Chapter Sixty-nine

As they accended the stairs, a guard walked forward, pulling the curtain open for them. Claven’s face was pressed against Damion’s arm, a small smile playing at his lips. “Welcome to my palace.” The words were soft, and the noise from the city beyond, and the smell, disippated as they entered the palace. The foryer here was large and completely open. Three arches spaned around the room, leading to other parts of the palace. Much like Thambairs castle. He wondered if the center was for their formal events, and if it then broke down into the West Wing and East Wing from there, like Thambair.

Soldiers and servants lined the hall, interspersed with large boquets of flowers. An enourmous fountain sprayed in the center of the room. The pools decreased in size as they went up the fountain tiers. The lowest and largest piece of it was filled with lillie pads and other water plants. As the tiers went up, near the center of the fountain, built in planters had beautiful arraingements set up, and the flowers blooming over the water and drinking in the spray were gorgeous. Damion reached out to carress the petals and leaves, smiling. “You grow anywhere you can, huh? Since there’s not a lot of places out of the palace, you must have a lot of indoor planters.”

Claven nodded, his own hand reaching out to carress the plant Damion just had before turning his attention up to his guest. “Would either of you care for a glass of wine?” Both Damion and Gregron agreed. Claven dropped his arm briefly, motioning for a half-naked elf who was standing beside the wall in the entry room to come forward. A tray in hand with glasses already filled. Claven grabbed two, then nodded at Gregron. The elf proffered him the tray as Claven handed Damion a glass. Damion took a sip before holding out his arm again. The sly smile that crept over Claven’s face made his own checks glow slightly. Slipping his arm in the crook, their host lead them to one of the arch ways and down a silent and empty hall. His hand slipped down the inside of Damion’s arm until his fingers curled into his palm.

He paused in the center of the hall, flexing his fingers until they intertwined with Claven’s. Clearing his throat, Damion looked down. “This okay?”

“Actually, it’s pretty nice.” Claven smiled up, “It’s been a long time since anyone has been brave enough to attempt to hold my hand. You’re bringing back a lot of long-lost memories.”

“Well, where were we? You were explaining how there were really two gods, Necron and Quain. How does Ephira fit into the story?” Damion said, watching for any good markers to help him remember how to get out of the palace when the time came. He and Gregron spoke through thought, and Damion left it to his elder to map out the palace, just as he had left it to Gregron to remember how to escape the city. In order to make Claven feel like he was completely interested in him, he needed to focus on that as his main task. He was also intensely curious to know more about this new Creation story that Claven had begun telling him.

“She’s what destroyed it all. Once they created the twins, Locke and Keye, Necron was indeed the one who decided to relax and stay at the father tree. Quain went with the others to figure out how to create females. Only Keye came back to visit Necron. The only one who ever really cared about him. Most only wanted to be around him when they needed his magic, but Necron was always happy to see Keye.” There was a sadness in Claven’s voice, his eyes focused ahead. “And vice-versa, according to the stories.” Damion was confused by this side of him. There was almost a tenderness that he hadn’t been expecting. “Ephira, as you know, did become jealous of the other women Quain and Locke were so set on making. She preferred when all the attention was on her. She left, as you likely heard, and wandered Rhelia. Eventually coming to the father tree, and meeting Necron. She had heard stories of him from the others, and was fully aware of his power, and got close to him. Even making him believe she loved him. Swore she would spend the rest of her days with him. But he was nothing like his brother. He didn’t like having attention, and he didn’t show off his magic or abilities. He liked to stay home, and preferred being alone than out in the world with the others. But Ephira enjoyed being the center of attention. Yet, when Quain came back, offering her the world. She refused him. Pregnant with Necron’s child, she hoped she could convince him to allow her magic too. But whenever she asked, he always refused her. So, when Quain finally offered her some of his own magic to pull her away from his brother again, she agreed to leave with him, and did so in the dead of night. She didn’t even bother to tell him she was leaving. It broke his heart.”

“I guess, at the least, they didn’t lie about the fact that the only child either of them had was Necron’s.” Damion could feel his anger boiling below the surface. He’d always felt there was something off about the gods. Always knew there was more to the story, but never understood why he would feel that way.

“After she gave birth to the child, they brought it back to Necron, who raise the babe with the help of Keye. For a time, they believed themselves a family.” Claven’s fingers tightened around Damion’s, his face was drawn and angry. “It was Keye who told Locke about the boy. How the child was likely to grow up just as strong as his father. When Locke reported this to Quain and Ephira, they knew they’d made a mistake. They decided it would be easier to trick the child into giving them what they wanted, and set out to try to take his magic so they would finally be more powerful than Necron himself. When the boy was old enough, they went after him, at first asking him to leave with them on an adventure. But I think Necron already knew they didn’t have anything good planned for the boy and refused to let him go with them. It became a contention between the two, and the boy became bitter with his father, eventually running away to enjoy the freedom his mother offered. Keye was sad for him, though. Necron accepted that he could be wrong, and that the boy had a right to live his own life. But Keye still worried and decided to leave also. Going to find them and see what types of adventures they were on.”

“It was Keye who learned of their nefarious plans then?” Damion asked quietly.

“It was. That was when the wars came. They were hiding with the child and using his magic to keep them hidden until they could figure out how to extract the magic from him. The child had no idea what kind of danger he was in. Necron was more than willing to burn down the entire world to get his son back. He had no problem killing Ephira and Quain to do so either. They stayed hidden and let him destroy the world they had all worked so hard to create. It was Locke and Keye who went to him, begging him to stop. They kept lying to the boy though. Said that Necron had gone crazy. The poor child believed them. They were able to convince everyone to turn against him because of the evil he was willing to do for that child. Even Keye. Necron was betrayed by everyone he’d ever loved. They banded together to lock him away in his own creation of nothingness. To this day, he’s still locked away in the void. Ephira made sure, that since she was the one with the largest bounty on her head, she was the only one who call him forth from that void. And she was in complete and utter control him. Once he was locked away, Quain was able to offer Ephira the power she had always wanted, and she immediately started to use that power to erase all traces of Necron from the Rhelia. There was a prophecy that one day, someone would be born who would be able to free him from that void. The rest is history. The brothers and child hadn’t known what they were agreeing to. Not really. They wanted to end the blood lust and wars, but they never meant for Necron to be trapped as he was. They decided to take revenge against Quain and Ephira. Starting a new war. That’s where the story comes to an end for you as well, I believe. The child goes on to become ‘the Hero’, and locks Quain away and they capture Ephira in the form of a human body. One that needs to be controlled, otherwise, she will forever be trying to regain control of the world that never belonged to her. If there was ever a villain here in Rhelia, it was Ephira. That’s one of the reasons the brothers look to the Empire to remove all females from power. They are often like her, and though there are some who may become great leaders, even in the past, they’ve always become more like Ephira the power they are given. The brothers have been watching it happen for an eternity. They’re simply sick of it these days. They boast about bringing balance back to the world. But the only way to do that is to free the brothers and defeat Ephira herself.”

Claven was clinging desperately to Damion’s arm by the time the story was finished. Damion and Gregron exchanged looks. Had the Clagonians altered the story because they were afraid that Damion would try to complete the destruction of Ephira? Were they afraid he would loose Necron on the world? And would he truly burn it down all around them? After hoping for so long that answers would make this all easier, Damion was terrified to learn now, that it only left his chest feeling heavier, and now he just felt confused. It was too late when he realized he hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going at all. He had no idea how to get back out of the palace once they found what they were looking for.