Chapter 6

"Let me elaborate, prince." Jhovani says. "Your time was the Era of the Grand Monarchy, a time of Emperors, Senators, and Governors, all in the lineage of bearerkind. Gold hair, gold eyes. There are so many events that have happened since then."

"How is this possible? The Universal Law dictates…"

"...No one can go back or forth in Time for it is an ever flowing river." The scholar says. "But here you are, without knowledge of the present, and a great deal about the past. I have two theories, first you have been resurrected but that…"

My mind is swimming in confusion, I barely gasp what the scholar was saying. My family is dead. Everyone I ever loved and cared about, all gone in the passage of time. Truth struck like a knife. I'm alone. My mind, a fog of emotions.

"Prince, prince!" Jhovine shouted, clearly seeing me in a trance. "Your presence here is crucial." 

"What happened to Nevuchad?" I finally snap, returning to the encounter I had with the sorcerer.

The scholar tapped his chin. "If I am not mistaken, your brother is- was Emperor Melinor, who decreed death to anyone who practices the dark arts, aye?"

"Yes, that is he."

"Thus, it was the moment in history called The Purging. Sorcerers, witches, and all those who are afflicted or suspected practitioners were killed. But I am going off the subject. Records say you defeated the necromancer, however, he resurfaced just after the Calamity War."

It was all for naught. 

"What is this Calamity War you speak of?"

"The result of the arrogance of your kind." Rossen chuckled, as she ate bread and butter.

Jhovin lips formed a line. "You will not like this, prince, though I believe I can explain it further." The scholar dug up a scroll, much old, dusty, crumpled, smaller than the one before. Once again he uncurled it, revealing another map. "This is the Old World, prince, the one you knew."

That was it, my home. 

"The Calamity War wrecked so much devastation that this." He pointed to the old map, then to the other new one. "Turned to this. It is a war amongst your kind, prince. Different Houses raised banners against one another, with names of leaders lost in time. Your blood, however, is more known, for your family name, the Oldblood were tyrants."

"My family, tyrants?"

"When your great grand nephew, Wilberth Oldblood, became Emperor he decided to use his gift in whatever he desires. He became corrupted and mad for power. And so, a few disagreements here and there within your nobility. Thus, came the Calamity War."

"What happens after, who's the victor?"

"No one."

"Thou speak in riddles, scholar. In war there is either the victor and the defeated."

Jhovanie chose his words carefully now. "The one that opposed your family, the one that instigated the rebellion, was Gregory the Omnibearer, who some say was the savior of the world, for he controls all the gifts."

My jaw dropped as I heard such a being existed. I looked at Rossen and Hester, they both looked bored, nothing amusing. Of course they would be, this was but a history lesson to them. They heard this tale mayhaps a thousand times. I was like a child hearing stories for the first time. 

"In the final days of the war, in one-on-one combat, Gregory fought Wilberth, in the home of your family, within the Marbled Palace of Edenburgh. The Omnibearer against the Oldblood Emperor. In the end, Gregory won, the palace crumbled, the world a ruin, an emperor dead."

"We lost." I whispered.

"Gregory then declared in both letter and voice, that bearers will no longer deal with the problems of mankind. Only they will interfere, for the safety of the realm against sorcerers and the like, thus never again to experience such destruction on a grand scale. The Treaty of Almina, it was named."

"What happened to my kin then?"

"The victors left Ferrosa and settled far in the south, exiling themselves." Jhovanie, tap an isolated island with a tower on the current world map. "A keep they made there called Ivoryhall. As for the defeated…" The scholar taps an island far in the northeast, with the mark of a greed droplet, my House emblem. "... They fled to that island, the Emerald Keep."

Now there was a plan. I just need to go to Emerald Keep, mayhaps they can shed light on everything. I studied the map for a moment, the lands broken and fractured, many more details unknown to me. "Why is there a shaded part in the north?"

"That's the Cursed Land, prince." Hester now spoke, grim. "There we fight the enemy of man. Ruled by your great foe who never dies."

"Nevuchad lives, prince." Rossen says. "The dark lord in the north. The one you fail to defeat during the Purging."

"The necromancer emerged with his legion of abominations, knowing the bearers were low in number, striking the north." The commander says. "We have been fighting them for a century, till we were able to stop their advancement." Hester tapped with his finger at the center of the map. "For years, we send soldiers to fortify the Border, only a sea away from the monsters, from the Cursed Land."

"Every now and again, they send scouts or small raiding parties to our lands." Rossen says. "The dark lord knows we humans have fragile peace. Observing in the distance, waiting for our folly, waiting for another great war." 

He lives, the damned necromancer lives. The world a shamble. My kin divided.

I took out the marbled black stone and placed it on the table, the one the little chickens said I was. "Scholar, what is this? I had witnesses saying that I arrived from this stone."

Jhovenie inspected the device, lifting it close to his face. "Arrive, you say, some kind of vessel?" Suddenly, the scholar has a magnifier glass in hand. "Interesting."

The scholar's eyes widened, excitement and terror alike. Another ancient book he planted on the table, flipping its page until seeing a sketch of the same stone. "This is the Vukphal. An ancient relic, hah! This is the explanation, prince. This is it! I only thought of this as a myth, but here it is.

Ahem, allow me to explain, everyone." Jhoven, raised it up for all to see. "It's an entrapment contraption. You did not cross time, prince, nor resurrected from the dead. Nevuchad knew he cannot defeat you, so instead, he imprisoned you in this. And within the Vukphal, time did not move, not a single moment hand gone, but for the rest of the world, it continued."

"Confined for a thousand years." The chilling thought hangs. My family thought me dead, now they are gone. I know not whether I should mourn or cry. Emotions filled me. Regrets. My eyes hurt and blur, and yet I cannot let these strangers see me weak. Begin with little steps. I must seek my kin. "I must go to Emerald Keep to be reunited with what is left of my House."

Hester stood now, frowning, his gaze outside the stone windows. Contemplating. "Truth be told, I am curious to know what you are, prince, that is why I entertained whatever song you sang. Now for certain, we know what you are, who you are, and I am afraid that I cannot let you go."

Two of the commander's men strode in the Library. "Just so you know, prince, as decreed in the Treaty of Almina: All bearers new or old, shall be under the jurisdiction of the Ivoryhall. There is no exception. We already sent word of your presence. A bearer from their ranks will be greeting you here, perhaps three or four weeks. In the meantime, you are a highly valued guest of Flintenburrow."

"Thou make a prisoner out of me, commander, knowing fully well what I am capable of?"

"That is the very reason, prince, for we luxors are duty bound to protect the realm to whatever threat arise. Your very existence may again lead to a calamity unknown. We studied bearerkind, prince, and I believe you have very limited information of what we are. We have the upper hand. As you say, to strike the unknown is to strike Death himself."