The Last Fairy Tale

by Lowell, E. S.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The King of New Aeldyn

  Olivia struggled to imagine herself forcing the automaton’s hand open and bursting from its grip, but she couldn’t do it. Her arms were pinned to her side and she barely had a grip on her staff. She continued to struggle and shout at the metal monster.

  “Let me go!” Olivia screamed. “I have to get back to my friends! They–”

  She stopped as she noticed her surroundings. Inside the walls of the fortress was a town. A central paved road led to an enormous black hall built with pointed arches and flying buttresses. The hall cast its shadow over everything around it, giving an ominous feeling to the otherwise quiet-looking town.

  Small streets branched off the main road leading to small boxy houses. Each road was perfectly symmetrical and each house exactly the same. Tired and dull-looking creatures roamed the streets and tended to the immaculately manicured yards. In the distance, Olivia saw a group of ungulhaks slaving away in fields, planting seeds and gathering crops. In the other direction, she saw trols carrying massive loads of tree limbs to a mill where imps shaped them quickly into boards. She wanted to cry. This town reminded her of her world and the history lessons she had with Ms. Canterbry. New Aeldyn was nothing more than a small Earth.

  “Why, you working class scum!” came a nasty voice from Olivia’s right. She turned her head to look for its source. A cat in a gray uniform was standing with a club in its hands, scowling at a gnome. “It’s five lashes for a late payment.”

  “But I paid it yesterday!” the gnome protested. “You’re just trying to cheat me out of my hard-earned money!”

  The cat hit the gnome hard in the stomach with his club, causing the gnome to shout in pain and fall to the ground.

  “I’m an upstanding citizen, gnome,” hissed the cat. “How dare you accuse me of such! I have not received your payment, and I suggest you hand it over. Do you know what the punishment for refusal to pay is?”

  “Okay…” the gnome whimpered. “Here.” He took a small pouch from his pocket and handed it to the cat.

  Olivia closed her eyes as the cat administered the rest of the lashes to the gnome. A tear ran down her face. How can this be happening? she thought. Why would anyone want this kind of life? She continued to hold her eyes shut. She didn’t want to see any more of the town or its people. Then, out of nowhere, she heard Locke’s voice.

  “I’m coming, Olivia!” he shouted. Olivia’s eyes flew open. She struggled to look behind the automaton in the direction of his voice.

  “Locke?” she shouted. “Is that you?”

  “Sure is, Olivia,” Locke called. He was running behind the automaton, limping a bit and still carrying his violin and bow. “This is some kind of a nasty place! What’s wrong with all these Aeldynians?”

  “I don’t think they’re doing this voluntarily. He’s done something to them,” Olivia shouted. “The Lich King is obviously–”

  “Ugh, not that name again,” said a deep voice. “Lich is so…insulting.”

  Olivia twisted her head toward the voice. The automaton had stopped in front of the black hall at the end of the main road. Dark marble stairs led to the hall’s entrance. A man dressed in black pants and a black pullover stood on the stairs. He stared at Olivia, a wide smile spreading across his pale, young-looking face.

  “Put her down,” the man said to the automaton.

  The automaton placed Olivia on the stairs in front of the man. He was much taller than she was. She looked up at him, feeling intimidation and disgust simultaneously.

  The man laughed abruptly. “It’s been, what, like, five thousand years since I’ve seen another human in person? It’s kind of an honor, really, but the honor’s all yours, trust me.”

  Olivia continued to stare at him, confused by his calm nature. She had expected him to be a violent human that wanted to crush her out of existence the moment he saw her. Instead, he appeared to be a completely normal young man with dark green eyes and a wide, bright smile. He kept the hood up on his pullover, but in the sunlight, Olivia could see that he had short, messy black hair and a pointed goatee.

  “Can’t you at least bow?” the man said suddenly. “I mean, you are standing before the king of New Aeldyn.”

  “I will not bow,” Olivia said through clenched teeth.

  “Man… What did I do to you?” the man asked, snickering. “All I wanted to do was talk to you. Come on in. We’ll talk in here.” He pointed back to the hall with his thumb. “It won’t take long, I promise.” He turned, shoved his hands into the pocket of his pullover, and floated up the stairs toward the doors. Olivia gasped in surprise. The man had to possess immense powers to be able to perform force magic so easily. He landed near the doors and turned. “Well, are you coming?” he asked.

  Olivia took a moment to gather her courage. She had finally made it to the Lich King’s domain and was standing before him. All she needed to do now was find a way to stop whatever he was doing. She couldn’t imagine how she would do it, but she decided at that moment that talking with him was a good start. She looked back at Locke who gave her a thumbs up and a stern but encouraging look. Olivia smiled at him weakly, turned, and walked up the stairs.

  The massive black doors swung open, and the man waited for Olivia to enter. Hiding behind the automaton, Locke was preparing to dash for the doors as they closed when the man spoke.

  “Who’s your friend?” the man asked Olivia. He pointed in Locke’s direction. “Does he want to come too?”

