The door at the end of the kitchen suddenly opened as a woman walked out. She paused immediately upon noticing the guests. She was younger than the woman in the portrait, her hair full of golden curls, but with the same slanted brown eyes, which narrowed as she took in the faces sitting around the table.
Hadrian held his hand out toward her. “This is Rosa, Alys's sister. She has been letting us stay here with her since our house was destroyed...” Rosa's eyes suddenly landed upon Mythia's crown, narrowing into dangerous slits.
She shot an angry look at Hadrian. “What is this? What's going on here, Hadrian?” Her eyes burned with malice.
Hadrian quickly stood up and walked over to her. “You know my cousin Pater, Rosa. And these are his friends...” He peered at them hesitatingly.
Titus stood up and gave a quick bow. “I am Titus, my lady, soldier of the Rejicio army, along with Ventus.” Ventus stood up, with a quick nod of her head. “Bello, the Rejicio leader.” Bello stayed in her seat but nodded curtly. Titus looked over at Mythia but hesitated as Rosa's eyes narrowed dangerously in her direction.
“I know who you are,” Rosa growled at Mythia. “You're the reason my sister can't get out of bed. The reason our lives have been turned upside down.”
Pater cleared his throat nervously. “Now Rosa, these-” Rosa threw her hand out to him, still scowling at the queen. Mythia clenched her jaw, her heart rate quickening as it pounded within her chest.
Mythia stood up, her face still and even. “No. She has every right to be angry with me.” She swallowed, her heart shooting up to her throat, but took a steadying breath. She peered intently into Rosa's eyes from across the table. “This is what I came here for. But the king lied to you, to all of you. I didn’t place a curse upon the kingdom, I would never wish suffering upon anyone. The king has been overtaken by evil. He is no longer King Tribus… he’s being possessed by an evil entity- the Dragon King.”
Bello stood up. “Mythia is speaking the truth. The king has misled you all into believing this is her fault, but what is happening across the kingdom of Terra is no curse; the time has come for our gifts to return. It has been written in the legends for a thousand years. It may be difficult to endure, but it is a necessary start to the peaceful world we have all been hoping and waiting for.”
Mythia shuddered. She knew it was partly her fault for releasing this chaos, from gathering the scrolls and setting this all into motion. She swallowed up the guilt that was beginning to consume her. “The whole reason I came was to see what was going on for myself. To see how I can help.”
Rosa dropped her scowl for a moment, replacing it with a sneer as she huffed. “Took you long enough. If you indeed have such as great a power as the rumors say, why haven’t you stopped this already? Too little, too late.” Rosa walked around the table and stood face to face with Mythia. Her hands on her round hips. “My sister can't be fixed… it’s… it’s too late for her.” Her voice shook as her sneer suddenly melted away. She blinked rapidly, visibly fighting back tears.
Pater stood up and placed his empty mug down on the table. “I think it's time we pay Alys a visit.” Everyone walked across the kitchen. Rosa was first to the door. She took a deep shuddering breath, her hand on the handle. She glared one more time at Mythia before pushing it open.
The woman from the portrait was sitting straight up in a wood framed bed, perfectly still, with a thick wool blanket strewn across her lap. She no longer had the spark or color she bore in the painting hanging in the kitchen; her eyes stared resolutely empty at the blank wall in front of her. She made no motion as to whether or not she noticed the sudden appearance of the seven people shuffling in.
Hadrian quickly sat on the bed right next to her, holding her hand tightly and closing his eyes. Rosa scowled again at everyone around her before storming back out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Pater sat carefully down next to Hadrian and Alys. He placed one hand upon each of their shoulders. Bello shifted from the corner of the small bedroom, her eyes downcast. Titus and Ventus stood straight, keeping up their trained postures, hands placed on the hilts of their swords.
“What have thou done to deserve this guilt?” Pater murmured silently between Hadrian and Alys. Tears spilled down Hadrian's face and onto his lap. Alys shifted her mouth only slightly, but remained resolute in her catatonic state.
“I did this,” Hadrian sobbed to the entire room. “I did this to my wife... and our child. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.” He buried his face in his hands, a river of tears spilling from between his palms.
