Church418
Peace is a lie, There is only Passion
The Kingdom of Aradenia, and the Brooke Monarchy. Chapter 1.1
An 11 year old Marcus lay wide awake in his bed, across from his sister, in the bedroom they shared. He could hear his father and mother in the living room, scuffling about. They spoke back and forth with speed and urgency, with occasional bouts of arguing. Marcus surmised that they weren't fighting with each other, rather, they were worried and frantic about something.
It wasn't only them.
Today, they had traveled into the walls of the Kingdom to buy their monthly necessities. Father had always harbored a distaste for the Monarchy that ruled the continent for reasons he refused to talk about. In the past, in fact, when Father would voice his dissatisfaction with the royalty after having a bit too much to drink, he would quickly calm himself and follow up his statement with something positive the Monarchy has done in the past. As if he constantly had an alert in his head that told him he had said something wrong. So it was for that reason that they only traveled into the Kingdom when absolutely necessary. On this day, as they were bartering in the vegetable quarter, a caravan came rushing into the Kingdom, crashing past all of the Royal Guard checkpoints. The Guard quickly contained the situation, dragged all of the offenders out onto the street and held them at sword point. As the perpetrators were lined up and put on their knees they were yelling frantically about "Invaders" and "Monsters" coming ashore several miles away.
That was all Marcus heard before Father ushered the family back to their horses and quickly set them back on course to their home. Upon returning home several hours later, night had already started creeping into the sky and Father had immediately sent him and his sister to bed. Marcus really wanted to know what was going on, but Father was a stubborn man who could not be swayed once his mind was made up.
Marcus listened intently to his parents in the other room, trying to catch clues as to what was happening. And that's when he felt it. He felt a subtle tremble in the earth. It was soft and barely noticeable, but thumped with a two beats per second precision. Soon after Marcus took notice, so did he hear his Father hush his mother as he himself felt it as well.
"
Timothy." He heard his mother say with a tremble in her voice. "What is that?"
Marcus had only heard his Mother call Father "Timothy" when she was really mad or scared. Marcus heard his Father hush her once more, then heard the sound of the front door creak open. After a few seconds of silence, Marcus heard the door shut and his Fathers heavy footsteps approaching their bedroom door. The door swung open and Marcus immediately recognized a highly concerned look about his Father's eyes that he had never witnessed before.
"Marcus." His Father said directly. "Get your Sister, pack some of your clothes, and wait by the front door. Now."
Marcus vaulted out of bed, grabbed an empty linen sack and began throwing some of his and his sisters clothes inside. As he did so, he called out to his sister to wake her up. "Ash, get up!" He exclaimed.
In the other room, Marcus heard his parents begin arguing once more.
"Tim." His mother said. "You need to tell me what the hell is going on. You're scaring me, and your scaring the children."
Marcus definitely felt afraid. He had never seen his Father in such a state.
"We need to leave." Father responded, in his usual ambiguous way. "It's not safe here anymore, and soon it won't be safe anywhere."
Marcus grabbed the sack of clothes, grabbed his 6 year old sister by the hand, and made his way to the front door where he saw his Father rushing around gathering essentials, and his Mother on the verge of tears.
"That's not enough, Timothy." Mother replied, in an unusually demanding voice. Father ignored her and continued packing essentials. "Does this have anything to do with the conflict you were deployed to while you were in the Magi?" His Mother pressed. "Are any of those conspiracies true?"
That caused his Father to stop, turn, and glare at her. For the first time, Marcus got the feeling that his Father might hit her.
"I don't have time to explain the scope of what's happening in this world, alright?" Father grabbed her by both arms and pulled her close to him so that their faces nearly touched. "I had a plan, Victoria, but they've come sooner that I had ever planned."
Marcus felt Asha grab his arm as she began whimpering in fear.
"Who?" Mother asked, openly crying now. "Who's coming?"
Father looked at her for a moment, then made eye contact with Marcus. "There are other lands, other continents, on the edges of the world."
Mother's mouth fell open in disbelief. "Oh my God." she stuttered, tears falling down her face. "It's true then? Even the stories of the..."
