WRONG TIMING

In a world that lies the most mysterious and dangerous activities, only four clans exists; the North, East and South clan which is under the Major clan, and the West clan, which is the Minor clan.

"Instead of staring at me occasionally, say what you want to say." Ateso turned to his brother.

"I can only talk to you in private." His brother declared, scanning the room that contained six people.

"If you can't say what you have to say here and right now, forget about it then."

"Wow! The audacity! I am your elder brother in case you have forgotten." Oviawe reminded.

"Then act like one." Ateso turned to him. "You have only the Western clan to yourself yet you cannot even control your people. Your people are responsible for most of the chaos and havoc recorded recently and you have done absolutely nothing about it."

"Are you really blaming me? Their actions have nothing to do with me, Ateso. Yes, you are the demon lord for whatever reasons our elders chose, but that does not give you the right to speak to me in a disorderly manner!"

"Odion (venerated elder)" Onah called out to her uncle.

"Shut up! Where are your manners? All your years of learning and this is what you can offer? Were you not taught to keep quiet when your elders are talking? Or do you think you are above such etiquette because you are the crown princess?" Oviawe barked.

"My apologies for my unruly behavior." Onah kotowed immediately.

"Can you imagine?" He turned to his brother.

"And you dim yourself fit to talk to me? Your children, your own blood have no manners and you care about the affairs of other clans?"

"Oviawe." Ateso began.

"Keep that mouth of yours shut when I'm speaking." Oviawe stopped him. "It is this inappropriate side of you, that these children of yours are emulating. You can't even respect your elder brother, what do you expect them to do."

"But Odion, she didn't say anything wrong to you." Oviasu bowed.

Oviawe laughed. "You see, Ateso, the reason my people are becoming something else is because of you. You and your little children that have no idea what this life have to offer."

"Ọmwẹ (brother)" Ateso called.

"What? You want to fight me? You are known for always upholding the truth, now that I'm telling you the truth do you hate it?" He laughed. "Listen attentively to me. A month ago, Zuki Taikiru, the crown prince of Mystika got himself killed by a human. Why? He went against a well-known and cherished rule; do not have any personal affairs with a human. Your son not only requested to marry her, he ditched his own kingdom for an insignificant thing on earth."

"Odion, he did not abandon Mystika for a human. She knew he wasn't human, so they both agreed that he would visit her on earth, twice a week." Onah argued.

"Pfft!" Oviawe scoffed. "You this little brat!" He walked up to her, landed a slap across her face and returned to his sitting position on the floor.

"Oviawe!" Ateso snarled and made an attempt to stand up.

"Don't throw your integrity away for nothing." He smirked. "I only helped you train your daughter well since it seems you didn't give her a proper training." He turned to Onah. "Your brother, is that what he told you? Do you know the gravity of what you just said? Mystika would have crumbled to pieces if that happened. Your father knew that, but he ignored it, because it was his son. Well, I'm sure what happened is a practical example for you to never trust humans in your life."

"Ọmwẹ, we were in the middle of a spiritual exercise before all these came up, using violence on anyone has it's consequence during the cleansing." Ateso said.

"You were the one that asked for it. I requested to speak to you privately."

"You were glaring endlessly at me. There is no way I could concentrate with the enchantments."

"Then should we settle everything before we continue? There are a lot I have to address."

"Oviawe." Ateso called.

"I fear that the fate of Mystika is doomed in your hands."

"Nurturing our spiritual energy is more important now. We have re-energised the people. We're the ones left. These last few minutes should not be wasted."

"And that leads me to my next question. Yuki? Where is she? Is this not supposed to be her first time refining her powers with the six of us?" Oviawe asked but Ateso did not answer.

"You don't know? You don't care to know? You really are the problem of this kingdom. You cannot contain your own home. Haven't you heard of the saying, 'charity begins at home?'"

"Let's continue with the task at hand."

"If you think you are above correction, then you clearly have no right to confront me, Ateso."

"Let's get back to what we were doing." Ateso replied courteously.

"No!"

"I said we should continue with our cultivation."

"I said I would not, not until I finish saying what I have to say."

"As the lord of Mystika, I am asking you to quit making troubles and return back to your meditation."

"And as your elder brother and the first child of our father, I am telling you the right thing to do."

"Oviawe!" Ateso barked and charged towards his brother.

"Ateso!" Oviawe retorted and jumped to his feet too.

"Abah!" The two brothers' children called out in unison and ran to their sides.

"How dare you speak to the king in such manner?!" Ateso yelled and tried to move towards his brother but was restrained by his two children who held each of his arms.

"How dare you talk to your elder brother in such manner?" Oviawe asked back.

"You!"

"What? What do you want to say? The kingdom is about to be divided because of your biased ruling. First you let Zuki escape the law, now Yuki? Her mates that she just completed learning with, graduated yesterday. But she? She was nowhere to be found. She was supposed to take part in the general cleansing as a bona fide Mystikan. But out of the whole population, the last child of the royal house was missing. When we made our enquiries, she was on earth. And do you know the most interesting part? A minute ago made it three days that she has been on earth." He laughed."

Seeing their father was calm and no longer wrestling out of their hands, Onah and Oviasu let go of him.

"It is my family, Oviawe. I would handle the matter myself." Ateso declared.

"By handling the matter, you mean letting her be, don't you? That's the only way you handle your family matters, isn't it?" Oviawe smirked.

"Your children, I have never pestered you about them. So avoid mine for the time being."

"My children? Wow! Ovie and Ovieya, you dare compare them to these riffraffs?" He pointed at Ateso's children.

