Realm of Wings

Kallan, still in a stupor from hearing his father’s story:

When my father explained about there not being an heir left anymore, and the curse King Oren had placed on our lands as we weren’t the true heirs to rule all of Kyalthemar by creating the rift and separating us from the original fountain, my life just crumbled.

Even though I’m still the firstborn of the current King, my father, it still felt as if I was stripped from that title, the moment my father had finished his explaining. All those years my parents trained me to be a righteous King and all those moments where my mother smothered me with detailed care to make sure I was in pristine condition should the time come for me to step up; all of it, it just didn’t matter anymore.

How am I going to take up the crown when I know I should never be a King at all? Why should I be arrogant in wanting to take care of my people? Whos people? My people aren’t mine, to begin with!

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want a single person in our Kingdom to be hurt, but who am I to be the leader of them? I’m strong, have strong, rare coloured and formed wings, but other than that? No, I’m not supposed to be the next in line for the position of King at all.

“Don’t think like that!” My father reprimanded me. “You have every right to be the next King!” He continued and grabbed my shoulders to force me to face him. “I know it’s not ideal, but eventually our family made it work, eventually our people have accepted us to be their rulers. So, when the time comes, you will step up and you will rule with all the justice and wisdom that we have given you. Am I clear?” He sternly asked me, and at that moment all I could do was giving him a simple nod, even though I wasn’t truly believing it myself.

“But father-

“No! Don’t think like this! You have earned your spot as the eldest Prince! Because in between all your fun with the ladies, you know you have completed tons of missions, used plenty of hours of your own free time to help our citizens and also protected our borders from the Aether Fae whenever danger was imminent.” My father said and sighed deeply.

“There is no one in E’ne Belanore that I would want to become a King more. You have made me proud already, son.” He ended his pleading with a soft smile, showing care and love in his eyes as well.

I could count these sorts of moments from him on one hand, as he was always either funny or extremely serious. But pride? That’s something he rarely shows.

His broad, embracing hug that he was giving me now was even stranger to experience, but at this moment it felt right, it felt soothing but freeing at the same time as well. He was showing me the father that he always wanted to be, but couldn’t, as he was supposed to be the stern and righteous King of the Fae. I knew this, and even accepted that from him, but folding my arms around him, it was as if some unwanted space in my childhood finally filled up.

Suddenly, my father let go and cleared his throat, not truly believing himself to have shown this side of him, and instantly put his hands behind his back and acted like this short moment of fatherhood never existed. I smiled for just a second, knowing that he loves me but couldn’t show it in the way he just did, any longer. It felt awkward to him, to let himself go, but I was grateful for that moment as I now knew that he was still capable of doing this.

This might be the most precious moment I’ve had with him.

But even though we had this moment and a lot of things had been cleared out by him, it was still all strange to experience, and it still made me wary about becoming a King one day. I’m not going to throw away my place in hierarchy this instant, but I am going to find out everything there is to find out about my history and the rift, as I want to make sure that I’m making the right decision when stepping up the higher rank.

In some sort of way, I want to make sure that I’m fit to become a King one day. And the first thing I’m going to do is to find out who killed Trixie’s friend. “Dad, if you haven’t ordered the hit, then who did?” I asked him.

“I don’t know yet, son. I’ve sent Echo out to find the culprit.” He replied and it stunned me immediately.

Echo is a silver-winged Fae, and luckily, a dear friend of my father’s. People with silver wings are hard to find nowadays and because of the rare talents that come with it, they are hunted for too. But no one would dare to come near Echo and cause him any harm, as his talent is so profoundly skilled and dangerous that you would be stupid to face him in battle.

With awkward clicking sounds, he could determine where someone is when a room was completely dark; with his high pitching shrieks, he could render his opponent deaf; and with his booming voice, he could make a thin wall crumble down or glass to be shattered into tiny pieces. And don’t get me started what his voice could do with the blood inside another one’s body…

Everyone clears a path when they see him coming near, and if you would defy him in any way, his skill in using sounds in his favour would be unleashed upon you. So, hearing that my father asked him to send on a mission for a murderer inside the palace, makes me wonder how the palace will look like after he has found him or her.

“Are you sure you want him on this mission? I mean, we have others who are skilled in this too, right?” I asked him. “He could tear down the complete palace if he wants to.” I said with a grimaced face and intonation.

