Rei was born the smallest daughter of the Kings four children. Not the youngest, that was her sister, Joy, who brought their father nothing but happiness and laughter. Rei was second youngest, the middle child who received a lack of attention. The second oldest, however, didn’t have this problem because noble Felix was the only son and the heir to his father’s crown. A great warrior and strategist, he promised the kingdom of Captria years of prosperity during his reign. Lisa was the oldest and she knew it. When she wasn’t caring for the animals or out dancing with the newest prince, she could always be found telling the rest of the kids what to do; a perfect replica of Mother, the queen. So when father went hunting or had a meeting, or performed any other kingly duties, he was with Felix. At any other time, young Joy was sitting tall and proud, looking regal on fathers lap. And when Mother took a break from ordering slaves around or making decrees, it was Lisa at her side. Which left Rei to do as she pleased, as long as she wasn’t causing too much trouble.
So Rei found solitude in the library of the castle. She made friends with the books, and if anyone ever bothered to ask her a question, she always would have known the answer. So it stands to reason that she was sitting in her chair in the library with her dog, Bailey (a rust colored Corgi and Rei’s constant companion) sitting on her lap when she first learned of the Darkness.
She had been reading a book entitled “The Fall of Great Nations” when Molly, her mother’s messenger slave, came to Rei. It was obvious that Molly had learned of bad news because she kept fidgeting and wringing her hands. She wouldn’t meet Rei’s eyes. Rei said politely, “Yes Molly, you may speak.” Molly looked up, wide-eyed and nervous and reported, “Your mother has sent me to deliver the news. You are to meet in the Round Hall with the rest of the royal family. A conference of sorts is being held there in one hour exactly. I have been told by Lisa to add that you are to look well, since you never know when father’s meetings include company. This means wash up, dress nicely, groom your hair, and for the god of all things social, Melech’s sake, do not embarrass us. And since you probably wish to bring that dog, see to it that she is looking well. Tie a ribbon around her neck. Don’t be late.” Molly finished speaking and her voice changed from a monotonous drone to her usual worried tone. “Thank you Princess Rei.” She bowed and walked quickly out of the room.
Rei knew that something important must have been happening, since it was a very rare occurrence that she was called into her father’s conferences. She followed Molly’s instructions and arrived in the Round Hall five minutes early with Bailey trotting behind her, looking slightly irritated about the pink ribbon that had been tied around her neck. Rei wished to prove that she could, in fact, do many things. She had been told numerous times that she couldn’t and that she should try to be more like so-and-so, who was very successful in some way or other. Rei wished that she were successful, but knew she would always be in the shadow of one of her siblings.
Rei stood up tall, reaching her full 4’11” height, and strolled into the room. She found her siblings lined up according to age, sitting in miniature royal thrones that mimicked either the kings or the queens. Rei took the third seat, noting that Joy’s was empty as she was sitting on father’s lap. Joy was eight, two years younger than Rei, but still an inch taller. Felix was thirteen, and though he was 5’11”, it was likely that he would grow to the king’s 6’3” height. Lisa, who was sixteen, was the queen’s “mini me”. She was 5’8” and was the only child who had their mothers long red hair. She wore it in the exact same fashion. Tightly braided in a fishtail style. She had also received mother’s brown eyes, as had Rei. Rei, on the other hand, had her fathers honey brown hair. She was proud of its length (it was longer than even the Queens) and wore it straight down. Her other siblings had also received fathers hair and his green eyes. Joy wore her hair in a bob. She was the only girl in the kingdom with short hair. Her brother, for reasons unknown to Rei, seemed to be attractive to many young girls for miles around. Rei and her brother were somewhat close and he smiled and exchanged a few words with Rei before being sharply “shushed” by Lisa. Bailey jumped up into Joy’s empty chair next to Rei and received no objections since she was the royal dog. Rei absentmindedly pet Bailey as she stared at the crowd of villagers who stood facing the royal family. They were quietly chatting, waiting for some sort of meeting to begin. The king cleared his throat and silence followed. He then began to describe the Darkness to everyone, occasionally asking for a