Jamie Dale - The Eleven Kingdoms

Chapter 62: Kingdom of Fairy Tale, Knowledge and Life Fable

Surprisingly there were no guards at the front gate of the inner castle which Fable is known to reside, Misty and I had to forcibly push the front gate open. The gates to knowledge resided like a book and each page a heavy metaphor for life. As we pushed what we saw we weren't prepared for. Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people from all districts huddled and asleep on the cold marble floor, the light that illuminated the room faint.

"Jamie," Misty held against my jacket I could feel her tears drip on my skin, how long was she keeping this in? How long was I keeping my tears in? I could feel some slide down my cheek. A grey light formed in a corridor, everything was dark except a man holding a faint lantern. He put his old index finger to his lips and eager us to walk towards him.

"Are you..." His actions of saying shh indicated not to say another word, the people on the ground shifted slightly all huddled for warmth with minimal blankets bestowed upon themselves.

We walked towards him slowly until; we found ourselves in a room, an office room filled with books and papers. Texts from all around the world. Classic children's stories in their original print, everything old everything needed.

"Take what you want and leave," Fable sighed.

"Um Sir, Mr Fable Sir..." Misty was hesitant to speak,

"Yes what is it girl?" Fable sighed and started writing on down on a piece of parchment labeled: Hope. Misty didn't reply to him she she fell quiet and too be honest out of all the people I've met in the past hundred pages (Yes I know it's hard to keep track of time here) Fable seemed to be the most fearsome, or at least he use to be.

"Spit it out..." He sighed his grey eyes dimmed in his depression.

"What Misty is trying to say is that we're not here to take anything from you." I looked at him and he looked at me uninterested in what I was going to say, and when I was about to he interrupted me.

"I know who you are, you're Jamie Dale, Gnatus the hero some people like to call you from legend."

"So you know why I'm here?"

"You think I'm dumbstruck with awe Mr Legend?" Fable glanced at me, grinded his teeth his unshaven subble began to make me want to scratch. His white hairs flicked as he spoke.

"What are you on about?" I looked at him.

"You're nothing but a tool, a tool I help create to stop a fuck up we've already created before. You think you know what you're doing but you don't. You have no clue, your face shrieks confidence but as I look deeper inside of you all I can smell is the stench of fear. You're nothing but a tool, a born killer." Fable sighed, "Sorry kid but what we are forcing you to do isn't easy, even if you stop the Angel and Demon, what are you going to do to stop the chain link?"

He had a point no one really specific on how to stop the Chain Link I've been given mismatched directions this entire time. In fact the sense of direction I've been given so far has been so vague that a giant mushroom was the only way I could get around without getting lost. Everything seems random and unpredictable, there wasn't a set goal in mind other than "Go save three worlds kid, I'll give you a little treat when you come back." Nothing really has been stated. I know about the great ones, but why would they show up? I know about my powers but how is any of this going to stop them, I've been running around in circles with no strategy for a long time.

"Nice thoughts kid," Fable smiled, a cracked saddening smile, "I know this, If you're truly one of my sons then you'll have the capacity to think like that during battle, but don't let it consume you, to be fearful of the future is a necessity it makes you cautious, it gives you a reason to find out how to live and win no matter how hard it's going to be. I never formally introduced myself, I'm Fable Ignite the Ruler of the Third Kingdom of the underworld."

He proceeded to shake my hand, a firm grip comes a long way.

"And I'm Jamie Dale, certified member of the fundraising committee back in two thousand and five." Fable laughed at my horrendous statement.

"And what about you young Angel what's your name?" Fable's grey cheeks tended to lighten up, he was a lot happier now.

"My name is Misty River, I'm the daughter of River." Misty smiled back and shook his hand.

"Well nice to meet both of you," Fables smile faded, "I am the Demon Lord of The Third Kingdom of Fairy Tale, Knowledge and life. I specialise in these areas as I am the eldest of all the Lords. Fairy Tale, is not a work of fiction you see, they are stories and myths that tell a story. Each one of them are true, they were developed either in, heaven, earth or here in the underworld. They are retold to give guidance and order to the world's. I use knowledge to my advantage which will soon be your advantage, knowledge is all powerful, you need it to strategies think and most importantly to learn. That's the sole purpose of each story behind me. Last but not least life. I'm no healer don't get me wrong, but my original purpose was to bring life and balance and many wars waged between life and the Demon Lord of Death before Grim. That Death wasn't as kind as the current one, that monster sided with whoever could kill more. I was born to stop these deaths to bring life and morale in the innocent. To stop death. Although as that purpose was no longer needed as life continued without my aide I took it upon myself to do something more. To learn everything, to continue to help people with lessons of the past. So now, I'll continue my lesson with you... Be brave. Be strong. Be compassionate. it's okay to have fear, fear is what drives the human race. When you're having trouble just think about your actions, your next move. And last but not least, you have all the knowledge I have ever learnt hidden away within your soul. All you have to do is let it breathe. Information may come to you at random, some may never come to you, but if you need to know something you most likely already know the answer."

Fable's speech ended, and for the first time I felt as if I knew what I had to do, even when I didn't have the slightest clue. Being confident but clueless, something I haven't felt in a long time.

"Should we go to the Basin?" I asked I felt different already like I could be lifted off my feet at any moment.

"There is no need, you see Jamie... I am the Basin and the Demon Lord as one whole, I am the driving force of this kingdom."

"Jamie!" Misty looked at me in awe, "You... You have wings."

I looked at my reflection in a damp puddle formed from a hole in the roof. My reflection, looked different than it usually did, I no longer looked like the scrawny teenage boy. I looked bigger physically, and I've seen my reflection many times before and I have noticed this feature but I've chosen to ignore it until now. I look capable in a fight. I have scars around my body, little scratches and indents from the fights that nearly taken my life in several occasions. The cracks in my flesh touching the bottom edges of my neck and now my most noticeable feature... My wings. These great grey wings that spread as much as they could in this small cramped room. They were of feathers, maybe of a dove or a raven and I could control them like arms or legs. They felt as they had always been apart of me.

That wasn't all, my eyes turned yellow and my hair turned lavender, my left ar, crept with the same features, my tail that I earned in time appeared as well. Like a lizard it wrapped around my waist. The sword of hearts appeared in my left hand, and last of all my jacket, still firmly placed on my body. I looked prepared for anything.

"Now Jamie. Go back to earth stop Lucifer and Josef... Make the chain link stop."

"How?" here's the moment of truth I guess.

"That's the tricky part, you're going to have to kill one of the links... Brutally using the edge of blade to cut them open, and to release the rest of the world's. For the fate of everyone, one must die. You will have to decide... Carefully."