SEVEN

The atmosphere in the room was quite tense, even with the huge windows ventilating the room with cold breezes.

The purple embroidered drapes’ flew in sync with the flow of the wind as they circulated the room. Joanne wasn't feeling like her usual jolly self, she prided herself in being the most fun person in a room, she was always the life of the party, and soon they'll be no life in her, she thought.

“I do not understand why you defend me still?” asked Joanne, with tears etched on her cheeks, she could be her broken emotionally-shattered self only in the midst of Sylva, no need to put on the mask of the tough Regent any longer “Why is the use of your armor then? Like you could fight death when it comes,” she asked while sniffing.

“There’s a way to keep you alive, my child. Don’t you give up hope yet,” replied Sylva, calmly. Trying to raise her spirits, it didn’t work as much; buying hope was a hard thing to do from a dying woman, she went to sit gently on the bed and held Joanne’s warm hand.

“What other way? You speak like there was a way when my parents were killed . . . murdered for the glory of this City.” said Joanne, clearly flustered. “For once more, I'm alone. Cast down in this cruel world, tied down by the royal crown,”

“Please abstain from saying that, my dear. For you are not alone, I am with you this time I would never leave your sight. Just have a little hope that’s all I ask,” said Sylva. She stood up abruptly, and her face looked like she was pondering a deep matter, before she spoke.

“There’s an ancient place here in this City, where primitive streams of water flows, older than you and I and everyone else we might ever know, its called the Fountain of Youth. This sacred fountain has the abilities to heal every ailment or broken bone and grow severed limbs; it surely would be able to cure you, my dear.”

“Oh that!” Joanne chuckles. “You should be aware that that’s a myth, folklore, a story told to children, about the Fountain of youth . . . its where our patron goddess Hebe restores youth to the goddesses and gods in Olympus is it not?”

“Yes you speak the truth, my dear. But you see it's not merely just a story. Somewhere lost in this city of Juventas is the fountain of youth, if you take its water and drink of it you will be whole again,” said Sylva.

“How are you so convicted that it exists? Why hasn't it been found since the ancient times?” asked Joanne, being bemused of many thoughts, she didn’t want to get her hopes up that without better clarity. “It will be a bad thing if I die . . . my death will crumble the economic state of the city, the Heraen games will not be hosted here anymore, causing a paradigm shift in the realms.”

Sylva ignored her pity party, she never wanted to think about the mortality of her Regent, who she loved like her own daughter. So she focused her mind on a fantasy, a fantasy in which Joanne doesn’t die young just like her parents did. She was powerless to stop them from death’s cold grasp, but never again will she fail this time, she thought.

Sylva rummaged through the palace. The royal staff thought she had gone mad when she was seen bringing old scrolls and ancient maps from the library, cellar and the alchemist ward. Yet those didn’t cause a gasp of astonishment from Joanne, except the wooden chest that Sylva dragged from a hidden compartment in her own bedroom. It was then Joanne realized that she had gone too long without the numbing taste of wine and she was too prone to be utterly surprised without it.

Sylva began to skim through the maps and scrolls in a hurry, she knew time was of the essence if she wanted to pull this impossible task off. “The warriors have searched for it endlessly since the ancient times. They were in desperate need of its powers of immortality for themselves, so they could never be injured in a battle. Although they searched many times and different locations but it was to no avail, because the Fountain was never found it either. Until your parents that is . . . your parents were clever people, filled with so much zest for research and knowledge . . . unlike you I might add.” she looked at Joanne scornfully, like she wanted to scold her.

“After so many ages past, your parents gambled and pinpointed it to a place called ‘Eagle of Sicyon’ which is at the outskirts of the city, they couldn't find it of course, because as you know they ran out of time being betrayed and killed by their own cabinet . . . but we can find that their instructions are right here, and we have to try to get the Fountain by ourselves,” said she.

Joanne knew the Implications, that her life hanged in the balance of a fictional Fountain, she understood death was coming and she couldn’t fight it, even her own knowledgeable parents couldn’t fight it either, so she accepted her fate.

She thought of the wine and parties that would be thrown at her funeral, but what was important was the succession of the throne, that had to be taken care of too, “Before we go General, I would like for you to promise me one thing . . .That if I don't make it you'll take control of this city and be its Regent, you have to promise me that'll you'll rule with the best of your ability, if by chance I don't make it after sunset.” said Joanne softly, there was a sadness in her voice of a soul that had given up.