Chapter 5 | yeux noirs

"TODAY, I felt something. A power like none other. It scared me for a moment, but I know better to keep my guard up in such a situation. I stormed out of the tent, to find out four of my men, dead and lying on the ground. Their eyeballs were pullet out of their sockets, black blood flow out of their veins and their were fresh wounds all over their bodies.

I had never seen anything like this before. Helen reached out to me to comfort me but I didn't show any signs of weakness in front of my soldiers. I saw a note attached to their bodies and read it,

The real war has just started. There will be more. Next time it will be your bitch.

It was written with blood. I rushed back to my tent with Helen right behind me. She read the note and her eyes widened. I, for first time in my life, saw fear in her eyes.

We were in a middle of a war, and there was another one brewing in our own kingdom. Has everyone gone insane? What had we ever done with them to cause them to act in such a manner towards them?

Helen hugged me and told me to not to worry. That we will find a way out of this.

I really hope we will. I didn't want to loose her."

I was heartbroken. My mother's life was in constant danger during the war. The rebels had decided to attack the royals even though we were already at war with the Emeralds. How many lives did they wanted to claim? I used to think so highly of my kingdom. And now I doubt they deserve the sacrifices I would make for them. Was their happiness really above mine?

I continued reading, I had to know what was it all about.

"Everything has gone south. The Emeralds know about the war brewing inside my kingdom and they are attacking us with more effort. The magic shield we had installed is keeping them at bay but we will run out of time soon. We have to find some way to deal with these rebels.

I haven't slept in days and so has Helen. She is constantly with our sons. She fears for their lives. I, on the other hand, can't get out of the war room. I am doing my best to keep my family and subjects safe. The food isn't scarce because we had enough reserves for war. The rebels although, have snatched many of my brave warriors of their families just for being royals and siding with me. But they stand by my side. I couldn't be prouder of them.

Theodore suggests that we shift the women and children to the safe house. I feel the same. I have asked the other Governors to do the same. More rubies have joined the forces, including women. Helen herself is training them. I see hope but it is slowly vanishing.

I hope the rebels shut down...."

His entry ends there and I feel his grief. He was a king in a broken kingdom. What could be worse than that? I continue to read through the diary. It's been a long time since I have been here and my back aches. My gown feels somewhat uncomfortable to me right now and my legs are numb. But I need to continue if I am to get anywhere. I feel that those dead bodies are a key to something. It might be related to what is happening right now.

I soon arrive on the last entry. There were some mentions about the rebels but it looks like my father was more engrossed with the Emeralds back then. They had somewhat kept shut during these days. It seemed to me that some storm was brewing.

"It's been days. 26 days to be precise. There is no sign of the Emeralds as of now. But what I had witnessed 23 days ago was most of my concerns. I was strategizing when Helen suddenly burst into the warm room and asked me to follow. My heart skipped a beat. She seemed.... shocked.

I followed her, my hands never leaving hers. She took me to the Magic room and in front of me was something I had never seen before. There was a black liquid kept in a bowl and the Henrietta flower floating on in was black. Henrietta flower was never black.

What Helen said next was something blew my brains out. She claimed that it was black magic. But that was impossible. Black magic had been wiped from the face of the earth after the son of King William of Amethyst were killed by the Diamonds. It is a curse. It is unnatural. It is the deadliest of the magic. Even thinking about it right now sends shivers through my spine.

She claimed that the person who possessed such a magic was a hybrid. The person had parents from two different kingdoms which was hard to believe as everyone knows the consequences of such a deed. But that was the only logic Helen could offer to me at that point of time. Whatever might be the reason, it was essential that we find a way to deal with this problem.

We left for the Kingdom of Diamonds the very next day. My brother assured that he would be able to handle the defenses till I was gone. We had to hurry as we didn't have much time on our hands. The journey was through a portal that Helen easily formed. The Diamonds have only allowed the Rubies to visit them in such a times. They owe us their lives.

We met the First Diamond, the king of Diamonds. His wife, the Second, accompanied him to the entrance of their palace to greet me and Helen. They seemed kind enough to us. They should be after all we had gone through because of a single stupid mistake of theirs. If they had to murder the children, they could have at least thought it through! They could have done it without the others knowing about it. Guess, they weren't that smart after all.

We soon informed them of our grievances and so say that they were terrified would be an understatement. They were scared of their lives. The promise had been broken again, and the consequences will be fatal for everyone. But why in our kingdom? We had defended their honor all the time. We had been good all the time. Lady Ruby should be proud of us!

The Diamonds immediately got to work and tried to find a cure to this. Obviously, the creature was old enough to threaten us. No one has ever dealt with black magic before because their first harbors were killed as soon as they were born. The magic was cruel and powerful. We had to find a way to deal with this.

The next day, they informed us about the only cure they could come up with. We had to call upon Guru. He was more powerful than everyone. After all he lived in the Forbidden forest, which was the main source of magic for all us Rubies. We agreed.

We went back to the kingdom of Rubies with the First and Second Diamond and a few of their soldiers and court members. The security was on high alert and no one was informed about their arrival. It was going to be a brief visit. Through the portal, we visited the Forbidden forest and found Guru where he always was. He looked bored but then, it was the life he chose. The forest looked magnificent as always.

But this time, Guru was behaving differently. He agreed to help us without asking us anything in return. Yes, for an ancestor he is extremely greedy but he helps us. When we told him about what had happened, he simply smirked. He was close to Lady Ruby so of course he had a cure. There is always a cure.

