Читать книгу The chronicals of Elderon - B.R. Schlüter - Страница 6

Welcome home

"Juna, Juna. Come on wake up. You're home." I heard a female voice say.

Bright, warming rays of sunlight woke me up.

I hadn't slept so well in a long time. Wait a minute, slept? Hadn't I just been at the Triangle? Had something been slipped into my drink, perhaps?

I scooted up and opened my eyes.

I had to put my hand over my eyes because the sun was so blinding. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the bright light.

I was sitting in a meadow of flowers in the middle of a clearing in the forest.

How on earth had I gotten here? And where was Lilly?

My head was spinning.

I sat down in the meadow and buried my face with my hands.

"This must be a hallucination! Yes exactly, I'm guaranteed to have fallen down in the storage room and hit my head and now I'm lying in the hospital, pumped full of medication, just dreaming all this!" I said to myself.

"What is a hallucination? Is this a new spell?" Asked a voice I didn't know.

I took my hands from my eyes and looked into 2 ice blue eyes.

Immediately I jumped up and looked over to this mysterious pair of eyes.

There was a wolf sitting in front of me!

I wanted to run away, but my legs immediately turned to jello and I slumped back to the ground. So I tried to somehow put some distance between me and the wolf by sliding around silly.

But instead of looking at me as his next prey, he tilted his head. First to one side, then to the other.

The image had something of a puppy hearing a squeaky toy for the first time.

"Ha ha ha, Jun you are really gorgeous." I heard Lilly exclaim behind me.

"You're really scared of your soul guardian?!" she laughed.

"My WHAT?!"

I turned to Lilly and couldn't believe my eyes.

She had wings and she was glittering?!

Now I was sure, THIS HAD TO BE A DREAM!

"I'm dreaming all this! This can't be real! A talking winged wolf and my sparkly winged girlfriend?!" I laughed hysterically.

She came over to me and pinched my shoulder.

"Ouch!" I groaned out.

"This is not a dream Juna. I told you, eventually the truth will reveal itself to you." she said, smiling lovingly at me.

"What truth? Where are we here? Why is there a winged talking wolf sitting not two meters away from me?

Why could I read the runes on the mirror? And why do you have glittering wings?"

I had questions just bubbling out of my mouth.

"Shh, all in good time Jun. Right now, we should head to the crystal castle before the guards collect us." she whispered to me.

But by then it was too late.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, 8 guards appeared and circled us.

One of the guards stepped forward and pointed his sword at me.

"You there! What are you doing on the royal lands?" he asked, visibly enraged.

"King's lands?" I stammered.

"The extent of your punishment will be decided by King Matteo. Take them with you men!"

We were tied by the wrists with ropes and had to go with them.

"Shh, Lilly. What's all this about?" I asked as unobtrusively as possible.

She looked around and made sure the guards weren't looking right then. Then she answered me. "I actually wanted to answer some of your questions before we would have gone to King Matteo, so you would have at least had a little bit of a head start!"

We walked for several minutes through the forest until I saw a large and very imposing castle in front of me.

On the flags on the castle, you could see the royal coat of arms. A star above a sunset.

It looked so familiar, but I just didn't know where I had seen it before.

Once in the throne room, the guards pushed us so hard that we fell to our knees.

However, they took our shackles off.

"Keep your heads bowed until the king allows you to look at Him!" one of the guards ordered us.

"What is going on here?" asked a deep, angry voice in front of us.

"These two figures were walking around the Lovers' Glade, sir." Answered the guard, who had also ordered us to keep our heads down.

The king approached me and stopped about half a meter in front of me so that I could see his legs.

"My child, rise. I want to look at you more closely." the king said to me.

So I stood up and lifted my head so that I could also look him in the eye.

King Matteo looked like a mixture of an old wizard and an elf.

He wore a dark blue shirt, black velvet pants, and a yellow cloak that was held together below his chest with a star-shaped brooch.

There was something familiar about his face, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

He examined me from top to bottom, walked around me several times and then stroked a strand of my hair out of my face.

Then his gaze lingered on my birthmark, under my ear.

He drew back and gasped for air. Had I done something wrong?

He took several deep breaths before turning back to me in a shaky voice.

"Ju, Juna, is that really you?" he asked me.

I looked at him confused. "Yes my name is Juna, Juna Nightmoon. Your Majesty" I answered him and bowed to demonstrate my submissiveness.

Tears came to his eyes and he started laughing.

Before he or I could say anything, he took me in his arms and hugged me almost a little too tightly.

"Finally you are back my child!" he cheered.

"Back again?" I asked, dumbfounded. "Excuse me your majesty, but I have never seen you before and I don't remember ever being here either."

I told him and disengaged from his embrace.

