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“Oh no… No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no !”
The room’s light flickered, and then a metallic sound was heard.
“Ouch! It hurts, waaaaaa.”
Childish cries went loud before shutting difficulty. A spray of blood dirtied the mirror and the dagger fell to the ground.
*
Desha looked at the mountain of papers in front of him. He had worked almost non-stop since dawn but now he really wanted to forget about everything and just go back to you and your two children. Agreus, your son had been born only for a couple of weeks, and taking care of a baby and a toddler was asking a lot of you so he wanted to go back soon to support you.
“Here, it’s the giant clan’s reports about their harvest. It's not good, and we will need to calculate what we can send to them without starving other clans”, Despa explained to him.
The blond demigod was now staying more in the Castle to be able to enjoy his nephews.
“Urg, if I need to read another paper, I will burn them all”, Desha grunted while passing a hand in his hair.
“I propose you take a break before it happens, dear brother, I have no wish to do it all again.”
“Let’s call it a day then. I’ll see you for dinner.”
Desha quickly left the room, relieved to not have to spend another hour working. He tried not to run in the corridors, but it was hard so he ended up half jogging. All the castle’s servants looked at him without a word, they all knew and sympathized with their king's new life as a father of two young children. He finally arrived at your bed-chamber and quietly entered. His son was only three-month-old, and his sleep schedule was still a mess, so you needed all the rest you could and he would hate to wake you up when you were napping. And, you were indeed in a deep slumber, looking totally at the end of your life on the bed, while the baby was doing the same in his crib.
Desha basked in his last child's beauty before remembering that he had another one that he could not see anywhere. Marika had grown in a blink of an eye, and now was behaving more and more like a responsible and thoughtful little adult. However, it was not really what Desha had in mind for his children. He, himself, had to grow really fast to survive his father and help his brothers, but he wanted Marika and Agreus to be free of any worry. Still, Despa was right, as too often, he could try as hard as he would but they would still be children of a king.
Since he could not see his daughter in their bedroom, he guessed that she had gone to her own to play without bothering the rest of their family. However he did not find her in her room, and his worries started to grow when he noticed some blood on the ground. His heart began to pound like crazy and he rushed toward it. His shoes shattered some glace, making him notice the broken mirror on the desk. A bad feeling rushed in him as he was looking at the object, his hands shook when he tried to grab it.
“Marika? Marika !” He finally called out while exiting the room.
But on his way back, he stumbled on a bloody dagger. His mouth dropped and his eyes widened. His breath was taken away, and for a terrible and long second, he saw the worst scenarios playing in his mind.
“Marika !”
Desha rushed into the corridors, alerting the guards and the servants. In a matter of minutes, all of the Castle was looking for the king’s daughter. You had been waking up by the noises, and you were looking too, worried sick.
Despa and Ouken helped, but everyone had to quickly accept that Marika was no longer between the castle’s walls.
“Marika !” You were also looking everywhere, exhausted and crying without being able to hold back.
You were already imagining the worse for your baby girl, and you were able to keep looking despite your exhaustion only thanks to the adrenaline going through your body.
“I’ll go look for her outside, stay here”, Desha finally ordered you when he saw you fall to the ground.
“No! I need to find her!” You insisted while crying.
“Someone needs to protect Agreus”, he remembered you. “I need to know that he is safe too.”
Desha looked almost unshaken, but for someone like yourself, you could easily see the worries in his face and eyes. He was doing everything he can to not shatter into little pieces because he was desperate to find his daughter first.
“Bring back my little girl”, you made him promise, grabbing his hands.
“I will.”
He quickly gave orders for some guards to watch over you and Agreus in case it was an attack against his whole family, before sending others to look around the towns. He was then ready to leave, but he was still looking back, feeling torn up between two parts of himself. He had total trust in your abilities, however, if someone had been able to abduct Marika behind the castle’s walls, you and Agreus would not be safe either.
“I’ll stay there brother”, Ouken claimed while squeezing his brother's shoulder, “I will not allow any harm to be done to our family.”
Desha did not answer, his throat too tighten, but his eyes carried all the trust and gratitude he was feeling right now. Finally, he was able to leave the Castle, to look frantically around town. Despa was there too, they were scouting the area and checking between themself thanks to telepathy.
Someone has seen her going out of town , the blond demigod informed him after an hour. She seemed to be alone .
I’ll go towards the caverns, go to the lowlands , he rashly ordered.
The king could not decide if the fact that Marika had been seen alone was good or bad news. There was still the matter of the bloody dagger, the more he was thinking about it, the more he looked like some kind of blackmail. His daughter was too young, too innocent, he was dead scared of what could have been done to her.
Anyway, he did not wait and rushed towards the cavern. He had to inspect them often because of illegal activities going on around here. They were close and far enough from town to be able to hide while conducting any kind of smuggling. From there it was easy to leave the kingdom without being noticed because they were too many underground tunnels leading in different directions. They had mapped a good part of it, but it was still a difficult area. Desha tightened his fists, desperately grabbing his staff while running like a mad man. If someone had dared to harm her… He was already feeling his sanity drawing short, turning into a burning rage.