certain person to speak. The Darkness seemed to be some sort of a being who fed on light. Wherever it went, it left permanent clouds that covered the sun. It fed on flames, inhaling them and absorbing their brightness. Torches it had touched wouldn’t ignite, and neither would torches used to replace them. If it ate a fire, a new fire wouldn’t relight in its place. A farmer explained that his crops had all wilted with no light from the sun. A blacksmith narrated how he could no longer work since he could not melt or mold metal with no fire. A man raved that his family would freeze when winter came if they had no fire. A cook unable to cook. Policemen who couldn’t see criminals. The Darkness seemed to have an effect on everyone here. Wherever it went, endless nights seemed to follow, but the moon and the stars were hardly seen. The Darkness seemed to grow stronger with every bit of light it ate and there was little anyone could do to stop it. One man had tried. He had seen what seemed to be a black cloud at the edge of the town. He rushed out to attack it, but as soon as they touched, the mans shadow was sucked into the creature, and he instantly fell to the ground. He was still alive, but his family said that he seemed hollow, with no personality. In a vegitative state, some might say. The Darkness seemed to have started at the edge of the kingdom, and was moving at a slow but steady rate inwards. In approximately a month, it would reach the castle at the heart of the kingdom. “Then, said the king, all will be lost.”
There were murmurs from the crowd. Then an old woman pushed to the front and requested to speak. She was a priestess in the temple. Her goddess was Onia, goddess of guidance, travel, wisdom, and change. Onja had always been Rei’s favorite goddess. Joy liked Gresh, the goddess of entertainment, dance and the arts. Felix prayed only to Creyar, god of strength, battle, fear, power and other things that men were supposed to be good at. Lisa worshipped Eleir, goddess of balance, family and the home, as did her mother. But the queen also worshipped Shoreldy, god of healing, life and control. The king, wishing to be well rounded, looked to all gods and prayed to them equally. So when her father gave the priestess permission to speak, it was Rei who listened the closest.
The priestess spoke loudly, her voice quivering and raspy and every person in the room heard her. She said that Onia had spoken to her of an ancient prophecy. She repeated the prophecy as the goddess had said it:
“There will be a shadow that sweeps the land
That leaves great destruction in its path.
It is one of three daughters the king hath
She has until the first snow falls
To defeat the blackness that twists and bends
If once it touches the castle walls
Then shadow rules and kingdom ends
To choose the daughter who will succeed
Youngest, oldest or even middle
And learn what is the saving deed
She has had to solve this riddle
Cross the waters where dangers lie
And descend to the place where a bear doth sleep
But to retrieve what burns the eye
You must give up what you hope to keep
You will know the girl you’ve chosen is she
When she tells you the first place you seek
Check and a bright light there will be
But guess who and fore what makes warriors shriek.”
So the Priestess bowed and retreated, disappearing into the large group. There was a confused murmuring, and eventually one brave townsperson figured enough out to shout, “S0, figure out which girl it is.” So they did. Lisa was eager to go first. She figured that she would go to where there was light and water. She thought about it and led them to the baptism pool, where light would shine through a window. But when the mob arrived, a large bird landed in the window and blocked the light. With Lisa seething mad, they turned to young Joy. Joy hadn’t been paying attention, so after hearing the riddle again Joy skipped over to the kitchen. She said a cook poisoned the drinks. Unfortunately, no light flashed and after testing the drinks they found them to be completely harmless, and the angry cook pushed imaginative Joy and the crowd out of the kitchen. Realizing what this meant, the shocked crowd turned to quiet, unnoticed Rei.
Rei thought about the riddle. Waters where dangers lie. She laughed at its simplicity. It was very obvious. She led them to the beach of the Trecharous Sea. As they arrived the sun set over an island in the distance. It flashed on the water, brightly illuminating everything. In this bright flash of light, Rei noticed a beautiful shell by her feet that shone with all the colors of the rainbow. She had just enough time to pick it up and put it in her pocket before her brother strolled up to her.
“It’s no wonder it was you, with all the time you spend reading in that library. I bet you even heard the riddle before.” He smirked.