Pater placed his hand on the top of Hadrian’s head. “Of this, your guilt is resolved. You are forgiven.” Hadrian sobbed even harder. Pater then placed his hand upon Alys's head, her eyes unmoving. Mythia watching, very carefully, as Pater appeared to be performing yet more of the magic she had witnessed from the night before, as the same strangely peaceful sensation floated over them all. “Alys, what have thou done to deserve this guilt?” He paused for a moment, holding his palm gently on her head. “Of this, your guilt is resolved. You are forgiven.” Mythia wasn’t sure if she was just imagining it, but she could swear Alys’s eyes glistened slightly with tears.
Pater stood up. He glanced down one last time upon the couple, then motioned for everyone to leave the room. They walked into the empty kitchen and stood facing each other, faces solemn and grave.
Titus raised his eyebrows. “Such a happy family,” he said weakly.
Mythia looked at Pater. “What happened to her, Pater? What happened that made her that way?”
Pater held his hands behind his back. “Hadrian's gifts awakened about a month ago. He was laying in bed with Alys, when it happened. He woke up suddenly to the bed shaking, then the entire room rattling. The floor cracked beneath them, and Alys fell straight through and was crushed by the debris. She broke many bones and suffered a head injury. It’s a miracle she survived at all...” Pater swallowed, watching as Mythia's eyes grew wide. “But she was pregnant. The injury caused her to lose the child. It was this particular happening that put her in the mental state she is in now. She won't eat, she won't sleep. They have to force food and water down her throat to keep her alive. She hasn't moved or spoken ever since.”
Mythia frowned. “No wonder Hadrian feels so guilty.”
Bello looked at Mythia. “And no wonder why her sister harvests so much hatred toward you. All of this,” she motioned to the outside, “was caused by your curse. Or so King Tribus continues to tell them.”
For just a moment Mythia felt like she was back in Trigonus, sitting in the long table of the dining hall in the castle. King Tribus sat at the head, a smile on his handsome, chiseled face, his golden goblet raised high in a toast at the reunion of Lord Animus and his daughter. She found herself surprised by how human he was, how he wasn’t the monster she had imagined after all, from all the hate she harvested for him her entire life. The hate that grew from what she had heard about him, before seeing what his heart was truly like in person.
Now the citizens of the cities had someone new to turn into their own monster made of nightmares. Someone to place all the blame of their misfortune on. And suddenly she felt, for a very strange moment, a connection to the king. Even though the circumstances were different, even though the king was guilty of wrongdoings before the Dragon Lord had taken over him, he was still a human capable of feeling love and pain, guilt and forgiveness. She could almost understand, in that moment, the hardened shell Tribus had to wear to bear the hatred of so many in his kingdom that he reigned over in his own passionate way. For a moment she missed the man he once was, the mighty king he used to be, before the Dragon King had tainted his soul. But only for a moment did she relate to him in this way.
He wasn’t a monster, even after all he had done. And despite the overwhelming guilt she felt from the events that followed her finding of the scrolls, neither was she. It was the Tenebris, the evil entity dwelling within the cities, possessing people with hatred
, that was the true monster of the kingdom. And just as she came to this realization, something yet again stirred within her, baring its sharp, pointy fangs. Her blood boiled; her arms shook. Detestation filled her thin, weak body with a new kind of strength.
This was no accident. The Dragon King knew what he was doing when he placed the blame on his queen. He knew it would not only create an imagined monster in the minds of his people, but a real one within Mythia herself.
6. THE AWAKENING
The kitchen door suddenly opened with a loud crash, breaking Mythia out of her thoughts, as a group of guards rammed inside, shouting and brandishing weapons. Titus and Ventus immediately jumped in front of the rest, whipping their swords out and striking against the guards. Titus tried to use his gifts against them, but his hands were too preoccupied with the sword. A cold hand grasped Mythia's shoulder, sending chills down her spine. She looked up to see the calculating face of Bello at her side, watching her calmly amongst the sudden chaos.
