Under crystal light

After the conversation with Theowon, princess Aeliana seemed more thoughtful trough out the whole day. She did not go for her secret walk that night and wondered what would happen in the future when she became the queen.

What she wanted always was to explore and see the world. She dreamt every day about many wonderful places that were mentioned in Theowon's lessons and many amazing places on his maps that she had followed with her finger.

The free soul within her did not like to accept the throne with many responsibilities. Even though her kingdom was small, it was still a burden to take over the rule. Instead, she wanted to follow her dreams and live freely like the wind, unattached to responsibilities.

Aeliana was already introduced as the heiress to the Northern kingdom and in a few months, she was to be crowned as the queen. The royal family of the Northern kingdom descended from the rulers of light and the power of controlling light was sent through the bloodline. A person without the power to control light could not be crowned as the rightful ruler of the kingdom. Therefore, it is needless to mention that princess Aeliana possessed the power of controlling light, a gift from her ancestors.

The other most important requirement to fulfill for enthronement was the possession of the sacred crystal. This was the very crystal that light angels brought from heaven when they were first populating the earth. It was the symbol of pureness and the power of heaven. Together with the power to control light and possession of this sacred crystal, the throne became invincible.

That was the reason the Northern kingdom was the most powerful of all the kingdoms on earth in the past. Someone with the same bloodline as the rulers of light was the only possible villain who could rise against the power of the kingdom or threaten the kingdom.

When a light controller possesses the sacred crystal, he could control light as he wished. He could produce light, absorb all the light and create darkness and even he could create strong light strokes to attack someone. But the power of the sacred crystal could not be used against someone who is from the same bloodline as the rulers of light.

A light controller can travel anywhere along with the light rays that the crystals produced. That was how the angels came from heaven to earth at the beginning of time. Light angels sent light rays to the earth from the sacred crystal and brought the troops along with them.

Although free-spirited princess Aeliana was not interested in the crown, she possessed all these powers and she was invincible in her small kingdom. To the wonder of ordinary minds, she valued freedom and chasing her dreams above all the powers she owned from her birth. She had given herself the oath not to use any of these powers for her own benefit.

Talking of her kingdom, it was called the kingdom of Silenda, only by its residents because no one else alive on earth knew that such a land ever existed. As already described, it was a small kingdom but the most amazing detail was that it existed not on the surface of the earth but underneath.

It had the most surreal location, being spread under several layers beneath the surface of the earth. Far away from North, where its origin was, this isolated kingdom existed without the least suspect by anyone alive.

It opened to the outer world through a horizontal opening in a chasm created by a crack in the earth, much beneath the surface. The opening was hidden by a huge mass of water falling through the fissure to the endless chasm below. Any being without supernatural powers could neither enter into this place nor exit. The kingdom of Silenda as the name implied itself, was the loneliest and the most silent place one could ever live.

This place was created by the light angels who established the Northern kingdom. They passed the secret of this hidden land from one king to the next. This secret was shared only with the heir on his enthronement by the previous king. The newly enthroned had to write it and keep it safe for the next heir in case of the unexpected death of the king before enthroning the next.

When the angels created this hidden land of Silenda, it was completely closed and covered. After thousands of years due to the movement of the tectonic plates, an earthquake caused a fissure on the earth dividing this hidden place. The other part of Silenda lay on the opposite side of the crack hidden as same as this part.

If the descending mass of water into the chasm was stopped, the huge rock arches created along the edge of the opening might have been seen far down words from the surface. Someone who approached the edge from the inside could find the dark dead end marked by a huge mass of water fell with a very loud frightening sound as if the roof is falling.

The village started far away from this opening and the small palace where Aeliana lived was located at the farthest end.

The light supply had no issues as long as a light controller and the sacred crystal existed. The light was supplied to the whole land of Silenda from the crystal. It had been manipulated to supply light as same as the sunlight in the same intensity throughout the daytime and to give the moonlight at night.

It had been beautifully arranged to give the same experience as if they were living on earth under real sunlight. The first golden rays of light at dawn as well as the last purple rays of light at dusk fell onto the lands of Silenda the same way the sunlight fell on the earth.

After the final dull rays of light at the dusk, the soft moonlight touched the lands gradually. The images of the moon and thousands of stars were projected using the light of the crystal and that was why it was impossible to see the hare on the moon.

The sacred crystal could not be seen or touched by ordinary humans and there were only two who could see and touch the sacred crystal. One was Aeliana who inherited all the light-controlling powers by birth while the other one was Theowon who was given the power to see, touch and manipulate the light of the crystal by the late king of the Northern kingdom.

So, anyone except these two did not know where the sacred crystal existed inside the palace. Some suspected that it was secretly kept in the locked chambers on the highest floor of the palace.

The most beautiful place in this secret land has not been described yet. It was located far behind the palace. Anyone rarely went there as there was a notable distance from the village and it was difficult to reach there. So, anyone was not interested in walking the whole distance only to visit there while the majority of the young people did not even know that such a place existed.

The only person who loved going there could not walk there without being seen by the guards. The back gate of the palace opened to the path heading to this place and therefore the secret wanderer we know could not go there by herself at night.

After passing the back gate of the palace, there was a thick stretch of trees. These trees were grown densely around the palace as a rampart that surrounded the palace. To the back side of the palace, beyond the trees, there was a damp grassland spread until the land became rocky. There were large rocks and they had slight cracks from which small strands of water leaked.

On the right side, there was an opening in the rock, of the size that two people could enter at the same time. It looked like a doorway to a hidden cave. The narrow passage that ran inside was dark and whoever entered, needed a torch as the ground was very uneven with scattered rocks here and there. After walking for nearly three hundred feet, the most mesmerizing scenery appeared in front.

The narrow passageway opened into a large hall where all the walls were naturally made of crystal. Here the torch was needed no more as hundreds of light rays that crept through the cracks on the roof reflected on the walls making colorful beams, mostly purple. In the middle, there lay the wonder.

Thin strands of water dripping from the slits of the roof were pouring down along the surface of pointed protrusions hanging from the ceiling. These pointed rod-like structures, the stalactites were formed by the deposition of minerals due to the continuous dripping of water for a very long time. These were varied in colors that shone brightly in the purple rays of light. Thousands of drops of water were pouring continuously forming a stream underneath. The colorful ceiling and the walls shone in purple reflected on the stream converting the scenery into a fairyland.

It was a shame that this kind of magnificent place was hidden without any attention. If it was given consideration, many troubled minds could have been healed just by witnessing the magic of this alluring view.

The main source of water in Silenda was this never-ending stream created here. The stream disappeared underground inside the cave and reappeared again in the wood behind. Branches of the stream flowed throughout the whole land supplying water for the fields as well as the households.

Now, almost everywhere in this mysterious place has been explored already. Even though, the dark history behind their lives and many other things remain yet to be revealed. Most importantly, the unexpected future that had happened, surprised the characters and so will be the readers.