“Marika !” He shouted, storming into the first and more spacious cavern.
The word echoed through, but there was no answer. He deeply listened for a second, looking even for the smallest sound. Suddenly, he heard a couple of quick and light steps running further into the tunnels.
Desha instantly rushed forward, easily catching up with the fugitive. He grabbed it by the shoulder, it was very small and had a hood on its head. It tried to break free but he used a fair amount of strength in his wrath.
“Ouch!” The runaway whined.
Upon hearing its voice, Desha dropped it and it fell to the ground making the hood fall off too.
“Don't look at me!” Marika yelled in tears.
She covered her face in her hands, huddled on the floor. She was shaking hard, and her cries were echoing in the cavern making Desha feel totally lost and in pain.
“What are you talking about?” He tried to reach her but she flinched and tried to escape his grasp.
It was so already painful to see his own daughter in pain but to see her try to evade him, was even harder. Had he done something? He was so afraid of what she was hiding, and at the same time, he was eager to see it to be able to help her.
“Do not look !” She yelled again, her wail even louder now.
“E-everything is alright”, he tried to ease her. “I… I won't look if you don't want to… But I need to know that you are safe…” He paused before adding difficulty, “I'm worried about you.”
She whined, looking conflicted.
“Please come back home with me”, Desha tried again.
“I-I can't… I need to go away…” she snorted, trying to sound brave. “It's okay, you have Agreus now.”
“What?! I will not let you alone, you are my daughter !”
“You won't want me if you see me… You won't love me anymore…” she started to cry again, her shoulders shaking because of her sobs.
“What nonsense are you spouting!” He shouted, shocked that she could think such a thing, but he quickly lowered his voice when realising that it was only terrifying her. “It's impossible… for me to stop loving you…”
It was hard for him to voice his feelings, especially in such a tense and complicated situation where he had not a total grasp of what was happening, but his daughter was in pain and right now he wanted nothing more than to make her feel better. Even more, he could not stand to let her think she was not loved, that he could stop loving her. He took a deep breath, and kneel behind her.
“In life, there's a lot of things that can change, but there's some that simply can not”, he started to explain without really knowing where he was going before the words began to flow on their own while his feelings were in them, “a father can't stop loving his daughter, I can't stop loving you, it's something that will never go away.”
“Really?” She asked, half turning towards him.
Desha had the worst time not grabbing her to force her to face him when he saw blood on her cheeks.
“Really.”
She side glared at him, still looking reluctant, but it was obvious that she wanted to trust him, that she desperately needed to trust him. Such expressions on her little daughter's face, made Desha feel that he had failed her.
“I'm…I'm sorry Daddy…”
She completely turned, and finally, he could see her face. Her left cheek was badly cut, and the wound had bled a lot, dirtying her clothes. He gently and softly took her chin to look at her. Then she opened her mouth, and he saw that one of her baby tooth had been replaced by a pointy adult one. A lot like his.
“I tried to take it away”, Marika started to cry again, “but I couldn't... I'm sorry !”
Desha stayed frozen while seeing it, for a long second he saw her daughter standing on top of a pile of corpses, drenched in blood. But the next second she was there, in his arms, crying like the baby she was.
“It's nothing to be sorry for”, he caressed her back, “everything is fine. You're fine like you are and I love you.”
His words seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear, she let herself go in his arms and even fell asleep while he was carrying her back to the Castle. His guilt was killing him, how could have he driven his own child to fear that he would stop loving her if she looked like a god, like him ? He had been so self-focused on his fear to see his children turned into monsters because of his blood that he had forgotten that they were children first. During a terrible instant, he imagined all the consequences of Marika’s change. But one thing was certain, like when Ouken had become an egoless, blood-thirsty monster; he could not stop loving his family.
There were a lot of cries and tears when you were reunited with your daughter, Ouken’s eyes watered too in front of the reunion, and everybody felt really relieved to see Marika in good health. The reason behind her runaway was made known only to her two uncles while she was finally resting in her daddy’s arms. He was squeezing her surely too much, but she did not seem to mind, and he was too afraid to even loosen a little.
“So is she really starting to develop some demigod features?” Ouken asked, feeling down.
“Let me see”, Despa ordered.
“Do not wake her up”, Desha groaned.
The blond demigod scoffed, before carefully checking what has caused all this commotion. He frowned deeply, before smirking.
“She’s really her father’s daughter, always worrying too much for nothing. Her tooth is perfectly normal, its just a human-canine teeth”, and to support his words he showed his own.
A long silence followed his explanation, and then Desha started to laugh awkwardly but it felt so relieving that he could not help himself.
*
“What would you do Marika?”