A smirk spread across Bello’s face. “You want to join the Rejicio army?” Mythia nodded quickly. Bello looked back toward the scene in front of them, Ventus and Titus still striking metal against metal, the sound of ringing blades echoing across the quaint home. “Then show me what you can do, Queen Mythia.”
Mythia took in a deep breath and plunged forward, letting her newfound anger take over. She raised up her palms and blasted a cold, powerful wind at the guards. They all shot backwards and toppled over each other. Titus and Ventus stopped, gasping for breath, and stared incredulously at Mythia.
“You don't even need us, do you?” Titus asked sarcastically, catching his breath.
“I have a feeling we’ve spent our welcome. Let’s head out,” Bello ordered. The five of them looked back one last time at the bedroom door which remained shut during the invasion, before heading out of the house. Blowing whistles screeched across the city, warning others of their presence.
Curtains were closing from all around them, eyes peering out anxiously between the fabric. Ventus and Titus held their swords ready, Mythia raised her palms in front of her, marching fearlessly forward. The atmosphere had changed significantly from before they entered Rosa’s house. Mythia’s hair stood on end, her heart racing with adrenaline. She barely noticed the freezing rain slowly drenching her hair. Pater glanced nervously at Bello who was grinning madly.
“There's the queen!” A bounty hunter shouted from across the square. A bunch of them appeared from around a corner and charged, their oddly mismatched chainmail rattling in their wake. Mythia turned quickly around and threw out a powerful blast of wind. A few of the bounty hunters stopped the wind by pulling up the ground beneath with their own gifts to create a barrier. The bounty hunters were donatus.
“These are unicorns, Mythia,” Bello explained calmly. “They possess the gift of earth. What destroys earth?” She looked down expectantly at Mythia as though giving her a lesson amongst the chaos.
Mythia thought about it for a moment, suddenly realizing that wind would not have as much effect on something unmoving- but nothing could escape the burn of fire. She raised her palms again just as the hunters and guards charged upon her, this time sending out a stream of fiery white flames, pushing them back in fear. They shouted out confused orders, raising their worthless wooden shields in front of them.
Bello looked down at her again. “Finish them, Mythia.” Mythia glanced up at her, her brown eyes reflecting her own flames.
“I'll create a barrier they can’t cross,” Mythia suggested. Bello's cold eyes watched as Mythia made a line of fire between them, the dark clouds above them spewing out icicles.
Something hard hit against the back of Mythia’s head. She whipped around to see what it was, keeping her concentration on the fire now behind her.
She noticed a rock laying on the ground beneath her feet, just as another one came flying from seemingly nowhere, hitting her right in the stomach. She looked around angrily.
A large woman stood in her doorway, holding a rock in each hand. Malice shrouded her expression as she took aim yet again for Mythia. “Get out of my city, ya filthy queen! You’ve done enough destruction!” She shouted from across the square.
“Set down the rocks!” Pater bellowed at the woman. “You have no right to cast judgement, Millicent!” Pater glared at her, the woman glaring back in response. She made a show of throwing down the stones she held in her hand, turned around with a huff, and slammed her door so hard that one of the glass panes fell out from her broken window.
Mythia turned back around to her wall of fire, just as she noticed more guards and hunters coming in from the sides.
Bello looked at her again, her cold eyes flashing dangerously. “Mythia, if you don't kill them, they will only keep coming. You will be doing the city justice by ending their reign... Prove to me that you are not a coward.”
Mythia watched the men running toward her, their swords shimmering against the afternoon sun. She took a deep breath. She turned her palms slightly outward and pushed the wall of fire farther around them. Her eyes widened as she watched the flames grow higher and higher, the wall of red and white growing uncontrollably. Her heart began to pound. She wanted to stop the fire from spreading, but something went wrong. The flames were acting as though they had a mind of their own, shooting down the path until they engulfed the guards and bounty hunters, like a dragon swallowing its prey.
The shouting stopped, just as the flames died down and were replaced instead with thick, gray billowing smoke. Mythia stood rooted to the spot as icy rain cascaded down on her. Her chest moved up and down quickly with heavy, gasping breaths. A dozen bodies lay in front of her as blackened, sizzling, corpses.