"Stop!"

Oviawe walked to his brother slowly. "You knew where your daughter was. Perhaps you knew what she was doing. But don't you think you should begin to curtail her movements? Anymore misbehaviour from the royal family and you would be stripped of your position. Is that what you want? The people of Mystika are beginning to doubt your oath to the kingdom. You pardoned your son when he committed a grave error, will you also pardon your daughter if she does anything detrimental to our kingdom? Are you willing to commit treason for nothing?"

He leaned forward towards Ateso.

"You know? The first and last lecture as heir to the throne is that, the welfare of the people comes before your personal and family needs. Don't ever forget that again." He smiled and straightened up. "As for what we were doing earlier, you can continue with it. I'm not the one who needs the cleansing. You should purge yourself from all your bad government towards our people so that your powers can function properly." He tapped his shoulder and walked off.

"Oviawe!" Ateso glided towards the door to block him and children from leaving the room.

"Don't let your children and mine see how evil you are." He stopped walking and laughed suddenly. "Actually, we're evil but you should understand what I mean in this context."

"Step back both of you." Ateso ordered Oviawe's children quietly and they immediately moved away from them.

"Niyen, you spared her. Zuki, you spared him. Before you think of doing the same thing with Yuki, I'll kill you." Oviawe whispered.

"If you ever step your feet in my innermost chamber again, after you leave now, I will not let you live to see the next day." Ateso whispered in reply.

"I didn't stab Niyen because we were at war, I don't want you to ever think that after today." Oviawe cleared his throat and smirked. "I won't waste my precious time in the battle field to thrust the blade of my most precious sword into the heart of Niyen in front of you because our clans are at war. We are brothers after all, I'm not so heartless to take the life of someone like her. But do you know why I did that? — he paused — It's because I found out who she really was." He smiled and continued after seeing the shock on Ateso's face. "Don't you still find it strange how she was able to die despite her personality?"

"Leave my presence now!" Ateso managed to speak.

Oviawe sighed. "Just be careful. That's all I'm saying. I have the willpower to do anything I want to accomplish." He replied and walked off with his children following him almost immediately.

"Abah." Oviasu walked towards his father.

"Go back to your sitting position. Our spiritual exercise is not over yet."

The late morning sun shone down on the kingdom of Mystika, as the town square's large bell tolled loudly, signaling the near end of market hours in the bustling main market.

"Yuki! Yuki! Yuki!" A little girl ran excitedly towards the main gate to embrace Yuki."

"Shina!" Yuki caught her in her arms. "What are you doing here?" She asked, as she tickled her.

"I was waiting for you. You always come in through this gate so I wanted to be the first person to see you."

Yuki nodded. "But your house is very far from here, your mum would be worried if she can't find you." She remarked, as they walked together.

"My mum is at the main market. So I'm not far from her. Today is the first main market day remember?"

"What? Isn't that supposed to be tomorrow?" She asked. 'It's not up to three days since I left.' She thought to herself.

"No." Shina objected. "It's today. Today is the first day, then tomorrow is the second day and next tomorrow is the last day."

"Where did you hear that from?" Yuki asked, refusing to believe it.

"My mum told me."

"Your mum? Where...."

"Shina! Have I not warned you several times not to sneak out of my presence?!" Shina's mother yelled. She had started to panic before she caught sight of her at the market's entrance.

"Ma'am it's nothing to worry about." Yuki bowed with a smile. "She came to meet me."

She cleared her throat and bowed. "Your highness."

"Don't be so angry at her. She's still a child." Yuki pleaded.

"Even at that, it's proper manners to let your parents know where you are." She turned to Shina.

"Go, go and play with your friends over there. We'll soon head home."

"Okay." Shina nodded and ran off.

"She's too energetic for her age." Yuki smiled.

"Your highness." Shina's mother began.

"Ma'am, I've told you to just call me by my first name. There's no need for the formality."

"Ay! How can I do that? Regardless of our age differences you're from the royal family."

"Well, it doesn't really...."

"Your highness." Shina's mother interrupted.

Yuki sighed. "Yes? What is it?"

"Is everything okay?" She asked with a genuine facial expression.

"What? Why all of a sudden?" Yuki chuckled nervously.

"Well, I wanted to know what was so important that made you miss your graduation and most importantly the general cleansing."

"Huh? My graduation? It's today."

"No it's not. It was yesterday and you've been on earth for three days now, so you've violated the second most important law."

"What? I'm confused. I was here a day ago. I mean today's Saturday right?"

"No today is Sunday."

"Eh? Saturday is the fourth to the last day of this month. That's the day of my graduation. Today is definitely Saturday."

"Your highness, this is the crescent lunar year, and this is the month that it affects. Look up — she pointed to the sky — it's morning right? You can even see the sun shining bright, but don't you see the half moon beside it?"

"Woah!" Yuki exclaimed.

"The last three days of this month are shortened by 12 hours that is why it is called Luna. That's supposed to be your last lesson so how did you forget?"

Yuki was clearly tongue tied. She was so busy plotting out her revenge for her brother that she totally forgot what month it was.

"Your highness, the earth is not a place for us to make home. You have now gotten too acquainted to the earth that you forgot our own calendar. They have 12 months, we have thirteen. Our Luna is their February how could you forget? The majesty of the West clan threw fits yesterday concerning your absence. He was..."

"Yuki Taikiru!" Feturi glided towards her from no where with a death stare.

"Omi (respected female elder)" Shina's mother bowed as soon as Feturi landed on the ground.

"Follow me!" She ordered.