Love Thy Palace

"A great man once said, "You can't dream of achieving success, if you are afraid of failures. Learn to fall and learn to rise. And in this monotonous cycle, you will find the essence of life." Vexana said these words to Alice as they entered the palace under the main kingdom. Alice asked, "Won't Kystion learn about this secret palace just under the main palace?" Vexana said, "He already knows enough about the palace and that's why he was able to capture it. So, if he still doesn't know about this palace, then he simply won't even care." Alice looked around and asked, "Where did Elgin go?"

Vexana replied, "How would I know? He was with you. Anyway, he's not so important right now. His actions already made the whole war more difficult to win. It's better if he doesn't show his face much here and keeps a low profile." Alice sighed, So, this is your new place, now?" Vexana smiled, "The most pious are the ones who are buried. Living is moving and moving is living. Once I was on the ground and now I'm under the ground. Kystion is now on the ground and soon he will be under it." Alice smiled, "You are more poetic than Aliyah." Vexana patted her head and laughed, "It isn't poetry, my dear. It is philosophy." Alice asked, "Were you and Aliyah the greatest lovers of that time?" Vexana smiled, "Lovers? Nah, we didn't connect on the basis of emotional feelings. We connected more spiritually and in some way, our pain acted as the adhesive for our relationship. For her, our relationship was just sex and compatibility.

But, I wanted to marry her and as a matter of fact, I was about to ask her the question after the war but she died. Now, she is more connected with you than anyone else." Alice said, "It is definitely not like that. Aliyah just wants to apologise for her rude and unlikable behaviour earlier. She like anybody wants love which she apparently was quite deprived of." Vexana laughed, "Deprived of love? From whom? Her mother?" Alice nodded her head in approval. Vexana said, "I won't say deprived, but yes she didn't get much motherly love like her elder sister. But, that's for the good only. If she was pampered too much, then she would have been misguided easily. She would have hesitated to take the necessary actions that seemed irrational that time but are proven beneficial now." Alice smiled, "But too much harshness is bad. Humans are social animals and they need love for mental well-being."

Vexana smiled, "Mental well-being? You are saying all these because you were not present at that time to witness the amount of mental trauma the elves have suffered at that time. They had no food nor water to drink. Many of them didn't even have clothes to wear or any house to take shelter. The demons came like meteors and destroyed everything and everyone that came in their paths. They looted and kidnapped people and you won't believe that just two weeks of looting and killing had depleted the treasury and the population by more than half. Xao Chang was determined to win the palace and take the spear and had tried every horrible torture he could on us. He poisoned our rivers and burnt all our fields.

He threw dirty and horrible mud on us that was so bad in smell that we had to put curfew. King Alapaca was on the brink of mental breakdown after witnessing the sad condition of his people. War and dirty politics had ruined many trusted relationships and in just a blink of time the majority of the small landlords and aristocrats joined the side of Xao Chang. King Alapaca couldn't do anything but watch his destruction as most of his army and all of his sons were at war and he couldn't risk sending the remaining army as it would risk the security of the palace.

Assayah manipulated many young people and soon there were riots and soon many small rulers declared mutiny against us. Aliyah and I were sent to deal with the mutinies and Elgin was sent to stop the riots. But, it only proved more dangerous as Xao Chang attacked the palace just two weeks later and took the king and queen hostage. He demanded the spear and threatened to kill the king and queen if his demand was not fulfilled. Aliyah decided to sacrifice her parents life to keep the spear safe. So, tough decisions had to be made and sacrifices were innumerable."

Alice said, "I accept the fact that war is gruesome and weak dies first, but love is not weakness. Your love for your kingdom fueled you to keep fighting and for the matter of Aliyah's mother. She was a great queen, but she was definitely a very bad mother." Vexana said, "Well. We will discuss that later. Let's concentrate on the matter that is more important right now." They both entered the elevator which took them further down.

The door of the elevator opened and Alice was flabbergasted on seeing the beauty and grandeur of the palace. It was very modern as compared to the one on the ground. Vexana looked at Alice and said with a proud tone, "This palace was my idea. After the invasion of the palace and the destruction of it afterwards, I wanted to build another palace like that under the ground. So, that even if the enemies manage to invade the palace on the ground, our people could stay safe in this palace.

This palace is equipped with modern technologies like electricity, telephone, television, refrigerator and many more equipment for day-to-day needs. I guarded the walls with magic and no one could enter or even find the palace without my permission. The palace has enough food and water for keeping more than hundred thousand elves alive for ten years. But, Aliyah never sanctioned this palace as an official palace because she thinks that the ancestral palace is the real one and creating a replica of it will be an insult to her ancestors. Aliyah is basically like an old grumpy woman who thinks clinging to her old things will be a good decision. Anyway, let me show you my beautiful palace."

