The Heart of Illumia

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

            Auria soaked herself inside the tub, her face half hidden in the water.

            She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the whole thing.

            The blood stained ground.

            The stench of piss, rotting flesh and dried blood.

            Dead bodies covering the ground, opened wombs.

            Grotesque figures crawling on the floor.

            Auria pushed herself up to block out the images.  Leo had tried to shield her from the gruesome scene but the princess had to move forward.  She saw the portal that those creatures were using to travel from Illumia to Earth.  In her anger, the power she kept inside her erupted unexpectedly, blue flames emerging from her body to burn the death she had seen. 

            Leo had the presence of mind to throw the rest of the company outside using his wind ability and formed a barrier around him and the princess.  She burned the portal, the bodies and even the grotesque forms that were crawling around before the energy completely formed in the room and exploded, burying everything six feet under. 

            Auria combed her hair.  She felt physical pain at what had happened.  She could not comprehend how a simple trial for becoming a knight could turn into a blood bath like this.  Leo had assured her that before the trial, he had a few trusted knights scouting the area so there should be nothing there to endanger them.  But her skin crawled at the thought of how those monsters managed to get into the kingdom that easily.  Once the king found out about this, he ordered a lockdown of the trade going in and out of the kingdom.  He called for an emergency meeting with the leaders of the different quadrants.  If these creatures can shapeshift into Earthlings, then they could have easily infiltrated the kingdom and might have been doing it for some time now if it hadn’t been for the unexpected use of the ruins as a training ground.

            Auria breathed out.  She thought of what should have been done.  She thought of what might have happened if she gave in to the fear of facing these creatures again. And then she knew.  No matter what happens, she should find out if these things are here and making their world into a living hell.

            The door to her room opened and both Mildred and Thania came in.

            “My lady, they are waiting for you.”  Mildred announced with a grim look on her face.  When she found out that Auria had been attacked, she had been as frantic as Thania.  They wanted to be there to give her usual pampering but the princess seemed subdued and occupied with her own thoughts.  They do not know the full details of what had occurred but since she is not going to the meeting as herself, then they are ready to stay by her side.

            Auria stood up and kept her face blank.  This will be the first official business that she will attend as the princess of Durin.  She had already placed an enchantment on her facial features to make it have some attributes from both Mildred and Thania.  But then she remembered that Gildan representatives would be arriving so she chose a gold mesh veil as added protection.

            The trio slowly made their way down the corridor, the servants immediately bowing their heads as they passed.  They were ushered into the conference room where the king and the other leaders were.  They stood up as the three made their way towards King Lucius who was seated on his throne.  The king inclined his head towards the chair on his right.  Once she was seated, the rest of the leaders took their seats.  Some eyed the golden veiled girl with curiosity and some with unabashed interest.  All eyes turned to the king when he cleared his throat.

            “We are gathered here today as there has been a threat that seems to have entered our kingdom.”  The king began.  As he was discussing what had happened, Auria used a slight bit of magic to make a sweep at the guests.  Some of them who were magic users became alert and looked towards the princess.  They remained respectful and even looked at her in admiration.  Soon she retracted her magic as she did not sense anything wrong with them.

            King Lucius turned to her as he waited for her to speak.

            “I was told by Rhea that this “creature” can adapt the physical attributes of its prey and can even breed with females.”  Auria started to say, keeping her identity as “Rhea” part of the conversation since “she” was the one who fought and killed the creature.  “It can also use magic but is slow in his movements.  Rhea believed that the orcs were there as guardians to keep intruders from finding their hiding place and to create enough minions to overrun Illumia or Earth.” 

            The table erupted with panic.  Each leader kept on harping about how to hunt these creatures and find out whether there are other portals where they could enter from.

            “How do we know that we are not one of those creatures?”  Lord Dalton, the leader of Cambria suddenly piped up as he looked at each of the inhabitants in the room with fear.  Mistress Keira, the leader of Hildegard, smirked before looking at Auria.

            “She didn’t do anything to us.”  Mistress Keira gestured towards the princess, her mage companions shifting nearer to their leader’s chair.

            Auria gave a small smile.

            “Yes, I have already checked if you were influenced or hiding an internal motive while my grandfather was speaking.  I find nothing corrupted in any of you.”  The princess confirmed.

            “Furthermore, Earth is also threatened.”  She continued.  “These creatures have been taking men and women from their world and bringing them here.  Rhea has seen how this creature mutilated the male before taking its essence and turning his physical appearance into the same look as his victim.  They have been breeding female Earthlings and leaving them for dead while their offspring would kill the female.  They might have insinuated themselves into their society and maybe have their own plans there.  Earth is also under our protection.  It would be best if we act now before this goes out of our hands.”

            The king stood and looked at everyone in the room.

            “What we have discussed here must remain within this room to prevent these creatures from finding out that we have destroyed one of their lairs.”  He gestured at Elder Farrah who came forward and distributed an amulet to each person inside the room. 

            “These will connect you to me.  It has been imbued with special tracking magic that will tell me if this creature has attacked you in anyway.  We will try to find out if these creatures have their own nests within your quadrants but you need to ensure your people’s safety.”  He continued before looking at Auria.

            “Have a small contingent ready for the mission.  I want Illumia to be free from these leeches.  Dispatch Leo and Rhea to join in this contingent.  We will end this with as little casualties as possible.”

            “What of the Earthling?”  Lord Dalton chirped.  All eyes turned to him that made him squirm in his seat.  “The human woman that the creature brought here.  What are you going to do with her?”

            King Lucius looked at his granddaughter before shifting his gaze at Elder Farrah.

            “The female is currently in a coma.  She remains unconscious as she hit her head when the creature knocked her about.  Once she is awake, we will escort her back to her home.”  Elder Farrah replied with a stern look at Lord Dalton.  The man sheepishly bowed his head and remained silent.

            “We will assist in determining these creatures.”  Mistress Keira offered.

            Auria knew her grandfather would decline the offer.  Lady Sandra, after all, came from their coven. 

When they found out that the coven was wiped out, they were stunned.  They had expected Hildegard to make sure that Lady Sandra can hide within their ranks until such time that they could properly form a rebellion.  So the day that Lady Sandra was found missing, they immediately assumed she had sought sanctuary in Hildegard.  Imagine their shock at finding the whole quadrant vacant and uninhabited.

Now where did Mistress Keira came from?  Mistress Keira happened to have attended a magical convention of some sorts, along with the council of Hildegard.  They were unaware of what had happened to their people so they had appealed to King Lucius for assistance in finding justice for their coven.  They tried magical sweeps, scrying and essence tracing but it was as if they had disappeared into thin air.  Since then, they had been trying a little too hard to get back into King Lucius’ good graces.

“Yes, I think you should start with a magical sweep around your area, Mistress Keira.  Since there had been too many abandoned homes, they might have used them as nesting grounds.”  King Lucius muttered grimly.

Mistress Keira paled and immediately excused themselves to return to Hildegard to secure their quadrant.  King Lucius sent four of his Paladins with her for added security.  The others exited through their respective portals with their own group of protectors.  When the room was vacant, King Lucius turned to Auria who stood up and removed her veil.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?”  He asked worriedly.

“I should.  You know I should.  This is the duty expected of me but I owe it to all those women who died because we didn’t know.  I want to hunt those things down so that they won’t do these things to our people, in our worlds.”

Kung Lucius chuckled and patted Auria’s head even though she was almost as tall as he.

“You will make a great queen someday.”