My father chuckled, laughed even at my remark. “Yes, he could do that. But son, you have just taken with you a woman that is encased in a golden orb, you asked for Trixie to find out about our history and then suddenly someone gets murdered over it? We haven’t had a killing inside these walls for over I don’t know how many years, and it happens right after these things happen here? There is no coincidence in that.” He said with a solid expression now which made me realise he had been right.

I shook my head in understanding but also realised I had to come clean about my brother now too. If all these strange things happened right now, he should know about the thing that my brother wanted to find and take to him as well.

“There is something I need to tell you, by the way.” I said to him which made him lift one brow.

“Let me guess, one of your brothers did something stupid? Was it Zephyro again?” He asked at which I nodded. “What did he do, and how do you know about it?” He sighed while saying this, knowing that it couldn’t be good.

“Well, you know how he was supposed to be on a mission, on a completely different world, right?” I asked him, dragging out the inevitable. He shook his head, urging me to continue. “Well he actually went to Earth; got caught on video using magic while trying to get a Fae item out of the hands of a massive group of hired killers, who killed a bunch of religious monks; and finally became angry with me for rescuing him.” I blurted out in one go, at which with each spoken word his anger began to rise at which at the end of my sentence he was heavily breathing through his nose.

“WHAT!?” He yelled while looking to the door of this room as if he waited for Zeph to fly right through it for him to receive instant punishment.

“Dad, please! He is not hurt, we have uncovered the item and the enemies are all dead.” I pleaded with him while keeping my hands against his chest, trying to stop him from acting on a rash decision.

“Boy, you can’t keep me from scolding my son! So, lower your hands before I hurt you.” He said to me while pointing his index finger towards me. “Besides, what is this item then, that your stupid brother wanted to retrieve?” He continued.

“Well… that’s something we still have to figure out, but we can’t right now because…”

“Because, what!?” He yelled to me in an annoyed tone.

“Because it’s Jade’s and she has it in her pocket.” I finished my sentence and suddenly my father stopped fighting my arms and steadied his breathing again.

“What do you mean, it’s Jade’s? What did the item look like and how do you know it’s hers?”

“It’s a grey marble, etched with the Fae rune of protection. The same rune that has been marked on her inner wrist.” I explained in a bored manner as I couldn’t understand the need to know about this non-magical item. But my father clearly thought otherwise as his eyes grew wide in shock.

“You are making this up. Have you found a book already from Queen Ayanna or something? Have you been lying to me, acting like you were not knowing what I have been talking about already?” He accused me. “Have you, boy?!” He became angry with me, again.

“No! What are you talking about?” I answered in true honesty. What the hell is he accusing me of?

But before I could ask him more about it, he stormed outside the room, ordered for the guards that stood by the door to command every other single Fae warrior to join him outside in the garden. He was muttering something about Zeph and me and even cursed loudly when he bumped against one of the guards that came around the corner.

He was on a rampage and even summoned his black wings to make him travel through the hallways quicker. I did the same, as I was deadly curious as to what the fuck was going on! When entering the tea-room, my mother threw her drink in the air of surprise and cursed inwardly as she didn’t want the other females to hear her profanity.

“Onyxian! What are you doing?” My mother scolded him, using his full first name.

“You have been right, my love.” Was all he said before my mother looked at me with big eyes. She knew what my father was mentioning and instantly understood the severity of whatever situation there was about Jade, that they wouldn’t tell me.

“Does he know?” She asked him. “No.” He replied, at which my mother closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes, reading his mind for the clue to his knowledge about this.

“You go outside and I will talk to our son.” She replied and I opened my mouth to ask my questions, but my mother interrupted me, shaking her head as this room was not the place to talk about anything of this magnitude. All my mother’s friends were looking into our direction, eager to find out about the latest gossip, but still restraining themselves to bluntly ask about it. These women weren’t friends, but more like vipers, so I agreed to my mother, to leave this room.

The moment we stepped right back into my father’s office again, where the painting of Kyalthemar was once again hidden behind my father’s dick, she made me sit down on the couch and dropped a massive bomb on me.

Right when a few moments ago, my life had been shattered by the idea of me not being a true Prince, as I wasn’t the official rightful heir to the throne, she had shattered my complete soul now. I didn’t want to smile anymore, I didn’t want to become a King anymore, I just wanted to leave this place and never come back…

“You can’t make Jade your wife. I don’t know how this is possible, but she is the true heir of the throne, making her a descendant from Queen Ayanna and thus your cousin.”