Goblins?

Back at the Eyme manor, Aolig sat down with her mother. Massaging her shoulders. This is one of her favorite times in the evening.

At least she won't talk about etiquettes they would just relax and chat as normal mother and daughter.

Finally, she bade her good night and entered her room. In her dreams, she found herself in the same illusion as always.

She kept hearing the voice calling her, "child…chi…ld."

"I am Aolig," she answered.

All of a sudden, the illusion seemed to take her to another place. She saw different kinds of flowers and some strange looking people.

"Who are you people?"

They all seemed to answer together, "we are you, you are us."

A

olig's face turned pale due to trepidation. She turned again and saw herself in another illusion.

There, a wedding was taking place.

She looked closely and saw it was herself and the crown prince.

She clasped her hands on her head and screamed. The whole illusion shook and turned into tiny burbles of different colours.

"What is it my lady?" a maid asked

"Nothing just a goblin," she lied and dismissed the maid.

Later, Aolig woke up and saw the jade pendant glowing in the dark. She approached the jade pendant as one hypnotized. She kept having the instincts to wear the pendant.

Aolig reached to touch her neck. She found out she was already wearing the pendant.

She gasped in shock, after receiving the inheritance from chaotic desolate she thought that there was no other use for the pendant. It seems like she was mistaken.

She followed the instructions and dripped her blood on the pendant.

The sages of Zvit and fairies received a signal. They all woke up. The whole forest of illusion shook like an earthquake was about to happen.

"It is the princess, mother of the great prince," said Aeyn.

Aeyn is one greatest sage in all of Lhney and also Aolig's grandfather. The other sages Raen and Rykad nodded in affirmation.

"What do we do?" asked the queen.

She looks extremely beautiful. She is in her early thirties. Her face furrowed, she had missed her daughter for close to sixteen years now.

She went and sat back on her throne. She raised her hands ordering the maids and servants to leave.

The three sages approached her.

"We can kill our way through Lhney until we get her back," she said confidently.

In reality they can do it. Having many aces and three of the strongest twelve strongest great emperors in all of Lhney.

The problem is that they don't know that many things have changed.

"If we kill our way through, then what happens?" Aeyn asked.

"Remember, we swore an oath to Aoga to keep away from the affairs of Lhney until the great prince comes," he continued.

Raen and Rykad nodded.

"It is not reasonable for us to act in a haste, let's observe for now. Furthermore, the elf has been awakened."

The queen stood up from her chair in astonishment.

"The elf?" she asked.

Raen hmm'ed in realization.

"The great elf, he stores the knowledge of epochs and he is very powerful," he said.

"That means we don't have to interfere for now, the elf can protect her for now," Rykad said.

The queen Mariyen sat back on her throne. She was a little comforted.

Elder Aeyn rubbed his chin and said in a low voice, "it is all fated."

Raen and Rykad looked at each other, they were the only ones that heard what Aeyn said. The queen was oblivious of whether it is fate or not.

For her, her daughter's safety comes first. They bowed and left the queen.

Aolig finally summoned courage to sleep again. She dismissed her maids and charged them not to say anything about what happened.

But that did not stop the news of goblins and ghosts spreading like wildfire among the servants in Eyme manor and all manors in the capital.

In Exkaby the easiest way to spread rumors or taint one's reputation is by using servants as channels.

They will tell their fellow servants in the streets the slightest chance they get. From there, the common people will start discussing it in the taverns.

From taverns to scholars in the brothels to the officials in Gray street and Maeh street and finally to the palace.

The soldiers and officials cannot do anything about it. They cannot go about arresting people because of what they say. One of the important attributes of the Northerners is their freedom of expression.

The Northerners are proud people. After all they are the strongest and most populous in Lhney.

Therefore it will be even harder to force them down using force. So, once rumors or tales start spreading the officials wouldn't care because they know that after few weeks, the news will grow stale naturally.

So it was not surprising to hear the maids and eunuchs in the palace talking about ghosts and goblins.

Some started recounting imaginary encounters with supposed goblins.

The hardened criminals will use this opportunity to commit more crimes, disguised as a ghost or a goblin.

Within days people now have many stories to tell about ghosts and goblins.

The imperial guards and soldiers all know that those are probably stories. So they swung into actions and we're able to apprehend some notorious criminals.

Within one week, the rumours died down.