The eight-year-old girl frown deeply, thinking carefully about the matter and what she was about to say. Her cheeks were less round, but one had a little scar starting from her lips.
“Making the kingdom flourish must be the priority of everyone”, she started her dark eyes not leaving the orc standing in front of them, “but the priority of the King must be the well-being of his people. So I would allow him to take a couple of days off to help his sister after her wife's death, then he will need to go back to work.”
“That is sound judgment. Did you hear that?” Desha asked directly to the plaintiff. “I will only add that I will obviously wait for satisfactory results from your fields at the end of the year.”
“Of course !” The orc shouted. “Thank you so much! King Desha ! Princess Marika!”
The guard then lead him outside while Desha was praising his daughter.
“You are doing great. You will do a wonderful Queen of the Underworld.”
“Thank you father”, she blushed, “but I need to improve even more to be half as good as you are.”
“Flattery won’t take you anywhere, eh”, he jested.
“And mother is right”, she claimed with a smirk, “you need to learn how to take since compliments.”
“Ma’i ! Ma’i !”
Desha was saved by his own son, who suddenly burst into the hall room. The place had been emptied since the seance had ended, so it was no surprise that he would now seek his sister to play with him. Even if he had still a hard time saying her name, he would call her around a hundred times a day.
“Agreus, where is mummy ?”
“Mommy’s with uncle Ouken!” He said happily while raising his arms for her to take him.
“Go play with him”, Desha offered her while kissing both of them on their forehead. “I need a break too.”
Marika smiled happily and lifted his brother in her arms. She was already quite strong for her age, even maybe taller than most.
“Where do you want to go?” She asked him.
“Uncle Despa!”
She laughed lightly, their uncle had a bad idea of always giving them candies behind their mother's and father's backs, so of course, Agreus always wanted to go see him. They were allowed to leave the Castle, with some guards of course, since nobody would be crazy enough to try and harm the King’s children. Thus they took a stroll around town, Marika bought some pastries to eat on their way. People obviously recognized them and tried to offer everything, but the young girl would always insist to pay the right amount with her own money, unintentionally earning their respect.
Just before reaching Despa’s house, Marika heard some strange noise. It was very loud, and it was coming closer. Agreus was walking by her side while holding her hand. She frowned, she had a bad feeling about it. Her uncle Ouken had taught her to trust in her gut, so she pulled her brother closer, just in time to see a herd of horsemen barge into the centre of town without slowing for even a second. A big panic went through the people, and the invader began to cause havoc in all ways possible. They stroke people with their horses, break the shops, and when someone tried to interfere, one of the riders simply killed him, making blood spread at the same time as a terrified panic. In a matter of seconds, a totally normal day became a horrifying nightmare. Everybody was screaming and running trying to escape while the riders were killing mercilessly.
Marika had just the time to step back when the mercenaries had arrived, but they were separated from the guards and now she had a hard time just keeping Agreus close to her. Each time she tried to take him in her arms, someone would bump into them, making her almost lose his hand.
“Don’t let go!” She desperately shouted.
“Ma’ika!” He cried tears all over his face. “Ma’ika!”
“Agreus!”
She was so scared to lose him! If he was alone even for a second, he would not be able to survive, she knew it too well. She yelled when someone shake her again while she had almost grabbed her brother's shoulder, the person even made her fall to her knees on the ground. With the terrible smell, the scary sounds, and everything that was happening, she stayed frozen for a second before realising that she had let go of Agreus’ hand.
“No, no, no! No! NO” She desperately shouted.
Suddenly the thunder quieted the whole place, then the Underworld was painted in blue.
*
Desha had rushed outside as soon as words of the situation had reached him. He talked with Despa, but when his brother had told him that his children had never met with him, he felt unthinkable and terrible wrath took over him. Usually, he would never use his godlike power in town because it was too dangerous for ordinary people, but right now his fear was taking all the control he had.
He heard the sound of thunder and saw the blue light. But it was not his.
By the time he reached the crowd, he saw what looked like a mountain of burned corpses with a little girl drenched in blood on the top of it. She was turning his back to him, a man facing her with a blade.
“Wh-What are you?!” He screamed in terror.
“I am the future Queen of the Underworld.” There was no pride, no furore in her voice, only truth and determination.
The next second, Desha saw his daughter slay the enemy with the same power as his. But before he could intervene, the crowd of townsfolk started to acclaim her.
“Queen of the Underworld !”
“Queen of the Underworld !”
“Queen of the Underworld !”
She turned toward them, her eyes were blue and sparkling. She blinked, and they were back to normal. Totally ignoring the people, she kneeled to take her little brother in her arms. She cleaned his dirty face, while he desperately hugged her.
That sight shook Desha, and it was engraved in his eyes for the rest of his life. The vision he had always feared about his daughter, was nothing to be scared about. It was hope, it was only strength used to protect her own family. She was perfect, and his love for her could never waver.
The end