He straightened his clothes and turned to Lilly.

"Lilly Starfly! Haven't you been to the Keeper's Crystal Castle with her yet?" he said in a serious tone.

Lilly stood up and directed her gaze over to the king.

"My Lord, I was just about to leave with her for the Crystal Castle when her guards came to us and brought us here with them! Not even Stardust, Juna's soul guardian, could properly meet her."

The king snorted contemptuously.

"Commander Irfried! You were bragging big just a few days ago that you could recognize anyone in the royal family instantly!" he shouted across the throne room.

Irfried took a step forward.

He had short black hair, brown eyes, and also generally looked rather average. If he hadn't had pointed ears, you would have thought he was one of my work colleagues, Professor Markus Pinway, specialist teacher of naturopathy.

"Yes, I can do that too, Your Highness." he replied, full of pride.

"Then I wonder, how can it be, then, please, THAT YOU did not recognize MY GRANDDAUGHTER, and you treat her like a common prisoner!!!?

I should execute or banish you on the spot!"

All color drained from the man's face.

Immediately I stood in front of the guard with a defensive posture.

I didn't want anyone to get in trouble because of me and shook my head violently to show him that I was against it.

Only after I did that did I process the king's words.

Me, his granddaughter? Surely that meant I would be part of the royal family?!

I felt dizzy and had trouble staying on my feet, it was just too much information for me.

Before I lost consciousness, Irfried caught me.

I woke up after a dreamless night in a huge bed.

I looked around a little.

This room was huge. My house would have fit in here easily.

In the back, at the other end of the bed, hung some clothes that I was only too happy to put on.

With the minidress on, I could barely move around the castle without getting uncomfortable.

After changing my clothes, I opened the door.

Grinning, Lilly stood in front of me with a huge tray full of goodies.

"Where are we going? Breakfast is the most important meal of the whole day and you're not leaving my room without it, Juna." Said Lilly reprovingly.

So I sat down on the edge of the bed and grabbed some fruit?

It looked like a nectarine, but the flesh was blue.

Taste-wise, it reminded me more of a mango.

"What exactly is this thing I'm eating?" I asked Lilly still smacking my lips slightly.

"It's called 'squashi fruit' this berry grows all year round in the royal garden."

"They're pretty darn tasty. So now we're just about to eat something. Now will you explain to me what's going on? Or do I have to wait until we get to this ominous crystal castle?" I replied casually while eating.

"I'll be able to answer some of your questions, at least about who I am, what Stardust is all about, what role your adoptive parents play in it, and of course where we are. Anything else, only the guardians can tell you." she said, looking at me somewhat ruefully.

"Like, who you are?" I asked skeptically.

But she didn't respond to my question.

"Well, I want to look around here a bit first, and you can tell me something about this magnificent building in the meantime," I suggested to her.

I winked at Lilly and opened the door for her. "May I, my lady?" I asked with a big grin on my face and held out my hand to her.

"Very well, princess." she answered me and put her hand in mine.

So we walked out of the room and strolled down a long carpeted hallway.

We walked towards the royal garden, which only the direct confidants of the royal family or the royal family itself could enter.

At least, that's how Lilly explained it to me.

The castle itself was probably several thousand years old and had been in the possession of the royal family for generations. According to legend, the sun goddess 'Solaris' herself had formed this mountain into a castle to rest here at night.

We continued to the royal garden, where I could not get out of the amazement.

Everywhere you looked, there were many different flowers and plants. The air smelled deliciously sweet and everywhere it hummed and buzzed, from the many different insects that flew around in the garden.

The garden was right next to a large waterfall and in its center was a huge green crooked tree.

"That's the Tree of Return," Lilly replied when she saw my admiration.

"The tree of return? Does that thing give you an afterlife or what?" i asked a bit incredulous

"Hahahaha no, not that. But at winter as well as summer solstice, the spirits of the deceased pass through this tree and can then spend a few hours with their loved ones from sunset to sunrise, at least if you have previously hung their name on one of the branches."

I looked at her in disbelief. "Yes but if only the royal family has access to this garden, then isn't that absolutely unfair to the folk?!" I protested directly.

"That's why there's a mailbox at the castle gate, especially for the names of the dead who want to see the folk again on those two nights. About a week before the Feast of the Return, people come to the castle and put the names of their loved ones in the mailbox so that King Matteo, Queen Alexis and their confidants, can hang the names on the tree," Lilly told me and a brief smile crossed her face.

Further back in the garden there was a small oasis of well-being, right next to the waterfall were placed several cushions, as well as a bench and a Hollywood swing.

"Well shall we take a seat on the bench first? Then I can answer your questions better, because this will take a little more time and I can't stand that long." suggested Lilly, pointing to the bench next to the waterfall.

