A Crown in Shadows - Part Two

Authors Note: Please find Part One HERE

“The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished.” Phaeno continued after welcoming Prince Flynn, “as it has done for the past 729 years. I'm sure you're aware of the history, Prince Flynn?” he asked, inviting Flynn to speak in front of the Gods.

“Yes Great Ones, I know it well.” Flynn stammered the response, he looked around at the 16 eyes expectantly upon him. It took him a moment to realise they wanted him to continue, “umm well, yes, around 700 years ago..”

“729” interrupted Theria, Goddess of Light.

Flynn hesitated, “Yes, um, 729 years ago I guess, the first Queen of Lubel was sent on a boat from…”

He paused and looked around at the giant room, and the eight Gods sat in front of him, feeling his confidence improving with each word he said, "Here, from you. Before that the country was at war, there are scholars who claim there were as many as twenty two people claiming to be a King or Queen at one time, but no one could ever stand out as the one true leader of the country. Your generosity rang out as you sent down a message from the Gods, a message with a messenger, and that messenger was there to stay. My ancestor, the first true Queen of Lubel, Queen Hylandra. I don’t know a lot about her personal life, but I know when she arrived she was around thirty years old. I assume she is a child of one of yours, but she never disclosed her parentage."

He paused then, wondering if anyone would interject with a correction, or even accept that as the truth, when no one offered any additional information however, he continued, “She reigned for twenty-seven years before a disease previously unheard of caught up to her and took her life from her, not before she had met a human, Todrick, who she fell in love with, married, and had six kids with. The eldest died at a young age, and her second child, her eldest daughter, Lanthia took the throne when Queen Hylandra passed. In those twenty-seven years, the Queen settled the country's biggest disputes with fair and even treaties, she also squashed any uprisings before they had the chance to get moving. She had power, at least that’s what is believed now, that she was able to control people, or bend them to her will, allowing her to take full control of the country with little resistance. After that there have been very few uprisings from others claiming King or Queenship in the country, and those claims and uprisings have been dealt with efficiently and effectively. Starting with Queen Hylandra as the first, my mother was the twenty-sixth Monarch, and yes, I have been forced to memorise them all in order.”

He would have continued, but Quona, Goddess of Love raised her hand, palm out, stopping him in his tracks. “That’s enough Prince Flynn, we trust you know them all, as do we. You are correct on all accounts except for one, Hylandra was not one of our children. She was one of us, the ninth Goddess. Never written about or told stories of, she was almost completely unheard of, and slipped away of her own accord to shape the way your country looks now. As soon as she left the confines of our Haven up here at the top of the mountain she became, as she knew she would, mortal. Immortality can be hard when we are confined to the top of the mountain, but we learn to deal with it, we can control things the way we like them perfectly well from up here, and we keep an eye on what happens. Humans usually cannot enter our Haven, do you know why you have been able to cross our barrier?” She asked expectantly, her voice was unbelievably pleasant, she caught Flynn off guard with the question, and he had to pull himself together before answering.

“One would assume it is due to my heritage, being a far descendant of a Goddess, the blood still runs through me, although there cannot be much there.” Flynn responded.

Quona smiled a staggering smile, that could sway even a married man, at the response, but it wasn’t she who responded. Luscon, God of Peace entered the conversation, his voice soft and nurturing, “Although that would be the logical answer, I’m afraid it’s incorrect, and quite frankly a trick question.” She glanced in Quona’s direction, but didn’t elicit a response from her, “You have been able to cross our barrier, quite simply because we wanted you too. As soon as your ancestor Hylandra left the Haven with the intention to physically intervene she gave up her rights to freely come and go, and due to that, her Godly blood which now flows through you makes no difference. You are not the first to travel out this far, and surely will not be the last. But you are however the first who has ventured that we have allowed in.” He spoke kindly, but there was an air of authority to him that should not be crossed.

Flynn stood in silence, unsure of what to say now, his place here, and what his reason for being in this room was. The silence became uncomfortable, but he was determined not to shy his gaze away from the intimidating Gods.

He cleared his throat, ready to ask the question he had wanted to since he met the Gods, “Why am I here? Why did you allow me to enter your Haven?” He looked around him wondering which one would answer. The voice came from his left, and he turned to see Daa’ev, God of Hate responding to his question.

“We knew you were destined to come to us even before you were born, and we would like to make you an offer. We have been watching Lubel closely, and over the last one hundred years or so, the ruling power has been getting greedier and less sympathetic towards its people.” Daa’ev had a surprisingly gentle voice, Flynn had no idea why, he couldn’t think of a single reason why or how hate could be gentle. He could only speculate that the Gods either didn’t necessarily represent their powers, or they could choose not to.

“The offer is quite simple, you have three choices.” Continued Grayver, Goddess of Death, “The first choice we provide you is to become a God. As you have stated, you have our blood, it is within our power to grant you access to the power you hold within you, and only after that will we know what those powers are.” Flynn took this news in pure shock, not knowing how to react, he stood in stunned silence.

