THE STORY OF THE ROYALS!
***This is the story told by Reznor to Gerald***
The Sun was bright in the sky, and the pleasant wind was there to mild down its effect. In the place the people known as heaven, the day began as usual.
On the one end, the servants and the ministers were busy in their daily routine of registering every good soul who had earned the privilege of living in paradise. Those handful of lucky souls were awestruck and mesmerised by the grandeur of the place as they were allowed to walk through the humungous gates of heaven.
The white cottony clouds surrounded the place as it floated at the highest point in the unfathomable sky.
On the other end of the heaven was a palace which no human could ever create or even imagine with its beauty and charm. The palace of God where he resided with his family.
The angels were busy, either playing or running the errands that God had entrusted with them. Every soul was happy and lived in peace in heaven- a dream of billions but a reality of very few.
But not everyone was able to find peace here.
In the clear ground, assembled young people of various age groups. They all had fair skin, and most of them had eyes of blue shades. Their hair colour ranged from blonde to brown, giving every shade naturally available.
They all wore white clothes just like everyone else and adorned their bodies with gold ornaments.
They had an aura of power and purity around them. And their movements were the epitome of elegance and mannerisms.
They were busy chattering amongst each other, joking around and laughing in the most soothing voices.
"Why do you have such a sour face Caelan? Look what a beautiful day it is!" Theseus chirped like an early morning bird.
But everyone knew that he was only rubbing it in his elder brother's face. Caelan's day began with receiving a scolding from their mother.
"Shut up, Theseus. Let him be!" Artemio warned his younger brother.
As the eldest one amongst the four siblings, it was always Artemio's duty to keep his siblings away from each other's throats.
"Oh come on Artemio. You know burning mother's favourite furniture only because he bumped into it and hurt his little toe was too extreme even for Caelan." Theseus again broke into fits of laughter, remembering the horrified look on their mother's face when she saw the giant flames in the backyard of the palace.
"Caelan should be glad that she promised to not mention it to father. Or..." Azalea trailed off with a smirk on her beautiful face.
But this time, Caelan did not get mad at his younger sister like Theseus, who received a jab in his abdomen.
The four siblings looked in their teenage for a human's eyes, but they were centuries old. They were so old that they had given up counting their birthdays.
Amongst God's many children from his wives, the group of these four was the most notorious one. The four of them excelled in every course, be it of mental strength, knowledge or physical strength.
And as a father, the God should have been proud of them, alas!
The four of them had only one weakness- they considered themselves better than everyone else.
That arrogance of them would cause them big trouble, God had always warned, yet nobody and nothing could do anything good for the four siblings.
Even With four different personalities and four different traits, they were strongly bonded and supported each other in everything.
Their fights were a headache for others and were frequent too. But the moment the fifth person tried to glance in the way of any one of them, the other three were ready to poke their eyes.
They were practically inseparable and yet polar opposites.
Not only God but also their mother was worried about their future.
Today, like any other day, God had summoned all his children to the ground for today's special lesson. His children were requesting this session for a long time, but he kept avoiding it because of one reason or another.
But today, he had decided to finally show them his one of the most powerful possessions. After all, perhaps one of them would pick up his reigns in the future and then he would need to pass that precious thing to them.
Everyone was excited to see it. The things that they had only learned from the stories and had read in the books. That was the only introduction they had about it. But today, finally they would get to see it and perhaps touch it if only their father allowed it.
The four siblings usually liked to skip the lessons taken by their father because they thought he was always biased against them and showered all his love on the others. And they could not tolerate seeing that.
Little did they know that the God himself had things to worry about, perhaps more than the humans or other creatures, and the reason was his four reckless and uncontrollable children.
Silence spread when the door opened, and a very tall man of about seven feet with his monoliths like shoulders and a barrel chest stepped out. He had a white beard trimmed well complementing his chiselled face.
His icy blue eyes held that cold look that could freeze anyone who dared to look in them, and yet they could be as soothing as cold water on a summer afternoon if he was in a good mood.
His body was full of muscles with bulging biceps and strong thighs. He wore a white cloth to cover his lower half leaving his toned calves on display. On his upper body, he wore a broad gold necklace which looked more like a shield than a piece of jewellery.
On his both wrists shone the bracelets, which had the same simple design as his neckpiece. His bare abdomen was no softer than the earth. His mildly tan skin glowed under the sunlight.
And when he walked to stand in front of his children with his chin held high and his huge hands resting to his sides, he swept his calculative eyes over them.
What always fascinated Artemio, the eldest of the four siblings were two things his father wore. One was the gold crown studded with gems that he wore on his head and the gold belt he wore on his waist.
Nobody in heaven wore those two things because they were his father's exclusive rights. Only God could wear them. And one day, Artemio wished to achieve that privilege for himself!
The mountain of sheer muscles and divine power cages every mind with his presence. Making sure that all his children and even the ones who always found excuses to not attend these lessons were present today, God nodded in satisfaction.
"Good morning everyone!" Even his deep, gruff voice sounded like a thunderstorm on a rainy day.
"Good morning father!" The children replied in unison.
"It is a pleasure of having you all present here at once." Only a few caught on to his sarcastic remark, and those few were the ones who knew that comment was intended for them alone.
"We are very excited to see it father!"
Theseus made a funny face hearing that from one of the children. The boy a few years younger than Artemio was always ready to please their father in any way. Although the four siblings did not get along with any of their half brothers and half-sisters, this boy named Emory was a thorn that pricked them every now and then.
"I know Emory! Although I had no intention of showing you all it just now, I decided against it because of all of your requests." God replied.
Caelan narrowed his eyes at Emory, who smirked tauntingly, looking at Artemio, who just ignored him.
"Not now brother!" Azalea warned Caelan before he did something to anger their father.
"Now come follow me." The God instructed and began walking again inside the palace. All of his children followed him in two lines like well-disciplined kids.
But at the end of those two lines, the four siblings took their sweet time following them with not much discipline.
Walking through the grand corridors with the roof that resembled the sky above and was impossible to reach, they took a few turns around the corners, climbed a couple of stairs and finally stopped in one of the rooms in the numerous corridors.
The brown coloured door was a pretty contrast against the pristine white walls. God paused before looking back at his children.
"Do not touch anything without my permission. Not even a single thing!" He emphasised sternly.
"Yes father!"
God held the gold handles of the door, which were in an elegant design of swans and pushed the door open. It was the room where no one was allowed to go without God's permission. Knowing well about God's wrath, nobody dared to disobey any of his instructions.
So it was the first time his children were going to see what was inside when even God's wives, also hadn't seen the inside of that room.
Bubbling with excitement, the children waited until the doors were completely pushed open. Their eyes widened in amazement as soon as they noticed the insides of that room.