Temporary Crown

18 | Rumors of an island

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Nesta lived her life knowing every bit of little things she needed to know in order to survive. Be it rumors or bounties she knew them for back before she was here, she was someone who wondered on the streets hoping for a little grace.

Back before, she frequently travel from town to town by foot or rental carriage in order to reach her destinations. On her way to some towns, some coachman were rather talkative and often times they’ will openly talked about certain rumors about myths, legends and even the nobles.

As Nesta considered this matter, her eyes landed on the map again. The whole map of the empire was laid there and there were several island that were circled. Lucien seemed to have compared his father’s testimonies to the one in the map.

The three island were surrounded by the sea and if there was people living in there, their numbers would only be few. From the looks of it, It seemed that ships were even hesitant to dock in their harbors.

Considering this, Nesta stared a little longer observing the geographical location of the island that Lucien encircled. Lucien let her stared at the map a little longer.

As she does that, Lucien moved and opened the book once again. He specifically highlighted the words and sentence he wanted Nesta to read.

A few seconds later, Nesta withdraw her gaze and shifted to where Lucien was. “These Islands are?” She asked. She had scrutinized the back of her mind earlier trying to remember if she ever see such place before in her previous life but there was no memory embedded in her.

Lucien passed one book to her. Nesta looked down to read the sentence and paragraph that Lucien highlighted. At the same time, Lucien begun to open his mouth to explain.

“Earlier, when father and I were having our discussion, he told me that he often went out at sea looking. He heard rumors before when we was just in the peak of his prime and managing our estates. In those times, he heard different mysterious stories about people disappearing even treasures that only appears once the chosen ones appeared. He was of course fascinated by these stories and often times in his travels he would took a detour to visit the places and see if the rumors and stories were right.”

Lucien pointed the three specific island that have a bigger distance to each other. “These three islands, have a name. One on the east were called the Everlams. On the south was the Isles. And lastly, the place rumored to be barren without any form of life, Caldiac rose. This Island according to history and geographical books is an island with mountain ranges. In order to enter the island, you need to climb the mountain first and then go down.”

Nesta frowned hearing this. She tried to awaken her memory or maybe recall some rumors she heard back in her previous life but it was futile. Her mind was blank, hence, she gestured, “Go on.” the food had gone cold on the table even the teas but both of them pay no mind. They were immersed with the topic that Lucien was bring.

“The rumors that father heard was like this, in the first two island the people living there would pass a specific story according to their ancestors. The stories goes like this,” Lucien shifted his position and continued speaking.

“ there was a beautiful maiden living in their town before. According to rumors, she was beautiful enough to attract any man she likes however, no matter how men lined up for her, she did not pay any attention to them. She firmly believe that she wanted to be alone for the rest of her life living in peace. No one knows the reason why but soon after, the villagers begun to accept it. Her life was peaceful just like what she had predicted but all of these shatters when a man named Williams who was a noble visited the islands with his people.”

Time ticked inside the library and the sun from outside gradually started to go down but the two remained immersed by their conversation.

“He stayed on the island for a certain period of time for he claimed to had fallen in love with the maiden. He tried so hard to court her and earn her love but of course, the maiden refused his love with the same reason she said to the people in town. However, William was a noble man and he doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“In the night of the full moon where the towns people held their annual festival, William was determined to woe the maiden. He did not waste any time and went to the house of the maiden however, no matter how much he knocked no one answered the door. William had become impatient and begun kicking the door. He was aggressive and he kept banging the door until it was destroyed and the whole interior of a humble house was revealed.”

“William was furious, however, the moment he went inside, the maiden was standing in the middle of her room. Her eyes were not blinking and she was standing in a circle with different patterns and ancient letters. She was mumbling words that had no meaning and no one could understand. Her wrist was slit and blood flowed continuously. The whole scene was horrifying for some like a cultured noble like him. ”

“In that very moment, William who was in distressed had accidentally mumbled and accused the maiden that she was a witch. Everything escalated quickly and people from the empire begun to sail their ships in order to capture the witch. A witch was a taboo that shouldn’t be existing in the world. She was immediately sentence to death and was expected to be executed tomorrow. Furthermore, there were scholars who begun to unravel the ancient letters and symbols the woman had written and the reason why she was doing that.”

“The day of her death, the guards who went to fetch her were taken back when they did not see her figure inside the prison instead, words begun to formed on the wall and the walls become alive and they had grown teeth and bare fangs at the guards. Pure horror eat the guards and thought that they would die. However, in contrary, the doctor who had seen them concluded that they were under a traumatic psychological attack that caused them to form illusions in their heads. With the guards’ statement the prison was investigated but in contrary to their testimony, everything was normal.”

“Rumors were passed down this time and they believed that it was the witch’s doing and she was searching for life and death. That she had secrets that only deities knows. Hence, the empire gave a bounty to find her but they did not found her until now.”

Lucien took the cold tea and sipped it before he continue to talk again. Nesta blinked. “All of her performance and the ancient letters were kept in the same islands for years. According to rumors, those people who could understand it would later on know the secrets of life.”

Silence started to engulfed them before Lucien spoke once again breaking the silence. He gave a shrugged.

“Of course there were no evidences of the claim but rumors has it that the maiden was performing a ritual for life’s immortality.”

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