IGNITE (The Heir Chronicles Book 1) Page 6

  "Where are we going?" I ask.

  "To meet your mother."

  __

  "Fena," Queen Celenia turns around just as we open the door and slide in.

  "Yes." I wipe my sweaty palms on my dress and walk towards her.

  I tell myself that she is my mother. It should feel familiar. But it doesn't. It's like I know her as a distant memory, but not like as my mother. Or even as someone I truly know. As if someone has put a kind of lock on my memories of her.

  She comes forward and hugs me and awkwardly hug her back.

  She steps back and looks me from head to toe. "Oh, my baby, you've grown so much," she keeps on muttering the same line.

  I pretty much stand there awkwardly until King Rishan coughs to indicate something. She comes out of her daze and touches the locket round her neck to her lips and mutters something.

  It starts to glow and so does mine. I reach to take it out but King Rishan stops me.

  The glow of the lockets grows brighter and brighter and then it just stops. Nothing. Absolutely nothing happens. I don't know what I expected, but it was definitely not-

  Something is happening. My head starts to pain and I scream and crouch but it doesn't stop.

  It stops. I see a myriad of pictures flash in front of me. Memories.

  I remember everything. My sister, my parents, my brother, everyone.

  CHAPTER-17

  "Mom," I say and hug her. She is in tears already and I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around me. My father strokes my hair and kisses the back of my head.

  "My baby," my mom says, still holding me.

  We finally break the hug and I stand in front my parents.

  "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I ask and my mom looks around suspiciously.

  "We can't talk here," Is all she says and gets up and motions me to follow her.

  We walk out into the garden and she sits down on a rock bench. I sit beside her and look at her expectantly.

  "I can't tell you how long I have waited to see you in person." She strokes my hair. I flinch a little because, let's face it, I feel uncomfortable. It's not your normal day that you get reunited with your long-lost mother and get about a bazillion of memories back and realize that your whole life was a lie.

  "How are you?" She asks.

  "Oh, besides the fact that I have just been told that my whole life has been a lie and suddenly I get back my memories which have been hidden away for I don't know how long and also that the safety of the whole world as we know it depends rests on my shoulders. Besides that, I am just fine."

  But she isn't listening, or even acknowledges the fact that I am still here, her eyes are glued to a spot on the ground.

  She bends down and picks up a piece of cloth which I hadn't notice before.

  It's black. Totally.

  She examines it carefully and her eyebrows knit together in concern, or is it worry?

  "Oh, no, we were supposed to have not time, oh no, no," she rubs her temples and mumbles the same sentences over and over again.

  "Um," I start, unable to understand how to address her. It still feels awkward to call her "mom" even though I have all my memories back.

  "Oh, yes," she snaps back into the reality and looks over at me.

  "What....What is that?" I ask, gesturing towards the piece of cloth in her hand.

  "She's back." Is all I get from her.

  "What do you mean she's back? Who's she?" I ask.

  "Here, see this," she says and I look over her shoulder to get a good look at the piece of cloth.

  "It's the fur of the Red Marmadox."

  "The red who?" I ask, genuinely confused.

  "The Red Marmadox. It is the sacred animal of us. The Hinaks, I mean," she explains, noticing my "please elaborate" look.

  "Anyway, as I was saying, the fur of the Red Marmadox makes you more powerful beyond compare. But, there is a huge price to pay for it. To obtain it, your soul has to be either fully pure, or you have to give up upon the entire purity of your soul, meaning that you have to become purely evil.

  And the dark queen, has the access to the fur of Red Marmadox, making her invincible to a point a mortal cannot even think of."

  I take the cloth from her hand and glide my hand over the smooth fur. It feels strange. Not the kind we feel when we touch an unfamiliar substance, more like I'm not supposed to hold it. I shouldn't hold it. I stare at it. How can something so simple and beautiful help in the destruction of the whole world?

  Before can even say something, a searing pain shoots through my head and I close my eyes, clutching my head.

  I open my eyes and find myself in a strange place. I move my feet forward and something touches my feet. Water. God these creepy visions have got to stop!

  I look around myself and realise that I am in a cave. It's too dark for me to move. I don't know why I do it, but I lift my arms and concentrate on only one thing in my mind. Fire.

  Soon, I am surrounded by a circle of fire and move forward in hope of getting out of this creepy cave.

  I don't know why, but walking in the water with a circle of fire around yourself doesn't seem like a good idea and I stick to the walls of the cave.

  As I am walking, I see a familiar set of lines drawn on the side of a wall.

  It's the same symbol I saw on Drake's neck.

  Without even thinking for a second, I walk up to it and trace it with my finger.

  I seriously need to know how I am doing this.

  I have absolutely no idea how I knew that I have to trace the symbol or how to summon the fire circle.

  I need to get a better mind.

  For a moment, noting happens, and as I am about to move, it starts to glow. I stop and stare at it as it continues to glow and increases in size until I am dwarfed in it and it starts to spin around me.

  Friendly reminder- if you are surrounded by a creepy symbol in the middle of a cave, you don't stop to look at it. You turn the other way and get away from it as soon as you can or you can get sucked into a black hole.

