The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Thirteen

"A potion that would save you from dying..." The words echoed in my head as I started to connect the pieces of the puzzle together. Indeed, back in the day, there was a story that spread to the whole kingdom like wildfire. I was too young to know that something was going back then but when I grew up I would still hear about that incident.

It was about the Crown Prince, who had a terrible disease, and that doctors had said that this disease could take the young royalty's life. According to the story everyone was upset and scared by it, so the people held vigils each night to show their support for the Crown Prince.

My Aunt also remembers this incident clearly. According to her everyone back then was already prepared for the worst. Even the King and the Queen were already preparing themselves that their only son would be taken away from them. But just like a miracle, the young Crown Prince suddenly just got better. He was able to surprisingly overcome the deathly disease and become healthy, much to the doctors' astonishment.

But not long after that, the Queen died. It took everyone by surprise and almost all of the people of Aure back then did not believe that the Queen had died. She was so healthy and was so kind that no one expected her to fell ill too and just die like that.

Official reports said that the Queen died from a health condition that was unchecked, but a lot of people did not believe that, especially that the timing of her death was suspicious. Dying just days after your son gets better from a mysterious disease does make it all more mysterious. And people love to gossip, so the events fueled a decade-long of conspiracy theories and sometimes outrageous theories, the most ridiculous of them is the theory that the Queen took her own life.

But right now all of these rumors might just be put to rest as the truth is finally here. With Mitaur's admission that the Queen came to see her to ask for a potion that would save her son from that disease that he had as a child could possibly enlighten every one of what really happened before. So I can't blame the Crown Prince's excitement from this revelation. He looked like he was willing to listen to Mitaur's story for eternity.

"What potion are you talking about?" he asked Mitaur.

"It was an ancient elixir," Kaylie's grandmother said and both Prince Kao and I were dumbfounded by what she said.

"What's that?" I asked her. "Is that something that's forbidden to make? Just like in the tales that we read from school?"

"Something like that, Rainha," said Mitaur which surprised me because I never expected that my wild guess would be right. I was just joking so that the atmosphere here would still be clear, but I did not expect that this potion that she called as an ancient elixir is actually forbidden.

"What do you mean by that?" the Crown Prince asked impatiently. "Could you elaborate it to me?"

"Y-Yes, Your Highness," Mitaur responded and bowed her head. "Ancient elixirs, just as its name suggests, is an ancient type of potion that our people used to make from long ago. It dates back to centuries, even earlier than this Eternal Winter. Back then, Potioneers were said to be revered for their gift of making elixirs--- potions that grant you effects that go out of the ordinary just like the slowing of age, or reviving lost memories... It was said that making these types of elixirs required knowledge on magic and only a few of the potioneers that lived then can actually make them."

"So it's a magical potion?"

"That's what we think, those involve in potion-making just like me. My family comes from a long line of potioneers, Your Highness, so naturally I have knowledge about these elixirs which was passed down to me by my ancestors. Books about potion-making were passed down to me and I kept it as it is part of my family heirlooms. But some time before I was even born, the King forbid us Potioneers to make these elixirs for some reason. Anyone who disobeys this new law would be beheaded. According to my father, some of the potioneers back then, being unable to stop a longtime tradition of making these elixirs were caught and got punished for disobeying the King. This forced the rest of us into finally stopping making them."

"But you just said that you had a store of potions," I reminded her. "Does it mean that you only sell the unprohibited potions?"

Mitaur nodded at me. "The ancient elixirs are just one type of the potions that we can make. Of course, we can still concoct other types of potions and that's what I sold back then. Most of them were for medicinal purposes though, but some of them were beauty products."

"Oh, that's nice! What types of beauty products do you make then?" I asked curiously but Prince Kao cleared his throat while looking at me sternly and I blushed. "Oh, I'm so sorry Your Highness..." I wanted to disappear right now because I just interrupted their important conversation with my silly questions.

"Your mother came from a humble background, as you both know," Mitaur continued, "so I was able to meet her and she became my helper at my store. She was a kind, sweet girl and I could not say a single bad thing about her. I actually did not want her to leave my shop."

I looked at the Crown Prince when Mitaur was describing his mother and saw in his face that he was pleased to hear good things about his mother. I wanted to hug him because of this but of course, I restrained myself as it would have been too much. The Crown Prince would totally hate me if I interrupt them more so I just shut my mouth.

"As she became close to me, we developed a special bond over the potions. She's a smart girl too, so naturally, she asked me if she could read some of my old books including the ones about potion-making. She was interested in it and I just let her be. But looking back now sometimes I regret that I let her borrow my books and read them, because that's where she got the information about the ancient elixirs."

"So you are saying that when she came here to your house years after, she was after those ancient elixirs?"

Mitaur slowly nodded her head. "I am so sorry Your Highness! I had no choice! She was already the Queen! I could no longer reject any of her requests! But I still think that it was all my fault!"

