Lucian hooted with laughter before seeing his mother and Aunt's serious expressions.
"Oh," he said. "You weren't kidding".
"Aren't they like, a conspiracy theory?" Eric asked.
"At once, yes, they were. All of you may want to sit down for this, by the way," Elena said, and all of them sat around her and Elora in a ring.
"About a thousand years back, as you all know, Illea was known as 'The United States of America'. Many of the current kingdoms had different names too. At that point, technology and AI were developing at such a quick pace, that a lot of the countries' culture and heritage were lost. Jobs meant for humans were given to robots and programs," Elora said. "It was at that time, that a group of ten teenagers, from France, China, India which is now known as Hindustan, the USA, Italy, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK, Australia and Germany who decided to change the world".
"They advocated that true development was that with equal growth of culture and technology - not just technology. Global warming was its peak, and political parties that ruled were always filled with corruption. Legislation took too long to make decisions, and the same went for the jury," Elena said.
"Which is why they proposed for a system of monarchs, and made a set of rules that were practically foolproof. With a single decision making authority, rules and laws could be implemented better. They replaced ministers with dukes and duchesses. They created a system were free education would be provided for all," Elora continued.
"The situation in each of those countries became so dire, that a majority of the population agreed with their ideals, and support them. After a period of conflicts, this group of teenagers became the Kings and Queens of their countries, electing others to rule over the remaining countries. The group of these teenagers, the original ones made an agreement to remain allies till the end of time - with their successors following this agreement too. Ofcourse, it has helped that most of those rulers are good people," Elena said.
"The world became a much better place - technology advanced at a higher level, but so did the promotion of culture and heritage. The monarchs brought back old traditions and made the people proud of their ancestry," Elora said. "But there still was a group of people who wished for only technological advancement".
"The Illuminati," Aurora said.
Her mother nodded at her and continued, "They wished for their lives to be dictated by the AI - they claimed everyone would be treated the same, everything they did would be dictated by the AI. They needn't make any decisions on their own".
"That sounds like brainwashing," Lucian said, wrinkling his nose.
"In a way, yes, it is," his mother said. "Everything would be normalized, and no one would rule. There would be no color except that of black and white. They proposed to practically abide by a machine - trees would be cut, and machines creating oxygen would replace them. They said that everybody would be equal - they would just live. Not have a life or laughter".
"Throughout the centuries, they've been giving minor trouble to each of the original Ten's descendants, but they were mostly able to thwart their plans. They plan for years, before acting, and their population also seems to be increasing. Last century, I think they tried to destroy each and every one of Hindustan's temples, mosques and churches, trying to eliminate every trace of their rich culture. Their plan was to make the people think they were hallucinating, and everything they thought was real was a lie. That they would automatically accept the Illuminati as their supreme power. The cult was nearly destroyed by the then ruler, and the remaining of them fled to another country," Elora said.
"We had always thought that Italy would be next on the list, but seeing what just happened here... we're sure it's Illea. That the Illuminati are all based out of here," Elena said.
"That means they could be anyone!" Aurora said.
Elora nodded.
"Since they attempted to use nuclear weapons last time, we've all been very careful about the restriction on those weapons to be transported to different countries. They are ruthless, driven to achieve their goal," Elora said.
"Don't they realize how stupid they sound?" Eric asked.
"You need to understand that most of them were once what used to be the lower castes - below Fives, basically. I mean, the caste system was created for a good intent, but it became really bad, really quickly. That's probably the only mistake the original Ten made. Those people who felt under represented, who hated the hierarchy are the ones who joined the Illuminati," Elena said.
"But now we don't have castes," Kate said.
"We don't, thanks to Queen America and King Maxom, but still it doesn't stop the general people from discriminating others. Despite the free education we give everyone, a few don't make it. And those people feel wronged, feel the entire system is corrupted and thus join the Illuminati," Elora said.
"Why did they choose the name Illuminati?" Lucian wondered.
"Well, mostly because the ancient Illuminati was a group that aimed for progress. The current Illuminati liked that they could take a name that intended for reforming the general public, or rather, to illuminate their minds," Elena said.
