Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 41: Forbidden Treasure

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, there lived a fairy who resided in the treacherous swamplands of Farrah. His name was Fjorn, and he was smarter than the average fairy. Indeed; he was even smarter than the average human.

Like most young fairies, before his mother sent him to bed each night, she told Fjorn the religious tales about the fairy goddesses which had been passed down orally from fairy-to-fairy for as long as the species remembered.

"The world was born when the middle fairy goddess made the eldest goddess cry. A round tear fell from her eye, and when she caught it, it became Yharos, and she placed Yharos where it lay in the sky to this day. Within this precious world, these goddesses would create fairies who were destined for greatness. You are one of them." His mother would tell him as she laid him to sleep within their hut. "For we Arrozans have special blood and magic within us."

Throughout his childhood, Fjorn's tribe would be raided and seized by other tribes. Fjorn and his family would willingly become members of the tribe to ensure their survival or would otherwise escape and run away when possible.

Similarly, Fjorn's own tribes would attack others and take their people captive. Once they surrendered and swore loyalty, their enemies would become members of their tribe. Those who didn't surrender were killed.

It was a never-ending bloody cycle of suffering and savagery which the fairies delighted in.

Eventually, his father had been made leader of their current tribe because he had survived the longest and had proved his worth in battle. Their tribe had taken his last name of Arroza as fairy tribes tended to do.

Among fairies, whose magical prowess was already among the most powerful on Yharos, including other species, Arrozans were gifted with magic which outdid all others.

Magic came in all different colors, shapes, and substances depending on who was using it, but Arrozan magic was particularly distinct. It was so black that it was nearly opaque; it was so volatile that Fjorn's father, Jaron, had killed ally and enemy alike during battles where he was only intending to kill enemies.

When Jaron had become leader, he took his young son by the shoulders and exclaimed, "you! You will be the most powerful Arrozan who has ever lived! You will strike forth from these treacherous swamplands into the unsuspecting, weak and cowardly world and make it bow to you!"

All the while, his mother continued to tell him of the fairy goddesses and their desired future for all fairies. "The goddesses gifted us with the most powerful magic on all of Yharos with the intention that we should one day rule all. You see, Fjorn... When the eldest fairy goddess cried and created this world, she promised that there would be no more tears, no more weakness... Not even from herself. That is what she desires. The strongest world possible where there are no tears and no weaknesses. Only the Arrozan fairies can make such a world. That is why you will marry your sister. We must keep our blood pure and powerful or else we will become weak like those we are meant to rule."

Fjorn's little sister, Anjaika, was a precocious young woman. She was outgoing and strong, but with little brains. Fjorn had little interest in her romantically, but nothing else mattered to him other than the destiny his mother was promising him, and so he had no issues with marrying her.

Until he ran into a wise old soothsayer who tribe Arroza had abducted from a rival tribe.

The old soothsayer looked into his cruel black eyes and told him of his destined greatness.

"I see, in your eyes, the mark of a leader. I see one who is destined to rule all of Yharos—one who will bring about a world of chaos and terror where only the strong survive." The soothsayer said.