Birthright

Chapter Two - The Night I was Born

All mystical beings had their leaders, the head of each pack, clan, coven, court, lair, and legion. Together, these leaders formed the Council of Talvarna, the governing heart of the realm. At its head sat King Alpha Kade, a fair and just ruler, loved by all who called Talvarna home.

Five years of peace endured under his and Emilia’s reign, until the death of Rickardo, head of the Vampire Coven. His son, Lucian, ascended in his place, and with him came the first whispers of unrest. Lucian had never respected the Council or King Kade’s rule. He spoke often of “change,” though what he truly desired was dominion, power over Talvarna itself.

It was said that during his travels beyond the borders of the known realms, Lucia spent a lot of his time in the demon realm, kingdom of Meldron, a shadowed place used to banish the kingdom’s criminals and exiles. Few ever returned. Yet rumors spread that Lucian had found his mate there, a creature born of darkness and flame. From that union, his ambition grew dangerous.

He began to raise an army from the forsaken souls of Meldron, promising them freedom and vengeance. In truth, he sought only to use them, to unleash chaos upon Talvarna and claim its throne for himself.

That’s how the Great War began.

The night Luna Queen Emilia, brought Jackson into this world, the castle was under siege. The sound of clashing steel and shattering stone echoed through the halls as the enemy breached the outer walls. Flames licked the night sky, turning the once-proud banners of our house into burning ghosts.

Inside her chambers, my Emilia cradled her newborn son, while Theo, the maids, and the midwife huddled around her. The scent of blood and smoke filled the air. The door shook under the pounding of enemy fists, and everyone knew the final barrier wouldn’t hold for long. A powerful painful howl was heard which made the walls tremble, Emilia gasped and Theo paled, it was the howl of the Alpha king, a sign of the war closing in.

“My beautiful baby boy,” she whispered, her voice trembling but full of warmth. “How your mummy and daddy love you, with all our hearts.”

Queen Emilia unclasped the gold talisman from around her neck, a pendant shaped like an eclipse, its center a blood red ruby pulsing with faint golden light.

She pressed it into Theo’s hand, her fingers trembling. “Take my talisman,” she said softly, her eyes glistening with tears. “Give it to him… on the day of his eighteenth.”

Tears streaked her cheeks as the door shook again, splinters flying from the hinges. Aunt Theo reached out, but Queen Emilia only smiled, a soft, heartbreakingly calm smile. With trembling hands, she turned to Theo. Her green eyes turning red—bright even in her pain, met my aunt’s tear-filled gaze.

“Take him,” she whispered. “Run, and don’t look back. Protect my baby.”

Theo hesitated only for a heartbeat before my mother pressed me into her arms. She shouted to the maids “move the wardrobe in-front of the door”. The maids rushed to push the great oak wardrobe revealing a hidden passage, a secret known only to the royal bloodline. The tunnel led down to the vaults beneath the castle, where warriors guarded the vulnerable: the young, the wounded, and the few survivors who still believed salvation might come.

As the heavy stone door closed behind them, Aunt Theo looked back one last time. She caught a glimpse of her sister-in-law standing tall, defiant even as the enemy burst through the chamber doors. My mother’s scream of power and fury followed Theo into the darkness, a final echo of the Queen who would not kneel.

Aunt Theo gathered every ounce of magic left in her that night. With the enemy closing in and the screams of battle echoing through the stone halls, she summoned the elements—earth, fire, water, and wind, binding them into a single desperate spell. It was a power beyond anything she had ever attempted, a spell meant not to destroy, but to save.

With a cry that split the air, she tore open a rift between realms and forced the vault through it every child, elder, wounded soul, and guard hidden below whisked away in a blinding surge of light. When the spell ended, Instead of fire, blood, chaos, and screams, what stood before them was something out of a dream, a vast, tranquil lake that shimmered beneath a lavender sky. Beyond it stretched the edge of an endless forest, trees so tall and dense they seemed to touch the heavens. Behind them rolled a field of lush, thick green, the grass soft and untouched, whispering in a gentle breeze. This was where their new home would be born not of victory, but of survival. A place to heal, to rebuild, and to remember all they had lost.

Theo collapsed from the effort. They say it took her six months to recover enough strength to stand, and even then, she was never quite the same. The magic returned, yes but she always said a part of it, a part of herself, was left behind that night.

That was the night I was saved.