10 Days of Prompts Day 10

3/2/2017

Even though the beast was miles away, the castle shook with the force of its roar. Loose dirt and stone rained down on its inhabitants. Outside the entire city readied itself for war; peasants sought shelter where they could and the soldier prepared themselves for battle. The Princes wished one another luck and the queen sequestered herself in her suite with her hand maidens and her guards.

The king took his daughter aside, his grip on her arm leaving bruises. The shadows played along his face in the darkened hallway, his pale face drawn in terror and regret.

"I need you to seal yourself inside your room. No matter what you hear you mustn't open that door and above all you mustn't leave your room."

"But father why? I can fight just as well as any of our warriors and far better than my brother. Just tell me what's coming and we can fight it together."

The king solemnly shook his head, reaching out to stroke the long red curls on her head.

"I am afraid you cannot fight by my side in this, my Dear. You can only hide. Now go."

She glared up at him in defiance.

"No! Not until you tell me why. This city has never been in danger from outsiders our wall are impenetrable. No one would dare risk your wrath, even if the spellwalls weren't there to protect us. Nothing has ever filled you with such fear. Father, please. I'm worried."

The king sighed and pulled her down the hall and no matter how she struggled she was no match for the strength of a demigod. He wrenched open the door to her rooms and rushed inside. He forcibly shoved her into a chair and turned to leave. The princess reached out and gripped her father's hand, holding it as if she would never see him again. Tears welled up in her purple eyes and they broke his heart. He looked down trying to dredge up the strength he would need to resist her. Instead he found himself staring at their hands where both of hers gripped his clenched fist, her delicate fingers dwarfed by his own large hand. He turned to his daughter and took her hands in his, kneeling before her. Shame filled him even before he could form the words he needed.

"I have never been completely honest with you, or anyone for that matter. This kingdom rests on a carefully crafted lie, the truth only known to a minute handful. I will tell you how we came to be the magical power we are now and where you came from, for both stories are the same."

His gaze wandered to the open window behind her, a far off look in his blue eyes.

"I will tell you the story of a monster and the woman he killed."

Confusion filled the princess as she watched her father, but in the face of his serious tone she remained silent.

"Not so long ago there was a power hungry and callow young man, whose mind was closed and his heart shallow. The young man had married at his father's direction, but thought that his wife was unworthy of him and though she had borne him many sons, he paid her neither heed nor honor, seeking instead the next great adventure. One day, in his search for power the young man stumbled upon an ancient forest filled with orange lilies and his already corrupt heart filled with glee. He'd searched for this place for what felt like his entire life. It had been said that the source of all magic could be found in this forest. The man scoured the forest looking for any clue that the source of magic lived in this place. Instead of finding magic, he found a woman with skin as exotic as your own. Her beauty stole his breath and his focus from him. He spoke to her about the forest and he asked her about the world outside of it. The man soon found himself besotted with her and she with him. They stayed together for a time, just to two of them in their green paradise. Others would come from time to time, seeking the very thing that had brought the young man to the forest. Together they repelled all threats to their happiness.

Time passed oddly in the forest and after what felt like years with her the man had completely forgotten his family. More importantly he'd almost forgotten his quest. Reality returned to him after he'd sustained a viciously grievous wound in the defense of his beloved. In an attempt to save his life, the beautiful woman used her magic on him. Later he asked her casually about her magic and she gushed to him, willingly revealing all of the forests secrets to him. One day, she disappeared without word or warning. The man began to worry that she had sensed his true intent and had fled from him, so he went searching for her. Days past before she turned up again, worry tainting her beauty and fear clear on her face. He rushed to her, unsure if the relief in his heart was love or self-interest. She sat him down and spoke with him; she revealed to him that the source of magic everyone came here for was not just the source of all magic but the heart of all non-human creatures, it made their existence possible. She told him that the source wasn't an object or an intangible thought. She took his hand and placed it over her heart; that, she said, was the source. She was the source. The man could barely believe what she had said to him. She explained that it was why she could not leave the forest and why no one could find the source. In his haze of confusion he almost missed her words, whispered as they were. She revealed herself to him as a dragon and had left him to give birth to their child. She took him to where she'd lain the egg and begged him to understand, begged him to stay. The man shook himself from his daze and embrace the woman with joy in his heart. He told her that he could not be more pleased that she would honor him with a child. He promised her that of course he would stay and raise the child. He swore to her that he loved her.

