Accidentally Falling | Narnia

prologue

"FATHER," ASLAN SPOKE, stepping into the Emperor's enormous personal quarters -- the quarters the latter is being confined in for almost half a millenia. "You have summoned me?"

Standing at the center of the room and peering down into the pool in front of him, palms interlocked at his back, the Emperor turned and smiled. "Yes, my son."

Despite the distance, Aslan could clearly see the smile not quite reaching his father's eyes.

The Great Lion had been expecting this. The moment he received word that his father, the powerful Emperor-Beyond-The-Sea, had summoned him to his country, he immediately knew that there was something wrong. For it was highly unusual that his father's trusted messenger shows up in the middle of the night, or what passes as night in that world Aslan was currently in, telling him in an urgent voice that the Emperor requests his presence.

He suspected that it must be about one of the worlds the both of them are watching. What else could be the reason of that urgent request? Although which world, Aslan wasn't quite sure.

"I have something..." the Emperor hesitated, as if weighing carefully the next word. "...important to tell you."

His father was in his human form, an old man with a heavily wrinkled face and blue eyes. The Emperor favored the form above all his other forms, Aslan observed. Maybe because its old, wise blue eyes reflected the ones his father's true form possesses.

Although, in that moment, his father's once twinkling, human eyes lost their sparkle.

Aslan padded to the Emperor's side, his huge cat paws against the polished marble floor leaving no noise in his wake.

The Emperor waved a hand over the pool. The pool glowed, enveloping the enormous room with a blinding, bluish light. A few seconds later, a reflection of a face appeared in the water. A face of a woman. Her eyes were glowing blue and her lips were moving, as if she was speaking in a trance.

"Zhalif," Aslan spoke, recognizing the woman. "She spoke a prophecy."

Zhalif was a Seer living in the Emperor's country. She and her sister, Zeya, were equally skilled in Divination but Zhalif foretells prophecies that can literally change worlds. It made her the most powerful Seer in existence. She foretells the rise and fall of worlds in the known cosmos. She predicts the future of the many worlds Aslan and the Emperor is watching over, speaking prophecies that come true in the least possible way they expected.

The last prophecy she spoke was eons ago. It was about the two brothers that would defeat the evil White Witch of Narnia and restore peace and prosperity to the land and its people.

It didn't unfold until two years ago.

The two brothers were Peter and Caspian. They defeated the White Witch-- admittedly the greatest and the most dangerous enemy Aslan had ever known-- left her powerless and with no form, and drove her remaining essence and her army of dark forces out of Narnia and planted the Tree of Protection on the courtyard of Narnia's capital, Cair Paravel, an apple tree that served as Narnia's barrier against her and other evil forces. They ended the Witch's five hundred year reign and, indeed, restored peace to the land and its neighboring countries.

"Yes," the Emperor answered, his eyes never leaving the glowing pool.

Three days ago, Aslan would have assured his father that this particular prophecy could happen for another two thousand years. Three days ago, he would have reminded his father that there are more dire and current matters at hand, like the unfolding of one of Zhalif's prophecy in the world Aslan was visiting before the Emperor's messenger summoned him to his presence.