Elemental Empires

{Chapter 18}

"Who's the Dark Prince by the way?," they reached a shady spot and crouched to dig holes.

"Ha! I always love to tell a juicy, ol' story! Listen my dear, innocent child. Today I will tell you a heart twisting tragedy, a chilling tale of death and mise-," Kira stopped as she saw the exasperated expression on Mia's face.

"Done? The story Kiraaa," Mia rolled her eyes good-humouredly and laughed as Kira joined in.

"Alright, alright. The Dark Prince is the owner of the scary palace we are captured in. He is this..thi..," Kira's face screwed up in anger and for a moment she remained quiet as she furiously scooped dirt out. She exhaled after a while and continued.

"This freaking animal," she scream-whispered." He is this idiot with a lust for power and a greed immeasurable. Killing people, torturing them is just like playtime for him. That insolent..," Mia dug her own hole as Kira launched into endless strings of grumbled muttering, ranting about him.

"I hate him so much!," she squeezed a fistful of dirt," he killed my parents and destroyed my home," she said softly, letting the dirt slip out of her grasp as her eyes became dull and void of any emotion but then she smiled her beautiful smile after a while.

"Anyways he even murdered his own parents! His parents were great friends of the King and Queen and were kind of like the advisors of them. They suggested and helped them in ruling the vast empire. They were also wealthy people, but then who wasn't? They had their own palace too," Kira levelled the hole she'd dug.

"Hmm," Mia urged Kira.

"Some say he killed them to gain quicker access to the throne while some said he hated them and whatever, there are many theories on this subject but none have any evidence. The Dark Prince framed the King and Queen saying that they killed his parents since they were jealous of their wealth, which is a pathetic excuse by the way," Kira quietened as a guard marched past.

Mia nodded understandingly as Kira continued.

"The King and Queen, lovely..I tell you absolutely amazing people! Not a person slept hungry during their rule. No one was poor, no beggars, no homeless people. They cheapened the food, built free homes for people, free education and health care. Medicine was free too! They gave large sums of money to orphanages and old-homes and visited them too. They devoted their time to public meetings which were held every week so that they could listen to and solve the problems of his subjects and every month people were given large allowances and at the end of every year, a huge feast was celebrated. The empire was largely at peace. Happiness everywhere. The golden times,"Kira said, staring off into the distance, reminiscing lost memories.

Mia felt happy and her chest swelled with pride listening to the praise of her parents.

"Then the princess died and this asshole took over,"Kira rolled her eyes."Sometimes I blame the stupid princess for everything".

Mia stifled a laugh as Kira ranted on and on about,"stupid Princess Mia"

"Now I get it, hmm- what is this?," Mia opened her box of seeds to see that the seeds looked like they were made of glass. Mia picked up one, it had the same ragged surface of a normal seed but was transparent and in the middle of the seed  was a tiny leaf.

"These are so pretty," Mia said and picked up a handful and let them slip through her palm into the hole, the sun filtered through them, making spectrums around them.

"There's something else too!," Mia put her hand in the box and found a small yellow and white glass vial." What is this?".

"Those are Terpsikor seeds and the liquid is a combination of Myrxes and Zolsys," Kira said as she put in her seeds." An incredible nurturing and healing agent for the Borshe Berries".