The Legends and The Myths.

June 2015

SILAS

I stopped walking when I bumped into something, or rather someone. The little head tilted up at me and a toothy grin formed on her chubby face. "What did I tell you about running Ceru?" she pouted and to say it was cute was an understatement. "It gets me to places quicker, and it's not my fault you're too tall to see me," she said and folded her little arms. I chuckled you really are your mother's daughter, I thought.

I bend down to pick her up and we made our way to her room. Ceru was a happy child despite her condition, and that made me the happiest brother. Maybe it was because she was still young and the reality of it hadn't sunk in yet. I really hoped it was just late blooming because if not...things would be complicated.

Every other family was clearly gunning for the crown; it was a poorly kept secret.

When we reached her room, I tucked her into bed. "brother, tell me about Carolina," I was clearly taken aback by this. How on earth did she even know that name? we never spoke of her, and for good reasons. I looked at her, her eyes were expectant. "Ceru, who told you about Carolina?" She shrugged, "my friend." This raised even more concern as Ceru never had any friends, she didn't particularly like people. "Which friend is this?" The only response i got from her was a smile, "I can't tell you that, he says not to."

I brushed it off, it was probably an imaginary friend and she was lying in the name of it. Ceru was a wanderer, she probably caught on what they servants were saying or read it in the library. She was after all coming from the direction of it when I found her. For a six year old, she was good at well everything. It wouldn't be a surprise that she found one of those books, however i made a mental note to lock them up. They were anything but helpful.

"Brother!" she screamed bringing me back to reality. "I don't know Carolina Ceru, how about I tell you another bedtime story?" She looked at me defiantly, refusing to back down. "Well I'll tell you one anyway."

By the time I was done, she was fast asleep. I kissed her forehead and left. On the way to my room I overheard some servants talking, "...She has no magic, they know that right?" one voice said, " we can't be too sure, the princess is a late bloomer that had to be it. Can you imagine the amount of embarrassment if she didn't have nay magic?" The other voice replied. "Don't be delusional, maybe the reason why she has no magic is because she's not even a witch. The queen could have been unfaithful, it's not something uncommon these days," My temper reared its ugly head.

I walked to the two women and I'm sure they felt the murderous intent rolling off me in waves. "The queen committed infidelity you say, where's your proof?" They couldn't speak, not because they had no response but because they were too busy screaming in agony because I was turning their limbs in four different directions at once. Their screams made the ugly side of me him in satisfaction, I was slow to anger unlike my brother. However if you spoke ill of my family especially Ceru then death was a mercy.

"pl-please y-your h-high- highness," The first woman pleaded, "shut up slave," I snarled as her pain increased sixfold. She screamed as her she began to bleed from her nose and eyes. Just as I was about to give her a brain aneurysm, I felt another presence. "Stop this, Silas."

I dropped the two girls and stared at my older brother Sinn. His gaze was at the two girls gasping for air and staring at both of us with immense fear. "So you think your queen had an affair and that affair bore a child?" He asked calmly. I couldn't tell if he went through my head or theirs. One thing about Sinn is that he never had a temper, but he was a cold and sadistic son of a bitch. The two gave no answer, making him crouch down to their level. "In your next life, watch what you say." He snapped his fingers and a gateway opened and inhumane screams filled the hallway. Bony hands came out and grabbed the two girls dragging them to whatever hell Sinn had created.

He stood up and faced me, "mother wants to see us," was all he said before walking back the way he came. I followed him all the way to the throne room. There was my mother, father and just about all direct descendants of our bloodline. Our coven was of pure blooded and it had been that way for centuries. "Now that we are all here I'd like to discuss what we shall do if...Ceru is indeed magic less." "If what we think comes to pass then she will never be able to take my place, We need to decide which one of my nieces will succeed me or we will have to deal with the other eight covens." The idea did not sit well with me, neither did it sit well with Sinn. "Or we could let another daughter of yours succeed you." All eyes turned to Sinn, "Don't look at me like that, just try for another baby and hopefully it will be a female. That it you let either Silas or I take the throne." A series of gasps came from everyone present, "Sinnius, you very well know that there has never been A King among our kind, why now?" my mother asked. "Traditions change mother, we can make an exception. It is not like it hasn't been done before."

We all knew what he was talking about, and to be fair his argument was reasonable. However, the other covens would not accept that easily. "We will talk to the council and see if there is indeed a loophole but for now we must have another alternative in the event that-" " BROTHER!!!" A high pitched scream interrupted their mother. Ceru ran across the carpet with tears streaming down her cheeks and her faced was tinted red. Sinn moved faster than I did and went to pick her up. She wailed in his arms relentlessly. I went to her as well as everyone stared at the youngest member of our family in shock and worry. "Ceru, why are you crying?" Sinn asked her after calming her down. "I had a bad dream," she whispered almost inaudibly. Before we knew it our parents were standing with us. As odd as it sounded, Ceru was never close to our parents and as such barely spoke to them. It wasn't personal, it's just how she was. "Ceru, what dream did you have?"

