THE ASC3NDANTS Awakening. (III) ✔[#Wattys2019]

Chapter (3)

Lord Charlmain always had a secret attraction on Mrs. Annabel. He actually loved her in secret but only the King had known their secret even though they too had tried to keep it from his knowledge. However, this time Mrs. Annabel would leave too just like the rest. If not, she would be under great danger because the Prince had not only requested for the revelation of his dream but also the loyalty and service of MOTH. This would mean them partaking in the fore defined effects of his dream. They were not going to partake in this! They feared like never before and took to hiding across the expanse of the European lands.  
The prince did not get his answer but Lord Charlmain was able to let him know what Mrs. Annabel had told him. The prince though Lord Charlmain had kept back some of the information from him as it had been told to him. He desired to hear it direct from the members if possible! However, this wasn't going to be possible.
The members knew once he knew everything before they found a solution, he would call for them to back him up. Therefore, the 'dissolve' of the MOTH council in England was inevitable. This would spread to the rest of the states when the dream spread through all the members but the Prince would automatically feel despised. His anger would gain the best of him and sure enough what would follow, no one dared wait any longer. Neither would his very own Auntie Mrs. Annabel.
Sure enough, all this was happening because when he sent letters out to all members to convene for a royal ball, no one ever responded. Lord Charlmain himself was in charge of all this and answered to the crown prince. The prince got furious because his auntie too was no longer, where she once lived. Her castle was deserted. In addition, no one could locate her just like all the rest. And they had all carried their writings and individual research works along with them including. Yet these works if they had all agreed to come together in union with his purpose and dream, their outstanding research and knowledge would have been of great help. However, where was it all? Gone without any trace apart from some less important documents that were found burnt to ashes in some of their creepy fireplaces.
Sure as it was, MOTH had achieved so much under the protection and cooperation of his father. Therefore, their works were meant to be part if not fully, in retribution to the kingdom itself when the need arose!
Lord Charlmain's failure or refusal to locate Mrs. Annabel as he had been instructed caused bad blood between him and the crown prince! He, in the end, exiled him to the coast of East Africa. And this is where he would serve the crown as it's believed he had sworn to serve the English crown to the last breath. Unfortunately, he would do this from beyond the borders of England. However, under the governance of Lord Beryony; he had made Governor there after the fall of the corrupted Portuguese.
The Prince never rested He was ready to push this to another level! He immediately employed three professional mercenaries to search for and locate the lost members of MOTH. But this time, his ordered were dire that they are eliminated and their secret works confiscate and returned to England at once!
The only mistake in this was when these MOTH escapees made certain stopovers at different countryside mansions owned by other members of the Movement of The Hunt in states bordering England! This, in turn, brought the kings private agents direct to these. And whoever wouldn't give in their hosted MOTH visitors lost their lives along with the one running. In addition, those whose visitors had already left but could not give up any details about their visitors' directions of travel never survived as well.
They were supposed to die five in number. Each year he was able to locate and so bring down at least one of them. Soon which had unexpectedly taken a year each, he had four down! Nevertheless, with Mrs. Annabel, the fifth, it was three years gone by now. And she alone was left.
He did all this while playing a certain game he called 'Bojo' (This would mean supremacy in the language of the Tzavoku clan. Let me not explain much about them but they were one of the ancient Tonyam Empire. The first mortal man's empire ever known but claimed to have been mythical today because very many strange legends and factor follow its decline. But the Tzavoku people were royal stone and metal master craftsmen.)
And he had created this game himself almost similar to the chess game. But this mapped out certain locations of Europe and the world beyond. (What you must know is that the mapping of the world during these days wasn't the one we have today for several reasons. And they are not any close to those made by early sea travelers and the modern world's famous explorers)
The world changed after a certain incident. We cannot call it continental drifting but... allow me to go in order to get to that. Just to save you the confusion. However, the game he played was both mapped and crossed through by hundreds of strange grids. And to put down an opponent pone, three and these grids were dotted halfway or at the meeting point. Pones sat everywhere upon this game. And every opponent pone sat in a significant position on the map.
Moreover, every opponent pone represented a certain obstacle in his endeavors. And to cripple them, he had to be very keen because it required three pones in a line or angled line. And of these three, the opponent had to be at the center to be eliminated. An opponent pone had to shift locations frequently and consistently to avoid being cornered.
Since each pone represented a living obstacle, he did not change its representative pone on the map unless reports came in that the prey was gone... he had then to place the representing pone in an invisible position upon the negative grids until the prey was relocated in real life. And so would return its representing pone to the game but on a grid that resembles the prey's specific crime. And there were three major laws in England. The rest of the crimes fell under these laws. We shall get to know later in the story what these laws are.
He glanced aside at the four pendants. Only one was not here yet... from there he looked down on the game spread out on a round table before him but not knowing what to move to make next. Many of the opponent pone pieces lay in the invisible zone. Somewhere above the large table, game on a balcony stood a beautiful African woman. Her form was hidden within the shadows of knight amours and high bookshelves but the glow of the lamps cast a certain golden glow across her lower chin and face.
Her neck was long and gracious. While her eyes slightly rose on the side making her look like she was queen within these secret walls of the palace. She remained silent as the prince held his hand up in confusion. He did not know what to pick next. Was the game over? She believed not. Because he was an unceasing man. She could not utter a word fearing she would be interfering his deep thoughts.