"Yes." Father interrupted, placing a finger on Mother's lips, his voice softer now. "Now we need to..."
CRASH
The front door lurched forward and cracked as something massive attempted to break it open. Asha screamed and jumped behind her brother. Marcus held her tight and slowly backed away from the door. "Timothy!" Mother screamed. "Do something!"
Marcus looked upon his father with pleading eyes as he saw him visibly struggling with something internal that kept him from acting, freezing him in place.
"TIMOTHY!" Mother wailed.
The front door crashed open, and Marcus stared in horror at a massive horned creature, cloaked in darkness, that stood over eight feet tall. It brandished a massive war axe and charged into the room, roaring and snarling.
Father jumped into action. He uttered a deep guttural of words from a language Marcus couldn't recognize. The result was two balls of fire igniting on the ends of his father's hands. He charged toward the monster and met the swing of the axe with the ball of his flaming fist. The result was the monster briefly igniting in flame, before screaming and exploding in several bloody bits. A distant roar was heard that seemed to be in response to the death of the creature.
Father turned to face them, his eyes black as marble. Marcus took a step back with his sister, not knowing if it was still his father he was speaking to. "Son.." he said in a demonic guttural walking toward them. Asha screamed in terror and Marcus grabbed a knife off of the table, pointing it at his father. "S.s.s stay back!" Marcus yelled in a shaky voice.
A look of intense despair washed over his Father's face as his own children cowered at the sight of him. He looked at their mother and shook his head in defeat. "They know we're here, we can't outrun them. We can only buy them some time." Father said, looking back down at Marcus. "Son, take your sister and go North into the mountains. Do not stray East or West. You will find a pass through the mountains that will eventually drop you off near the ocean front. There you will find my solution to this inevitable tragedy that I predicted, and safety for yourself and sister."
"Like hell!" Mother snapped back, rushing over to kneel in front of Marcus. "Baby, take your Sister and get to the Kingdom as fast as you can. The Monarchy's power used to be just rumor and myth, but now...." Mother said, glaring up at Father. "...I know it to be true. They can protect you."
"No!" Father cried out urgently. "Marcus, you and your Sister stay away from the Monarchy. Do not ever step foot inside it's walls again."
"You're a fool!" Mother cried out. "The voyage through the mountains would take weeks, do you think two children can survive out in the wilderness that long!? Wolves, Bears, and these....Monsters, for all you know!"
Father took a step forward and stamped his foot for emphasis. "The Kingdom is a lie! A false establishment of safety and security. I will not send my children to be raised under their corruptible influence."
Mother stood up and shoved Father in the first violent action he had ever witness his Mother perform. "Corruptible influence?" She replied with a hint of sarcasm. "Like education? nutrition? wealth? society?" Mother pointed back at Marcus and his sister. "Everything that you've robbed them of their entire lives!"
Multiple roars erupted outside of their front door, and Marcus saw multiple dark figures take shape in the darkness rushing toward them.
Father quickly uttered more other-worldly words and a magical barrier appeared over the open doorway that used to be their front door. Marcus stared in horror as more and more of the beasts rushed the barrier. Father was visibly struggling to keep the barrier up. "Wh....where out of time!" He wailed, his voice cracking under the pressure. He dropped to one knee, putting all of his energy into the barrier.
Mother, with tears falling down her face, grabbed a shovel and stood near the door. She looked at Marcus and screamed. "Go Marcus! Get your sister out of here!"
Marcus put his sister on his back, and ran down into their basement where a backdoor would allow them fast access to the wood line. "Marcus, Asha, mommy loves yo.." Marcus heard his mother's last words get cut short and he sprinted with his sister into the woods. When Marcus felt he had created enough distance between themselves and the house, he put Asha down and held her close.
They didn't have time to mourn, they had a decision to make. Would they seek the immediate protection of the Kingdom and it's Walls? Or would they risk trusting their Father's ambiguous instructions, and attempt to brave the Northern Mountain pass to the Ocean?
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