She looked at mother and hid in the crook of Sinn's neck. "I can't tell you, my friend says not to." puzzled looks formed on everyone's face, " which friend?" my father asked, and she shook her head. "He said not to tell you his name." This was the second time she said this. "Okay, that's okay Ceru, you wanna sleep with me tonight?" Sinn asked. It was really something, Sinn was cold to everyone, even our parents but with her he was completely different. She nodded, "Silas too." We both said goodnight to everyone we went to Sinn's room. "Sinn, tell me about Carolina," My brother was in complete shock. He looked at me and his eyes glazed over, no doubt looking through my head or hers.

He shook his head, " I don't know who told her." This was now a concern. "Okay, I'll tell you but promise me you won't tell anyone," she agreed almost instantly.

" Long ago, in the time of the first Queen alot happened. It is said that queen Amaras could not conceive and as a result her husband left her for her sister who could. Now no one knows the details but after a few years of her rejecting every potential suitor, she accepted one from a mysterious general from a coven in the east and that union bore two children. The first was female and the second male. The girl's name was Carolina. She was a late bloomer but everyone thought she was a witch without her own magic. Amaras' older sister became bitter because she wanted her child to take the throne. As a result she conspired to kill Amaras' daughter."

"She had her son play with Carolina and while this was happening the assassin hid away. What he saw was Carolina hiding in the trees when in actuality it was her cousin. He shot arrows of a toxin that was extremely harmful to witches and fatal to children. The body fell, being caught in many of the branches. When it reached the ground, her cousins body was twisted in gruesome ways and some broken bones jutted out if his skin. There was no mistaking that he was dead."

"Amaras' sister was in hysteria and it was during this that she admitted that it was supposed to be Carolina who died but she didn't know what had happened. Carolina even at eight years old was very smart for her age. She simply watched as her aunt ranted and her parents grew furious. In all the commotion the killer fired another arrow straight into her chest. Carolina, however, remained unharmed. She simply tore it out and threw it away."

"She then proceeded to tell everyone what she had done. She had used magic to temporarily switch faces with her cousin and as such the killer saw her. She also explained that her aunt's plan was to have her killed so that her parents would go into hysterics, her father who had very dangerous magic would lose his control and commit mass murder in his rage controlled state. This would force the council to imprison him in Tartarus and because of the loss of her child and husband, Amaras would fall into a spiral of depression and be declared unfit to rule. This would mean her sister would take the throne untill Giordano, their second child would come of age, but she would have gotten rid of him as well."

"This would leave her son to be the only successor. When she was asked how she knew all this, her response was that the spirits of old had told her and also told her that her magic was to be kept a secret from any and everyone else. Her aunt admitted that what she spoke was true and yelled profanities at her parents, you see like you, Carolina never cared much for anyone outside her family and she mostly kept to herself. Even though she was not close to her parents she still loved them. In a fit of rage she broke every bone on her aunt's body simultaneously resulting in am immediate death."

"Her parents locked her in her room and placed a phantom guard on her, one she did not know about. While she was locked up, she started to have a conversation with an invisible entity, in a tongue the guard could not understand. He watched as the girl walked right through the door and informed her parents. Carolina went to the room her cousin's body lay. She cut her palm and let the blood fall into his mouth. With unimaginable strength she plunged her hand into his chest an pulled out his heart. She smeared more blood on it and engraved something on it before placing it back into the cavity."

"Her parents watched it all as an unseen force held them in place, she began to chant in a language foreign to her mother but her father's face he understood. The bones of the seemingly dead body snapped back into place. His body rose to a sitting position and his once brown eyes were a glowing a fierce red. when she turned to her parents she was shocked to see them there but even more shocked at their facial expressions. Her father told Amaras that their daughter had somehow inherited the darkest magic there was."

Sinn stopped talking for a while, unsure about whether or not to continue the history of the most formidable witch to ever walk the earth. "Don't stop brother, please." He looked at me and I raised my hands up in surrender. He sighed and went on.

"The news of the princess' magic spread like wildfire. They did not know what to call it, they did not know how such a thing was possible. All they knew was that her magic was dangerous and unnatural. The council was wary of her for the longest time but she gave no reason for them to take any sort of action. It was when she turned 13 that things started to spiral out of control. She started using her magic more and it became hazardous. The mistake the council made was to anger her. Someone orchestrated the murder of her parents when she was 19."

"Her brother was less involved in our history until a later time. When their parents were killed they lost it. And that was the first time a bleeding sky was recorded in our history. They took their children and covens members and killed them. But that wasn't it, they brought them back to life as different creatures altogether.

These were the vampires, werewolves, cubi, ghouls and the dracul."

"Carolina and Giordano waged a full on war against the council and all who sided against them. But everyone has a weakness and Carolina was no exception. She fell in love and fell hard but it was all a lie. The man she loved was an angel and they rarely if ever interfered. She loved him with everything she had but he had already struck a deal with the enemy and betrayed her bringing about her death. With her dying breath she out an unimaginable and unbreakable curse on him that only she could lift. Her brother was with her to the end and she left him instructions and a promise that she would return and they would once again walk the earth hand in hand and finish what they started."

"Giordano took the crown and put a hold on the war. He instructed each faction to lead their own capitals on the continent we now know as north America. A decade had jot even passed and the only king of our kind was pronounced dead by assassination along with all the Dracul."

"We still don't know if the prophecy exists or not, but there are mixed feelings about it."

she looked fascinated. "What was the name of her magic?" Sinn hesitated and I took the wheel, "Rofocale"