Emptiness

Chapter 12

Solum wondered if it was correct of him to present this.

It wasn’t worth much compared to what his friend owned.

He must have many valuable and expensive things.

This was nothing compared to all those things his friend might have.

Still, Solum cannot keep this to himself in shame of how his gift didn’t have any value.

It was something he had been working on for many weeks in secret.

It was Mico’s birthday today.

Even though it was a few days before the full moon, they had agreed to meet earlier on the occasion of Mico’s birthday with the intention of celebrating it.

Solum had never given Mico anything during his birthdays over the past few years they have known each other.

Mico was as special to Solum as much as Iri was.

He can never compromise on either of them.

He loved them both equally.

They were his best friends, and he could not live without either of them.

That was why he wanted to make Mico’s birthdays special.

It might be nothing in front of the things Mico owned, but it was all Solum had.

He had decided to buy a gift at least this year’s birthday for Mico.

Iri gets happy with simple things since he hasn’t seen many things in life. Iri gets happy with new clothes or nightflowers.

Mico is an Egavian and has a father who works in the army.

What Solum, a lowlife can, give a person like Mico?

Mico had never asked for anything, yet, Solulm could not let it go like that.

Mico does so much for them.

Mico is the one who helped him in looking after Iri and had helped him with building their home for Iri.

Mico had never looked at Iri with fear even though he was a Horns.

Mico had never been disgusted with Solum treating him like a friend, instead of a lowlife the way society treats Solum.

So, Solum had long decided to get a gift at least this year for Mico.

He had saved one precious thing, the only treasure Solum has, which he had been saving for this, buried under the tree nearby his house, so none would ever find it.

Solum’s house was in the last row of the Garbage, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone finding it.

It was a pearl...

A single, old pearl.

One of the cheapest things in Vabeo but to a lowlife like Solum, it was a treasure.

He had earned it by working for an older woman in the town months back.

He had helped her even though the lady said she didn’t have any money with her to give him.

But he helped her anyway; after all, the Egavians rarely ever paid them. The old lady was in her eighties or something. Even though she was an Egavian, Solum decided to help her out for how old and helpless she looked.

She had blessed him, giving him a pearl saying it was one of the few things she had.

Solum had denied it, not wanting to take it from her. But, she insisted Solum take it.

He had taken it, deciding to give it to Mico the moment he saw it.

The old lady had passed away a few days after that, making Solum sad.

She was one of the very few of the kind Egavians he had encountered.

Solum has been working on it for days, whenever he had time.

Solum cannot give the pearl just like that.

Solum had decided to make a pendant out of it.

He had chosen Blackwood since Solum didn’t have any money to buy precious metals like gold, nor was it allowed for a lowlife him.

So, Solum had chosen a Blackwood.

The blackness of its branches and its leaves earned it the name Blackwood.

One of the things he had come to be fascinated about ever since he read it from the medical book he stole to heal Iri years back.

A wooden box was kept buried under the tree near his house, where he kept things he valued hidden. In that box was where he kept the pearl too.

That book was Solum’s most treasured since he had used it to read and learn many things. A book was worth more than anything, as Solum had come to appreciate that.

Blackwood was one of the rare woods as they grow abundant in forest areas only. It has more medical values in it, healing qualities like creating a soothing effect to the sleepless mind and all.

It was expensive too, with how difficult it is to cut the woods as it has an Egav of its own.

The Blackwood has an Egav that hardened the branches, so it was difficult for people to cut away even chips of branches.

Solum didn’t have any Egav, and he had been trying ways to get a branch out of it.

He had been surprised to find a Blackwood in the forest when one day Solum visited Iri.

He had decided to make a wooden pendant out of Blackwood for Mico...

He had spent many days trying to take some branch from it. He couldn’t cut it no matter what he did, leaving Solum with frustration and disappointment.

When he had rested his head against the Blackwood a few weeks before, frustrated at his own helplessness, cursing for being a lowlife and a person who cannot use Egav since he cannot gift anything to his friend Mico, suddenly a small branch fell over the ground near him.

Solum had been very surprised by it and had thanked the tree, promising it that he would never mistreat it.

He had begun carving the wood very carefully, as there was only a small branch. It was easy to carve despite the Blackwood being famous for its strength.