  “I’m Locke,” he said, stepping out from behind the automaton and putting his fists on his hips. “And I’ll stay by Olivia’s side no matter what.”

  “That’s cool,” the man said, looking down at him and smiling wickedly. “Come on up, then. You sound princely enough.”

  Locke slowly limped forward, climbed the stairs, and stopped by Olivia’s side. The man held out his hand for them to enter the hall. They walked through the doorway, trying to contain their fear. The man entered after them and closed the doors behind them.

  The inside of the hall was dimly lit with small floating orbs of light. Olivia’s eyes had no difficulty adjusting, and she saw that the entire hall had been built from gleaming black marble. A long black carpet divided the shining floor all the way up to an intricate throne.

  “Welcome to my place,” the man said. He floated in front of them, following the carpet toward the throne, and turned in midair. “Well, don’t be shy. My home is your home. Come on in. We have a lot of important stuff to discuss.” He continued toward the throne.

  Olivia and Locke slowly began to walk forward. Locke still held his violin and bow in his hands. Olivia had somehow managed to hold on to her staff and sack in all of the chaos that had ensued, and she gripped the staff tightly. She wondered whether the others outside the fortress walls were alright, whether she had made a mistake by coming all this way, and whether she would be able to reason with this strange man. Although he didn’t appear to wish them any harm, she couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t what he seemed.

  As they continued down the hall, Olivia looked up at the walls, noticing many strange items, some familiar, and some not. Between dark silk banners hung two black electric guitars. They were crossed over each other, with their silver strings glinting in the light cast by the glowing orbs. Farther down the wall, a large portrait of a young man with one of the black guitars slung across his body hung between another set of banners. She turned her gaze to the other wall and saw a massive display of swords, shields, and other weaponry that shone in the light. Olivia thought that she had seen something like them in her history books at the orphanage.

  “Like my collection?” the man asked from the throne. “Everything’s from your world, but from a time long before yours. Don’t worry... you can take your time to look. We got all day.”

  Locke, who had been staring quizzically at the guitars since they had entered, jumped in surprise as the man began to speak.

  �
�Those,” said the man loudly, “are electric guitars. Some of the greatest musicians from the other realm use them to create nearly magical music. Like this guy here.” He pointed to the portrait of the young man. “I see you’re a musician yourself. I bet our tastes are very different, though. Wanna hear?”

  Locke hesitated, looking over at Olivia. She looked ahead at the man, perplexed. Was the Lich King really about to play music for them? Were more important matters not at hand?

  “Of course you do,” he said, laughing lowly. “Here. I’ll play you a sample from the early days.” He held his hand in the air and snapped his fingers.

  Suddenly, the hall erupted with the sound of loud distorted music. Locke and Olivia covered their ears. The music was low and heavy and rumbled the hall with thundering beats and growling vocals. After a moment, the man snapped his fingers again and the music stopped.

  “What do you think?” the man asked. “Awesome, right?”

  Olivia didn’t answer, but instead stepped up to the throne and stared at the man. His hood hid his dark eyes, but his wide smile was still visible. He grinned down at her, his teeth gleaming in the dim light. Olivia wondered how he was able to obtain items from her world and wondered if he was really as old as he said he was. She also wondered what his name was and what his true intentions were. The man spoke, as if reading her mind.

  “I’ve been able to peek into your world from time to time,” he said, resting his arms on the throne and sitting back. “But that’s not important right now. And yes, I’m somewhere around six thousand years old, though I’ve lost count. And as for my name…well, it’s been lost over time, but you can call me King or the Grimoire. Whatever you prefer. Just please, not Lich. Ugh…”

  “How did you know what I was going to say?” Olivia asked sternly. “Get out of my head!”

  “Okay, chill out,” the man said, waving his hands in front of himself.

  “Why are you the Grimoire?” Olivia asked. She had never heard the term before and thought that perhaps it would give her some clue about him.

  “Well…” the Grimoire started. He crossed his leg over his lap. “Besides the fact that it sounds awesome, it kind of describes me, you know? I feel like I’ve lived long enough and have learned enough about magic and how to use it that I’ve earned the title.”

  As the man spoke, Olivia noticed a strange and unsettling figure rise from the floor behind the throne and float into the air. It looked like a cloud of fog, except the fog was made of electrical sparks and square pixels. Two hollow eyes stared in her direction. She gasped.

  The man looked at her and followed her gaze behind him. When he saw the creature, he frowned.

  “SAGAX, what are you doing?” he asked harshly. “I told you to stay out of sight until I called for you!”

  “Sorry, sir,” said SAGAX distractedly. “It’s just that this one…this human creature…it…”

  “Well, spit it out!” the man shouted.

  “She is…” SAGAX stammered. “Her DNA matches… Already stored…”

  The creature began to jerk around behind the throne. It shot toward Olivia and hovered around her, moving in odd intervals.

  “What are you doing, you idiot!” shouted the man, getting to his feet.

  “Must understand!” SAGAX shouted. “Too curious! This was Olivia Wickworth! Is Olivia Wickworth! Was… Is…Must understand! Must under…uuunder…” The creature halted for a moment, confounded and confused. Sparks started to shoot from within it, and it surged like an electrical current. “What is your state of existence?”