“I’ve heard similar.” She joked.
They looked at each other and burst out laughing. Unfortunately this brought the attention of the villagers. They quickly encircled her, pushing her brother away, and began demanding that she figured out the rest of the riddle. Once they calmed down and the hostility faded, a nice motherly woman asked, “Dear, what do you think you have to do?”
Rei puzzled it out. “Well, first I must cross the Trecharious Sea. I shouldn’t do this alone.” Bailey howled. “Yes,” Rei said, patting the dog. “I’ll bring you, but I will need some knights to accompany me. Next, where does a bear sleep?”
As she paused to consider the question, a sarcastic farmer asked, “Aren’t you the one who is supposed to know the answers?”
Suddenly Rei’s short-lived popularity was over. The people started yelling.
“Yeah, she is!” A dirty peasant answered.
“Why was she picked?” Pondered an unseen member of the crowd who sounded suspiciously like Lisa.
“Maybe it was an accident.” A little girl guessed.
“No, it wasn’t. Too much happened for that to be an accident. That was definitely Devine intervention. But…” The little girls father trailed off as he tried to explain things to his 4 year old.
“But why her?” someone else finished his sentence.
“Yeah, she can’t figure it out.” A shrill female voice pointed out.
“She can’t do anything.” A builder agreed.
That last comment hit Rei the hardest. It was as if two dams had both burst open inside of her at the same time. The first one had been withholding all the knowledge in the world. It was a blessing from Onai. The next powers were minor gifts from other Gods. Some bravery from Creyar, safety from Silim, enhanced senses when in danger from Maris, and an uncanny sense of direction from Zemurd.
She felt the bravery first. She marched over to the builder who had made the last comment. “You! Is that any way for a peasant to speak to a princess?” She enquired. Shocked, the peasant began tripping over his own words. “W-w-w-wwell, I – I – I, um, not, n-n-n-n-no, b-but I …..” He trailed off mumbling.
”I could have you imprisoned, killed, enslaved for live. It would be so easy. And you have made me quite angry.” Rei pressed on.
“You, I c-c-c-c-ccccc-c-could…” the builder stammered, his eyes wide with terror as he looked around at the other members of the mob desperately. They all looked away, not knowing how to help.
“Furthermore, I wish to know what would possess you to say such a thing about me. You don’t even know me. You can tell me after you apologize, of course. Now, please.”
“Sorry, s-so sorry.” The builder bowed and attempted to compose himself. “I – I truly have not an idea. I w-was wrong. Forgive m –m – me Princess.” He bowed again.
“Understood, I accept your apology. I expect that it will never happen again. That goes for everyone!” She said, turning to face the townspeople. “Got that?”
There was a sort of stunned silence around the large group. Even the Royal Family was in shock. Rei’s brother shook himself out of a daze, and strode confidently over to her. Then, standing next to her, he turned to face the group. “Well, it seems we should do what my little sister says.”
Once again everyone just nodded. She was the only choice as the prophecy had said. Guessing wasn’t an option. Rei was the one.
“A place where a bear sleeps. I’m thinking forest, but when you cross the Trecharious, there is no forest. In fact, all that there really is …”
Everybody turned to stare at the island in the distance. It had many names: Eternal Island, Land of Flames, Flashplace, Star Island, Treasure Shore, Windless Island, Sea’s Mountain, and many more.
Legend had it that a star once fell from the sky and landed on that very spot. Soon the water began to bubble and a mountain rose up from the depths of the sea. As the sun set over the new island, wind stopped blowing there. With a bright flash the creation was complete. Though the Island had many names, the mountain had only one. Maze Mountain was a good name. Many people had gone into the mountain, but the small number of people who came out was in no condition to tell of its secrets. So the mountain stayed mysterious. There were some things people believed they knew about it. Supposedly, the Island held great riches. There were allegedly many large colorful gemstones and valuable metals there. There were even rumors that the star remained in the heart of the mountain, undisturbed by wind and eternally burning, but there were caves on that mountain. Caves where a bear could sleep.
