Kingdom of Lies (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 11 [part 1]

Lost eyes, tired ears, a feeling of emptiness in my chest, that's how I felt when I landed on the ground of the cave. I lay there for a few minutes, in tears, trying to process the information that my eyes had perceived, but my heart still refused to accept.

Everything had been a lie, my life had been planned and manipulated from the beginning. And there was only one name that resonated in my head. Syform. He had had the vision, he had been the one who had made the prediction. He would tell me how to fix this. I got up off the ground and wiped the dirt from the dress I was wearing. What a royal image I had, what a princess attitude. A princess, me? Hadn't I escaped from that same reality? But there was no escape from here, I could not escape from who I was.

Princess of Crescendo, I had to repeat it to myself until I believed it.

I left the cave in the middle of the night. I thought it didn't take long until I noticed the tents and a small fire in the middle of them. Sitting on a rock next to it was Russell, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

I approached in disbelief that he was there.

Carefully, I took his shoulder and moved it very slowly.

He woke up instantly, his eyes radiant with gray in contrast to the flames of the fire that still burned around us.

'Milaia.'

I didn't have time to answer before he interrupted me with a hug. We had hugged before, but this one was different. He slid his arms under mine and held them around my waist. He grabbed me as if he had never done it before and we remained intertwined for a few seconds, not letting go and not saying a word. He let go of me little by little. He took my face in his hands and caressed my cheek.

'I thought I had lost you.'

His lips spoke each word slowly, and I felt it was time to feel them on mine.

'Milaia is back!' Tryx's deep voice separated us instantly. She approached and hugged me, 'I'm sorry,' she let go of me and backed up, 'I shouldn't had...'

I hugged her to show her that she had not bothered me. I really needed all the love I could get.

Eventually, everyone who was camping got up. Galaga and Russell's three brothers came out of the tents and sat around the fire.

'When you didn't show up the next day, we thought you were gone, except for Russell, who was sure you'd be inside the cave, so he tell us to camp here.' Aaron began to explain, Russell kept quiet, not taking his eyes off me. 'We spent the first night and nothing, just a strange energy coming out of it. But Russell insisted on staying. And so we did.'

'You know how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the floor with my beloved brothers snoring in symphony?' Aaron punch Rich on his arm and he punch him back.

'You shouldn't have stayed. I didn't know it would take me this long.' I tried to apologize for something I didn't understand.

'We weren't going to give up, we were going to stay until you came back, we weren't going to leave you.' Russell said, after much silence.

'What happened Milaia?' Galaga wouldn't wait any longer to find out the truth. She had waited too long.

I took a deep breath, and in tears, told them everything that had happened to me inside the cave.

I revealed to them the first visions of Syform and the King, then I continued with my second visit to the cave, when I saw my mother, the deal the king and queen made with her... my birth.

Everyone listened to me carefully. Only my voice was heard, together with the flames and the wind.

I concluded my story with the death of my father and mother, and my eventual rescue. Elina, my adopted mother, carrying me in her arms before their execution.

'Everything I ever thought I knew was a lie, a secret hidden in a cave for almost twenty-one years. It was all part of a plan to save the Kingdom.'

I wiped away my tears and raised my head, watching them one by one. Aaron and Rich exchanged puzzled looks. Tryx was smiling, Galaga was looking at the fire. Russell and Fred were watching me more closely.

'I can't escape my destiny, all the decisions I thought were mine were actually planned for me. I'm going to try to save this Kingdom, because I know that's what they expected of me, I owe it to the King and the Queen... to my parents for saving me, giving their lives for me. And I also owe it to Elina, she took care of me as much as she could. And I owe it also to you, for all the help and love you gave me since Russell found me in the woods.' I stopped for a second and thought silently whether Russell had also been part of the game, of the plan, whether Syform had instigated our meeting. I pushed that thought away and continued.

'As I said, I'll do my best to help you, but that doesn't mean you should continue to help me, it's too dangerous and I don't want you to risk your lives.' The image of King Lucius raising his sword to kill my parents came to my mind. I didn't want that to happen to any of them, especially Russell, I would never forgive myself if anything happened to him.

Before I could finish the idea, Fred stood up. Everyone watched him carefully.

It was hard for me to understand what he was doing. He put one of his knees on the floor and lowered his head and said something I wasn't ready to hear.

'Your Majesty.'

One by one, they imitated him. Each one referred to me as "Your Majesty", even the great Galaga knelt before me.

'Whatever you say, we will do, we are your subjects, we are at your will,' she said to me still with her head down.

Remembering the words of Sheba, the beautiful Queen of Crescendo, I walked a few steps to her and took her hands, lifting her up.

'No bows, you are my equal and I am yours.'

I urged everyone to get up. I thanked them with my eyes for the gesture of respect, but I didn't want them to think I was going to make them do what I wanted.

Even if they told me I had that power to do so, I wouldn't use it, because it didn't matter if my name wasn't my name, if my parents weren't my parents, and my story wasn't what I believed, what I still had was my soul, who I really was was beyond any lie they could have told me.

'We are going to help you. I don't want you to object because now I can't force you to do anything, considering that you are my princess.' The word princess coming from Russell's lips sounded much more pleasant to me than I had ever heard it.

'Well, if that's the way it's going to be, I accept it, but if it gets too dangerous, I don't want you to put yourself in danger for me. I'm still Milaia, even though I know now that I'm also Gaia.'

'Both names fit your beauty.'

I had to turn around for a second to hide the red on my cheeks after Russell dared to say that to me in front of everyone here.

I cleared my throat and faced them again.

'Okay, let's start with the basics, let's call Syform.'

'That won't be possible,' I was informed by Tryx.

'Why not?'

None of them answered me so I looked for the eyes that I knew would tell me anything.

'Tell me why,' I said directly to Russell.

'Because we think Syform is dead.'