We shall worship the First Borns and wish for their forgiveness. As he was close to Lady Ruby, he was the one to perform the ritual. As the creature was in our kingdom, we had to sacrifice something in order to eliminate the threat. Moreover, the creature had to be summoned on the ritual ground to kill it. It was dangerous but Guru insured that he wouldn't let any scratch come to me especially. As I said, he was weird.

The ritual was in haze. We had to wait for 3 days before he was finally ready to perform it. He had decided to perform the ritual in the open because it would be very dangerous to do so in the open. He took mine and the First Diamond's blood in a bowl and kept them at the centre. He then started chanting some mantra I had unheard of. The marks on the ground starting glowing and a pattern was formed on the ground.

Suddenly, twelve people appeared in front of us. They had black eyes, the eyes of the cursed individuals. They were obviously not expecting to end up in a forest in the middle of night. But they soon came to senses and started defending themselves. Helen and the other Diamonds contained them with their magic. It took every ounce of their power to contain them. they developed a shield around them.

They looked just like us. Some had white skin, some tanned skin. But they all had black eyes. It felt weird, but they looked so normal. Their blood was black, you could see it in their veins. There were 5 women and 7 men. They were at least in their twenties. They surely had been planning this for a long time. No wonder they always end up winning every time but this ends today. They have to be eradicated.

Guru continued with his mantra, oblivious of the fight happening in front of him. I stood in front of him, to defend him. In a few seconds, he opened his eyes and asked me if I was ready to make a sacrifice when the time was possible, even though it meant killing myself. I agreed without giving it much of thought and he did the same with the First Diamond who was busy fighting. When he agreed too, he simply held the bowl in his hands and chanted something.

The blood turned into a golden powder. He joined the others in the fight. He asked Helen and others to contain the cursed in magic leash, and with the last of their energy they held them in the leash. They were too powerful to contain but Guru dispersed the powder in the air and as soon as it landed on the cursed, they turned into ashes.

Everyone gasped as the cursed disappeared in front of us. Guru then disposed off the ashes by burying them in the ground.

It was all over. The cursed ones were gone. Finally.

But I hope the price isn't much for me to pay.

I hope."

I close the journal and I know what to do.

I rush to the court room, after keeping the journal back to it's original place. I didn't notice the people around me, I was a woman on mission. This was the only answer I can get as of now. I didn't have the blood, but I can connect to the source of magic. I know the trick for pure magic and I hoped it's the same for the black magic.

The court room was luckily empty as of now. I grab a Henrietta flower and rush to the magic room. The flower felt heavy in my hands as I wasn't crowned the Enchantress. When I shall be crowned in the presence of Lady Ruby and blessed with the ultimate powers of the flower, I would be able to hold it easily. But right now, being a royal only won't help me able to harness it's power completely, but it will be enough. I just had to see the color of the flower when it detects the source of the magic.

I enter the magic room and place the flower in a bowl filled with Holy water. I place the bowl on the map and hold on to the belongings of my uncle. The Alvy must have gone to their homes as it was night. I focus on the belongings and grab the bowl in between my hands. I channel the magic that is preventing me from connecting to my uncle into the bowl. The magic running in my veins starts heating up my body, draining it of energy. But I had to keep on continuing.

My body starts shivering, but I can feel the source. I grab it with my magic, a small portion of it. The energy that blocked my own magic seems to be way too powerful for me to handle. But then as soon as I grab the energy, I drift to another dimension. My soul had been pulled out of my body. The source of the magic wants to see me.

There is sun everywhere and the grass is green, that means I am no longer in the capital. There are mountains everywhere. The place looks beautiful, the sun giving comforting warmth to my body. I see a figure standing right a few metres away from me and I run towards the person. I am a few centimetres away from the person when the figure turns to face me.

The figure is a guy, with the most beautiful black eyes I had ever seen. He had red rose lips like me and tanned skin. His nose is just like mine, but his ears are a bit bigger than mine. He somewhat reminds me of my father when he was young, which seemed a bit weird to me. Am I in the past?

He simply holds my hands and pulls me in a hug. I am shocked. An anonymous guy had just hugged me. When he pulls away, I just couldn't keep myself from looking at his eyes. They seemed way to familiar to me. They were just like mine! His silky black hair had some red streaks. He looked handsome for sure.

"Hey, princess." He says.

I gasp. How does he know I am a princess? It was my soul, so I wasn't wearing my crown. I just had a maroon gown on. When I glanced at him, he was wearing black shirt and jeans.

"It's been so long. Mother would be so proud of you." He says. I feel confused. What was he trying to say? Is he nuts or what? My mother didn't know him, I am for sure or she should have told me about it. He must have sensed my confusion.

"He didn't tell you a thing, didn't he? Well, don't worry one day I will. And then, no one will be able to separate us. But as of now, you need to go back. You have finally awoken the hidden magic inside of you. It would be difficult for you to handle but soon, it will be a part of you. I know." He says.

Then he pulls me again in a hug for what seemed like a few minutes. It felt oddly comforting to be with him; I couldn't kill his soul then and there. I felt helpless.

"As much as I hate to say this, but you must go back. Orrin must be worried about you. We will meet again, princess. Nothing can keep us apart." He says.

How did he know my father? What the hell is going on?

But before I could say something, everything turned dark.

He was gone.