The pain on her left side seared in agony. She screamed and collapsed onto her knees, the hard cobblestone slamming against her kneecaps. She clutched desperately at her side, trying to hold in the pain. Surely, she had caught fire again, there was no other way to explain the level of agony she was suddenly feeling, but her tunic and vest were untouched.
Ventus and Titus were both there holding onto her as quickly as it happened. Mythia squeezed her eyes shut, willing the pain to go away, as they lifted her back up to her feet. She shuddered and opened her eyes. The burning was still there, but it was slowly becoming bearable.
“Are you all right, my queen?” Ventus peered at her desperately, concern etching deep within her face. Mythia bit her lip, fighting back the urge to cry. Titus knitted his eyebrows together, watching her closely. Mythia nodded.
Bello peered down at Mythia, an odd look on her face that held neither concern nor fear and motioned for the crew to keep going. They walked through the dusty smoke, across the broken cobblestone path. Wide, fearful eyes peeked out from between the cracks of doors and closed curtains as they walked; whispers following them wherever they went.
The five travelers hopped onto their horses and made their way out of the city. They trudged slowly down the mountain, no one saying a word. Titus kept throwing worried glances at Mythia who continued clutching at her left side, but Mythia kept her eyes diverted from everyone and focused instead on the dark, wet ground. The frozen rain turned into a cold slush, and the travelers began to feel their teeth chatter as they made their way west into the Borra Forest, toward the northern mountains.
By the time they reached the hidden city of the Rejicio, the slush had again turned back into a light drizzle. The sky was growing dark, it was nearly night. Mythia hardly noticed the passing time throughout their journey; all she could see were the burnt corpses sizzling on the ground and feel the searing pain in her side.
Mythia slid off Noctis, her eyes never touching any of her friends. She slipped him into the stable and continued to walk, staring blankly at the rocky ground.
A hand landed on her shoulder and stopped her. “Mythia.” It was Pater. The moment she caught his eyes she felt tears swell up in her own. The power of guilt cascaded over her; a burning sensation filled her throat.
“I'm sorry,” she choked on the words, hardly getting them out. “That wasn’t something I would normally do…. I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
Pater looked at her softly. “I know. You lost control.”
She sniffed. “Yes, but I’ve never lost control like that before… How do you suppose the guards knew we were there?”
“I imagine Rosa had reported us,” Pater responded, sadly. “Her pain for her sister was far too heavy of a burden for her to bear. She let the pain control her, and in turn, make her decisions for her.” He smiled kindly before turning away and walked back to his house with his hands held behind his back.
Mythia watched as he disappeared into the dark city, before noticing Titus standing right next to her, scratching the back of his neck. His wide, toothy grin had still not returned. Mythia felt her face grow hot, tears threatening to overtake her again. “I just don’t understand how I lost control like that, Titus.”
Titus looked at her with pity in his brown eyes. “Mythia, forget about it... Seriously, just don't even think about what happened back there. There is no point in dwelling over it… And anyway, there’s someone here you need to see.” Mythia raised her eyebrows as he steered her across the cavernous floor, past Rejicio carrying around their supplies on wheelbarrows, and up one of the many staircases. They stopped at the first level and crossed over a bridge made from rope. Titus jogged along easily, but Mythia grabbed hold of the sides, feeling the whole thing sway with each step. When they finally made it to the other end, they didn’t have far to walk across a flat level till they reached a long row home, similar to Bello’s. Titus stopped in front of a white rounded door and opened it wide.
Sapphire eyes and a matted, brown beard threw itself into Mythia, hugging her so tightly she hardly had a chance to realize who was embracing her. She pulled away and looked up into the face of her dearest friend.
“Doctrine,” she gasped, pulling him back in, embracing him more tightly. She felt those unavoidable tears sliding back down her face, the burning in her throat unbearable. She held him close, not wanting to let go of his comforting familiarity, memories of her time in Trigonus flooding through her, filling her emptiness with something solid. She finally released him enough to look at his face. “What are you doing here?”
Mythia: and the Awakened Beast Page 7
