Part 1 - Chapter VI. Paths of memory

Once, in ancient times, we lived very differently, and the beginning of the story of the Zila. And Constantine clearly irresistible, that it much more, than 16 years. We lived differently. We were happy. There was no poverty, hunger, disease, war, devastation and despair. This Kingdom was not infamous, and it was not called the Kingdom of shadows! It's actually the Middle Kingdom. Here lived a kind and peaceful people. And this city was the capital and it was called Avernas.

I stayed in the Royal Palace, because you are the Princess of a neighboring Kingdom Soligalim. The Royal castle is situated on the shore of the Great lake, and the Windows of my chambers looked directly on the lake surface. I always had a lot of flowers, and I brought them with me when I came to get acquainted with the applicant for my hand. The whole room was full of fresh flowers. Their sweet aroma filled the room and lay near the coastal waters.

I was so happy in those days! The Prince of the Middle Kingdom asked me to marry him, and I was already in love with him. We had a lot of different holidays. And we always celebrated them on a Grand scale. As now, it was a month of Yellow flowers. Do not be surprised, we have all the months named after some flowers, because we did not have cold weather and flowers bloomed all year round.

Now in the 20th day of the month of Yellow flowers in our kingdoms begins the celebration in honor of the forests Shui. This is a holiday dedicated to forest nymphs. On this day, every resident of the Kingdom planted a tree in the forest of Shui, the one on the hill. This is a very ancient forest, our kingdoms border this forest, so we have so many similar customs. I made friends with all future relatives – they are very good people.

The king Gaara had two older sons and a daughter. All were very beautiful and well-mannered. The sons are tall, slender, with long whitish hair and bright blue eyes. This is a hallmark of Royal blood descendants of the tribe of Damirovich.

Zila sighed, "You don't know the story of the brothers. But that's another story, a very long one. I'll tell you briefly, because I don't think we'll ever see each other again. Once on these lands came four brothers. The elder was Edigar, a tall dark-haired man with long hair and clear black eyes. He was a real hero. He occupied the upper lands, far to the North. And the younger brothers Damir and the twins Kamar and Ibrahim moved South. Twins do were similar only the face of. Eyes both have were vividly-green, only Kamar was brown hair, and Ibrahim red. They were always fighting and couldn't decide where to go. Then they turned around and they both went in different directions. Kamar went West and Ibrahim went East. Damir decided to stay in the center. He was blue-eyed and had long, pure white hair.

And so it happened, four of the knee: Edygarovichy, Ibralmovichy, Damirovichy and Komarovichy. If the Princess is a descendant of Edigar married a descendant of Damir, she was blonde with blue eyes. Conversely, if the girl Damirovichy married Prince Edygarovichy, she was burning brunette with black eyes.

- "And you, whose descendant?" - Costa decided to ask.

- "Me? I'm from the knee Damir. I have blue eyes that you can't see, and my hair is black so I don't get caught."

- "So what happened on Shui's day?" – asked Constantine. He was an attentive listener.

- "It all started with the fact that our king Gaar, preparing for the wedding with his daughter from the Kingdom of Birches. It was a beautiful Princess, calm, affectionate, loyal. She fell in love with Gaara. Her name was Pavva.

- What? Pavva? – quickened Costa, whose eyes suddenly lit up. He realized that he now listens to the story of the women wrong, which according to his passport name was Pavlina.

- Yes, Pavva. Good Royal name. She came with her retinue to the Palace of Avernas. Came with her and her laotong. That's what Pavva called her maid, with whom she grew up together. They were friends, and sisters. Her name was Namdilia. A beautiful girl, very much so. But the beauty of it is cold, terrible, formidable I'd say. And the king of Gaar was suddenly broken by a Royal oath and left his bride at the altar Pavva. He ran away and got married at the mountain sanctuary on Namdilia. Everyone was shocked. The sages said that it was a terrible crime and the Kingdom was waiting for punishment. But nothing they could do with the will of the king.