I was starting to really get lost by what she was saying. And so is the Crown Prince as he was frowning. I think he is just as confused as I am from all these things that Mitaur had told us. Then she suddenly went weird like this, asking for his forgiveness. "What happened next?" Prince Kao then asked. "I know that she asked you about those ancient elixirs for me. I still had the disease that could have killed me, and she came here to ask you about those... So what happened? What did you do?"

Mitaur was already crying. "She asked me if I can make one of those ancient elixirs. She was interested in one of them, particularly Elixir of Life."

"Elixir of Life? What's that?"

"It is the elixirs of all the elixirs," Mitaur said. "It is said that it was made by the deities themselves and just handed the recipe to us. According to the legends, the Elixir of Life... when done correctly can grant the drinker immortality..."

I almost fell from my chair. "IMMORTALITY?"

Even Prince Kao was speechless. Who wouldn't be? This is immortality that we are talking about! It is not just a syrup that will grant you another day of life even if you are on the brink of death! It is an elixir that will grant you eternal life! It means that if you drink it, you can never die!

"But it is more of a legend than it is real. In fact, no one has been able to make it yet, and I personally think that it is just a load of rubbish. Because if there is really an elixir that can grant you an eternal life then someone must have drank it already and should have been centuries old by now."

"M-Maybe there is, but they just don't want us to know that they exist?" I suggested which earned skeptical looks from the two of them. "Right. I know that it is just a tall story."

"I'm sorry Mitaur, but is that really what my mother asked you? A mythical elixir that even you think is not real?"

"Unfortunately, yes, Your Highness. I am not lying. Your mother... she was desperate. She's a mother, so that is not very surprising, you know especially if your child is on the brink of death. You would even try the impossible just to keep your child safe. That's just what a mother does."

"Well, I... I did not expect---"

I gasped. "Oh no, Prince Kao! The letter! Your mother's letter to my mother! Didn't she talk about sacrificing herself? Is this it? Did she sacrificed herself to get her hands on something that would cure you of your illness?"

"You're right!" the Crown Prince exclaimed. "That must be it! But wait... If she sacrificed herself, then what did she got in exchange for her life? Mitaur, what did my mother got?"

Mitaur was not answering the Crown Prince's question, so we have to repeat our question to her in a louder tone. She seemed to be in a trance and just snapped out of it when I shook her shoulders. "Are you okay?" I asked her but she did not reply to me. Instead, she stood up and went to the Crown Prince's side and knelt in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Prince Kao and I even said that in unison. "Why are you kneeling again in front of the Crown Prince?"

"I made a terrible mistake," she said in a low whisper. "The Queen died because of what I suggested to her that she should do to save you..."

"WHAT?"

Tears were falling from her cheeks into the wooden floor. Mitaur looked very resentful of what she said that she had done and I wished that she would finish first her story before she breaks down like this. But wishing her like that is actually cruel so I just let her be. I let her cry first before she went on with her story.

"The Queen begged me if I could do anything to save you from that disease. I remember how she also fell on her knees in front of me just so I would help her... How can I refuse someone as desperate as her back then? I could not possibly reject the Queen's plea..."

"So what did you do?"

"I told her about a potion that I could possibly make to remove the disease in your body. It was an ancient elixir that I have never even dreamed of making. It was the ancient elixir made from the Phoenix Petals."

"Made from what?"

"Phoenix Petals. It is a type of flowering plant that used to grow on the fields of Aure before the Eternal Winter happened. I have not actually seen it with my own eyes. I just read it on books about potion-making that was written by my ancestors. The flower got its name from the shape of its petals. Based on the illustrations that come with it on the books, it is a red flower with the elongated petals shaped like a bird on fire."

"Petals shaped like a bird on fire? What the heck is that?" I think my mind is about to explode from what Mitaur just said because first of all, no one knows what fire looks like, so how the hell would someone know if a flower is actually the Phoenix Petals? Second, where on earth would we find something like that in these weather conditions? The Queen would have to search for it on snow and ice, and I bet that flower will not grow in conditions that we have.

"It is a mythical flower," said Mitaur. "Legends say that the deities made them. But as we all know there are no deities in Aure so logically that flower won't exist too. Besides, that was what I just read on my books that were handed down to me by my ancestors. Half of what's in those books are just made up of their imaginative minds."

"So you told her a myth?" Prince Kao asked again and Mitaur nodded at that. "But if that flower is just a myth, how did my mother died if you're trying to tell us that she died from this elixir? Or am I just reading all of this wrong?"

Mitaur shook her head. "You are not analyzing this wrong, Your Highness. When I told your mother about that ancient elixir made from that mythical flower, I was only answering her questions out of duty. I never have thought that an ancient elixir like that could be made as its ingredients are most likely fictional too. But when the Queen returned here after the first time, she brought something with her and it was a flower. A flower that looked like a bird on flames."