Nevertheless, she spoke within her mind. To herself! But we must agree that even though the prince was assumed to have no advisor, this lady calculated for him each and every move he ever made! But she never got outside the walls of the secrecy of this chamber.
His arm on top of this game depended on several historical mistakes between Wales and England several years ago when an invasion of mad apes broke loose from Wales' Underground industrial provinces. These apes dangling with heavy chains around their necks and arms operated heavy mechanism and the feeding f coal into turning machines over a wide scale of production.
For several years, different Lords of Wales owning big shares in these industries knew about this program but had kept it secret from the rest of the surrounding states! And from one mistake (which we shall elaborate later), these apes broke loose and evaded Wales. It's believed they were controlled by some powerful element few people know about. And that whoever controlled them was a former enemy of England.
When the apes went loose, he turned them towards the borders of England right towards the Orghum town. Moreover, this is where half of England's mineral resources came from. It would be a great blow on England's economy if these apes crossed the borders and evaded the lower North of Orghum town.
The king had to move faster. The High Lord of Wales Mr. Klopp had already requested him for help. Nevertheless, hardly had the naval fleet got around to Wales when the apes turned toward England. Lacking enough troops, the king had requested his sister Mrs. Annabel to assist her and request for the support of the English council of MOTH. The council was in good terms with the crown through Mrs. Annabel.
Therefore, the head general of the English MOTH guard joined forces to block the Boarders of England in Orghum town. The high general Fredrick Korff requested his other two lieutenant guard commanders with private forces each to join him.
But before they could join, with the war almost failing for the king, they requested for such a heavy payment. And that would be a quarter of the whole Northern mines in general. This the king could not do for them and because it wasn't a war England was countable for. He agreed to work this out after. But to save time because the apes were challenging his force already and he had been wounded himself. He would die from this mortal wound but England wasn't supposed to fall whatsoever!
However, because the invasion started in Wales. He died when he had instructed his officials to formulate a document that in payment for England's naval assistance for the return of peace I Wales, England would acquire half of the Walsh Upper Northern mines in payment for the assistance of MOTH.
Of cause, wales may have attained its peace but its people would not be happy with this later. But it had to be done for Wales to remain in good terms with England because its resources had been wasted against a problem they began... and they had also been defended by England when they were sentenced for the apes' industrial labor force program they hadn't notified the rest of the about.
The three MOTHs generals shared this portion equally and were in peace for some time. But the king had made it known to those in charge of the documents that the initial peace would not last... because his son wasn't yet ready to take the crown and rules as he ought to. He would be ready for war for the rest of his life rather than ready to rule his people. And his last words were. "...beware of the dream."
The King's last words had reached his ear! And that's where he knew that his dream had something to it. He desires to find out! And being that Lord Charlmain knew his father so well and that his father had shared most of his secrets with Lord Charlmain, he would be the best person to start with. However, Lord Charlmain played dumb and less knowledge about so many things. The king may have requested him not to reveal so much that would get his son beyond curious and off course from his purpose as new King of England. Maybe!
Several years have passed and the Prince is indeed a King of his dream! He was no longer fulfilling most of the royal customs as was required of him. He no longer went hunting. So many things he had left to his officials and he was obsessed about one and only one matter. -His unceasing dream and where the calling could have come from!
The last thing he could never turn his back on was the 'Bojo' game. He had developed it over the years and he had mastered it the way anyone would their own name. He stared down at the game for such a long while. Impatience clouded his gaze as if his life depended upon this game.
"Mrs. Annabel! Where are you?" he sneers at the pone representing the MOTHs as he slammed his fist down on the table.
"You need to believe that he needs the crown's assistance even the more now... sooner or later he shall be done with the vengeance for the Murder of his father and sister. You need only help him finish what satisfies him... by the end, he will have fallen into the center of the game and the maze runs infinity, your majesty. It is where you need him. At the center. And that makes him a greater asset to your plans. Like an iron rode passed through fire... grant him the rank of guardian and inspector of the North. In addition to that, arm him to the teeth against the rebels that have infiltrated the English mines. Then watch what happens next..."
"I find pleasure at the peak of this game. And you shall see me rise like a phoenix above all other nests... you give me the courage."
"Then you must be careful because we alone know the truth, my lord. His father could not escape the consequences of MOTH. Yes. And no one knows the game better than you do. You must ensure one thing that Abdul and he don't meet."
"Very clever..."
"Have the gap and your game will flow my Lord. Otherwise, Mrs. Annabel is the last in this and the puzzle is done."
"Sure but how long will it take him?"
"As long as he doesn't get to know who exactly took his father's life, my King. Do not rush the game lest you make a move you shall live to regret..."
"I'm the king and I'm losing my patience... the Black Project protects her and if I don't..."
There was a knock at the entrance. He immediately came to a pause and turned to see a letter slide in. the owl flew out of its nest and fetched it.
He walked over closer to the fireplace and read in silence. His face all of a sudden brightened up. He raised his head slowly. Rumpled it so slowly and quickly cast it into the fireplace... He walks back to the game table, smiles at the game. Topples the MOTH pone and then places one of the Black Project in its place. Next, he turns to leave saying.
"I have a visitation to make in the process... and. Besides that" he speaks pausing. Tomorrow I shall go hunting. Have the stable manager aware immediately." Nevertheless, he never did go hunting even though he planned with such seriousness each day. He kept postponing because similar errands sprouted up each day just like this.