The Bedroom Hymns | myg 🔞

chapter vi. the castle by the sea

Mana? Aura? A place filled with magic?

Once again, what you are hearing from your father sounds absurd, and yet, you still believe him. "Everyone? Even you, and all the people here in the castle? Is that how you managed to travel so quickly to get here? With magic?"

A grim smile appears of his face when King Aneas answers you, "Yes, Princess. There is mana here all around us, and within the people you saw here in the castle. There is mana flowing within me, just as much as you have it within you since the day you were born."

There is magic...inside me?

Everything seems unreal, and still so many questions continue to come through you. But you believe every word he says, as deep down you know that there is no way your father, would ever try to trick or deceive you. Not about something like this.

As he sees you falling silent, His Majesty hands you a glass filled with a finger deep amber-coloured drink, something that you are most grateful for. Because after everything that you had been put through, and after listening to all the things that he had just said to you, you are obviously going to need one. The drink tastes unlike anything you have had before, but it does soothe your body and mind a little, allowing you to regain your focus again as he continues, "You were still so little when you were taken away from home, so you might not remember much about the life you had in this palace. I also understand that it might take a while for you to get used to things here, especially when there is no magic exist where The Citadel and the Seacrest Manor are located."

You take a few more sips from your drink to stop your head from spinning. You may have recovered quite well from the shock so far, but it doesn't really mean it would make it easy for you take everything in so quickly. But then something that His Majesty mentioned earlier clicks as your mind wanders back to the forest, when you recall all the peculiarities that the Elcester Forest possesses.

"You said earlier about our homeland acting as a magic door. Does it have anything to do with Elcester Forest? Is that where these two places meet each other?"

King Aneas hums approvingly. He even seems quite pleased with your question, but you have no idea why until he explains, "You are correct. The forest acts like a tunnel that opens up to this realm on the specific nights when the flow of mana in the air are the strongest."

"Wouldn't the townsfolk be able to go through the forest and find this place?" you question him, though you quickly recall that there has yet any word of the common people ever reaching the other end of the Elcester Forest, not even the hunters who have free rein of the forest during hunting seasons.

"Have you heard any of them succeeding so far?" King Aneas questions you, as if he can read your thoughts. "There is a powerful magic that has been set in the forest that prevents the common people from going too far into the forest or to find and go across the borders between the two realms. For common folks, the magic will act as an illusion to confuse them and make them go in circles until they find their way back home to the towns in Smotia. For folks like us, with the right spells casted on the right time, a portal will open on the invisible walls protecting the realm to allow us to pass."

"Last night," —you start, recalling the events which happened during your journey—the rising thick white mist, the peculiar gloom that kept getting intense as you got deeper into the forest, the sightings of the blue flames, and the wall of blue inferno that was so ominous in its presence—and you begin questioning, "Was that the reason why you chose last night, the eve of Lemmus Rising, to send me away from The Citadel? Had it been one of those special nights that you were talking about?"

Crossing his hands on the desk before him, King Aneas leans forward as he explains, "Lemmus Rising is a phenomenon created by the magic protecting the forest, when the magic grows the strongest that it often manifests into small patterns of mana appearing in various places within the dark forest like guide lights to show you where the portals would be able to appear. Normally, regular humans won't be able to see them with their bare eyes, yet some of the elders who had lived in Smotia for a long time have caught sights of them and may have mistaken them as the souls of the dead."