” a voice yelled from behind.  Lucian’s head spun around to see a soldier leaning over the wall.  He jumped down the enormous wall and ran to the prince.  He looked at Lucian then at the messenger,

            “What the, what happened?”

“H-he just came up to the castle wall like this, h-he just, I-I don’t know what…”

“It’s alright, I’ll call for help.”  The soldier responded smoothly, hoping to calm Lucian down.  He pulled a rocket out from his belt sack, and then lit it with a match, sending it flying into the air, and bursting with a bright white and blue light.

 

            Then twelve people appeared in the same color of lights around Lucian.  They were all wearing white cloaks with blue designs hemmed around the edges, all except one. 

            This one exception was a teenage girl with long black hair which came together in a braid in the back.  She had a golden metal band around her head with a purple emblem in the middle, holding her bangs in place.  She wore a rope around her neck that was woven into a chocker and a purple and white cape that clipped together by her shoulder with another purple pendant. On her left hand she wore an elegant white glove.  Instead of a white cloak, she wore a purple and white jacket that split apart at her waist, a purple skirt, and long boots that rose up to her knees.  And the only other thing that made her unique among these other eleven, and perhaps the most important thing, was that she was a half-elf.

 

            A white cloaked men stepped forward, took down his hood, and examined the messenger, then turned to the half-elf girl and nodded.  The girl stepped forward as the man stepped back; she bent down next to the messenger and then took a deep breath.  But then she glanced up and noticed Lucian.  She instantly sat up straight.  She appeared to be nervous and confused.  She kept on looking franticly between the un-hooded man and Lucian.  The man sighed and motioned toward Lucian,

            “Would you please move aside?”  Lucian quickly removed himself from the bloody scene.  The girl took a sigh of relief and returned to her work.  She took her right hand and held it above the man’s chest.  She slowly took a deep breath in, and let it out smoothly, and as she did her hand began to glow with a bright light, and the wounds on the man’s body began to face away.

            When all the wounds were healed, her hand stopped glowing, and she stood up and let the others come in and clean up the blood.

 

            Lucian turned to the girl in amazement,

            “How did you do that!?”  The girl stiffened and shot her eyes down to her feet.  The un-hooded man turned around and saw Lucian trying to talk to the girl.  He moaned and walked over.  He put a hand on her shoulder and said,

            “You’ve done a good job, you are released.”  The girl nodded and gave a bow, then looked toward Lucian; she just stood there for a moment, turning bright red.  Then the leader motioned his head toward Lucian telling her to hurry up.  She gave a quick bow to him, pulled a handful of dust out of her shoulder bag, and threw it toward the ground; and in a puff of smoke she was gone.

 

            “Sorry about that,” the man apologized.  Lucian, instead of listening to the man, sat there, goggling over the puff of smoke that was still dissolving in the air.  “She is not quite used to strangers, or people in general.  She lacks the common sense of communication.  That would be why she is traveling with us, to gain people skills, and to improve on magic of course.”  Lucian’s ear twitched, as the word “magic” rolled of the man’s tong.  Lucian turned back to the man,

            “So that was magic.”  The man raised an eye brow, “What did you think it was; a coincidence?  Come now, I was told you were intelligent.”  Lucian shook his head,

            “Well, I did assume it was magic, but never have seen magic performed, myself, I couldn’t be so sure.”  The man gawked.

            “You, being prince of this immense kingdom, have never even seen the simplest spell performed!?”  Lucian shook his head, realizing how sheltered he was.

            “Surely the Magites of executed at least one spell in your presence!”  Lucian stopped, Magites! he recalled.  He shook his head once more, “No, I have never seen a spell throughout my whole life.”  To Lucian’s surprise, the man began to laugh,

            “You must be pulling my leg.  You have to have received your prophesy from the Magites.  As all royalty does at age ten, which I would assume that you are well past that age by now.”

            Lucian was baffled.  He had no idea what to make of this.  He had never heard of the Magites, or their ability to bestow prophesies until today.  But according to this man, he was supposed to receive his seven years ago!  And that all royalty was to have this blessing at that age.  If all royalty is supposed to receive a prophesy, Lucian thought, then does that mean Konda has received his?  

            The man could clearly see in his eyes that Lucian was not trying to be funny.  The man tilted his head down and looked up,

            “Far off am I?”  Lucian slowly nodded his head, still deep in thought.  “Then you are a liar,” the man plainly stated.  Lucian shook his head giving a puzzled look.  Did, he just insult me!? Lucian thought.

