L`Univers: "The Sigil" Book 2

The apple tree

     “Cristina!” Hugo chased after her as she got out of the city walls and climbed a smaller hill that had an apple tree. “Cristina stop!”

     “What do you want? You are all the same!” she yelled at him as she stopped below the tree.

     “Woah, everything is so perfect here,” said Hugo, as he also stood below the tree that was illuminated by the silver light coming from the two moons on the sky and the billions of flickering stars, and in the distance, a giant green blanket of grass.

     “They are just a bunch of kids is what they are,” Cristina just couldn`t be bothered by the beauty of the valley, but Hugo just leaned on the tree and crossed his arms as he drifted off, he could stand for eternity like this, whilst Cristina from behind was arguing with herself.

     Franco and Aelizia were walking on the narrow road surrounded with houses on both sides and led them straight to the masters quarters, a cabin made out of wood, located into the most isolated part of the city, its insides held dark stories, the origin of how everything came to be.

     “So… How did you come to be with this group?” asked Franco.

     “Father`s orders, not that any of us want to be here, if you ask Hugo and Francis they would rather go back to their fighting,” said Aelizia. 

     “So why don`t they?” asked Franco. “They have no obligation to do this,” said Franco.

     “This goes beyond obligation or fame and riches, this is for the people because it`s what`s good. You may be smart my prince but you can`t even compare to what Hugo and Francis have, I hope you will realize this sooner than later,” Aelizia picked up her pace leaving Franco speechless.

     “And you… what would you rather do?”

     “Our fates are similar, my father Teodryll will groom me to become the next on the throne, and there would be no subjects in my kingdom if shall our quest goes ill,” Franco heard those words and something struck like a lightning in his head, he always thought he knew better than everybody else, but now he realized the lengths that some people have to go through. Everything has been just perfect for him till now, but that was all about to change. One of the masters came outside and looked directly at the prince, confused as to what he is doing here. The prince was indeed a well-educated man but he never sought knowledge from the masters or their books.

     “My lady guest here was wondering if you could shed some light here on The Watchers,” said Franco distracting the guard and the master as Liza sneaked behind them and entered the cabin.

     Liza had an easier job than Franco described mainly because she had help from him sneaking past the guard and the other reason was that they were all sleeping. She went through the books but none of them caught her attention nor looked like they would have the knowledge she was seeking, she rummaged through the cupboards as she turned her head to another room and saw a book that laid open on the table, the book was odd somehow, it seemed out of place as if it doesn`t belong here as if it came from a different age. The book was open and on the left page it had the same drawing of the sigil, she moved close to the book and saw a name on the left corner the name of the young master, it said Marcus. She closed the book and tucked it under her robes as she sneaked up through the window signaling Aelizia and Franco that she was out.

     “You got the book?” a shady figure hid itself in the shadows of the alley.

     “What!?” Liza got frightened, the figure came out of the shadows and revealed itself as a short and scrawny old lady, she walked toward Liza and just stood in front of her inspecting her, but never revealing her face. “Show it to them, it`s an important piece of information,” the old lady disappeared back into the shadows leaving Liza frightened and confused at the same time.

     Hugo had his arms crossed and his eyes set towards the mountains whilst Cristina behind him was still mad, he starred and starred until a red line coming from the ground shone up to the sky for a second and disappeared. He jumped from under the apple tree and starred toward the direction from which it came. “Cristina!” he turned toward her as she was just pacing around. “Cristina, listen to me,” he grabbed her palms hoping to calm her down. “We need to move,” he pulled her and ran towards the city.

     Liza, Franco, and Aelizia came to the house, with Francis there sitting by himself waiting for them. “How did it go?” he asked when Liza placed the book on the table. “Some really weird things have happened to me,” she said.

     “I couldn`t wait to hear all about it,” Aelizia just could not wait to go through it as Hugo and Cristina burst through the door.

     “Whatever you had to do, you are going to do it on the way, We need to move now,” warned Hugo.

     They exited the kingdom and stopped in front of its gates as Aelizia pulled out the map of the world to orientate which way to go. The world was rough around the edges form of a circle. In the north it had the Northern kingdom of Everpeak, it was the home of Aelizia, it`s peak was ever so high into the heavens you could not see it with bare eyes, tales have been told that some have dared to climb it but no real proof has been shown, it is said that when you reach the top you could touch the stars. But below the peak at the base of the mountain were the city`s walls and gates made out of emerald stone, who were high as well. Inside the mountain is where they thrived digging ever so deep in the mountain erecting buildings here and there in the insides of the mountain connecting them with bridges. They were a well mannered and cultured nature smart and wise in the ways of magic, some say that their faith in the Watcher of ice gives them the ability to perform magic as thanks to their faith. The path to Everpeak is narrow and surrounded by hills and mountains but south from the path are the two villages of Villeurve and Silverwater home of Hugo, Cristina, and Francis the two competing villages. What were they competing about nobody knows, it sort of became a tradition to hate each other. Upon the west was Lastcliff or Steampeak as the natives called it. Why did they call it Steampeak? Well, the shore of the continent was on a high altitude, it was all rocks and canyons, there were no beaches and sand. If a vampire were to build a castle on a rocky shore where the water would splash on the rocks down below this is where he would build it. The name Steampeak also came from their fascination with engineering, they weren`t like the folks from the North believing in some sort of Watcher. The word magic they turned into a science, the flying gryphons they turned into zeppelins and kites. The hammer and anvil were the sacred items for them. On the South, the region was called Dryland and it was dry indeed, sand as far as the eye could see, there was only one thing that was distinct in all that sand. It was a river that split the region in two and in between the river in the center of the region a city stood. Yimeon it was called ruled by its young sheikha. Their culture was known for their crafts of rugs and carpets with various forms and patterns. They also experimented with various seasonings in their food. The city itself was built with yellow sand bricks giving it a distinct look of Arabic civilization. Nobody knew what was on the east of the map as it was just a blank space waiting to be drawn out. In the center of the map was the biggest city in the realm. The White city, Franco`s homeplace and it`s future ruler a prosperous place, legend has it that the Watcher of light was so amazed by its beauty and prosperity that he pointed the sun rays to be constantly illuminating the city.

     “There,” Aelizia pointed on the map. She pointed on a segment on the map that had drawn out trees. “This is where you saw the light?” asked Aelizia.

     “Yes,” confirmed Hugo.

     “It`s also where our scouts went,” added Franco.

     “The Shadow forest,” said Liza. “Are you sure? That is a fell place.”

     “Are you scared?” asked Cristina.

     “You should be,” she looked at her. “The sun rays could never breach the canopy of leaves, you wouldn`t know whether its day or night and the fog… The fog is unsettling, it moves around the trees like a ghost.”

     “And maybe perhaps it is a ghost,” laughed Franco.

     “Whatever it is, it is our task, are you ready?” asked Hugo as everybody nodded. “Right then,” he picked up the backpack and placed it on his back. “Off we go then.”