The King Of Adventure

Gardenia’s worst nightmare

Derek's POV.

“Derek! Derek! wake up," I woke up instantly, standing in a defensive posture as I try to recognize where I was,

“Derek are you alright, what's wrong?" I immediately relaxed as I heard Marie's voice, I looked down and saw her staring up at me with confusion and worry written all over her pale face, she asked me again;

“Are you okay, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just a bad dream." I said, my chest heaving as I try to control my breathing,

"Are you sure? because that does not look like an ordinary bad dream to me," she probed,

“It's nothing," I said again as I proceeded to wipe off the sweat that was now cascading down my face.

“Okay, come on it's time to go."

We left the cave and made our way down the mountain, I could not stop thinking about the strange dream I had on the way, it felt so real and I couldn't stop feeling there was something wrong as a lot of questions kept pushing their way through my thoughts, I was pulled out of my thoughts as I suddenly heard Marie call my name,

"Derek look," she said, pointing forward, I looked in the direction she was pointing at and the sight before me left me breathless.

By now, we were already at the foot of the mountain and we could see the gate from there,

"Something is wrong," Marie whispered, as she shook her head in disbelief,

"Let go check it out," I said.

On getting to the gate, an eerie quietness had settled over the area, Marie moved closer to my side and gulped as the wind roar from behind, we continue to walk towards the kingdom center, and I wish the scene before me was just another nightmare, everywhere was destroyed: all the houses were all burnt to ashes, people were screaming their heart out over the loss of their loved ones, and I watched as hope slipped away from their eyes one by one, I could feel the earth move beneath my feet as the realization dawned on me that the nightmare was real and it was Gardenia's worst nightmare,

“What happened?" I could faintly hear Marie asking people, I couldn't keep my head straight as a lot of thoughts began to race through my brain, suddenly I saw a familiar shadow; it was the old woman I saw on the streets the other day: she was the one in the dream, I immediately began to make my way amidst the crowd as I chase after her, eventually I got to her and grabbed her and she immediately pulls away from me and ran into an alley.

I continued to run after her till I reached an abandoned workshop, I hesitantly pulled the door open and entered. I found her sitting on a chair with her back turned to me,

“Who are you?"I asked as I moved closer to her with precaution,

“Why were you in my dream?" I inquired,

“Hello Derek," she said, taking off her hood before turning to face me, and instead of the old woman I saw, a young-looking woman was standing in front of me,

“I am Diana, the last guardian of the heart and a Celestial elf," I looked at her with confusion written on my face, according to Toby's tale about the creatures in the seven kingdoms, celestial elves were the royal family of Euranor,

“So you are... if I am correct, a royalty from Euranor?" I asked not believing my ears,

“Yes," she said and paused for a while,

“I’m sure you have questions, even though this may sound unbelievable to your ears but everything you saw in your dream is real, and I was the one who summoned you there," she said,

"Why?" I asked her,

“Let me tell you a story;" she said, taking her sit in front of me,

“For centuries now, this story has become nothing but a legend, the inhabitants of Gardenia has forgotten about the tragedy that occurred thousands of years ago;

Since the beginning, my family has been part of the guardians along with a lot of families from the seven kingdoms too, the people that were murdered in your dreams were what was left of the guardians of the heart, we were gathered by the empress Aria to protect the heart secretly because back then, it wasn't only the emperor who saw the evil in prince Zalzard's heart, the empress having grown up together with two princes knew about them more than anyone, so she decided to gather together a special force to safeguard the emperor and the heart,"

“According to the tale, the heart was taken, why didn't you do anything," I asked,

“It wasn't taken Derek, it was stolen, and for centuries now, we guardians have been looking for the heart but to no avail, because according to prophecy, only the chosen one can find the emperor and the heart and the chosen one did not show up until hundred years ago, Zalzard and his troops, unfortunately, found out the sword was hidden in Euranor, so he attacked us: wiping us all out, but thankfully few had managed to escape along with me, the only celestial elf alive.

Before my father died, he had entrusted to me the sword and the mission to find the chosen one, and for years, I kept running and hiding until I came to Gardenia. Wounded, a kindhearted human saved me and I entrusted the sword of the king of adventure to him to hide it where no one could ever find it.

Fifty years later, the human came looking for me with his dying grandson, who had accidentally touch the sword and because of the great power hidden in the sword, the boy almost lost his life; the old man pleaded with me to save his grandson and using the last of my powers to heal the boy, I lost the ability to see the sword. Then I realized the young boy was a mere human, then how could he see the sword let alone touch it, even the reason the boy's grandfather could see the sword was because of the magical necklace I gave to him, which could allow him to see the sword for a short period and with a strict warning to never open the box nor touch the sword. After losing my powers, I went into hiding to recuperate and immediately began to look for a way to locate the remaining guardians and inform them about the truth,"

"What truth," I asked,

"We had interpreted the prophecy wrongly, and we had never once thought the chosen one could be a mortal, and now, the part where this is all related to you, is the part where you are the chosen one: who will find the heart and the emperor.