           

“Sir,” Lucian interrupted, “what exactly are the Magites, and the prophesies they give?”  The man knew that he had the right to know, although the king may not like it.

“They are a very mysterious people.  Although there are very few, in fact, there are exactly six in the world at a time.  No more, no less.  Lucian cocked his head, “How would that work exactly?  I mean, if one were to die, would another just appear in thin air?”  The man flashed a smile,

            “Who ever said they could die?”

 

Lucian put his finger to his chin, deep in thought.  "But," he began, "that would mean that they're not human."  The man smirked in consent.

"Then what are they?"  The man leaned closer in and whispered,

"Immortals."  Lucian was as clueless as a pixie in a blacksmith shop.  He had never heard of this species before in his life.  The man was adapting to Lucian not knowing a single thing that he was talking to him about.  "You know, immortals, people who can never die.  Most people have heard of them from folk tales told long ago."  Lucian nodded understandingly.  "Okay, immortals.  But how is that possible?  You said they come from folk tales, so, your saying that immortals are more than just myths."  The man nodded again, and then took a deep breath, as if preparing to tell a dreadfully long story.

"You see, over one hundred years ago, they were once human.  They were strong believers in the goddess Aria, and they did serve her well.  Then one day, as the six were praying in the main temple, in Melos, and a celestial body appeared unto them."

The man took a pause, as if waiting for questions.  "Who was it?"  Lucian asked, trying to fill the sudden silence.  The man grinned and pointed up toward the sky,

"Goddess Aria herself."

 

Lucian never did look much into religion.  Then again, he never really thought about it that much.  He had desperately wanted to about the goddess Aria, but he could plainly see that the man was in the middle of a story he enjoyed telling.

 

"Then," he continued, "She thanked them for being so obedient and faithful towards her.  She told them, that as a reward, that she could grant them anything they desired, all they had to do was ask for it.  The men all turned to each other then looked up at the shining figure and replied earnestly saying:  All we want is to serve you.  The goddess smiled sweetly to them, and replied:  Very well, if that is what you wish.  You men of pure heart shall spread the teachings of me until the day this world of my creation expires."

"So they will end up dying!"  Lucian blurted out, interrupting the story and obviously annoying the old man.  The man gave him a glare and then responded, 

 "No, even at the end of the world, they will out run death.  The goddess said that at the last day, after all other of my creations inhabiting have died, you six shall shed your bodies and your spirits shall ascend into the celestial plains."

 

Lucian felt as if he had hit his head.  He had absolutely no idea what to make of all of this.  It all seemed so unreal.  But for some reason, Lucian felt he could trust this man, a complete stranger who popped up out of nowhere.  There wasn’t even a name to connect with the face.

When the man realized that Lucian was about to ask his name, he quickly started in, “Oh, you needn’t worry about my name.  I’m sure that your retelling of this little event will go over much better with the king if you left my name out.”  Lucian nodded with an amused smile.

Lucian waved goodbye to the nameless man as he returned to his party.  One of them bent down next to the unconscious messenger, put a finger on his forehead, and then they all disappeared in a puff of smoke.  Lucian eyeballed the cloud, and then looked down at his pocket.  “What!?”  Lucian starred baffled into his empty pocket.  The scroll that the messenger had given him was gone. Lucian franticly searched the grassy hill around him, but turned up empty handed.  Lucian gave a sigh and went back to the post office with a heavy heart.     

 

Lucian strutted back to the royal mail room, with a fresh new story to tell.  When he entered the room, he found Liam relaxing in his wooden chair, with his feet resting on his desk, and his hands behind his head.  “Didn’t do a very good job of watching my post.  I came back to get my hat and you were no where to be found.”   Lucian folded his arms,          “I was only outside!  Exactly how much effort did you put into looking for me?”  Liam stay silent for a little bit, rocking back and forth in his chair and biting his lip.  He put his feet back down on the floor and put his elbows on his desk,

“That isn’t important.”  Lucian rolled his eyes.  “The important thing is, you weren’t doing the job that you asked for.”  Lucian stood his ground, by telling him the whole story.  Not that Liam was listening, or even cared at all.  Liam got up and walked toward Lucian, “Relax, I honestly don’t care.  I just like giving people a hard time.”  He gave a half smile, and then started to push Lucian toward the door.  “But you had best be on your way now.”  Before Lucian could protest, he was out side and Liam had already closed the door.  Lucian heaved a sigh, and walked back to the palace.

Author's Note

Again, i ask that you dont make any remarks about my bad spelling and grammer... but any other feed back would be nice. =)