Eternity Against Fate

CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY OF THE AVALON EMPIRE

[4,000 B.C]

I know how you came to be here.

You've traveled to the southernmost town of the land once called the Empire of Mer Caelin, The greatest of the Seven Empire, went further south for three more days , crossed the river of Shinoa, walked another day, and come to what people called the Thorn Forest. It had another name, once upon a time, but say Thorn Forest and everyone knows of which forest you speak. It is composed mostly of giant trees with eaqually giant razor-sharp thorns.

You came here because you heard legends says that somewhere in Mer Caelin, hidden in another far more secret forest, the Fortress of Mer Caelin still stands. many poor soul has brave the forest to  seek its location, only to turn back, broken and bleeding. Majority of them, unluckily, they never come back. Not only penniless fortune hunters, but great kings, vampires, sorcerers, witches  and werewolves from far away lands. For as the legends have it. Mer Caelin's greatest treasure lies in the lower most room of its deepest cavern. They say Empress Victoria, most powerful vampire on the seven empires, still subsists there, forever young and beautiful. Victoria blessed by twelve vulturi, cursed by an evil one and heiress to the throne of Mer Caelin. And only the sorceress of Thorn Forest knows where the fortress of Mer Caelin lies.

I have heard what people say about her. People do not watch their tongues in front of stone statues, there is no need. But stone ears still hears, stone eyes still see, and we remember better than those who still wear flesh and bone. But you, too, will learn this soon enough. This is, if she allows you to stay.

Some say she is mad. Some say she is evil. Still others, more charitably say she is simply very old and bitter. She spends her days weaving spells to hunt flesh, to make you lose your way in the forest, suck your blood and fall to your own death in her arms. She will not help you of her own volition, and will most likely turn you to stone at your slightest misstep. But she is bound, as all are in the empire, and if you ask the right question in a proper manner, she is compelled to answer.

I have been here for what seems like an eternity, I was the first, and I have lost track of how many have fallen here. How many others never even made it this far. You must have done better than most, been more mannerly. Perhaps, as I said, she will permit you to stay. It would be good to have companion again, even one still and silent. New folk give me hope, I suppose.

I should tell you my name, who am I, who I had been, while I still have the chance. Thought I doubt it will do either of us any good. I doubt anyone is still around to remember. But you must have heard the  stories, at the very  least some fragments of them, or you would not be here. Thorn Forest is far too wide, its defenses too varied for people to stumble upon the Sorceress's hut by accident.

Oh yes, my name. I  was called Lyra. I am a vampire. I was the Ruler's Minstrel once, her favorite. The Ruler said Minstrels should never be part of the song, should stay out of the story. And yes, I am ere, by her behest. Do not think I am a victim here or that like you I was lured by vague promises of untold wealth and happiness. I simply wished to see how this story would endif it ever does, and this was the only way.

And the Ruler was always good to me.

But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, the Sorceress.

Understand that there has always been a traditional, if somewhat contrary relationship between sorceress and ruler in Mer Caelin. It is whispered that, not long after she was married, the Ruler Mother wished for a child with hair black as night, lips red as blood, and skin white as snow. It is said that a passing Sorceress heard her and on a whim, granted her wish. It is also whispered that as a child, the present Ruler had been cursed by a Sorceress to be a vampire and wander the forest, lost, for years. When that was not enough she poisoned a der, falling in deathlike sleep. She slept in a wooden coffin until foreign Emperor from an impoverished empire, poaching upon the forest of Mer Caelin, tripped over her and ended her unnatural rest.

The other lesser Minstrels always claim it was True Love that had woken our Ruler, that saved her, and truly it makes for a prettier tale. The Ruler preferred my version, however. Only true talent, she used to say, can make truth  sound like poetry.

There have always been Sorceress in Mer Caelin, just as there have always been Rulers. Though, how they came into the  story is less clear than the legends regarding the monarchy.

It is said that thirteen Volturis, twelve good and one evil, came to Victoria's ceremonial to shower her with twelve blessings  and a single curse. Whether or not it is true, I cannot say. All I can say for certain is that on the morning of het eighteenth birthday and the eve of her engagement, Empress Victoria was found in the lowermost chamber of the Fortress's deepest cavern, asleep as if dead. Her chest pierced by the silver blade of an unfamiliar crest. When she would not waken, her father the Emperor fell ill with grieving. On the other hand, her mother the Ruler sent forth her warriors to search for the Sorceress.