Solum did know how to carve since it was what his mother does for a living, just like his siblings. The lowlifes had jobs like this when there was a need for mass furniture to be made and carvings to be done.

Egavians cannot bother themselves with such simple tasks.

Solum loved the soothing effect it had on him whenever he carved something, watching a piece of wood being transformed into something amazing.

Solum, at first, had been wondering what to carve the Blackwood branch into.

Then he decided on a dragon!

Dragons were mythical creatures that had long gone extinct, and Mico loved sharing the tales of dragons with Solum and Iri.

Iri was as fascinated with dragons as Mico was, and Solum only rolled his eyes whenever Mico shared the latest story of dragons he read. Unlike them, Mico goes to school and learns a lot.

He had done carvings on normal wood at first; not wanting to make mistakes as he only has one small branch of Blackwood.

It was amazing to see when his work was finished on the Blackwood branch.

A black dragon that Solum tried very hard to carve like the one he had seen in the book Mico had brought for Iri to learn about.

After it was finished, the final piece was amazing.

It was a wooden pendant in shape of a black dragon that had a pearl in its mouth.

Solum had been afraid to present it to Mico, though.

Was it worth it?

Yes, Solum did work hard on it for many weeks.

But, in the end, it was just a simple wooden pendant.

He was worried about giving it to Mico, who was now looking at him with laughter-filled eyes, his face so very open.

Solum had taken a bag and left the Garbage, saying he was going to gather herbs in the forest for a week, three days ago, and spent those three days with Iri.

Today was the day Mico was born, and it couldn’t be anymore happier. Mico had sent a letter to Iri yesterday, informing him that he would come by the evening as he cannot send message birds to Solum, since the Garbage people would get suspicious of who Solum was getting message birds from.

Solum had cooked meat before the sunset. Iri and Solum had gathered Mico’s favorite berries, fruits and what all Solum had managed to get from the forests.

Mico had been ecstatic seeing all his favorite food.

Mico had hugged them both, saying how happy he was and that this was the happiest birthday for him.

Solum got to know how Mico always gets lonely since he stays alone with servants who only visit occasionally.

Solum wanted to make this day special.

After finishing everything on the plate, Iri had gone to pick some fruits nearby when his hunger wasn’t sated, leaving Mico and Solum alone.

Usually, Solum was the one who went with or accompanied Iri, but now Iri was growing up and got offended if Solum offered to accompany him, saying he was a grown boy.

“What is it, Sol?”

Mico looked at him, and Solum shifted, the pendant in his pocket weighing on him.

Mico always knew what Solum was going through.

“Come on, say it, Sol.”

Solum gathered his courage and pulled the locket in his hand, and kept it hidden from Mico’s eyes by closing his fingers around it.

“I’ve got you something, Mico. It doesn’t mean….”

“Stop it, Sol. You know, I appreciate whatever you bring me.”

“I….”

“Now, give it to me, Sol.”

Mico demanded with his hands extended towards him.

Solum dropped the pendant in Mico’s hands.

“Happy Birthday, Mico. I know it doesn’t mean much, but it was all I could do on my own. I… The wood is black wood….”

He was cut off when Mico barraged into him, making Solum fall on the grass field, startling him.

“This is the best gift, Sol.”

Solum was relieved that his friend liked it.

“Happy Birthday, Mico.”

“I will treasure this forever, Sol.”