  Unfortunately, I am not known to follow my own advice and just stand there, in the middle of the symbol and get sucked into oblivion.

  I feel like I will never reach the end of my fall, but I am wrong.

  I land face-first on a pile of dry leaves and trust me when I say that I'm lucky to have all of my teeth intact.

  I stand up and look around. I see nothing but a castle covered with mosses and other plants I didn't know the name of.

  I walk forward and I notice a book lying on the grass covered with a very familiar fabric. The fur of Red Marmadox.

  I walk towards it and hesitantly, pick it up. I open it and realize that it's title is in Hinak.

  Given that I am perfectly capable of understanding and speaking Hinak. Don't ask how, because I myself have been asking the same question for quite a while.

  It reads, The Golden Prophecy.

  CHAPTER-18

  My legs move on their own accord and I hear a whisper in my head.

  Help me. Take it.

  I pick up the Golden prophecy and just as I do, my eyes fly open and I realize that I am back in the palace's garden.

  "What did you see?" My mother asks and I tell her everything that I saw in my vision. She listens patiently, nodding sometimes.

  "I think that you should go to sleep now. It's a little late and you have a long day ahead of you."

  She turns and starts to leave when I catch her wrist and she stops.

  "How did you know that I had a vision?" I ask.

  "I just know," she says, and as if by habit, her hand moves defensively towards her locket. I don't think that she even realizes that she is doing it.

  She quickly turns around and leaves, leaving me staring after her.

  It's not long after that Drake comes out into the gardens and sits beside me.

  "Hey," I say.

  "Hi," he replies and we settle into an awkward silence.

  "So, about that tattoo....."
I say and try to break the silence and he is also happy to oblige.

  "I think that by now you know about everything about Hinaks." I nod my head and he continues.

  "I am the Sapphire. We are born when the Chosen Three are. Our life holds as much importance as theirs, and so, if we need to sacrifice the Chosen Three for. . . " he stops himself, I think from giving out the information he isn't supposed to.

  "Unlike the Chosen Three, I am only one of my kind. My job is to protect the Chosen Three and find potential candidates for the protectors of the Clansh."

  I stare at him, taking in the information.

  "What did you mean . . . about the sacrifices?" I ask the question which Jas been bothering me since he said it.

  "I . . . I'm not supposed to tell you this before the correct time. I'm really sorry. But, I can tell you this that it means that I can give up my life for only one of the Chosen Three. I told you that my life has the same importance as your lives . . . but it means that I can give up my life for only one of the Chosen Three if the time comes."

  I open my mouth to say something, but, as if he understands the question coming to my lips he says, "I was meant to be a back-up plan for the Lives of the Chosen Three."

  "You said that you had to find the Chosen Three, does that mean . . . you knew about me and . . . everything else?" I ask.

  "Yes."

  "The Heir of Time?"

  "Yep."

  “Who is it?”

  “Adrian.”

  “What?” I say out loud.

  “Shush . . . not so loud.”

  "Okay. Sorry. Mirella?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you know about my mother?"

  "Yes, I guess so."

  "Tell me what you know. Please," I say and try to make the best puppy face possible.

  "I know that she is the Anchor of the Chosen Three. She connects the Chosen Three with an empathy link. She experiences whatever the Chosen Three experience, and is linked to all of them.

  This is also a preventive measure to protect the Lives of the Chosen Three. The Chosen Three cannot die until and unless the Anchor too, dies with them. They will remain alive even if their hearts are plucked out of their chests if the Anchor is alive."

  "That means that she saw, she saw all of my visions. That's how she knew that I got a vision. But, she asked me what I saw, couldn't she also have seen it?" I ask. Recently, I have lost count of how many unusual things are happening to and around me, that I believe it. I can't even decipher that truth and the myth.

  "As I said, she only connects the Chosen Three, she is a link, an anchor. She would know if you got a vision, but she wouldn't know what you saw and to find the Golden Prophecy-"

  "I saw it." I cut him off as soon as the words leave his mouth.

  "What?"

  "The Golden Prophecy, I saw it. In my vision," I say and a worried expression creeps on his face.

  "What?" I ask. He is pacing the ground in front of me.

  "The Dark Queen. She knows that you are here. She knows what you are." I open my mouth to intervene, but he raises his hand and silences me.

  "We thought that we had more time before another one is taken down."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Your sister, Mirella, she has been held captive by the Dark Queen. She has been for five years. She is trying to reach the other Chosen Three by using her--" We hear a crash sound from the palace and hurry inside.

  "I'll meet you later," he says, just before he disappears down the hallway.

  CHAPTER-19

  I turn round the corner and all hell breaks loose.

  People are gathered round a figure. Through the crowd of people, I see a statue, very lifelike, lying on the ground just as a man runs and kneels beside her. He touches it and keeps on repeating "Antoinette, what happened. Oh, Antoinette."

  That's when it clicks in my brain. It isn't some statue. It's a human. She's been petrified. The people gathered round her aren't the royal guards, they're Hinaks. They all have a similar kind of tattoo of some kind of plant on their wrists. I notice that they are constantly murmuring some kind of spell. Their gazes are focused on the statue's eyes.

