Roll of the Dice

Chapter 10

Nic hurried up the stairs, to the kitchen, and poured Amadan a glass of water. He gave the glass to Amadan before taking a seat with the others. They were now all sitting on the couches, Amadan sitting on one of the love seats. There was silence as Amadan drained his glass, his hand shaking. Lily reached out, placing her hand gently on his. He pulled away. A few more minutes passed as Amadan collected himself. Finally, he looked at them, ready to start.

"My name is Amadan and I come from a Kingdom called Triad," Amadan explained.

"Triad? Where exactly is Triad?" Lucas asked, curiously. He brought out his phone and pulled up a map of the world. "This doesn't make any logical sense, Triad doesn't show up on any maps," Lucas explained.

"Lucas, we're dealing with the Supernatural, we can safely say that Triad is where these Supernatural beings come from. I'm guessing it's not part of our world," Lily said.

".... Right. Totally zoned out there. My bad," Lucas replied.

Amadan was quiet again as they got settled. He snapped his fingers and a small glow appeared around the room. Slowly, it began to form a map, which settled on the table surface.

"Yes, you are correct Lily, Triad is the realm where all us what you call "Supernatural" beings come from. Within this Kingdom, however, are three separate, smaller Kingdom's. Mara, the Kingdom of Vampires, Vargulf, the Kingdom of Werewolves, and Vila, the Kingdom of Fairies, where I am from."

As he explained the map began to shift and take form, showing three unique areas, each one glowing a different shade of gold. To the West was Mara, a heavily mountainous and shadowed area; the trees sparse and dead, its branches reaching for the sky like dead hands. Large castles littered the area, creeping ivy crawled up the walls like cobwebs, choking the stonework. A light snow covered the ground. In the South, the land of Vargulf formed. Unlike Mara, Vargulf was a land of open plains, tall grass that ran on for miles. Large areas were covered in small, rocky, hills; caves buried into their sides. Tents were set up around large fires that reached the sky. Each one appeared to belong to one family. A warm breeze blew over the land, touching the teens. To the North was Vila. A vast forest of tall pines and birches. Around the edges were small bushes that looked like hunched creatures. Twinkling, coloured, lights flickered in and out magically. A small dusting of gold looking dust layered the ground. Shadows could be seen drifting in and out of the trees. Amongst the trees were homes of varying sizes. Some were built inside the trees themselves. While others were built above the very treetops. Almost none touched the ground. The teens leaned in to get a better look, smiles spread across their faces. It was all so wonderful.

"As I said I was born in Vila." Amadan zoomed in on the map to Vila. "I was born the bastard son of the future High Lord of Vilia, Florian and a Lady-in-Waiting, Eilonwy. Despite her low social status, my father loved Eilonwy. The two would often meet in secret and engaged in, what some might call, inappropriate behavior for two members of the court. They met in secret for years. So, when he heard that my mother had become pregnant, he was thrilled. My grandmother, who was the current High Lady of Vilia at the time, was furious when she found out that my mother was pregnant and immediately dismissed her from court. My father still supported my mother, however."

There was a pause, a thoughtful and sad look on Amadan's face. "My mother explained to me that when I was born, my father was the happiest he had ever been in his life and he loved me more than anything. Now, to make my mother an honest woman, he decided to renounce his title as High Lord and marry her and, by doing so, he would adopt her "illegitimate" son. It was the perfect solution to his problem. However, my grandfather was dying and knew that he had to secure the throne of Vilia before he passed. So, my grandparents arranged a marriage for him. It seemed that they found a family in the Triad Capital to marry my father. The family's daughter was named, Karina. And being the dutiful son he was he agreed to the marriage. But he couldn't just leave his love and his son to fend for themselves. So, he sent us both to a small cottage at the edges of the Southern part of the forest."