So the ten-year old Princess, her dog, and the few knights and warriors of her choice, were going to attempt to be the first to enter and successfully exit the mountain. The fate of the Kingdom rested on the little girl.
Rei began planning. Assuming she needed two weeks to explore the mountain and that would mean… It was fall; she had a month until the first snow fell. Two days to prep, three days to reach the island, two weeks to explore it, four days to travel back, and five days to fight the Darkness. Thirty days to face innumerable challenges. The journey to the island should really only take about a day, but the Trecharious was accurately named. There were many dangers, storms, creatures of the deep, and unexplored perils. Three days to get there, four days to protect whatever they brought back.
The preparations included finding good boats to transport them, arming the warriors and knights, packing, and teaching the Princess to battle. Among the things that Rei packed was the shell she had found on the beach, which seemed to almost obsess her.
The warriors would be traveling in separate boats, surrounding Rei and keeping her safe, apart from one knight who would remain in her boat in case anything should be able to reach her. Bailey would of course be traveling in the boat with Rei, and somehow this dog gave Rei just as much of a safe feeling as the knight did. Though Bailey was small, she was as fierce as a lion.
They set off on their journey at a slow, steady pace. Rei became close to the knight in her boat, whose name was Bob. She told Bob of her concerns about not knowing enough fighting moves. He taught her as many as he could in the small rickety boat. The moves he taught her came in handy on the second day of their travels, when they had to fight a giant sea squid. It was a difficult battle and they lost one of their five boats.
Later the very same day, they ran out of food because Bailey ate it all. While they were fishing for food, they caught a mermaid who granted them one wish. Rei wished for an end to the Darkness, but the mermaid said she was not so powerful as to grant that wish, that the gods seemed to have a plan for how that should be accomplished. Instead Rei wished for a way to communicate telepathically with everyone in her party. This would come in handy if they were ever to be separated. Night came swiftly on the Trecharious Sea, and when the soldier who was keeping vigil fell asleep, they lost yet another boat to a Sea Serpent. The third day proved uneventful. Rei managed to learn how to fight with the knife she had packed, thanks once again to Bob.
Finally they arrived safely at the Island on the third night. With nearly half of their party gone, they became extremely cautious in traversing the jungle that encircled the mountain. In this jungle, they filled their bags with exotic fruit and their canteens with fresh water. Bob taught Rei which foods were toxic and which were safe to eat. They reached the base of the enormous mountain by the end of the fourth night. They set up camp there and Rei fell asleep to the sounds of birds singing and wild animals growling softly, roaring, or howling. Climbing the mountain was a challenge, but they created a harness to carry Bailey since she couldn’t climb, and things went much more quickly. On the sixth day, weary from climbing for so long, their hands callused and feet blistered and hardened, the group reached a colossal cave. After traveling a mile into its depth, they were suddenly faced with a decision. The cave was forked into two paths. Rei heard noise coming from the fork on the left and chose to follow the sounds. The sound was a sort of resonating echo, the sound faint because the source was probably many miles away. Rei’s decision seemed to be the right one for they reached many more crossroads instead of dead ends. Rei’s mentor Bob, and a few of the other members of the party, came down with a sickness on the eighth day. Rei set up a small camp on the spot for the sick members and left all but three of the largest healthy warriors behind. They needed to recover, and she needed to keep moving. On the same day her choice in warriors proved to be the wrong one. The only way to continue on was through a small crevice in the wall. The warriors could not fit through so Rei was forced to go on by herself, with only Bailey to accompany her. She sent the three warriors back to care for those who were sick, guiding them telepathically whenever they had a choice to make. By the eleventh day Rei had made countless decisions, following the sound of the noise. It had gotten progressively louder the further she had journeyed into the cave. It was on day eleven that she found the source of the noise. She walked into a large cavern at the heart of the mountain, and immediately shielded her eyes. Not only had her eyes become accustomed to the darkness inside the mountain, but the small star burned more brightly than anything Rei had ever seen. It rested on a pedestal-like stalagmite, and was like a small, round, hand sized flame, but it burned without fuel. It was fire, she realized, and Rei became instantly distraught. How could she hold it or bring it back?