  My eyes search the place for something. My search ends just beside the petrified statue.

  The fur of the Red Marmadox.

  I quickly pick it up and clutch it tightly in my hand but do not move from my spot.

  Just as I have given up all the hope of Antoinette waking up, something happens.

  Her eyelids turn from stone to skin and flutter open. Soon, her whole body changes back to its human from and she sits up straight and falls into the arms of the man sitting beside her. She sobs into his shoulder and keeps on repeating "she . . . fire . . . searching . . . eyes turned grey . . . " between sobs.

  My whole body freezes and without giving it a second thought, I rush back to my room and bang the door shut behind me.

  I slide down the door and run my hands through my hair.

  I run the events of the day through my mind.

  I just learnt that my parents weren't my real parents.

  That I am the princess of one of the richest kingdoms and that I am being here hunted by a psycho witch who wants to control the world and, above all, I have a twin sister who is being held captive by the same witch.

  I am so lost in my own thoughts that I don't register the brown-coloured package which rests on my bed.

  I get up and change into my night gown and sit on my bed and open the package.

  It has a note-

  Dear Fena,

  I know that you even tough have got your memories back, you still feel as if you are missing some pieces of yourself, so consider this a gift from me.

  -Leo

  I keep the note aside and open the photo album.

  I am about to open it when a knock interrupts me and I quickly shove it into the bedside drawer.

  "Come in," I say and sit a little straighter.

  "Hey, Fena," Adrian enters and closes the door behind him. He is in his plain white cotton shirt instead of his suit. His top button is undid and his hair which is usually set in place is dishevelled and bounces a little with his each step.

  "Hi," I say as he sits down across from me on my bed.

  "So, what brings you here at," I look up at the clock and it reads," 12:30 a.m.?"

  "I couldn't sleep, plus, I haven't got a chance to talk to you properly the whole day." I mentally face-palm myself for ignoring the birthday-boy on his birthday.

  "I am so, so sorry Adrian. I . . . just got distracted." I think that if I tell him about what happened today, odds are that he would think of me to be mentally-disturbed.

  "I don't think that taking a walk in the gardens with the queen of Iréa would be credited as being "distracted"." He uses his fingers to emphasize the air-quotes.

  "Adrian, oh, that was-" the same kind of pain shoots through my head as I get when I get a vision.

  I clutch my head tightly but the pain doesn't stop. I can make out the sounds of Adrian screaming "Fena, Fena . . . " He cradles my face between his hands but soon, the pain overwhelms me and soon, I am standing in a forest.

  I see myself standing in front of someone. Altin. Before I can comprehend the situation, my hand moves forward and I stab Altin in the heart.

  My eyes shoot open and I find my head in Adrian's lap. I quickly sit up and wipe the sweat off of my forehead with the sleeve of my shirt.

  "I...uh..." I look up and see Adrian rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

  "What . . . what happened to you?" He asks, still dodging my gaze.

  Now it's my turn to stammer. "I . . . uh . . . " seeing as there is no other option, I tell him about my visions, although, I decide to keep my parentage and everything else concerning my powers a secret. For now.

  "You're hiding something from me." I have been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I completely ignored his constant gaze on me.

  "Pfft . . . no," I say, but we both know that I am lyi
ng.

  "Come on, tell me. You know that you are a terrible liar, right?" I toy with the idea of telling him all about myself but decide not to instead, I decide not to.

  I take a deep breath. Very dramatically, I may add and lean forward.

  "You want to know what my secret is?" I ask in a whisper as he leans forward so that we are on the same level.

  "As a matter of fact, I do," he whispers back just as I did.

  "You do?" I ask.

  "I do."

  "Then you have to catch me." I chuck a pillow at his face and run towards my balcony.

  "You," he shouts and takes off after me.

  "Get back here," he says as I dodge him for the second time while he chases me all around the room.

  "In your dreams, pretty boy," I chuckle and throw a pillow at him.

  He continues chasing me until we both cannot manage to take another step from exhaustion and end up on the balcony.

  I stand against the railing and he walks towards me until we are both nose-to-nose.

  "Tell me," he says and puts his arms around me, creating a cage so that I can't escape from him. I pinch my lips together and shake my head.

  "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." He says and fixes his gaze solely on my eyes.

  "What . . . What are you doing?" I ask, shocked.

  He puts his finger on my lips and I instantly become quiet.

  "It's about your family. Confusion . . . betrayal . . . " He mutters.

  "How . . . how did you know that?" I ask as he removes his arms from around me.

  "It's about you." He completely ignores my question.

  "How did you know it?" I ask loudly. Once again, he completely ignores my question.

  I close the distance between us in two long strides and grab his shirt collar.

  "How did you know. I know that you are hearing me each time I am asking you and you are ignoring me on purpose," I say, my anger lashing out.

  He calmly takes my hands off of his short collar and holds them behind my back.

  He would expect me to calm down or apologise for grabbing hold of the Prince's collar, but we both know that it isn't going to happen. My eyes are still full of anger.