Inhorèm: The Higher Elves

CHAPTER I: THE SECRET MOUNTAIN (8)

CHAPTER I: THE SECRET MOUNTAIN (8)

Andar was a region rooted in chivalry and diplomacy. Full of men faithful to their King, like little ants serving his colony. A large and beautiful region, seized for years and several hundred miles, full of rivers, streams, and waterfalls; innumerable forests, hills and mountains, which enjoyed all kinds of exotic species. Fundamentally new and fresh ecosystems, embryos of life. Organisms meeting their first evolutionary steps, experimenting with their environments. Completely magical, sophisticated and mysterious creatures. 

THenthis kingdom had been slow to complement itself. Millennia of wars, thousands and thousands of men were sacrificed to have come to this great and unbreakable monarchy. Through his ancestors, the legitimate King Agameus inherited these blissful lands; together with his beloved queen Eliz and his 12 excellencies of daughters, who were crowned as duchesses and eternal possessors of the immense empire. Its parts were distributed equally, choosing from the firstborn to the last of his daughters, the peoples and the different states corresponding to the King's judgment, and they swore reverence to them, and the soldiers of these nations, swore the loyalty paid with the life towards the sovereignty and eternal power of King Agameus. A superb king, however, and subtly self-centered. For there was no kingdom that competed or even dared to imagine fighting against such a huge and solidified kingdom through the centuries.

“He was, sir?! But how do you know that?!”

“That's a story for another day, Bongo. I'll tell you later, now I need to rest.”

“You´re right sir, excuse me” Bongo exclaimed “I will go now. Thank you!”

Night fell, and with it the festivity. The entire town of Anaís celebrated the birthday of the golden girl, the great blessing of the gods. Everyone gathered at Adelia and Lelio's house, and celebrated her birthday evocatively. A great celebration was also held in the Hanging Gardens. After all, it was the birthday of the Prince of Fire.

The big party was held in the main square. After nine Rimerians, the Old Wiz decided to descend from Mount Geneza, and lived with his people once again. It was an unforgettable night, Argônæth received his father's gift, and felt really blessed. He celebrated with his best friend, Dāel, and with the young dragons. Flying all around the squares. They were very young. The purity of their hearts was flooded with innocence and good will.

When the party reached its culmination, Dāel lost sight of his best friend. He was looking for him everywhere in the kingdom, and could not find him. So he got worried, and decided to escape from the Gardens, and descend to the surface.

He reached a hidden region of the forest, full of small hills, and floral fields. There, among some bushes, was the missing dragon. Dāel approached him, and scared him.

“What are you doing here!” exclaimed Dāel “Are you seeing something? Let me see!”

Argônæth tried to stop him, but Dāel could see a girl in the distance. She was on the surface, dancing in her garden.

“A human being? What are you doing watching one!”

"They are very funny!" Argôn replied. "And very strange. Just look at her!”

Dāel watched her for a while. At that moment, the girl fell, she hurt herself, and on the floor, she started laughing.

“You're right!” Dāel exclaimed, “she just hurt herself and sh– wait. This isn’t the first time you see this girl, right?”

“Can I say yes?” said Argôn.

“No! You're spying on her!” said Dāel. “Remember what Bongo says about interfering whit hum–”

"I´m not spying on her!" Argôn responded. “I've been watching her because I'm just curious. It's fun! Stay with me. Let's watch her for a while. Look! Her friends also fell!”

“It is not our nature to interact with them” responded Dāel. “If Old Wiz finds us here he will turn us into dust.”

"We're not interacting with her!" said Argôn. “We're just observing her behavior, and we're having fun.”

"Well, I guess you´re right" replied Dāel.

The dragons stayed in the bushes, watching the girl. She kept doing her strange and funny dances, and after a while of watching the show, Dāel got tired and decided to return to the Gardens.

"I think I'm leaving, I'm tired" he exclaimed, "It's been a great night! Don´t stay here too long.”

"Don't worry, I'm leaving soon" Argônæth replied.

In the abode of Mount Geneza, the night became uncomfortable for the Golden King. Something did not allow him to conceal his dream. A tingle, a pain, some voices, kept coming to his mind. He managed to sleep, and in few moments, he woke up from what appeared to be a nightmare. He needed to get distracted, or simply do something.

Wiz, then, got up from his bed and went to his boiler. He started to see through its liquid, images of all the shores, plains, forests, and places of Kepler.  He saw great meadows, and great mountains. Immense oceans, and hidden extensions he had never visited before.

Suddenly, the image of Anaís showed up; the region was just below him, and his Floating Garden. In the boiler water, an image of Argôn was projected. He was still hidden among the flowers fields, up in the small hill; spying on the girl.

The girl was suddenly alone. Her friends left and the animals she was feeding left too. She started, to sing, and with her voice, she aroused a golden essence that was born sweetly from the ground, adhering to the nearer grass and plants.

Argôn was attracted to this, and the dragon descended from the small mound; entering the bushes, approaching the young girl. She began to feel a familiar presence, a presence that she had felt before. She got scared, but she didn't stop having fun. She closed her eyes, and continued her singing, knowing that she was attracting a mysterious creature.

