Whisper in the Dark

Chapter 6

Adult Content 18+

Ronan already knows the queen is not going to like what he is about to tell her. He might have brute strength, but he is well aware that the only reason he has his way with her is because she allows it. No one has survived that has tried to dethrone her. She is ruthless and has unimaginable strength. His own strength was born from her. He wished it was not the truth, but it was. If she did not need him to do her dirty work, he would not have the gifts he had. The royals can bestow gifts but they can also take them away and he was well aware of that. He pretends to be nonchalant towards her and careless of his actions towards her, but he knows he can be turned into dust in seconds if she looses her temper. She is a ticking time bomb.

"My Queen," he walks in with caution to where she sits at the head of a long table that can easily seat 100 people or even more. The palace used to be busy and joyous when her husband was still alive, but now it has become dark and evil lives here. He knows that deep down inside of her there is some humanity, but something happened, something broke her.

"Spit it out Ronan." She can immediately sense he is tense about what he has to tell her. "I am a very impatient person, Ronan, and you should know that better than anyone." Her words are laced with venom.

"The Nommo got a hold of the . . ." He barely finished his sentence before she got up in force, causing the chair she was sitting on to fly into the fireplace behind her. Power came radiating off her in great waves, breaking the table in half and cracking the walls. Ronan covered his face with his arm to avoid any potential flying objects.

"HOW COULD YOU?!?"

"My queen, they did not manage to do anything. The girls are safe in the forest travelling to a nearby village."

Immediately, she starts to calm down but her anger was still there. This man in front of her was supposed to make sure that no one came near them. She made sure to give him as much power as she possibly could to ensure he could do all she asked of him without hesitation. Then, when it came to the most important task of his life, he fails. She did not take kindly to failure. There is no second chance with her.

"You know, Ronan, when I gave you your abilities I made sure to give you the best. I killed others to bestow their power on you." She walked around the broken table to the window. Her strides were long and calm, which just made it more unnerving.

He did not like this tone of hers at all. It always came with severe punishment and her thirst for blood would not let her stop till blood was shed. Her control and calmness was just a dark screen to something more sinister. He knew her very well. He knew she would not kill him, but she was definitely going to kill someone today.

Suddenly, the door opens and the maid steps in with a tray. A smile forms in the corner of Ronan's mouth, poor woman does not know what she just walked into. Her life will be cut short.

The queen turns around abruptly as the maid enters and her face darkens over her forehead. Just the blood she was hoping for. Ronan could be lucky this woman walked in and saved his ass from a brutal beating.

The woman freezes in her spot as she realizes what was about to happen. She started to levitate. Fear is written all over her face, just how the queen likes it. She feeds on her victims' fear and the more they scream the more it gives her this unexplainable kick. She rotates the woman slowly and picks up speed. The woman starts screaming frantically as she starts to spin faster and faster until she passes out. The queen stops her torture and jolts the woman with electricity for her to wake up. It is no fun for her if her victims do not witness their own death.

She starts to apply pressure on the maid as she holds up her hand and crushes a fruit she picked up off the floor. The woman screams frantically as her ribs start crushing and her body contorts into an unusual shape. As soon as she goes quiet, the queen drops the fruit from her hand, letting the fruit and the body drop to the floor simultaneously. Ronan looks at the body on the floor next to him bleeding out before he directs his attention back to his queen.

"You better fix this, Ronan." Her words were strained as she spoke through gritted teeth.

~~

The girls walked behind Ritro in a daze. Everything was new to them. The forest isn't green as they thought. The mist made it difficult to see clearly the colors around them. It is blue. The leaves are blue and the soil a vibrant red. It looked so peculiar with all the color that surrounded them. Nothing looked like it does on Earth. Not even the animals. They walked very cautiously behind Ritro as they made their way along the path. The forest was mesmerizing and intriguingly beautiful. It felt like it was busy calling out to them to come closer. The forest felt like it was alive and speaking.

"Do not step off the path," Ritro warns as they walk.

"Why?" Both girls said in unison.

"Each village has its own way of protecting itself. This one, in particular places traps off the path for those who think they are going to sneak up on the village."

Both girls make big O's with their mouths as they look at the trees next to them, wondering if something may be lurking in them.

Once in the village, the girls study their environment attentively. Each building looks like the earth has built itself. It looks like it is breathing. The building moves slightly and is covered in red soil. Each beam is made of a branch of a tree and each hut is supported by a tree. After careful inspection, the girls realized that each hut is a physical tree and the tree hugs the hut as if it is protecting it. The leaves form a covering over the roof and change color slightly in each house.

"Why are the leaves different colors in each house?" Soraya asks Ritro.