Elora waved her hand, and a symbol appeared. "They chose a symbol, that of a sun to symbolize their intent of spreading knowledge. That's why all the IDs Queen Mei found in the systems of the different newspapers were all related to light".
Aurora stared at the symbol - at the circle with the squiggly ways around it.
"I've seen it somewhere," she said out aloud.
"It's actually an ancient African symbol they took a fancy too. You should hear how Queen Annika hates it," Elena said. "It's also become a common charm, nowadays. You must have seen it in some shop".
Aurora nodded.
Maybe she was right.
She must have seen it somewhere in Kent.
"Queen Mei told you to be careful," she said, looking at Elora.
"Oh, I'll be fine," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "I just hope that they don't mistake Elena for me".
"Very unlikely," Elena said. "As you can see, I have a halo of awesomeness around my head that you don't, my dear, baby sister".
Everyone had to smile at that.
But Aurora kept going over what Queen Mei had said - there were ears everywhere, there were no coincidences.
"Oh my God," she said, her eyes widening in realization, before she ran out of the room.
Before you're going to start plotting on how to murder me for that cliffhanger, please remember that the next chapter has already been uploaded xD.
Recently I got a couple of complaints that the previous Q&A thing was just too short.
So I chose a question that has a super huge answer and decided that it was what I'd be answering.
Before we get to that, thank you so much for your love and support! Keep them and the comments and questions coming!
Q1. How did you arrive at Ella/Aurora's character?
A1. Good question. But that has a lot of lot of details, so I'll split my answer into parts.
(i) Name - I actually came up with Elora's name first. I read the 'Trylle Trilogy' and I just knew that I had to have a character named Elora. And then came the idea of her having a twin named 'Elena'. When I thought of her having a daughter, well, a missing daughter, I immediately knew her birthname had to be Ella. There's something lilting about the name that's always appealed to me. And the name 'Aurora' is another one of my favorites, so that's how I came up with it.
(ii) Twin - When I started out, I wanted to make Ella the elder princess, the true Heir Apparent, but then it sort of clashed with my whole 'Selection' idea. Since only girls younger to the Prince are considered, I made her the elder twin of Prince Eric. The kidnapping date matched perfectly and that sort of was the foundation of my story. As for her and Eric's appearance... I realized that TV and story books have rather warped our thought process on how twins are. They're not always identical, actually it's super super rare, and even if they're born identical, they don't remain that way as they grow old (Don't ask me about Elora and Elena. They're absolutely identical for a reason which will be given in the prequel so please please don't ask me for spoilers). I couldn't make Ella and Eric have the same features - it would literally be a dead giveaway, which is why I swapped their parents' features and gave it to them. Ofcourse, Ella had to look similar to one of her younger siblings, so I did the same with Elanor and Elodie.
(iii) Appearance - Literally every book I've read and movie I've watched always have the main character as some sort of exotic beauty, with blonde/red hair and rare eye colors. In reality, 95% people have dark eyes and hair. And I wanted Ella to represent what the common woman looked like - absolutely normal. Beautiful, yes, but normal. I decided her to have black hair and brown eyes, and built on her parents' appearance from that. I've mentioned a few times that she has rough, black hair. No people, not everyone has sleek, silky, non-split-ended hair. Ella got that from her mother's side, where everyone have rough, black hair. Not silky, definitely not wavy or with natural curls. Just normal.
(iv) Personality - Ella is probably the representation of the best in me. Kind, forgiving and willing to move on from the past. But that does not mean that she's someone you can mess with. Poke the dragon, and it will roar. Like me, Ella does not forgive or forget once she's been truly angered. Many books just keep heroines so moody - they're all fine and feminist till they meet a guy and then suddenly, poof. All individuality is lost, and she becomes so different, something literally no girl ever wants to be. So I've tried to be as true to Ella as I can, keeping her personality consistent.
Okay that's it people. Comment if you think I've missed something, and I'll add it next time.
Until next time,
XOXO,
The Fidgeting Monk