Kingdom of Lies (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 15 [part 1]

'We must seek... now.' I told them, without acknowledging what had happened. None of it at all. Not Rayn calling me stupid, not Russell kissing me and then abruptly pulling away. I just focused on looking for the sign.

I started walking in whatever direction, not checking to see if they were following me, even though I knew they were.

I reached a large staircase, which I climbed carefully, avoiding the huge holes. I didn't want to imagine what could have hit the steps so hard as to destroy them in that way.

And there it was, the corridor I had seen in the memory.

It was terrible to see it that way.

The beautiful window that extended down the corridor to the throne room was completely destroyed. The walls seemed to be maintained by an invisible thread, and the sun penetrated over every opening made by the impacts.

'Over there,' I told no one in particular.

There were no longer any doors to open when entering the throne room, they had been knocked down entirely. The brightness of the room was totally consumed by black shadows that even the rising sun could not dispel.

The throne was broken in half. It was gloomy just to see it.

Finally, I turned around and found the group there.

'The sign must be here or in the King's room. These are the two places I saw in his memories. Although they were nothing like what they are now. Everything was much more... alive.'

I felt Russell's hand on my shoulder as soon as those words came out of my mouth. He knew what was going on in my heart, the sadness that the whole situation was causing me.

As if we were children looking for treasure, we searched every corner of the throne room.

But we found nothing.

'We have the bedroom left, maybe it's there,' I said, hurrying to get out until I watched Fred standing still and didn't know what was happening. So, I went over to him.

His gaze was drawn. Very little sunlight was shining through the windows, so I could read his expression more easily. It wasn't until I followed his gaze that I understood.

A huge painting was hanging on one of the walls.

My parents. They were my parents.

I had seen them in the memories of the cave, but here they were portrayed in all their splendor. My mother wearing a golden dress, and my father in a suit of the same color. The gold highlighted my mother's amber eyes, my amber eyes. They looked happy, powerful, like two gods pretending to be human.

I looked at their faces and silently promised them that I would do my best to protect the legacy they had left me.

'The Queen... you look just like her,' Tryx commented sadly.

'No, she is much more beautiful than I will ever be,' I replied with melancholy.

I would never know the person who gave me life, I would never know what a hug from her felt like, a caress from any of them, my parents, my real parents.

'Let's look in the bedroom, it must be on the next level.'

Everyone followed me. Honestly, I wasn't really paying much attention to whether they were following me or not. I was trusting that they would, I was trusting that everyone would.

I climbed one more staircase and let my instincts guide me between the rooms on the next level. I opened a door, but it wasn't the right one. I opened another door and found a room with something unexpected.