Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ When Dark meets Light ❯ Memories of History ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

A/N: Character stuff:

Phymnes, princess of Sytrae: 15/16 years old.
Uta, Phymnes’ maid and best friend: 16/17 years old.
Merla, artillery commander and good friend of Phymnes: 17/18 years old.
Laeryssa, queen of Sytrae: between 30 and 40 years old.
Yu, cavalry commander and taken in by the Royal Family: 12/13 years old.
Diogo, infantry commander: 12/13 years old

Other notes:

Both Sytrae and Fharo’s palaces are built in HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE trees. Around that is a city and that city again is surrounded by a lake. Sytrae sides with the water elves and Fharo teams up with fire elves. But no Fharo in this chapter ^_^

*~*~*~*~*

A stream of golden sunlight crept through the curtains and made Phymnes wake up. Slowly
she sat up and looked at the clock hanging on the wall. 9 o’clock! Her lesson started at twelve,
which meant that she could do whatever she wanted for 3 whole hours! She stood up and
walked towards the window. She leaned outside and smiled, as she did every morning when
she looked outside. The villagers were also starting to wake up. She saw little children
running through the public gardens (and their older brothers or sisters running behind them
trying to prevent them from destroying anything). She saw farmers brushing their cows, which
were painted on by the fairies from the forest. They left messages in their own strange
language on the back of the cows. In the beginning the farmers had tried to figure out what
they said, but after a while they gave up. And now they brushed their cows every morning
trying to get the messages away... There was a knock on the door and Uta entered.

“Finally woke up?” she asked with a smile.

Phymnes smiled too. “Come, watch this,”she said as Uta walked over. “Do you see those farmers?”

“Yes, they’ve been busy since six this morning. Yu wanted to help them but Her Majesty Laeryssa needed her…”

“Why? Has something happened?”

“I don’t know. Come, let’s find out!”

Phymnes grinned. “Wait just a second. I’m not going to walk through the castle in my pyjamas. I’m a princess, you know!”

*~*~*~*~*

A few minutes later they walked up the stairs towards the upper tree branches where Laeryssa’s meeting-room was located. Half away Yu bumped into them.

“Have you heard? Some guy on a very crazy looking dragon crashed our tree!”

“What?!”

“I swear, I saw him! I was looking at the Fields and then I spotted him!”

“What did he look like?” Phymnes asked.

“He was very big and white, with red eyes, and huge wings.” Yu spread her arms and jumped as high as she could at the word ‘huge’.

“A boy with wings?” Uta gasped.

“No, of course not! I’m talking about the dragon”, Yu rolled her eyes. “Come with me, Queen Laeryssa needs you!”

They walked to the meeting room. Laeryssa was standing in the corner talking to a woman Phymnes only knew by face. Merla and Diogo were also there.

“Merla saw the dragon too, Phymnes!” Yu said in her sing-song voice.

“Oh really?“ Phymnes turned to Merla. “Did you see it?” she asked.

“Yes miss, Yu and I were up here because Yu wanted to look at the clouds, and then we saw a black spot came closer and closer.”

“And… the guards didn’t see anything at all?”

“No miss, they were doing what they always do…”

“Eat chocolate and play chess, you mean?”

Merla nodded.

“What direction did he come from?”

“Oh, I know! I know!” Yu squeaked.

“Well...?”

“Ehm…I forgot the name…”

Phymnes rolled her eyes.

“He came from Fharo, miss.”, Merla said.

A long silence fell which was broken by Laeryssa, who looked very tired, and was carrying a roll of paper.

“Okay, so this guy came from Fharo on a white dragon, yesterday evening at sunset.”

“Ma‘am, yes ma‘am!” Yu squeaked. Laeryssa gave her a ‘die’-glare.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness…”

“Has anyone done any research?”

“No, Your Highness”, Merla replied. “But Diogo has investigated the tree for damage.”

Laeryssa sighed which sounded like a sigh, but what probably meant: ‘Investigation is also research. I just asked if anyone did research.’ “And…?” she finally sighed.

“No damage, Your Highness. He must have been shocked and steered his dragon up immediately. I don’t think he tried to crash the tree on purpose.” Diogo reported.

“Of course he did. No one is that stupid to crash a tree by accident”. Laeryssa looked concernedly at the map she had opened. “All right. Merla, investigate the entire city. Just ask the people if they have seen anything. Yu, I want you to stay here, we don’t want more damage than we already have. Uta, send a messenger to King Therio of Chibas. Tell him what has happened, being an enemy of Fharo he would be pleased to know. Diogo, inform the soldiers and prepare for war. Phymnes, go to the forest and see if there are strange things happening over there, but don’t you dare go in. I want all of you to return here at sunset to report.”