Gaar brought his young wife to the Palace. Pavva was shamed, there were rumors that the king refused the spoiled bride. Pavva would never have married now. And she began to serve the one that used to be only a servant. But unlike Pavva, Namdilia, which is now called the Queen a law lecturer in Namdi had a good heart. She bullied Pavva every day. Humiliating former Princess, it seemed, that she becomes great Queen.

Soon Gaar had children: two boys twins and a daughter. But with the youngest daughter, whose name was Casa, the king was especially close. She became his favorite.

It seemed that everything went on as usual, the older sons grew up and began to look for brides. Azamat is the eldest son of the king, made me an offer hands and hearts, sending envoy to Soligalim. I accepted the offer and came to Avernas.

Meanwhile, from the distant kingdoms, those closer to the West, came disturbing rumors of raids, killings and famine, but the king suppressed all rumors. He was told everything was fine. However, holiday Shui, when we went to plant trees, came a wounded harbinger, who cursed Gaar for treason. The king was surprised, he didn't understand what I mean. harbinger realized the scope of the conspiracy and that all harbingers before him were intercepted, and the news did not reach the king. He told the Gaar that the land to the North and the South fell under the onslaught of the descendants of Kamar. And now the kingdoms of the Midlands are being destroyed one by one. Gaar was terrified. His neighbors were crying out for help, and he didn't know!

The king gathered an army and hastily went to help. But his army was ambushed and all were killed. It was thought, that Gaar, too, is dead. The Queen rejoiced and proclaimed herself the only great Queen. All her children changed, they became angry, arrogant. And Azamat, too, became ill. He... He really hurt me and I ran away. I was declared a traitor. Daily executions took place in the main square. All holidays were cancelled. All inhabitants were levied a terrible dues. After a year there was a rumor that the Gaar alive. People had hope that he would win. But the Queen had a terrible power. She sent a squad of assassins from the West to find the king and kill him. The king had no army.

Gaar from death, saved his daughter Casa. She loved her father so much that she went secretly for his army. When her father was in mortal danger, she awoke the ancient genes of Seraphim – behind her spread her wings! Casa is the first earth maiden with wings.

There is an ancient prophecy about a descendant of the first flying earth maiden. About Casa's descendant. Queen Namdi also knew about this prophecy. Once the daughter went against her, once it opened the hidden forces, then it must be destroyed and all who can fulfill the prophecy. On the same day in all the kingdoms began to destroy the descendants of Damir. And we have only one thing left – to save the True king and his daughter, and wait for the time to come, to fulfill the prophecy.

All of this time Pavva was alongside Casa and Gaar. She helped the girl to get lost among the warriors and escape from the Queen mother. She was asked by Casa, when the king was severely wounded. And it was Pavva who took care of him and brought him back to health.

She hid them for a long time, but darkness was coming from everywhere. Queen Namdi called for some dark forces, then others, and once the veil of the worlds broke, which turned into a terrible disaster. Came to light terrible monsters, beasts, dark beings. They filled all the kingdoms.Even the Queen had to choose another residence, and here settled creepy wolfhounds and other evil spirits, and Queen Namdi decided to fill the Avernas shadows that feed on fear and the souls of the living, that would destroy any resistance.

We realized Casa can't stay here. Pavva distracted the Queen's guards, and the king and his daughter used the portal of the well, and went to another world. We saved Pavva and were able to send her after Gaar and the Princess. The portal behind them closed, and other people from our world could not follow them, because no one knew the secret of the Golden well."

- "Casa..." - mused Constantine, - "Could this be Oksana?"

- "What?" – as if waking up, asked Zila.

- 'Oh, nothing. I got carried away by your history, it seemed to me that all this I saw in reality. It was all a long time ago, right?"

- "I don't know if time flows the same in our worlds. It's been 30 years."

- "30 years?!" - the boy exclaimed. – "How old are you?"

- "I'm 46."

- "But you... You don't look like that! I thought you were 16."

Zila laughed softly and without humor.

- "That's part of the curse. The consequences of the insane Queen's magic. None of us can grow old. Time stopped for us the day the fugitives left our world. We are chained to this earth by invisible chains and cannot leave the borders of Avernas."