  Olivia didn’t understand what was happening. She tried to form an answer, but before she could, the creature began to jerk this way and that uncontrollably.

  “What is yyyyour state of existance-ce-ce?” SAGAX screeched. Then, without warning, the creature imploded, leaving a small cloud of opaque white fog and a few fading pixels in its wake.

  “No, no, no, no, no!” the Grimoire shouted. “What did you do to it?!”

  “Nothing,” said Olivia, alarmed by the man’s sudden change in attitude.

  “Don’t lie to me!” he yelled. “What did you–”

  The cloud of fog had almost completely dissipated when it suddenly began to take shape. Its hollow black eyes formed first, followed by the shape of a crow.

  “You fool!” spat the crow. “I would have been trapped inside that thing forever if Miss Wickworth here hadn’t confounded it!”

  “Idiot,” the man growled. “Leave. I have important things to discuss with these people.”

  The crow huffed and disappeared abruptly, leaving only a swirl of fog behind. Olivia stood frozen, trying to piece together all that had just happened. She thought the crow looked oddly familiar, but she was sure she had never seen it before. Then, out of nowhere, a voice whispered faintly in her ear, “Don’t trust him.”

  “Anyway,” said the man. “Sorry for all the confusion. Let’s get down to business.”

  Olivia eyed the Grimoire, trying her best not to think about the voice she had just heard. She cleared her mind of anything she didn’t want him to know.

  “I’m sure you’ve wanted to be a princess a time or two in your life, right?” he asked, sitting back in the throne.

  Olivia was taken aback by the question. She had read many tales of princesses during her life and had always dreamt about being the girl from the wondrous kingdoms that went on fantastic adventures. That’s just it, though, she thought. I wanted to live in a beautiful world, not rule it. She thought carefully about her answer and then said, “Yes, I suppose I have.”

  “Sweet, I knew it,” the man said, smiling. “I happen to have an opening available for a princess and…” He looked over at Locke. “a prince. What do you say? Will you help me rule New Aeldyn?”

  “I won’t,” Olivia said, straightening her back and narrowing her eyes.

  The smile on the man’s face faded. He leaned forward in the throne.

  “And why not?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  “Let me first ask you why,” said Olivia. “Why are you doing this to Aeldyn?”

  “Well, that’s simple,” he replied casually. “The people of Aeldyn need a leader. They need someone to bring order to their lives—somebody to look up to and somebody to provide a future for them.”

  “So that’s really it then?” Olivia asked incredulously. “You’re bringing these people in—against their will, may I add—just to live under your rule? To give them a future?”

  “Watch your words!” the man hissed. His shoulders tensed for a moment, then relaxed again. “Look…I’m trying to give you the opportunity of a lifetime. Or multiple lifetimes. You’d have to be dumb to pass it up.”

  “Well, I am passing it up,” she said. “Think twice about what you’re doing here. Look at my world. It’s dying this very moment, and this world will do the same under your rule.”

  “Think twice, she says!” the man laughed. “I’ve had a few thousand years to think about it. Trust me—I know what I’m doing.”

  “What do you do to the people that you bring here?” Olivia insisted.

  “I give them a nice home,” he said. “Complete with income, military protection, and job security. You see, I’ve seen a lot of things throughout history. I know how things work. The most efficient way to live is this way! I’m doing a service for the people of Aeldyn!”

  “You may think you are,” said Olivia. She was certain the man had lost his mind ages ago. He may have meant well, but he was so far beyond understanding that he was repeating the mistakes made on Earth. “But the truth is, you’re slowly destroying Aeldyn.”

  The man shot out of the throne and hovered in the air in front of her.

  “I’m losing my patience with you!” he shouted. Olivia’s eyes widened. He slowly floated down to stand close to her. He calmly said, “Just take my offer, okay? I can make you nearly immortal, and together we will rule over all of New Aeldyn.”

  “No,” said Olivia, b
acking away from him.

  “I didn’t want to have to use force, you brat!” the man shouted. “Is that what you want? For me to force you?”

  “No!” Olivia yelled. “I’ll never rule with you!”

  “Okay,” said the man darkly, throwing his hands in the air in mock surrender. He turned his back to Olivia to face his throne and then laughed and said, “You are a fool, you know? To resist me. But if you insist, I’ll just have to try convincing you. You will see eventually.”

  Locke suddenly rose into the air behind Olivia. He whimpered as he tried to break away from the force that was squeezing him tightly.

  “What does the prince have to say?” the man asked, still facing the throne.

  Locke gasped for breath, the force gripping harder. He managed to whisper an answer: “Never!”

  The force holding Locke tightened its crushing grip and hurled him viciously at one of the stone walls. His violin clanged to the ground, followed by the thud of his body.

  “No!” Olivia screamed. She began to run toward Locke.

  “Stop!” the man shouted, turning back to her. The same force grabbed Olivia and lifted her into the air, where she kicked wildly in an attempt to free herself.