We walked over and sat down, facing each other.

"So where do I start? My name is Lilly Starfly, I was born on the same day as you. But you know that." she began.

"Yes, so what?" I asked impatiently.

"As you've already gathered, I'm a fairy. We fairies live further east in the Haunted Woods and are really just winged gardeners, as we are closely connected to nature.

Every thousand years, when a royal baby is born in Sunset, a flower calyx lights up on the Tree of Souls and then a special fairy comes out of it on the same day," Lilly continued.

I looked at her a little questioningly. "Fairies are born from flowers?" I asked a bit incredulously.

"Yes and no. Only fairies of the royal children come from the flower calyx, all others are born normally, by birth. These King Child fairies are closely connected to the baby, on an emotional level. Just as it is the case with you and me. They even say that at some point you can read each other's minds." she answered my question.

Okay Lilly was my closest confidant, that would also explain why she could be with me in the garden. But fairy or not and also fate or not, she has always been my best friend and it would stay that way.

"Let's continue with Stardust, the wolf you saw in the clearing. Every magical being that laughs for the first time in her life creates a soul guardian. A faithful companion that can take different forms. In your case, as it is common in your family, it is a winged black and white wolf. Why black and white, the guardians will explain to you, but maybe you will figure it out yourself," said Lilly and winked at me. Then she continued.

"My soul guardian is a pegasus named Dreamy."

"And where is she, what is that exactly, and what is the job of a soul guardian?" I interrupted her, automatically looking up at the clouds.

Lilly whistled once hard with her fingers and suddenly a cloud came straight up and towards us.

With a lot of wind and a huge cloud of dust, a big white winged unicorn landed in front of us with a golden mane, a blue horn and green eyes.

"Hello Lilly, hello Juna. How can I be of service to you?" asked Dreamy, bowing slightly.

My mouth was wide open.

This creature was majestic.

"Well Dreamy, why don't you explain to Juna what exactly you are and what the duties of a soul guardian are?" said Lilly turning to her guardian.

"We are a part of you. As soon as you let out your first laugh, a tiny part of your soul detaches and then a soul guardian is created from that. We have the same dreams, desires, longings and fears as you. And we are here to make as many of your wishes and hopes come true as possible."

A long "Ahhhhh" escaped me, though I still didn't quite understand the whole thing.

"And what exactly do my adoptive parents have to do with all of this now? They're humans and probably don't even suspect anything about this place." I countered to Lilly.

But she just shook her head.

"No, unfortunately, it is not quite that simple. You see, a soul guardian has the opportunity once in his life to give himself a different outer appearance. Your parents Margret and Cole are actually called Sunhine and Thunder. They are the soulguards of your biological parents.

After their death, their guardians agreed and decided to adapt their appearance to the human world. They had the mages cast a protective spell on you and me, so that we also took on human features, and escaped to the human world with the two of us.

Why they acted that way and what happened to your parents...." Lilly hesitated for a moment.

"...I cannot and must not tell you that." she then continued her sentence.

"If my parents, are not my parents, then who or what is Malia?" I asked with my lips pressed together.

Lilly stared at the floor. A few minutes passed that felt like hours before she answered me.

"Malia is a mage, she is the highest mage of Elderon. She is the reason why the cloaking and protection spell lasted all these years, that worked on us."

I took several deep breaths, tears came to my eyes and I had to pull myself together very hard not to scream all together right away.

I stood up and hit the rock wall behind us with all my might. Over and over again until my knuckles started to bleed.

"Juna, please calm down," Lilly pleaded with me, upset.

I gave her a nasty look at first, but finally fell into her arms, crying.

Why had my adoptive parents, no the soul guardians of my parents, who are part of my parents, never told me anything about this?

Why am I only finding out about all this now, after I have gone through this mirror and landed here?

For me, my entire world just collapsed.

Finally, Lilly had to start crying, too.

And so we lay in each other's arms, crying, until our tears were used up.

A clearing of the throat interrupted our embrace.

King Matteo was standing next to the Tree of Return.

"Juna? Someone wants to welcome you." he said, taking a step aside.

Behind him stood Queen Alexis.

She looked beautiful. She wore a long red and yellow sleeveless dress and a cloak, in cobalt blue. Her hair was already completely silver and some wrinkles rimmed her eyes.

There was so much warmth in her face.

She spread her arms and walked towards me. I did the same and we fell into each other's arms.

I only managed a soft, barely audible "Hello Grandma" before I started crying again, but this time out of joy.

She stroked my hair and kissed my forehead. She too had tears in her eyes and whispered a "Hello my child, welcome home" to me.

I could also hear my grandfather sniffling lightly beside me, so I made a gesture for him to come over to us.

He gave us both a big hug.

I was happy to have a family.