Vexana took Alice through the hallway where murals of various important events in the elf history were present. Alice asked, "What do they represent?" Vexana smiled, "The first mural depicts the struggle of the first elves who came here to live. They survived the Ice Age and discovered this fertile land after hundreds of years of migration. The second mural depicts the war between Mother Manaca and Xao Lin. Artists tried their best to describe all the different emotions through their excellent artistic skills. The third mural depicts the birth of the mighty Blood Spear. Most of the part is coloured with the blood of our brothers and sisters who were slaughtered by those monsters. The fourth mural depicts the death of King Alapaca and Queen Lagia and the red man with horns is Xao Chang.

The purple one is Assayah and the orange one is Bacca. The fifth mural depicts you. The essence of the Blood Spear. The light, the hope and the mother of us. There will be a sixth mural when you will kill Xao Chang and all his demons." Alice smiled, "I didn't know that you guys consider me so prestigious? Aliyah on the other hand, treats me like shit." Vexana smiled, "Your relation with Aliyah is very different from the one you have with us. When the right time comes, I will tell the truth about the relationship between you and Aliyah." Alice asked, "Why can't you say it right now?" Vexana patted her head and said, "You are not ready yet." Vexana signalled her to continue walking.

They entered the kitchen where the chef elves were preparing exquisite dishes for them. They then passed through the hallway where there were several young male and female elves who were reading thick books written in some strange language. Alice asked, "What language are those books written in?" Vexana smiled, "They are written in a special dialect called "Magnipila". It was created by old wizards and witches to keep the books safe from any invaders.

The language is forbidden to use in public and only the students of magic have the privilege to learn it. I had to spend eleven years to completely learn the whole language. The language is not that hard for students who patiently listen to all the lectures of the teachers when they are teaching the language. Anyone who has trouble understanding or writing the language is considered to be a bad student." Alice asked, "So, you were a bad student then?" Vexana smiled, "Not a bad student, dear. But a pretty busy student. The days that I had to learn the language, I was busy fighting in the wild areas.

Queen Lagia wanted me to stay away as far from Aliyah as possible. Things were not stable in school either. Teachers and the most elite students were also fighting in the war and so lengthy vacations became common. So, learning took a long time to complete." Alice asked, "Is it possible for Trisha to learn magic? She has quite a fondness towards learning magic." Vexana said, "Not at all. Humans are strictly prohibited from entering the magic schools here. In fact, there are special punishments for both students and teachers who break this rule. The culprit will be executed with a special poisonous herb."

Alice asked, "Why?" Vexana said, "Actually the reason is very sad. We want to help everyone and that includes humans too. But, times have changed and humans are no longer the trustable species anymore. They are filled with greed, jealousy and malice. So, keeping this in regard they prohibited any human from learning magic as many magic spells are too dangerous to fall in evil hands. But, there was an exception many years ago. But, it was not for humans, but a Shinigano. Shinigano and Shuken people are not prohibited but usually secluded from learning magic as they are considered low class.

But, with changing time Shinigano and Shuken people were allowed to learn magic but on one condition that they will have to live here permanently as a citizen and not go back to their homeland. Shinigano and Shuken people refused to leave their homeland and thus only one Shinigano managed to learn magic and die as a wizard." Alice said, "But this mentality has divided everyone and the demons took advantage of this fissure." Vexana said, "Social and political fissures are present in every civilization. We cannot avoid nor stop any such discrimination. Aliyah also understood this problem and therefore she spent a majority of her lifetime wandering in the Shinigano and Shuken forests trying to win their confidence and make them allies."

Alice asked, "Did she succeed?" Vexana said, "Partially. At first, it seemed impossible and I'm not gonna lie, but the behaviour that the Shinigano people did with Aliyah was quite intolerable and I wanted to punish them for that. But, Aliyah said that this type of behaviour is common after all these years of inequality and discrimination. King Jamalus's grandfather was the first person to agree with Aliyah and soon many started to follow them and eventually all started supporting us.

But, frictions still remained and even though elves and Shinigano people started living together and were included both in army and royal affairs, they formed many fractions and soon many judgments started to be biased. Shuken people agreed to be with us but won't fight for us. They promised to not side with demons but also took promise from us that we won't drag them into this unnecessary war. But, eventually they had to fight the demons when Kayuba attacked them. Kayuba knew perfectly that Shuken people have rich resources like gold and precious stones that have a lot of potential power in them. But, Shuken people were not that well-versed in fighting and Kayuba managed to loot a large amount of gold and precious stones from them.

This fatal mistake of the Shuken people cost not only them but is too. Kayuba used those precious stones to attack and in just two days he destroyed two-third of our artillery." Alice said, "I hope they won't make the same mistake this time." Vexana said, "I hope that too. But, after the second war of the west, most Shuken people disappeared and migrated to their homeland. Kystion blocked all the paths connecting the kingdom with their homeland and I'm sure that he will try to kill them as soon as possible.

Kystion perfectly knows that his dark magic won't be enough to defeat you after you transform into the Blood Queen. So, gaining those precious stones would be quite necessary for him." Alice asked, "When are we going to meet the team?" Vexana looked at the clock and said, "It's already quite late. Let's meet the team the day after tomorrow. I have very important tasks to complete tomorrow, so I won't be able to be with you tomorrow. Good night, Alice." Vexana walked towards her room and Alice entered her room and lay on her bed and soon fell asleep....