She paused for a little while to breathe. “Dismissed!” she then said in a pissed, yet royally commanding voice.

Phymnes and Merla walked down together. “She’s really pissed!” Phymnes said. “I mean, stand around at the woods for the entire day!”

“Yes, and not letting Yu do anything. She’s the best spy we have by far!”

When they crossed the hall to go outside, they heard Yu shouting behind them.
“Merla, wait! I can go with you! I can go with you!”

“Did Her Majesty say so?”

“Yes! I was hanging around there while she was putting away the maps, just being sad, you know, and then she told me I could go with you!” Yu said in one breath.

“Well, it’s OK with me…”

“Great! So what are we up to first?”

*~*~*~*~*

The three of them walked through the big wooden entrance gate. When they came outside Merla and Yu went to the left, into the city, while Phymnes was going to the right, where a big forest marked the border of Sytrae. Phymnes had never been in the forest though she had lived beside it for her entire life. Laeryssa had always forbidden her to go in, and Phymnes knew the reason very well. The forest was bewitched and on top of that, there where all kinds of creatures living there. Good and evil ones, or as Laeryssa liked to call it, white and black ones.
Phymnes settled down on the top of a hill, so she had a good view of the forest. She looked around and saw the lake, Merla’s home province. Together with the other water elves she was born there, and had lived there for all her live. They had their own palace; it was built underneath the water surface. Phymnes had never seen it. However, she believed Merla when she told her it was beautiful.

Phymnes leaned backwards. She had a lot of good memories about this place. She
remembered how she used to play here with Uta, pretending they were great warriors, fighting for their country, stabbing each other with small wooden swords. One day Laeryssa had come out of the forest after one of their many little battles, carrying a little girl. That girl had was Yu, raised by a unicorn until she was five years old. Phymnes, Uta and Merla had been very happy and took care of her like she was their little sister.

Now they were all in Sytrae’s army, preparing for the war that was threatening their country. Phymnes was trained since the day she knew what war actually was. And if she believed her mother, which she did, that war would come faster than she could imagine. Too bad Laeryssa‘s predictions were always right. When she was a little girl her father used to say: “You’d better watch out for your mother, she’s always right.“ The sound of footsteps pulled her out of her reminiscing.

“Did I scare you?” Laeryssa asked with a smile on her slowly withering face.

“No, I was just-” the princess fell silent. “thinking…”

Laeryssa smiled sadly again and sat down next to her. “About what?”

“A lot of things, memories and other stuff… The coming war…”

“Are you worried?”

“Do you really think it is coming that fast?” Phymnes asked, ignoring her mother’s question.

“Well, if Fharo did this on purpose, which I‘m almost sure of, I think a war is indeed what they want. But on the other hand, if Diogo is right and they did this by accident…”

“…there isn’t going to be a war?” Phymnes said hopefully.

Laeryssa simply nodded.

“But, they know that we’ve seen them, otherwise they’d be very stupid. But making us think that way couldn‘t be their meaning, don‘t you think?” Phymnes asked.

“Very good, my daughter, you’ve figured them out. They will try to hide that it was an accident and make us think that it was on purpose. At least, that’s what I think…”

A long silence fell. As Phymnes stared into the forest she had the urge ask a certain question. She wanted to know. She had the right to know. She was a princess, and most probably there was a war coming up. It’d be pretty useless to fight a war, not knowing what it’s all about…

“So… how did all this start?”

“What start?”

“This whole fight between Fharo and Sytrae?”

“Well, that’s a very long story…”

“I‘m not a child, mother.”

“If you say so…” her mother said as she stared off into the distance.

“Sakurairo, the first princess of this place, found this country with all the people that were left from her own country. They were chased away by a great war, so they were wandering around aimlessly. She had fought side by side with her childhood friend, Malen. Anyway, together they found Sytrae and Fharo, which were still one country. They planned to rule the country together; Sakurairo from here and Malen from Fharo. It turned out to be a good idea, the country was wealthy and the people lived together in harmony. But then it started to go wrong with Sakurairo and Malen…”

“What happened?” Phymnes whispered.

“They fell in love…”

“…What‘s…wrong with that?”

“Well, Sakurairo swore to love her own people more than anything…”

“But that’s ridiculous! Why did she do that?”