Wiz was watching all of this through the reflection of his boiler. As Argôn 's energy drew closer to Amalia's, time slower down. The surrounding greens started to distort themselves. The ground inside his dwelling began to shake, and the boiler liquid started to explode. Wiz had never seen anything like this, so he continued to observing the reflection.

The girl finished reciting the wonderful song. She opened her eyes and found herself in front of a row of bushes, bordering the end of her garden. These seemed to be physically altered, and lost sight of the edges of the figure that was hiding behind them.

"I know you're there" Amalia exclaimed.

Nothing happened. The creature only moved, and with this movement, it caused the bushes to sway even more.

"Come closer!" said the girl "Don't be afraid."

The girl extended her hand. The fiery golden eyes of the creature were visible between the green and the dark. She felt a little scared, but decided to bring her hand a little closer to the creature. In the dark, she saw more clearly the outline of the dragon's hidden forehead.

The leaves began to float from the surrounding soil. The ground spread a slight golden effulgence. Inside Wiz's room, potions began to fall from the planks. The smoke from the boiler clouded the place while it was about to explode. Things got out of control, which caused the Golden King to be in a trance, a state of suspense. He did not know whether to go to the place, or stay watching what was about to happen. The tension paralyzed the Golden King. The boiler began to wobble abruptly, and in the reflection, thousands of unstoppable unknown future images and sequence began to stir; all happening quickly one after the other. They appear in Wėzhreem´s mind as infinite projections of the inevitable destiny of the planet.

“Amalia!” shouted her mother. “Enter the house! It's getting late!”

“Yes, momma!” she replied while removing her hand from the bushes. “I'm coming!”

The girl did couldn´t touch the creature. And when she turned around from her respond, when she turned her gaze again to the hidden creature, it disappeared.

The town was sustained mainly by the wealth extracted by the King. Gold, copper, platinum, maltese and emeralds of all color gammas were offered to the towns, to turn the states into small cities, with detailed structures and designs, apart from the payment to the small governors who promised fortresses and militias for defense from all points of the empire. A fearsome kingdom, indestructible by any terrestrial.

When the last of his daughters turned 16 rimerian springs, Agameus ordered all his daughters to disperse to their corresponding estates by hereditary right. He ordered them to reign, govern, influence, negotiate and mainly, relate to her people and find a man worthy of her hand. For Agameus, he had f*******n romantic relationships with any of his daughters. It was not going to be, until the last of them was ready, for all of them to go out in search of the autonomy of their lives. For the one who will demonstrate the best leadership was to be her name sealed from her as the rightful heir to the entire Gloen kingdom. For Agameo, age did not matter but maturity in his actions. The personality and character of his daughters would prove to whom she was chosen to erect the great throne. A judgment that he himself wished to impart, through the obvious. Well, the obvious to him was the indisputable. It was a question that he wanted to resolve being alive and placed on sacred parchment. He was not going to allow such a generational effort to obtain so much wealth and power to be thrown overboard. Nothing guaranteed or won for anyone; all equally, they had to demonstrate which was the most suitable for the position.

"Father, can't you see how unfair this is to me?" -claims Rosa- "This is the kind of embarrassment that you put me through. Thirty-six springs, without a partner without choosing my mandate and being your first daughter."

"Rosalina, daughter. This is why I am giving you Elietcel, the most organized of my states. I have already mentioned you, I am not looking for age or chronology. I am looking for maturity, attitude and love in this Kingdom. Seeing you whimsically and infallibly demanding a reign which you never fought or shed blood for, is the reason why I want equity among my heirs. With this you do not seem to show attitude for this enormous responsibility, and you disappoint me. But still, I believe in you. You are the one who has more experience, and this is what you must value and take into consideration. "

"I cannot believe this or what you are telling me. The neighboring kingdoms have had it consecrated through the centuries that the firstborn is the one who has the direct right to inherit the throne. An opportunity like the one that, at the time, yourself You saw "

"Well, that's the way it is, this is not another one of those kingdoms. This is Gloen, an empire, a fortress. She has become so huge that I will not allow any daughter of mine to seize it; but rather the one who show greater courage, love and resilience. I became King because only I was left standing in the last of our battles. My brothers, my friends and my father died, and between tears and pain we raised this flag and became sovereign at last This is your chance, take it or leave it. "

.

"But-"

"I will not speak anymore. We have discussed this enough times. Take your horse and your sword, and go to your people. She exercises as the strong woman who eres, I'll be watching you very closely. Never forget what we have taught you. Go now, for today I must let all your sisters go. I want time to say goodbye and bless each of my daughters "

"Beneath deepest lagoons of submerged afflictions, wherein the sleepless goddess awakes. Wherein her spirit arouses as the figure of sacred waters, above all hidden lakes. Like ones whose dance lifted realms among the deepest meadows, for the return of that child who drowns without knowing it. The deserted prince looked into the distance, amidst the epiphany of the mystery from the mystical waterfalls. And there he saw a familiar face; a shine that assailed him calmly. His soul could not process it, but he knew the transcendence of his voyage had arrived, and reached the point of his long awaited healing. And although his heart found shelter in divinities from a mother, his loss was not erase from memory of the unbeatable. Quite the contrary. The beatific presence grew his thirst, for angst and revenge.