The shell. Rei heard the words in her head. She looked down at the rust colored dog standing next to her, realizing her wish had affected Bailey as well. She smiled at the fact that she was about to talk to a dog.
What about the shell? Rei asked.
You must give up what you hope to keep. The dog quoted the riddle. The shell is what you hope to keep. You must give it up to retrieve the eternal flame, the star. Give up the shell.
WHAT! I-I couldn’t do that. How would that help anything? Rei was startled and confused.
Throw the shell at the star. The shell will be destroyed, but you will be able to hold and move the flame. It is the only way. Bailey explained.
Rei pulled the beautiful shell out of her bag. She couldn’t bear the thought of destroying something so gorgeously elegant. It still seemed to have a power over her. As she stared at it, she was mesmerized. For some reason, she couldn’t imagine destroying it. She turned the shell over and over in her hands.
Human? You must hurry. The great shadow is growing as we speak. Think of the kingdom, the castle, your brother, the library. All you love could be lost. The dogs voice snapped Rei out of a trance. Pictures of all she loved flashed through her head and gave her the strength she needed.
Okay. Said Rei to Bailey. Here goes nothing!
Rei threw the shell before she could stop herself. The pair watched as the shell turned through the air, its rainbow tint making beautiful patterns swim on the walls. Then the shell and star collided. The star flared, its heat grew intense. The low hum that had been resonating in the room turned loud and high-pitched. Then the star shrunk down to its original size, colored a deep purple.
Rei walked over to it and discovered that she could pick it up. It only burned with a pleasant warm heat. Rei held it in her hand as she ran back to where her party had set up camp. She prayed and thanked Zemurd for his gift of an uncanny sense of direction as she went. She found her group had all recovered from their illness.
They reached the shore of the island on the sixteenth day of their travels, a day ahead of schedule. On the way back they fought a few more monsters and lost one more boat. Rei reflected on all they had lost and took a moment to mourn. When they arrived on the shores of Captria on day twenty-one, they had Rei’s boat and only two others out of the original five small ships. Rei had learned many more fighting styles from Bob. The group charged through the mostly dark kingdom to the castle. It was very cold and Rei feared that it might snow sooner than she thought. Much sooner. She arrived at the castle and found that the Darkness was only three days away. She rested for one day, then rushed out to meet the Darkness in her new, custom made suit of armor. She carried the star in her hand, and Bailey came with her to the scene of the battle. They soon came upon the Darkness.
The first thing Rei noticed was that it seemed to have eyes. Blood red eyes with slits for pupils, eyes that embodied all that was evil. When these eyes saw Rei, the shadowy body began to writhe and move and take shape. It became a dragon, a huge beast that was half snake, half bat. In all the stories Rei had read, nobody ever fought the dragon and lived. Rei became afraid, all the self-doubt that had been implanted into her head over the years caught up to her. She began to shake. She would have run away, but her feet refused to work. The smoky dragon let out a gigantic roar and Rei felt the star in her hand grow suddenly warmer.
Touch the star to the dragon. That is how you defeat it now, great human. When cold and shadow meet heat and substance, then both will cease to exist. They cancel each other out. I will give you the opportunity. Bailey spoke to Rei soothingly.
Then the medium size dog began to bark and run away from Rei and toward the dragon, attracting its attention. When the beasts eyes were off of her, Rei felt hope coming from the small star in her hands. Rei threw the star as hard as she could. It hit the dragon and seemed to suck all the darkness inside of itself, dimming as it did so. Finally, The last of the Darkness was sucked into the dark star, and what now seemed to be a rock fell to the ground. Rei walked over to the spot where the star should have fallen, and to her surprise she found a small, rainbow colored shell.
The kingdom rejoiced and Rei was a hero. After the festivities died down and her life became less busy, Rei had the shell made into a necklace. She wore the necklace always.
And many years later after things had been forgotten, if ever someone asked Rei about the pretty shell necklace she wore, she launched into a great tale of light and darkness, a rust colored corgi, a shadowy dragon, a star, and a little girl.
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