Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Gian

Kingdom of Howard

It was a gloomy day, the absence of the Prince Colter had weighed heavily on the citizens of Howard, their morale was low, his mother had not left her room for days and King Malik’s thoughts were befuddled. Vergil, the royal guard who had been sent to the portal had returned yet. For what it was worth, the Kingdom of Howard looked like they were hovering over ruin.

The elder prince, Gian Howard, found himself following the Deity Flora curiously, he decided to spy on the oracle because she could potentially reveal his betrayal to the king, no the whole kingdom. Not wanting his chance at the throne be squandered by some all-seeing witch, he watched her quietly.

Flora took a pouch of ash from her clothes; it was what she usually used when she conjured visions. The crystals around her started to glow as she blasted a handful of ash into the floor.

“Revelate!” she chanted and the room seemingly quivered for a split second, Gian was rattled for a few seconds but he tried to focus on what the oracle was doing.

From the smoke of the ashes, there was a vision of a figure leading other figures into the portal.

“Lucidus!” Flora chanted this time, and the visions slowly came into focus as she channeled her energies. She was visibly shaking now, as she tried to keep up with the amount of power needed, she had no problem looking into the future, but gazing into the past would take a toll on her.

Then, what happened next was forever burned into the eyes of Gian.

It was him, leading the vultures who were pretending to be Ecanus into the portal. He cringed at how malicious his smile had looked as they jumped into the forbidden portal. Flora did not speak a word but was intently gazing at what happened.

Dread filled the prince’s heart, he was certain she would immediately report this to the King and his chances at leading the kingdom now dwindled. The prince was shaking badly as he planned his next move, greed filling his heart he put his hand on the hilt of his sword and charged towards Flora with a cry, a cry that was mixed with despair, fear and desperation.

Flora turned to him, as if expecting him to be there, it was after all, her place.

“Stay your blade, Prince Gian.” The deity told him gently and calmly, there was no fear on her face, “Do not filthy your reputation any further.”

Gian had stopped in front of her, awed by her show of courage and lack of fear, “Do not tell my father about this!” he said, spittle flying from his mouth as panic filled his voice.

The Oracle simply shook her head serenely, “It is my duty as the oracle to tell your father of what is going on around the kingdom. It is my responsibility to assist him in caring for the people that he had given his whole life to.”

“I command you not to!” Gian roared, brandishing his blade at her.

“You command nothing.” Flora told him quietly, “It is your own greed, your selfishness and anger at your brother that caused this to happen. All this for a burning ambition. All of this for power. A shame, you showed promise when you were younger, where and when did we go wrong?”

Anger blinded him at the mere mention of his brother, with a guttural roar, Gian charged forward running Flora through with his sword. He immediately regretted his decision, but Flora did not even take a moment to dodge his attack, it was as if she saw this coming.

“No.” Gian said in horror as the deity’s blood splattered onto his hand and face, Flora smiled at him, blood flowing out of her wound and mouth.

“Father should not know about this, Flora. I did not give you a fatal blow, you will live through this. But please, I beseech you, do not tell him about what I have done. Do this for me, Oracle and I will help you heal from your wounds. My father trusts me too much and I will not allow you to give him a reason to treat me like that brat Colter!” His voice flickered from fear, exhaustion, panic and now venom as he enunciated Colter’s name.

Flora nodded at this, “Fret not, Young Prince. It is not I who will tell your father. I have done my duty to this kingdom, and I am saddened that I may not be able to do more. When did you become so cruel that you would take lives for your own ambition?” she reached out and touched Gian’s cheek, “All because you lived a life thinking Colter was better than you?”

Gian pulled out the sword that he planted on her and she let out a gasp, immediately Gian focused his essence on binding the wounds, he did not want to harm Flora, his rage had overpowered him. Flora patted his hands and shook her head, as she struggled to catch her breath.

“You can do better, Gian.” She told him in a calm whisper, “I know you can. You can still undo your mistakes. Throw away your foolish ambition and serve the kingdom as a prince. There is still good inside you. All you need to do is to let it out.”

There were whistles in the air as multiple arrows plunged into Flora. The oracle toppled from where she stood and Gian caught her as she fell.

“Poison!” Gian hissed, smelling it as they infused themselves into Flora’s blood.

“Remember who you are and what you are.” Flora said, smiling at him one last time, before her eyes glazed over.

Gian carried her body, crying silently, tears streaking his face as Flora’s lifeless body hang on his arms. She was no longer moving, even the room where she had stayed seemed to notice this and let out a pulse of magic that showed anger and despair.

“No, no, no, no!!” Gian roared, hurriedly trying to remove the arrows that were embedded into her, he remembered all the lessons that Flora had taught him as a child, how to write and how to master his powers. She had been a mentor to him growing up, but as his ambitions burned brighter, they grew apart. Now Flora’s dead body lay in his arms and all he could do was pointlessly try to remove the arrows, which would not budge.

Her eyes were still open, with a final smile on her face as the Kingdom of Howard’s last deity faded from existence.

“Flora” Gian said desperately, “I NEED HELP” he roared to the seemingly empty room, but no help came. Dejectedly, he put his head on Flora’s body and cried like a little child. He was the one who inflicted the first wound on her, had he not wounded her, she probably could have dodged the arrows that were targeted at her.

These are the thoughts that swirled in the prince’s head as he tried to come to terms with Flora’s passing.

“I’m sorry, Master” he said in a broken voice, wracked with tears and regret, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Please wake up, I don’t want to do this anymore. Please wake up. Master. Master, please. Please don’t leave me. I’m sorry”

But Flora did not answer, she was dead. Gazing blindly into the ceiling of the room, who also wept along side the prince that had given her a mortal wound.

Gian put his hand over Flora’s eyes and closed them, letting her last words to him into his heart, he carried the deity’s body out of her room and into a place where she can be given the honors of a burial.

But there was someone in the room with them that time, it was a mysterious figure who had watched in shock as Gian plunged his sword into the deity. She had gasped quietly and almost ran to help when the prince asked for help. In her eyes, Gian had killed the deity after betraying the kingdom to a group of creatures that pretended to be Ecanus. She would tell the king about this. One way or another.