Valinor
LeiyaI jolted out of bed when the voice sounded louder in my thoughts.“Relax Leiya. It's me.”I noticed Helion sitting across from me on my bed with concern in his eyes. I hastily looked around to discover I was still at Valinor.“Another bad dream?”He whispered, slowly moving the hair that had fallen to my face out of fright to the back of my ear. I was too stunned to speak, I simply nodded in response.“Can you tell me what it was about?”He bent his head in an effort to search my fallen face for my eyes. I continued to look at nothing in particular without saying a word.“Leiya.”He gently touched me to which my body quivered in response. I was so lost in my own thoughts, I forgot he was speaking to me.“You're okay.” he whispered.When he noticed that I did not look at him, he lifted my chin with his index finger. He moved my face to meet his. He glanced at me with a worried gaze, the most worried I had seen him.Kaltain LeiyaI stared into nothingness, like I had been doing for the past few days. Unmoving, unresponsive, just looking at nothing wonder, allowing my mind to wander into the darkest of places.“Leiya.”I would hear him call but I lost the will within me to respond. He would call repeatedly and when he noticed I wouldn't respond, he would leave. Only to return a few moments later to repeat the same action. He would bring food with him, only to take it back the next time he visited. I had not left my bed except when the urge to release the contents of my bladder forced me. I let my father down. He would be in the spirit world, cursing my very soul for letting Nayla suffer while I lived comfortably. I allowed myself to be distracted by my selfish bodily desires while my sister suffered until her last breath. I deserved death for my actions. Slow, painful agonizing death. “You should stop blaming yourself for what happened.” I heard from behind me. He
Kaltain Leiya I stared at him in utter disbelief.“You what?” I breathed, almost inaudibly. He turned away from me to stare outside the window. For a minute, he was silent, supposedly composing his thoughts. “I couldn't bear to see her suffer at the hands of my father.”He began. “One night, after he beat her terribly, she dragged herself to my room.”I wanted to feel pity for him, but I wasn't sure he deserved it yet. “She cried to me that night. Her beautiful face was bruised all over from his stomping and kicking.”Instead, I felt pity for his mother. The stunningly beautiful woman lived a very unattractive and unhappy life.“That night, I begged her to leave. To run very far away, where he would be unable to reach her.”I could see it clearly as he vividly narrated the story to me. A young boy, less than thirteen, watching his mother cry to him, begging her to even leave him for her own safety.“I even promised that I wou
Kaltain Leiya “You came out.”He muttered unbelievably. “I was feeling up to it.” I whispered.A day after he narrated his unfortunate childhood ordeal to me, I surprisingly felt better. I didn't hate myself anymore. I convinced myself that if she was no longer alive, it was not my fault. I prayed to my father's spirit to forgive me and to her spirit to also forgive me. To my greatest surprise, she didn't appear to me in a nightmare and I slept just fine. When I woke up, I was feeling a lot better.I had just stepped out of my room in search of Helion when I found him speaking to a guard three doors away from mine. “Join me outside then,” he offered.I politely agreed with a nod of my head. He gave his last instruction to the guard before leading me outside the castle. It was a bright, sunny and beautiful day. The colors of the flowers around the castle shone brightly in the morning sun. I had not felt the sun on my skin in days and it felt absolu
Kaltain Leiya“Let go of me!” I yelled out of frustration.“But I am not even touching you Leiya.”“You're using magic!”I screamed as I struggled with the invisible force that was holding my legs firmly together.“That's a very bold accusation. Do you have any proof?”“How do you prove magic?!”As a result of my frantic struggling, I ended up crashing to the floor. When he charged me to race, I should have known he wasn't going to play fair. “I won,” I heard him yell, causing me to look up. He was standing beside the horse, which we agreed signified the end of the race. “Now you have to clean the horse poo.”He stated with a sinister grin. Just then my legs were freed. I could finally move. I got up to my feet, clasping my hands together and brushing off the dirt off my dress.“There is no way in hell,”“We’re on earth Leiya.”I stuck my tongue out at him and he chuckled loudly. Thank you for the reminder, your majesty
Kaltain Leiya“You should teach me a few spells.”I mumbled with a small piece of bread in my mouth. He was in the process of sucking the life out of one of the three prisoners at the table so he didn't respond. I casually waited for him to be done with the man, munching on the chunk of bread and meat at the table.“Still want to learn teleportation?”I heard his voice after a few moments, followed by the loud thump of the lifeless body he just fed on hitting the floor. “No, not that, I can move freely around the castle so I don't need it anymore.” I slanted my shoulders back in a shrug as I tore away another small piece of the bread to feed into my mouth. “I just want to learn a few spells.”I continued when I didn't get a response from him. “Silly spells even.”I said with a small giggle. When I noticed he didn't respond, I looked up to see he was feeding again. He must have be really hungry judging from how quick he was taking life
Kaltain Leiya“Which Degar?”I was quick to respond before Helion even had a chance. I wasn't sure I heard Calin properly.“The king of Hepthan.” he mumbled casually.I immediately glanced at Helion, he looked just as confused as I was. I quickly looked back at Calin. He continued to look at Helion with an unfazed expression.“Why is he here?”I asked no one in particular, struggling to contain the rush of jumbled emotions I was feeling inside me. What gave him the guts to come here unannounced? And if he was here for business with the king, why wasn't I informed?“To see his majesty.” Calin kept giving straight answers. It made me even more furious. I couldn't tell if he was completely oblivious to how much I hated Degar, or he was just being annoying on purpose.“Where is he?”Helion finally asked, sitting upright in his chair. It was still hard to tell if he was aware the evil man was coming or if he was just as surprised as I was.
Kaltain Leiya I opened my mouth to respond but he was already gone. I sat at the dining table alone, wondering what Calin meant by ‘open your eyes’. I couldn't make any sense of it. I couldn't make sense of anything, but overall what was Degar doing at Kaltain?I swiftly got you from the chair. I needed to find Calin. I needed him to explain what he meant. It felt like he knew something that I didn't, and I needed to know what it was. I stepped outside the open doors, heading for my chamber when an idea came into my head. Working on my brilliant idea, I headed in the direction of the courtroom. I knew they just had to be there. When I turned the corner, I noticed there were no guards at the door. I couldn't be happier. As I got closer, I could hear faint talking. I didn't need any more convincing to know that they were behind the big doors. The closer I got, the stealthier I tried to be, walking on the tip of my toes to not raise any noise. Successfully, I ma
KaltainLeiya I swiftly turned around to meet Helion's piercing gaze. “I was,”“Spying.”He said before I could even finish. I wanted to protest but there was nothing I would say that would be convincing. I was caught right in the act, with my ears pressed to the door. I slowly leaned away, turning to face him. “Why is he here?”“He's not here anymore.”Before I could respond, the courtroom doors opened. I looked inside to find it was empty. My first reaction was confusion. In the split second between him finishing his speech and Helion appearing behind me, Degar had mysteriously vanished. “Calin took him." I heard him say. It was enough explanation for me. I turned back to meet his now soft gaze.“Then why was he here?”“I don't know Leiya.” He said after a small frustrated sigh. “Maybe his informers made a mistake.”Helion was the most powerful, and maybe the smartest man I had ever met, but to hear him say Degar's