Kingdom of Lies (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 6 [part 2]

He was a peculiar man, dressed in a very unusual way. Russell's expression was one of pure terror, as if he were in the presence of an evil being or death itself. Seeing the misery that Russell was in the moment that this strange individual came to us, I assumed that his presence would not be pleasant.

That man was not an ordinary one. His eyes reflected my image perfectly, as if they were mirrors. He was dressed in a very particular way, with torn clothing and feathers on top of a circular-shaped headdress that decorated his head.

He smiled evilly, as if he were about to receive some kind of prize. As my mind tried to study him more, Russell decided to talk to his fear.

'Syform, don't.  We are leaving your territory, don't say a word,' he said, standing in front of me, as if protecting me from that individual.

Without ceasing to smile, Syform responded in riddles.

'Coincidence only exist for those who do not dare to accept that fate is an unbreakable chain of events,' we both looked at each other in confusion.

'Stop it, I said we were leaving.'

The strange man approached me slowly, to which Russell responded with an angry face.

'Look at you knight in shining armor'.

'It's all right, Russell', I told him, trying to calm him down. 'He just wants to say hello, right?' I said.

'Greeting you would be the greatest honor I could ever be granted in this life,' I was stunned by that statement.

'Milaia,' I said, extending my hand to him. 'My name is Milaia'.

'Really?' 

'Milaia don't!'

The man took my hand tightly and I felt electricity running through my fingers. His eyes changed completely. They went from light-blue to white in a second. I gasped, but couldn't let go. It was as if he were extracting information from my head. Russell was shouting, but I barely listened to him. I was completely captured by the man.

He started shacking and then, suddenly, let go. He fell to the ground as if he had fainted. It took him a few seconds to regain his footing and pick up that smile he was wearing before.

'Monsieur Syform, at your service, my lady,' he said with a bow.

'We should go now,' Russell said, taking my arm, to which I responded by quickly letting go.

What had just happened? I needed to know what he had done to me. I wasn't leaving without an answer.

'What did you do to me? When you were holding my hand, what were you doing?'

Russell slammed his hand against his head and snorted.

'Here we go again,' he whispered.

'Don't you know, dear? I'm a seer, I can see the future. When I touched your hand, your future unfolded like a wave on the tide of found ideas.'

'If what you say is true,' I interrupted, 'what did you see?'

'Oh, dear, every prediction costs an indescribable price to the one who hears it, and the same or more to the one who says it. The knight knows very well the consequences of knowing more than you need to.'

I turned around and looked at Russell. In his eyes I could see that this seer had revealed some kind of  secret  information to him. Maybe that was the reason why he was so scared.

'Please tell me something of what you saw, anything,' I said almost in a tone of supplication. More than once, since everything began to go wrong, I questioned myself what my purpose was, what I was supposed to do with my life. And without me asking, fate had led me to meet someone who could tell me.

'Milaia, trust me, you don't want to hear what he has to say, he curses you, that is what he does.'

'Tell me.' I said, ignoring Russell.

'When the memories are recovered, and the child is back to the mother, the battle will be deemed to have begun. Light and darkness, life and death will face each other once again and only one will prevail. Like lighting in the sky, the lady of the woods will lead the hidden and forgotten to a better life, but only if her mind is stronger than her heart.'

After saying that, his eyes filled with tears.

'I'm sorry, I'm stupid stupid stupid. No more, please no more.' He said, trampling the grass.

And at the mere blink of an eye, Syform evaporated into thin air, leaving only that riddle and that apology, which reverberated in my mind.

What battle was he talking about? And above all, who would die and who would live?

I looked at Russell and what I found in his eyes was not only anger, but also concern.

'You didn't listen to me, I told you something and you ignore me.'

'I'm sorry, but he said he could see my future, who doesn't want to know their future?'

'A lot of people Milaia. But is not about that, is about you not caring about what I say. Forget it, let's go home.'

I was silent most of the way home. Home, I already considered it my home.

I kept thinking about what that seer had told me. The doubts exalted me and I ended up spitting them all out at the same time.  Had Russell  interpreted something else in Syform's message that I did not? I had to know,

'How did you know Syform? Did he tell you something about your future? And if he did,  did it happen? And, what did he mean by that riddle? Please, I know I made a mistake and I'm sorry for that but I really want to know this, just tell me.'

'Your silence lasted longer than I expected. I will tell you, mostly because I don't want to know how many more questions you can come up with. But you must promise that we will never speak of this again, can you promise me that?'

'Sure, yes, I promise.'

'Milaia...'

'I swear it by the Gods.'

'Okay', he said and sighed, 'Syform was considered the greatest of all seers. The whole kingdom admired him, everyone wanted to be just like him. Nothing seemed to surprise him, he had everything under control. Until, one day, he saw something he couldn't escape. A truth that would change life as we knew it and, above all. the future of the Kingdom of Crescendo.'

'He predicted the war,' I murmured.

'Exactly, but he didn't just see the war, he saw everything every suffering, every death, even the death of the King. And that changed him, it affected him so much that he went mad. When it was all over, and he survived, he hid in this territory. Our parents warned us as children that we could not go near Syform. He lost control of his power, he cannot help saying what he sees, and no one can help listening to him. He is bound to speak in riddles, he can't say something straight away.'

'Oh, poor him, it must be terrible to have that much power and not being able to control it or use it properly.'

'I guess so. And to your other question, yes, he said something to me, a long time ago, and I didn't get it. I was freaked out, he hold my hand and went all crazy. But it was true, it all came true.  He curses you with his predictions, they always come true. Deep inside, I still believe that if I had understood what he had told me, perhaps I could have prevented it from happening, but he said it in that stupid riddle.'

'Like the one he told me. Did you understand mine?'

'No,' he replied sharply. 'And you made a promise, so no more talk about Syform.' 

He kept walking without looking back, although I really couldn't help thinking that maybe there was something else, something Russell hadn't told me. What was the meaning of the riddle? 

I guess I just had to wait and find out for myself.