When the warriors reported the Sorceress's location, finally, the Ruler locked herself in the Ruler's mother room for a fortnight. The rooms had been cleared after the Ruler mother's death and all that remained there was a single mirror that the Ruler forbade anyone to ever touch. She went alone, though the chambermaids would claim they could hear more than one voice coming from within. When the Ruler finally came out again, she called for me and asked if I would be willing to grant her a favor. She is my Ruler, yet she asked for this to me so humbly. She is my Ruler, though even had she not been, I would still have agreed.

For me, the tale is all that matters.

We journeyed long, but the roads were easier then, the Forest of Thorns had not spread so wide. The Ruler gave her grooms impeccable directions. It did not matter how obscure the forks or how twisted the pathways, our path never strayed, our pace never faltered. Some time on the fourth night we had to abandon our carriage, our horses, and continued on foot.

We did not stop to rest. The further would not allow it. We walked on and on, in the darkness, in the mud, until finally we came to a tiny hut.

When I say tiny, I do not mean figuratively, to poetically contrast it with the enormous fortress that housed the throne of Mer Caelin. I say tiny and exactly mean that. It was so minuscule only children could have walk inside without having bent their backs or bow their heads. Children, or perhaps very small men.

The Ruler sent me ahead to knock. I had agree to the task beforehand and knew what I must do.

The Sorceress came out, stooped with age and dressed in rags. I bowed low and replayed my Ruler's request.

There is a traditional uneasy relationship between the Rulers' and the Sorceress of Mer Caelin, and when the Ruler requests an audience, the Sorceress must grant it. This is also true when it is the Sorceress that does the asking, though I doubt that one ever has.

Wishes, however, are another thing entirely.

" I wishes to have my daughter returned," the Ruler told the Sorceress, without preamble, as soon as they stood face to face.

The crone's lips twisted, in annoyance, perhaps, at being disturbed, or at the imperious tone of her Majesty.

It is always wise to tread carefully around Sorceress.

" You have your daughter," the Sorceress replied. "At least all of her that is of any use to you."

" Her people need her," the ruler said next. " Her father is ill and her empire is failing."

Something flickered through the Sorceress's eyes, which were as blue as star sapphires. " I cannot help you," the Sorceress said. " I will not. Leave and do not return lest harm befall you. I do not lightly forgive trespasses into my forest." she turned and walk back to the hut.

The Ruler did not retreat. Instead, she took a dagger out from some secret place. The gasps of my fellow attendants made the Sorceress turn around, slit-eyes widening impossibly round as the Ruler  sliced the blade across her own palm.

" No!" I though at first it was I who shouted, but it was the Sorceress, her eyes almost fearful.

The Ruler turned her wounded palm outward to the Sorceress and began to speak, " Night, snow and blood," she chanted, "Night, snow and blood, and blood is the strongest of all," I remember blinking in surprise. Our Ruler was casting a blood spell, the strongest of spells, when I had not even known her to cast the smallest protection charm. "Blood to blood, I call you" she continued grimly, "Blood to blood, we are bound." Then she flicked her hand at the Sorceress, spattering her with blood.

 I do not believe any of us had an idea of what to expect, but certainly none of us could have ever predicted what would happen next.

The Sorceress fell to the ground, screaming.

It was as if watching a cake bake and rise through a glass oven door, her body started melting, shifting, changing. We watched, transfixed, as the Sorceress continued to struggle and scream.

None of us had ever suspected our Ruler of having this sort of power.

It was a fierce-some battle but in the end blood won. I had only seen her from her portraits, her tower room always heavily guarded, but I had no doubt who was now standing before the Ruler. Empress Victoria, n***d and shivering, spitting in fury, like a wild kitten.

She was far more beautiful than all the stories would have you believe. Truly, Mer Caelin's minstrels were sorely lacking in skill.

I stepped forward and tried to offer her my cloak but the Empress would have none of it and slapped me away.

" A blood spell," she sneered at the Ruler. " You, who condemned your own mother to death for using sorcery. What will your subjects say, Your Majesty, in the face of such hypocrisy?"

" And what of you," returned the Ruler, calmly, " who would prefer to be n***d than accept a kindness? who would destroy her empire from sheer obstinacy?"

" Spare me the dramatics, Mother" Victoria snapped. " I'm sure you're doing an excellent job for keeping the peasants happy."

The Ruler's face remained impassive,

"You are the heir of Mer Caelin," she said, "And instead of fulfilling your duty you hide from it. You are a poor empress, 'tis true, but you are the only one we have."

Victoria snorted, "And my duties what?" she returned. "To marry someone dolt who has nothing to commend him but the number of coins in his coffers and the ability to give me a daughter to rule after me? To feed myself with blood? To grant me immortality? To e*****e myself feed people who refuse to feed themselves?"

 “They are your people and they have served you well," defended the Ruler,

"And they will continue to serve you well. They are willing to fulfill their obligations. They are blameless."

