Kingdom of Lies (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 13 [part 2]

The four of us returned to Crescendo to get the things we needed to leave. According to Tryx, we had only a few hours left before we had to meet Rayn.

On the way to the yellow house, I questioned Tryx about how she knew Rayn and that Polar guy. I didn't expect what would happen next.

'It's complicated.'

She answered me at first, but noticed that that answer did not satisfy me, and because of who I was, she could not refuse to tell me what I asked.

'Okay, but promise not to panic.'

'I promise.'

What's the worst thing she could say?

'I lived in the Lost Kingdom for a while, Rayn and Polar were my friends, even Caelus tolerated me. Caelus isn't anyone's friend, he just pretends, at least that's what I think.'

I couldn't understand.

Russell had spoken so badly of all the people who were from there, everyone had spoken badly of the Lost Kingdom, even Tryx herself had not put on a good face when Galaga suggested that we include them.

Had it been Galaga's or Tryx's idea? I wasn't sure anymore. But what I was completely sure of was that Tryx was nothing like what they had described about the Lost Men and the people of that lost kingdom, so I let her explain further.

'My parents were from the Kingdom of Tellus, they were fairies... I am a fairy.'

My mouth opened in a big circle at what she was saying to me. I always noticed something special in her way of being, in her voice, in her movements, but I never imagined that she was what she was.

Tryx was a fairy. A real fairy.

'I never knew a fairy before,' I said in wonder. 'How did you...?'

I wanted to ask her how she had ended up in the Lost Kingdom, but I did not know how to formulate my question. So, I hoped she would understand me, and she did.

'My dad made some bad choices. We had a farm and when the curse hit us, we lost everything. My parents only knew how to take care of the land with their powers. When they didn't have them anymore, they couldn't recover. My father stole a couple of times to feed my mother and me. They threw us out almost instantly, they didn't let him explain, they just threw us out. I was very young and we still had to leave. We wandered around for a couple of years, living off what we could, until we found the Lost Kingdom. There they welcomed us with wide open arms. It is not an easy place to live, not at all. But it was better than nothing. You may wonder how I got to Crescendo. My parents got sick when the plague attacked us in the Lost Kingdom and I was orphaned. Polar invited me to his group. They were a group of little vandals, who were orphans like me. Rayn, Polar, Aurora, Caelus and me, a strange combination. But Caelus was...he is...a very difficult, very dark being. One day he sent us on a mission, as he took the lead, but something went wrong. We had to split up. I ran desperately without finding them and that's how I met Galaga. She was with her father. They found me in the woods.'

'A ragged and lonely girl, that's how I remember her,' added Galaga, who was ahead of us with Russell, but who was listening to our conversation.

Russell kept quiet. I wondered if he was thinking about what had happened at the lake.

'Shut up, it's not my fault we couldn't bathe every day,' she laughed, 'they took pity on me, I guess, and told me to go with them. They welcomed me as their friend and didn't let me become a "mercenary". It was shocking to live here, with magic again. My body woke up little by little, as if I were paralyzed and slowly could become me again. Of course, I didn't get my powers back completely, I'm still healing, my wings, for example, never came back.'