His lucky charm

"You know we went to the same school together," the girl began. "The prince and I," she added. Landon paid attention to hear where she was going with the story. That and the fact that he was tied up and couldn't move or block his ears not to listen.

"Were you two friends?" he asked when she stopped talking.

"No, he only ever hangs out with his male friends except the elf girl Aracely," she said. "But he was very popular. Every girl wanted to be with him and all the boys wished to be him. He was so sweet and very talented," she continued.

Landon frowned, he couldn't believe that he just heard someone call the come-hearted monster sweet.

"He wasn't always a monster," She said making him realize that he had spoken his thoughts out loud. "No one is born a monster, the world creates a monster in people," she added.

"Oh," he said unsure of what to say about that.

"The girls would call him a fairy because of his kind heart and his good looks. He would always help others when they asked him for help," she said admiringly.

"If so many girls liked him then how come he doesn't have a harem?" Landon asked sarcastically.

"No one dared to approach him. They were afraid of the merman that was always with him. He wasn't very friendly and was extremely powerful."

"You mean Sly?" he asked getting intrigued. He could a few things about the male from her so that if he does survive he would be able to avoid his anger. The prince was hell-bound on making an enemy of the two of them and he needed to learn the male's weakness.

"Yes, that was his name. He was with the prince at all times and hates it when the prince paid attention to anyone but him. The prince for so used to giving in to him that he never let him get mad, so he too didn't get close to other people," she said and looked down with sorrow. "That was until his terregenic crystal took full form and he became a grown man," she told with tears in her eyes.

"What happened?" Landon asked his curiosity getting the better of him.

"He was sixteen years old when it happened, he was growing into his beast form and the whole school was proud of him. The future king of Archadia being a Phoenix was a blessing to us all," she said and paused as though to collect her thoughts. He noticed that her hand was shaking and her body slightly.

"But soon the teacher noticed other traits on him, he was just a Phoenix. He took another form of a water dragon, then a fox and a snake. The more he trained the more powerful his terregenic crystal became. He would master a new beast every other day and that scared the masters of the school. Being a hybrid or a tribrid was normal but the prince was something unheard of and it terrified them."

"So they sent him away," Landon said hoping she says yes. But deep down he knew that was the opposite of what happened. He was not unfamiliar with how people reacted to something they didn't understand especially something that intimidated them.

He was sure that if the spider lady ever went to earth, the first thing the government would do is hunt her down. They would want to open her up and study her and if she proved too strong for them to handle, they would kill her.

"They got together to talk about him, they decided that he was too dangerous to be released into society. They decided to get rid of him before he became too powerful, the headmaster of the school started controlling students to attack him but they failed. The prince was never around for them to hurt since he would skip training to go ran errands for the demanding merman," she said and played with her fingers nervously.

"I have often heard that true love would shield people from danger but I didn't believe it until then. Every time they attempted to hurt him, he would not be on the school grounds. Sly would ask him for the silliest of things and he happily complied to fulfill his wishes and in doing so escape the attacks. But the masters weren't the ones to give up so they took control of the elf girl. That day he was planning to go to the ocean with Sly to attend a festival there but Ara stopped him saying that she wanted to speak to him."

Landon listened attentively to the story, he found that not just Sly but he could learn about his other problem. Not seeing her for a few days he had forgotten about his co-wife the prince cared about.

"Then what?" he asked eager to hear how the story ends.

"The prince stayed behind and went with her. She took him to the training ground where all the students, who exceeded forty thousand were waiting for him. Under the influence of the masters of the school, they all fought him. Not just the students but the masters had influenced the whole city to get rid of the prince. He had nowhere to run, he fought back and did a good number on those who attacked him but at the end of the day he stood alone against so many beasts," she said and halted.

Landon could see how hard it was for her to speak about that day. He could only imagine what it must have been for one person a child at that to fight so many beasts at the same time. He couldn't hold back the tears at the injustice that the prince had to go through for something that he couldn't control.

"Most of the beasts attacked his crystal, without it he would lose his life and his genes of a beast would be lost along with it. The fight went on for many nights and days until his crystal shattered to pieces and the prince took his last breath, he died and the masters shamelessly buried him in the ground right there. They didn't even bother to give him a proper burial."

Landon pictured the whole thing in his mind, he now understood why Zaugustus reacted like that when he spoke such harsh words about the prince. He was human and he held grudges for the smallest things and had seen people become evil and bitter for the smallest reasons. He couldn't imagine what he would do to those people if were the prince and somehow came back to life.

"The king was told that the prince had lost his mind when his crystal malfunctioned and he attacked the city, they had no choice but to put him down. Sly refused the accusations against the prince, he defended him but everyone ignored him. His last rites were performed and the people returned to their lives."

"How could the king have overlooked his son's death like that?" Landon questioned feeling enraged.

"A hundred days passed when a great earthquake hit the city. The beasts thought nothing of it until the earth opened up and the prince came out. There was panic everywhere and he was back with vengeance in store for those who led to his death," she paused to let him process what she said.

"His friends Zaugustus and Ryker helped him close down the city, just as they had corned him. He did the same to them. By them Ara and other students had left the school, I watched the prince destroy the great city of Merca in an hour. Many were killed by him while others were taken prisoners to the palace, he banished this land here. For years only us spiders have existed here," she said and looked up to face Landon.

"The people he killed before me must have been from here," he said in realization.

"Without a crystal, the prince returned a monster. No one knows how he came back to life or how he lives on without a crystal. I would have thought that he would marry his merman, as rumor would have it. He never let him go away from him. They say he adores him beyond all else and gives in to all his wishes. He is his protective shield and lucky charm after all but I guess he found someone new," she said getting up from the web.

'I had no idea Sly meant so much to him,' Landon thought and felt bad for coming in between him and the prince.

"If the prince loves you then please ask him to free us from this land," she pleaded with her hands folded.