"Like I explained before, Rusha controls everything and everything is a part of her. These trees display the emotions in the home they inhabit. The colors will change as the mood changes. Bright oranges and yellows will display happiness, darker colors will display sadness. Rusha expects us to live harmoniously with each other, therefore she will tell us how each home feels to make sure we support each other and give the necessary attention. A home that has experienced death will have dark and wilted leaves. You probably noticed the blue hue of the forest. It means the forest is calm and tranquil. If anything takes place, the forest will display distress in that specific area. That is how we are all connected. Not everyone lives in the forest like the tribes. There are still cities as well that have adapted with advanced technology, but only the rich live there and work is very scarce there. For people like me, it is a no-go zone as you usually end up homeless or worse in slavery. Some of the rich experiment on people as well. Well, that is what I have heard, but no one knows for sure."

The girls ponder over this new revelation a bit before Soraya opens her mouth to ask a question but closes it again. The ground vibrates slightly as they walk and both girls are startled by the sudden movement.

"Don't worry, that is nothing new. Rusha is just acknowledging your presence, she is notifying the village of a new arrival. If she sensed evil from you she would have rumbled." Ritro says.

"I don't know if I am comfortable with all of this," Soraya whispers to Alexa, "it is like being constantly watched or on a reality TV show."

"I know what you mean, it is the same as believing in God in some way. He sees everything as I heard people say who believe in Him. Now it is only Rusha and she . . . is it a she or a he? Never mind . . . she just has a very powerful presence that you can feel. I am too scared to say anything or ask anything and she will hear us and judge us."

Ritro breaks out in hysterical laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" both girls exclaim in unison.

"You two! I am sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it is very difficult not to hear what you guys are saying when you whisper so loud. Don't worry, Rusha does not work like that. We are free to do as we please and SHE," he stresses the word, "only intervenes when it is absolute chaos and we are on the verge of wiping out a species. As for the illnesses, those only happen to the worst of the lot and, strange enough, Rusha has refrained from doing so for the past 500 years. Our populations haven't been growing as much because infertility has plagued all of our species. I think Rusha is punishing us in that regard. It is a gift to have children and those that do have them, guard their children with their lives. Children are so scarce that only a select few have the privilege and those that don't, steal them and raise them as their own. You won't see children running around in a village. They are heavily guarded. The wealthy buy children from the poor and raise them as their own. Some even go to such extremes as having their looks altered by sorcerers to look like their own kin. Those that traffic children make a lot of money doing so. It can be a lucrative business."

Neither one of the girls expected to hear something like this. They stood there just gaping at him as he continued speaking.

"It is sickening! How can people do that to each other?" Alexa exclaims.

"Easy. You live for hundreds of years and have no offspring. It becomes easy to want to have a child and later need that child. After so many years, people become desperate and they become insane. The poor and underprivileged do not live that long due to their circumstances, but the privileged do. Your rich stay in power and your poor stay poor. Some women, if they fall pregnant, go into hiding because they get abducted and used as breeding machines. I have heard that it is quite unsuccessful because that specific couple is blessed to have children, so they kidnap both parents. My ancestors always told the story of a woman in our village that was taken with her mate. She was a healer in the village. She and her mate decided to refuse to pair to not have anymore children for their captor and she poisoned herself and her mate to die together in their cell. She was not willing to give up their offspring as goods to be sold."

"Then how old are you?" Soraya quickly chirps in.

"I am 56."

"NOOOOOO!" Both girls screamed with eyes the size of saucers.

"Believe it or not? You will soon see. Here you barely age. You grow and then when the ageing needs to start taking place you just don't age."

Ritro turns around and continues walking as the two girls look at each other astonished. Could this place get any creepier? Yet all these secrets and fascinating titbits he has been telling them only makes them want more. Each passing moment in this place feels like they are getting more connected to this place.

"Come girls! We do not have all day to be daydreaming. I do not know where you want to get to but I still have a while to go."

Ritro turns his head around quickly, making his long dark ponytail almost slap Alexa in the face as they run after him.

"Where are we going?" Soraya asked her sister.

"I have no idea. As long as it is not back to where we came from."

"Agreed. Do you think we should stick with him?"

"Yeah, for as long as we do not know where we are heading, we might as well. He seems safe enough for now and at least he tells us more than we knew since yesterday about this place. For now, I think we need to learn as much as we possibly can." Soraya just nodded her head at her sister's words. They don't know much about this place and he seems to be well educated about Rusha's history and on where to go. Leaving him now will leave them vulnerable in a place they do not know at all.

"Are you girls hungry?"

"Starving!" Both girls start giggling at their chorus.

"Well, let's do something about that, shall we?"