“For the same reason her mother had done, and her grandmother…”

“What was that reason?”

“Tradition.”

Phymnes fell silent.

“Well, anyway, Malen asked Sakurairo to marry him, swearing he would be willing to sacrifice everything he had to be with her, but of course she refused. A few days later she received a letter, saying their friendship and love was over and that Fharo would become independent. Broken by these words, she went to his castle and begged him to think things over. He simply sent her away. Sakurairo went back to Sytrae, and disappeared into shadows. She was never seen again…”
“What happened to Malen?” Phymnes asked.

“He was ashamed, and he should be. He wanted to reunite Sytrae and Fharo, rebuild the world he started with his beloved, rebuild the world he had broken. But Kythara, Sakurairo’s sister, had taken over Sytrae’s throne. She attacked Fharo to avenge her sister, which she thought was dead, and in that battle Malen was killed by Kythara’s sword. From that moment Sytrae and Fharo were enemies. Several kings and queens tried to fulfil Malen’s wish, but none of them ever succeeded. .”

“When did this happen?” Phymnes asked.

“Two and a half thousand years, I’d say…”

“It’s such a sad story…”

“There are a lot of sad stories in our history, Phymnes.” Laerissa gave a quick smile. “Now, continue with your duty, I’ve been here far too long… If you will excuse me, there are a lot of things I have to do.” She walked away, and Phymnes was alone with her memories again.

*~*~*~*~*

After an hour or two, Phymnes heard new footsteps behind her. Two pair, this time. She turned around; Merla and Yu were walking towards her.

“Are you finished with gathering information?” Phymnes asked.

“No, it’ll take a lot more time than I thought.” Merla grinned. “The townsfolk is not very
helpful…”

“And none of them has any cookies!” Yu shrieked.

“So… you’re not very happy?” Phymnes guessed.

“Are you mad?! I’m on cloud nine! I can go ask the people about their alibi‘s with Merla!”

Phymnes laughed. “And you, Merla, are you joining her on her cloud?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m a few clouds lower at this moment.”

Yu and Merla sat down beside Phymnes.

“And how are you doing, Phym?” Merla asked.

“I’m bored, tired, hungry, sort of pissed and perfectly fine.” Phymnes summed up.

“Well, you’re lucky, because we brought you some cookies!” Yu chirped.

“And other stuff you can eat for lunch,” Merla grinned, throwing an apple to Phymnes.

They had their lunch together. Merla and Yu told about the people they’d been questioning, and Phymnes told them the story she heard from Laerissa.

“I never heard about that story,” Merla said. “It’s so sad…”

“Heartbreaking,” Yu said, “How would it be if they ate some of Sakurairo’s cookies?”

Phymnes and Merla rolled their eyes.

“What would‘ve happened to her?” Phymnes asked.

“Who, Sakurairo? It’s the first time I heard this story, smartie. Why don’t you go to the library tomorrow?”

“Do you think it’s in a book?”

“Phymnes, you can find everything in a book. If not, you ask someone.”

They both smiled. And again there was a long silence, which was eventually broken by Yu.

“Don’t you think this is a little bit overreacted? I mean, not that I don’t like it, but someone only crashed our tree, and everyone is like: AAAAAAH! A war is coming!”

Phymnes and Merla were silent for a few seconds before they laughed at Yu‘s childish innocence.

“What?” Yu asked. “What is it? I want to laugh too!”

“It’s nothing, Yu. Now, we’d better get going, we still have to question a lot of people…”

“But I haven’t finished my last cookie yet!”

“For god’s sake, Yu! It’s a cookie!”

“But it’s a big one with little pieces of chocolate…”

This caused both Merla and Phymnes to look at the giant cookie the girl was holding. It was almost as big as her own head.

“Well, OK, eat your last cookie, but after that we‘re leaving.”

Yu started to eat at top speed and finished her cookie in thirty seconds. “OK Merla, I’m ready to go! See you later Phym!” She said some other things, but her voice was fading, seeing as she was running towards town at the same speed she just ate.

“Yes, good luck with watching these pretty trees,” Merla said sarcastically, “we’ll see you this evening at dinner.” She tried to catch up with Yu as soon as possible to prevent the city from being terrorized.

Phymnes smiled while watching her two friends run out of sight, but then immediately stood up and whirled around. Something else had drawn her attention, for she thought she had heard a slight movement in the forest.

The sound was coming closer… and closer…




*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*