Luscon, Goddess of Peace followed on, “your second choice relates to what Daa’ev was saying, we have seen the way that the rule has changed recently, and we can't see it changing without us intervening, so we can send you back as the next King of Lubel, the same way Hylandra graced Lubel with her presence, atop a boat, down the Crystalbrook. We have watched you, seen your interactions with the people, we know you would make a better King than Prince Carter who would be much the same as your mother, if not more arrogant and self loving.” Flynn had only just about recovered from being offered Godship, and now immediately after he'd been hit with another staggering choice, he couldn't believe they were real options for him. There simply was no way it could be true, could it? Before he could wrap his head around both of those options, his mouth hanging open in shock, Marrus, God of Dark gave Flynn his final choice;

“You are welcome to return back to Lubel and continue your life as you please with no repercussions. You will however remember this interaction with us, and know that you had the opportunity to change your future, and the future of others.” Flynn took this in, understanding what Marrus meant by his final sentence, his brother, Carter, would be an awful ruler, and if Flynn decided to leave now, and go back to Lubel, the country would struggle, and Flynn would have to live with the fact that he could have been the difference the country needed. He could already see the kind of Kingdom his brother would create, and knowing this, he knew he must choose one of the other options.

Becoming a God was never something he'd even considered a possibility, he wouldn't know where to start, he knew nothing of this Haven, nor how far he could travel, and there's no doubt there were rules he'd need to follow that he wouldn't find out until after he'd decided.

Becoming a King however, had been on his mind since he could think, ever since he was five he knew he would do a better job at it than his three year older brother who was already at that age staggeringly irritating, although their mother didn't see it that way. Prince Flynn was always the one who had done wrong, it had never been Carter's fault, and it never would be. Flynn was always second best, and third best when his younger brother Dravin was around.

“I take very kindly to your offers, I believe for me there is only one choice however, and that would be to be sent down as King, and hope the people would get behind me.” Prince Flynn had talked through the decision in his head in just a few short moments. And he decided the Gods should have his full explanation, so he told them about how he'd never thought himself to be Godworthy, never believed it could be an option one day, and why would he? He spoke about the injustice of being the third favourite child out of three, and he spoke about how it would have been almost impossible for him to walk away from all this.

It was the last God to speak, Kunlan, God of Light, who responded to Flynn. “We know this cannot be an easy decision for you to make Prince Flynn, and as I'm sure you're aware, your path ahead of you is not an easy one. But, although we cannot see exactly the decisions to be made, and the path you will take, we know you are destined for greatness. And so, it shall be, decreed by the Gods, the twenty-seventh ruler of Lubel shall be King Flynn.” Kunlan raised his voice as he got to the end of his mini speech, ending by almost shouting Flynns name, but there was no cheering, no clapping, no celebration. It was just a statement, and a loud one, wholeheartedly underwhelming.

But that did not discourage Flynn, his face controlled itself for a moment and put a wide grin on. Flynn was unable to take back control for a few seconds, the silence carried on for a few moments more and Flynn was about to ask what happened next when Phaeno, God of War, the God who greeted him, spoke: “We shall now bless you, before sending you on your way.” and with that, each of them spoke to him in turn, starting with Phaeno on his far left, followed by Luscon, then Theria, Daa’ev, Marrus, Quona, Kunlan and finally Grayver to his right;

“By our powers,

Both small and great,

We grant you this strength,

From the Power of Eight.”

“To be a good ruler,

Be compassionate and wise,

And most important of all,

Keep your eyes on the prize.”

“The prize isn't money,

As people understand,

The prize is the people,

That live in this land.”

“So now you must travel,

Down the Crystalbrook,

Aboard a narrow ship,

Your ancestor once took."

“You must now discover,

What power you hold,

Become a great leader,

Be brave, and be bold.”

“To be a good King,

And keep your land from ash and dust,

You must be kind,

Be fair and be just.”

“The power we give,

Can be taken away,

So do not be rash,

From the path do not stray."

“There will be songs written,

That your subjects will sing,

Pure of heart you must be,

To be our new King.”

Flynn looked at each of them in turn as they spoke, finally finishing with Grayver on his right. Flynn felt stronger somehow already, more sure of himself. Somehow, he had known all along that this was his destiny, he would be King, he just never imagined how.

He looked around the room at the Gods before him, and bowed deeply, “I cannot thank you enough for the power bestowed upon me today, I vow to do my best for Lubel.” With that, King Flynn stood, and the Gods dismissed him.

He walked back down the steps that led up to the monumental building and followed the snaking path back down towards the river. Upon reaching the river he saw a beautiful long narrow ship, with twelve oars either side, but not a soul on board. The figurehead was a traditional dragon, having been flying the lands for millennia, some say even the Gods are scared not to honour them by representing them on their ships.

The sail stood high displaying the emblem of the Gods, a four pointed star laid on top of a five pointed star, and he now understood the meaning of the nine points. Queen Hylandra was the ninth point, he wasn't sure yet whether to keep that information to himself, or let people know. He knew it would make the head of Prince Carter swell even bigger knowing he had descended from Gods. Flynn could not wait to see Carter's face however, when he comes down the Crystalbrook, it will be worth all the gold in all of Lubel.

King Flynn boarded the ship, and no sooner than he was ready, the ship set sail, the oars rowing themselves, the edge of the Haven approaching, and the Queendom of Lubel patiently unknowingly awaiting their new King.