ARC 1 - THE LAST RESORT

Rhaia smiled up at him, a bitter smile on her face as she sighed.

It was too late. She wanted to tell him those words too and opened her mouth to talk but all that came out was a whisper.

Alaric placed a finger on her lips and he smiled sadly down at her.

That smile caused a scary premonition to come over Rhaia. She shook her head as fear was evident on her face.

"No, no Alaric don't"

Rhaia didn't know what he wanted to do but she was just scared as a creepy sensation etched into her skin. She watched as he rummaged in his vest for a while and he brought out his crystal necklace, removing it from within his coat before hanging it on her neck.

Rhaia cried out because she knew what it was, why he always wore it and he never removed it.

His soul was too powerful and unstable also, the crystal was a medium to pacify his soul and it also locks his soul too.

Alaric was said to be the reincarnation of a God to this world. The day he was born to the queen, the clouds in the sky were said to have turned golden and thunder rumbled across the lands, and a voice within the thunder spoke, saying the words

"Welcome My Liege."

His birth was celebrated throughout the kingdom as it was seen as a sign that the Gods finally blessed the kind King and his queen with a heir for their good behaviour towards the people.

The King and Queen had been married for so many years without a child and many extended family members of royalty were beginning to high the throne.

Their young children were sent to the palace saying that they were there to keep the queen company but even a fool could know the intentions behind their actions.

The child was loved deeply by his parents but a strange thing that happened was that when he was born, he was born together with a crystal around his neck and it could not be taken it off by anybody.

This strange scene had confused the royal family and everyone. The king and queen sought answers to this weird occurrence and after many consultations from the Oracle, it was declared that he was the reincarnation of a God, and the crystal necklace was a medium to pacify his soul.

The child being the reincarnation of a god, together with the signs seen on the day of his birth had further established the strength of the royal family, and all other Nobles and Aristocratic families were too scared to stretch their hands to the big pie, which was the royal family, in order not to incur the wrath of the Gods.

He was a blessed child and he was loved deeply by the royal family. He was allowed to do anything he wanted and his deeds were not questioned.

Alaric had a soul lamp which the King specially kept to monitor his life. This lamp existed for many generations to monitor the life force of all heirs to the throne and he was no exception.

The blood of the heir lights up the lamp and it doesn't go off except the heir dies.

Moreover, he was the only biological son of the King and Queen, special care had to be taken, so the King kept this lamp within the hidden room of the chamber which no one else but the queen knew about.

The day the lamp goes off is the day he died, but no one knew what would happen the day the crystal leaves his neck.

He was specifically pampered by the queen who had waited so many years before finally having a child, and now many women envied her for giving birth to a God.

The queen always walked with her shoulders to the sky.

Back to the present now

Rhaia saw him remove the crystal and all that came to her mind was that he was going to die!

Desperately shaking her head, tears fell from Rhaia's eyes and she also saw the tears drop from his eyes too.

Her lips trembled as she tried to stammer out the words from her tired throat. She doesn't want anymore death.

He smiled and bowed his head bringing her closer to him before kissing her battered lips for a long period this time.

"I love you. Hold on..." was all he whispered as he burst into fine fragments of dust floating away with the wind.

"No….!"

A broken blood curdling scream tore out from Rhaia's throat, her eyes closed as her body trembled violently before it curled up in extreme agony...she had never felt so insecure.

Rhaia gripped her heart and she could feel whatever was left of it shatter. She couldn't take it anymore. She could feel the calming of her soul through the crystal, but she wanted none of it.

She wanted none!

She had lost everything.

Sadness and pain coursed through her as her body trembled violently again not wanting to believe what has just happened.

She was still in shock and disbelief but the warm crystal around her neck made her know all of this was true.

A silence pervades the surroundings, the stench of rotting corpses was evident in the air.

After moments that felt like forever, a slim white hand fumbled on the ground as Rhaia supported her weak and shaky body.

She crawled up from the pile of bodies and turned to look at the huge castle towering in the distance. Rhaia clenched her only intact hand, hatred seeping through her veins, her eyes murderous with her voice hoarse and raspy from the screams earlier.

"I will be back"

Was all she said as she walked away towards the opposite distance, her thin back so fragile in the wind.

Staggering through the crowd, Rhaia used her long blond hair to cover her face so as to avoid anyone who might recognise her. She walked slowly through the streets, avoiding coming in contact with anybody.

She stopped in front of a tall building and raised her head to look at a huge plaque atop the seemingly simple building.

This was a property she inherited from her parents and she knows sooner or later, the vicious couple would lay their filthy hands on it.

Rhaia's face hardened at that thought as she went around the building to the back door. She looked at the door before taking a deep breath and pushing in the hidden, protruded stone at the bottom of the wall beneath it.

The walls rumbled and moved, opening as a dark passage was exposed between them. Rhaia's eyelids shook as she walked into the dark passage. The walls rumbled again before the dark passage was totally concealed.

A spark from the wall fell onto the torch held in the fair hand. The little light illuminating the small face in the darkness.

The expressionless eyes looked ahead as if there was nothing of interest in the world anymore.

Rhaia walked slowly dragging her battered body to the end of the passage, where a box laid on the seemingly ordinary platform.

She blew off the dust accumulated on the box and coughed as the dust polluted the little amount of oxygen in the stale aired passage.

Rhaia opened the box and looked at its contents sorrowfully. In it lied a golden insignia and golden coins beneath it. Rhaia stroked the insignia lightly with her fingers, the sorrow almost drowning her.

This box was a last resort for the Curiel which every generation prayed never to use and only the legitimate blood of the house knew of it.

A mocking smile ripped across Rhaia's face, now she was going to use it, use it as a result of her foolishness that had led to the downfall of the Curiel.

Rhaia let out a deep sigh. She regretted, really regretted acting so spoiled, pleading for that traitor when her father suspected signs of her betrayal. She regretted pleading for her to continue staying in the Curiel's house when her father wanted her to leave.

Her foolishness is the cause of everything.

Rhaia clenched her hand, her fingers digging into her palm, blood spilling out of the wound as she looked at the insignia with reddened eyes.

She closed the box with a loud bang. Regret was late but Revenge is not and there was only room for the latter.

Rhaia dropped the torch as she picked up the box. The mechanism in the platform was activated upon the removal of the box. She turned away walking back the path she came.

As she pushed in the other protruding stone where the torch had been, the walls opened.

Rhaia could hear loud rumbling sounds coming from the inner part of the passage where she had just come from as the stones there tumbled down.

She took one last look at the passage before turning away and stepping out through the opening, dragging her tired body as she walked away into the deserted alley, never looking back.

The walls' opening closed up, the passage destroyed, the protruding stone on the outer walls beneath the back door not there anymore, the walls smooth and identical to the ones surrounding it.

Everything like an illusion

And the last resort of the Curiel gone like it had never existed.