Months later, he poisoned her with nightshade and while she lay in the deep slumber that precedes death he cut her heart from her chest. Even out of her body it thrummed with life. He stared at it; the heavy pulsing lump glowed black in his hands. At first he was sure he'd been tricked and that this was the darkest of magic, but then its glow began to swirl with color, sparkles emanated from deep within the heart and shot upwards and outwards showering the air around him with wondrous colors that the world had no name for. Beneath him the woman's body faded into ash. He packed his things and left the home they'd shared, but the heart kept brining him right back to that spot. Frustration filled him, he refused to come this far and be confined to this place. He used the power of the source to try and solve his problem. It took a while to understand and even longer to master, but he finally succeeded. Filled with power unrivaled in this world, he found what bound him to the forest. It was the egg. The egg was what the heart kept leading back to, why he was stuck. Filled with rage he grabbed the egg and made to smash it but he found he couldn't. No matter how he tried his heart ached. His remembered all the time he'd spent in this forest with the egg's mother, with his woman. The smell of her filled his nose and her laugh caressed his ears. He fell to his knees unable to destroy all that was left of her. So he took it with him. With the egg in his pack he was able to leave the forest.

When he returned home he was unstoppable and his name soon became legendary. He forced his father to abdicate the throne to him, the youngest son, by killing all others with a claim to the throne and then holding the kingdom hostage until the old king yielded. He set himself up quickly and spread his kingdom wide. He hid the heart and the egg deep in his rooms, cloaking them with magic so that none but he could find either. It was years later, when even the youngest of his many sons had reached adulthood, an army of magical beings appeared at his kingdom's gate demanding blood. At the head of this vast army was a massive dragon, its rainbow scales glowed with raw rage and magical power. He demanded the king's head, warning that he would kill every last person in the kingdom until the cowardly monarch conceded to his demands and paid for his crimes. In what seemed like a selfless act the man did show himself, ready to die for his kingdom. In truth he's armed himself with the heart and when the dragon and his hoards closed in he turned it on them; killing the dragon and scattering his army. It also erected an impenetrable wall around the castle city.

Days after the attack, while he lay in his private chambers resting, the egg began to glow and shake. He rushed over to examine the egg that had shown no sign of life since he'd left the forest all those years before. Large cracks ran along the smooth surface. The cracks grew larger and deeper as the egg pulsated; glowing brighter and stronger with every pulse. Just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped, the egg laid still as stone. Then slowly the egg opened like blooming of a flower and the cracked pieces fell away like autumn leaves. Inside lay an infant; a tiny replica of the forest beauty, with the same chocolate skin and a small tuft of er flaming red hair. But the child was ashen and cold, totally devoid of life. The man wept, trying to do everything in his power to revive the child but nothing worked. In the end he turned to the Source for aid. When he held it over the child it glowed brighter than it ever had before and then turned to dust and that sparkling ash fell upon the child and was absorbed into her. The babe opened her eyes almost immediately and let out a deafening wail as she took her first breath of life. And her wail brought magic to the whole kingdom. Every citizen, slave and brick became infused with her power, for she was the new source and was connected to all things magic. The man vowed to love her as he couldn't love her mother. To protect her above all things and to never let greed and power cloud his judgement.

Since then, the kingdom has had to repel attack after attack by the creatures that live outside its borders. The dragons were the worst. The ancient forest had been sacred to them; it was said that the first of their kind had been created there. The forest died when the Source was taken from it and many of the fantastic being that had once lived in it had died with it. Their attacks come often and they hit hard.

This time our enemy is a dragon unlike anything I have ever seen before. It is something far bigger and stronger than any on this earth. She comes without an army to back her, she comes here without aide and I can promise you my love she needs neither. And that is why *you must hide; that dragon is here for you, Anya."

The king rose from the floor before and dusted himself off. The sound of her father's guards reached her ears.

"I go now to pay for my crimes but you my love, you will live on un harmed by my mistakes."

He left her room quickly, before he could change his mind and bolted the door closed behind him, using magice to make sure it would not open.

"No one, but me gets in here unless you are all dead, do you understand"

"Yes your Highness!"

"And if everything looks bleak, kill the princess. You cannot let those monsters defile her."

"Of course, your Highness!"

The king quickly made his way to what he was sure was to be his death, but at least his treasure would be safe. That power was his and his alone and none but he was going to possess it.