I sighed. Even though our mother felt that the responsibility of heirs belonged to me, I chose to wait until I met a female who truly interested me. Unfortunately, when I did, they were too forward and intimidating for my inexperience or they hoped I would be the one to start up a conversation and woo them. Other times, I remembered her and every sexual desire I might have felt collapsed into rubble. She haunted me, sometimes late at night, when moonshine enveloped the realm and silence fell. I still heard the fading heartbeat, flickering, struggling to fight, clawing onto survival. I knew it then. I would not be responsible for such an atrocity. Either I found a female to love and protect until my last breath, or I would remain alone. There was no in between.
“Do not worry, brother, I will make sure the darlings in the kingdom will be too occupied to miss you much,” my brother exuded a proud smirk.
“Amongst all the worries in the world, Vikram, this one is my last priority, I assure you.”
“Don’t trouble yourself, little one. You have three years to find someone. And the guard is always recruiting,” he smiled slyly.
After having a bite and a few glasses of wine, my brother said his goodbyes and stepped out of the cave, wanting to find his way to the portal that would transport him back into the kingdom before nightfall. I bid him farewell and offered him another carafe for the journey back, then closed the cave door and prepared for bed.
The forest welcomed me; I felt it as soon as I opened my eyes to the new home. The creatures sang about my arrival, while the trees chanted the old hymns. The sun blessed the morning with healing light, and every seedling would become stronger from my presence by the evening. A rhapsody of wonder entwined with my power, growing from my spirit and feeding from the fresh energy I had brought along from the Earth Kingdom.
This was it. My new home. The place where I would live, where I’ll be bound to for the next three years. Not in my wildest dreams had I expected to be assigned to the goddess’ burial place, the honour was beyond belief and stood decided to execute a flawless season, nurse the forest to health and with it span the energy throughout the earth and help the plants around the world come to life.
I pushed the covers from the bed and rose with a long stretch, preparing for an endless day. I needed to measure the length of the district, walk all the pathways and find the species that needed urgent treatment, then I would summon a meeting with all the resident faeries and assign responsibilities and duties. But first, a shower and some sustenance. I plucked my hair from my face and wrapped it tightly behind my nape with a strand of leather to keep it out of the way, then picked up the weapons, which I stored in a leather bandolier, similar to the one I used to carry back in the kingdom, during training. Before I finished getting ready, I heard an unnatural noise coming from the kitchen, a shuddering tension shook the walls. I was instantaneously there, dagger in hand. In front of me stood a tall male, dressed completely in black to match his ebony hair, making himself a cup of coffee and staring at me.
“Reveal your identity,” I ordered.
“Now, now, tree princeling, there is no need for that so early in the morning,” the stranger snarled, his voice tinted with disgust.
“Who are you?” I insisted, pressing the dagger forward to reach the man’s back.
“You know me, young prince,” the voice purred. “You have met me many times, in different stories.”
“I will not ask again. Reveal your identity or I’ll send you into chaos!” I commanded, my hand pressed tightly to the hilt.
“Sending me home so soon, are we?” the male murmured and his voice sounded harsh, pressing for memories I did not know I possessed.
This male, this invader into my new home, wanted me to become aware of his origin. So I let him know exactly how much I understood.
“What is a fireling doing here? How did you reach this district?” I growled, not letting go of the dagger that rested an inch from penetrating the stranger’s right kidney.
“I am everywhere, boy, as long as humans live, so do I,” the fae bragged, his voice heavy. His behaviour burst with contempt and the fireling acted like he had a right to claim the world and everything inside it, as though his age pierced through time and tradition.
“Who...are...you?” I almost spelled it to the male and pushed the dagger slightly deeper, piercing skin and muscle.
“Enough!” the fireling shouted and with a wave of a hand, threw me into the wall cabinet, plates and cups falling from their place onto the floor with a shout.
“You earthlings are so smug, so full of yourselves and sure of your victories everywhere you step foot. Tell me, princeling, did you even bother to announce your presence on your arrival? Did you visit the other faeries? No, of course not!” he raised his voice while pressing me into the wall with his power. As a member of a royal family, I stood as one of the most powerful fae in existence, yet my energy was merely a flicker compared to the sheer strength this one possessed. I barely drew breath under the pressure of his impact, forced to listen to whatever he had to say. He continued. “What did you do instead? You stayed in your comfortable little cot and drank with the barren one until silly couldn’t do it anymore and went home to mummy and daddy. And after? Went to bed, probably. This door hasn’t moved all night,” he admonished in disgust.
“Who are you? What do you want?” I called out, blood dripping onto my lips from the sheer force of energy that pressed into me like a cliff ready to desolate a lake.
“I am death, boy, I am hunger and destruction, I am the one you shall see before you close those pretty grey eyes. I am...”
“Fear Gorta,” I interrupted him.
“I go by Gordon now as a surname, makes me more approachable, don’t you think?” the male announced as he returned to his cup of coffee, acting like nothing had happened. I could finally draw breath, the power disappearing as suddenly as it came. “And this century I think I will go by Rhylan, a pretty name I picked up in Macedonia. So, Rhylan Gordon,” he smiled, pleased with himself.
“What do you want?” I repeated, wiping my blood-stained face.
“What do I want?” the male threw me a malevolent smirk as he took another sip from his cup of coffee. His eyes were terrifying to stare into, a deep black that sucked all the light away. “Why do we do the things we do, boy? Why do you linger in comfort instead of tending to your duties?”
“If you are referring to last night, it is customary for the keeper to be accompanied by a member of the family and summon all the fae-like creatures the day after their arrival,” I replied, aware that I did not owe an explanation. “Which is what I am planning to do.”
“Earthlings and their traditions,” Rhylan huffed. “So used to having it all that you afford such luxuries, acting as owners of the land and the living.”
“We do!” I countered. “We are the descendants of the three goddesses and our duty is to continue cherishing their legacy. We are here to…”
“To do whatever the hell you please while my kingdom rots in darkness!” the fireling shouted. We both kept silent for a second, each staring into the other’s eyes, darkness facing shadows, trying to guess the other’s intentions.
