Chương 12: The Kings Of Garnedal

*One week before the Council of Kings*

"Nearly a century ago, the world as you know it was in chaos. Garnedal, home to creatures of all kinds, was plagued by tyrannical beings that called themselves the Eeries. The Eeries were a mysterious race that had sprouted from the darkness of Garnedal. It was said that they had tall, slender bodies shrouded in darkness. They had no face, just a swirling vortex in the middle of their heads that consumed everything. They despised the mortal beings living on what they proclaimed was their 'world alone' and sought the death of all creatures on Garnedal.

The once peaceful world was now thrown into a state of disarray. The people amassed forces to fight off the Eeries, but the beasts conquered them with ease, plunging the world into darkness.

The mages had the worst end of the Eeries' rule, as they hated mages with all their might. The mages were turned into slaves, subjected to as much torture as the Eeries had to give."

Helios stood outside a small room in a library as a woman inside narrated the story of the Kings to eager children sitting attentively at her feet.

He had constructed a library in every district to educate his people so they would never forget what had happened to them in the past. If there was another attack and the Kings weren't there to save them, they could survive with the knowledge left for them.

Usually, Helios had no business around the libraries, as he had his in his castle. But he needed to clear his mind somehow. Sol had nearly killed him after he had nearly burned the castle down.

"Years of senseless torture led the mages to a man they called the godfather, who was rumored to possess immense power. The godfather had reached a state of enlightenment that rendered him unable to assist his fellow mages in battle. He only believed in fate and allowed the universe to take its course.

The godfather prophesied that there would be six mages born in the coming years, with gifts never seen before. Those six mages were foretold to be the saviors of Garnedal."

Helios smiled. He had only met the godfather once, but he could never forget the tall, wiry old man. He had once been angry at him for not helping them, but everything worked out in the end.

"The mages were angry with the godfather for not helping them and left him, unable to believe they would ever be free from their torment. But exactly seven years later, as foretold, six children were born around Garnedal. It is said that on this day, the whole world shook as they were brought into the world.

The Eeries were alerted by this and went to the godfather to question him about the occurrence. When he refused to tell them, they threatened to kill him, but he simply vanished, escaping from their grasp.

Wary of a revolt from the mages, the Eeries decided to kill them off, slaughtering their slaves and hunting down mages. Mages began hiding amongst other races, careful of keeping hope alive amongst themselves. The mothers of the six were kept safe and were able to nurse their children till their powers surfaced.

The Eeries had a taste of this power when the Dragon King first showed his hand after they attempted to kill everyone in the village he grew up in. Commanding the seas, he drove them back single-handedly, instantly alerting the Eeries of the threat they had overlooked.

They started killing off mages again, but it was too late. The other kings began revealing themselves, amassing losses for the Eeries as time went on. The Dragon, the Wolf, The Chicken, The Crow, The Beast, and our King, The Phoenix, brought down thousands of Eeries on their own, striving to find each other to rally the mages and the creatures of Garnedal once more."

These were the days that frequently resurfaced in Helios' mind. It was just him and Sol back then, raiding Eerie settlements and killing every single one. They had wanted to spare the children, but seeing as the Eeries were facing problems because they had wanted to keep the mages as slaves, they decided not to spare a single soul. At times it haunted him, but he reassured himself by looking out his window, staring down at the peaceful world they had fought for.

"As the years passed, the Kings only grew in strength, pulling the creatures of Garnedal together as the Eeries panicked. Our King fought without rest, only thinking of restoring peace to the land.

The Kings met in the Land of the Moon, the first place the Eeries had come from. It is said the second they met was the day they became inseparable brothers."

That was a lie of course. Helios and Averys had hated each other at first but they had settled their differences when they both risked their lives for the other.

"With this newly formed bond, the Kings went on to bring the world together, driving the Eeries out of power and ultimately wiping them out from Garnedal. They then split the world amongst themselves and took command, swearing to protect the world from whoever wanted to destroy their peace. Meru for the Crow, Etna for the Beast, Atlantis for the Dragon, Olympus for the Wolf, Agartha for the Chicken ,and our very own Ykurd."

"I wish I was like the Phoenix King and I could kill Eeries," one of the children giggled.

"You can serve under him when you're older, Daemon," the woman replied. "Although there are no more Eeries to be killed."

Helios grinned as he turned away from the doorframe he had been leaning on. It always brought him joy knowing he had brought happiness to the people of Garnedal. There was no way he was going to let anyone take that away.

He had received the response from Averys a few days ago. The Crow had come clean about the gateway incident, confessing he didn't tell them because he intended on brokering peace with the creatures on the other side in order to cover up for their unfortunate first encounter. Averys claimed they had attacked his guard first, but every instinct in Helios' body told him he was lying.

Although he had made peace with Averys, he knew how he thought and functioned. If he was going to go behind their backs and incite a war that would consume them all, Helios was prepared to do anything in his power to stop it.

In a week, they will decide the fate of Garnedal in the Council of Kings.