"And who would you have me blame, Mother?" demanded Victoria. "Aside, that is, from you?" Her look turned mocking, "Let me guess, you will now make some grand speech about how Grandmamma has corrupted me, ensorcelled my heart and turned your only daughter against you and Mer Caelin's heir against her empire? She has been dead since fifteen years, Mother. How long can you keep blaming her for you

failures?" She sneered again, and it was a wonderment how she, so beautiful, could have an expression so ugly.

"I do not understand this outrage. Did you not do this yourself? Run away to the forest, flee to avoid your responsibility? Was this not the very same hut you chose to hide in? I had thought you would appreciate the irony. And did you not marry the first man you met in an attempt to thwart your destiny? Was it fortune or misfortune that Father turned out  to be emperor instead of woodsman, as you had believed him to be? You were eager enough to abandon Mer Caelin then. And now you used a blood spell on your own child to force her to do your bidding." She inclined her head, in challenge and curiosity,

"Grandmamma told me you would not be taught in the Ways, that you refused. How then"

"You're a fool," the Ruler interrupted, fiercely, furiously. She took a breath to regain her composure. Her gaze turned far away, rueful. "For my Mother, hearts were playthings," she continued, more softly.

"She wanted a beautiful child, the most beautiful girl in the world, to do justice to her own beauty. So she called on snow and night and blood, and she made one. Unfortunately, she forgot that beautiful children sometimes grow to be beautiful adults. She decided then that she did not want me after all."

The ruler is far older than she seems and has been searching for her daughter or years but I never knew before that she could look so tired,

"she only cared for herself. She never loved you."

"Oh, and I supposed you do?" Victoria continued to mock her Mother, "And yet you hunt me down, use a blood spell to render me powerless."

"Everything else would have failed," her Majesty rejoined, "She taught you too well. But blood spell are still ruled by blood, and blood showed me the way." She could not touch Victoria or the spell would have been broken. Instead she stood just an arm's-length away. She sighted, shaking her head sadly.

"You ask how I can use the blood spell when I am untaught? Because I was one myself, my darling. I still am. Yes I ran, I do not blame you for that. It was the one thing I chose to do, of my own free will. I had a year of freedom. Then she found me, cast that spell, stole my freedom from me with a deer. Your father was a good man and I grew to love him, but... I had hoped for better for you."

She sighted yet again. "We are all bound, by our destinies, and our actions. You are an intelligent child. You should know, better than most, how this works. If she had truly loved you, she would have taught you better still. Or she would have taught you other things, or, perhaps, taught

you nothing at all. Anything, anything but this."

"You said you wanted escape, that you did this to be free. Instead, you are trapped, irrevocably, completely. And the most terrible, most laughable thing is, you threw the spell yourself. You have doomed yourself."

Victoria sniffed derisively but the Ruler continued, grimly.

"Your corporeal body lies in the lowermost chamber of the deepest cavern of the fortress, asleep. For years the winds have carried the news. Someday, someone will solve the riddle, find the key, and learn your true name. Someone will come. Someday-"

"Someone of my choosing." Victoria interjected, triumphantly.

"Not yours. I made the rules, set the conditions."

"Someone will come." The Ruler repeated, and her words rang like a curse.

"And then when he is doing jumping through your hoops, when he has fulfilled your conditions, broken your spell, he will own you. And you will have no choice. You will never again have a choice." She laughed, somewhat self-deprecatingly. "At least, when I tried to run away I was wise enough to use my legs."

She took off her crest, placed it on the ground before Victoria. "You are my daughter and I love you. Love is stronger than time, stronger ever than blood spells. Call it a blessing or a curse, it still belongs to you. You are the heir of Mer Caelin. Your empire will wait for you."

She turned then and walked away, leaving me behind. To break the circle, to free Victoria after enough time had passed. She had told me what she planned, and had asked for my aid, warning that Victoria would be angry, would try to harm me, but vowing to protect me.

I do not doubt she made it happen, that she succeeded, I am still here despite Victoria's countless attacks. But how I would have loved to seen it with my own eyes. An entire empire asleep, oh the songs I could have written about it! But I choose to stay here. Because she asked. And because I wish to see how the story ends.

Or if it ever will.

I spend my days alone, in silence. Lately, the Forest of Thorns has become too thick for even birds and animals. I find it amazing that you even made it this far.

I hope she lets you stay, I do. Victoria? She spends most days inside the hut, weaving spells and hunting flesh. She makes the forest grow and she sets traps and she prepares for her destiny. She named herself Victoria Avalon.

She is bound, as we all are. She knows this as surely as I do.

Someday, her destiny will come. And the Avalon's journey begins.