They stayed like that for a few minutes, and Iri came back, pouting for being left out. Iri soon joined them in the ground, and they rolled around on the grass field, mock wrestling each other and laughter filled the surroundings as happiness filled their hearts.

~~~~

Vabaaga country

Varog City:

Astra put the nightgown on, which had been discarded earlier on the floor by her husband.

She sneered at her husband’s sleeping form in the bed and moved away from the bed, disgusted beyond words at how he became over the years.

Hagen Raaga was easy to please, though.

It was even easier to fool Hagen Raaga nowadays.

The man she once loved with all her heart.

Oh, how she wanted to smack some sense in her past self for choosing this man over the many suitors she had.

It wasn’t just love that had made her to choose him, though.

It was power, the dream of being a Queen to a vast nation like Vabaaga.

He had been the Crown Prince of Vabaaga when he courted her, which was what made her to choose him.

She was the firstborn child of Dayton Ura, the brother of Zengan Ura, who was now looking over Zeta in place of Nolen Ura as his grandfather.

It was her father, who had been the King before Zengan Ura.

She was the Crown Princess of Zeta, yet she didn’t inherit the throne even though she and her twin were the only children of Dayton Ura.

Her mother passed away due to complications during the pregnancy.

Her mother had lived three years in bed after giving birth to Astra and her twin before passing away.

Her father didn’t marry, as the Ura’s loved only once, or that was what most of the people in Zeta said.

She had grown used to the power and authority when she had been a Crown Princess, treated equally to a Crown Prince. Yet, when the time came, her father had asked her to choose one among the suitors.

She had known that she could not rule Zeta. Still, she had been disappointed beyond words that society only let men rule.

Why?

What was wrong with women ruling a country?

She had the brains, if not more than many men. Then, why couldn’t she rule her Zeta and take a male consort?

Her father didn’t hear a word about it and had given her a year to choose her husband.

And when Hagen Raaga, the Crown Prince of Vabaaga at that time, sent her a courting letter, she had been over the moons.

Granted, it was an official one where Hagen Raaga’s father who sent it, wanting to keep the peace between Zeta and Vabaaga.

She got to know about him during their dates.

She had liked the attention he paid to her and loved how he didn’t stop her from saying things about equality.

He gave her the space she wanted.

What if she couldn’t rule Zeta? She wanted to rule Vabaaga.

That thought was what made her to agree to this arranged marriage.

When her father was on the death bed, Hagen Raaga visited her father and had asked Astra’s fiancé to marry both of his daughters, as her father didn’t want to separate them.

Astra had wanted to strangle her father for making such a request at that time.

And her dreams were shattered when Hagen agreed with such a stupid request when her father blabbered during his last days, mind taken over by the disease he had been suffering with.

What happened to the saying of Ura’s only loved once?

Yes, Astra and her twin Kelly had never been apart for a longer time ever in their life. Astra had always pampered Kelly. They were all they had for each other since they didn’t have a mother to look after them. They had shared most of the things. But that doesn’t mean Astra wanted to share her future husband with her.

How embarrassing it was for her to marry the same man as her twin.

To top it all, Kelly had agreed with that condition. Astra had been livid, knowing that.

And when she confronted Kelly with that, Kelly had broken down into tears, saying how she didn’t want to get separated from her, even if it was for marriage. They had both been in the same womb at the same time, and she had never been separated from Astra, so she had wanted to be together with her.

Kelly had told her that day, before marriage, about how Hagen Raaga wasn’t a good man, and she wanted to be with Astra. Kelly promised Astra would be the Queen and Astra’s child, the Crown Prince. Kelly vowed that she would never come in between her husband and Astra.

Astra had been doubtful about it but agreed, knowing there was no other way. She had wanted to be a Queen. Kelly had waited for Astra to marry Hagen Raaga, and then, after a month only, she married Astra’s husband.

It was weird, stupid and embarrassing to let her twin marry her husband.

But four months into their marriage, Astra learned how right it was to let Kelly marry Hagen Raaga since their husband had married another wife after a year and some months into their marriage.

Astra had been horrified when Hagen Raaga already had concubines before marriage and had quite a number of women living in the palace. Imagine her horror to find that after marriage.

Kelly was her biggest ally and the only one with whom she trusted everything. Without Kelly, it would be hard to be with Hagen Raaga and survive the palace he created for his wives, mistresses, and concubines, calling it Harem Palace.

She had let everyone live as none of them held her husband’s attention for more than a week.

He got bored of them after a week and sent them away and kept the few who were beautiful.

She was disgusted with his behavior, but she let him in his way, not restricting him, knowing it would end up only in a fight. Likewise, he didn’t interfere in her growing authority or in her duties as the Queen of Vabaaga.

She grew powerful over the months, becoming pregnant within a year. When she had gone over to Kelly to share the happy news with her, she found surprised to see how Kelly was also pregnant.

She had been worried about not giving birth to the firstborn. Astra only felt relieved when she gave birth first, and two weeks after, Kelly gave birth to her son.

Astra then only learned the extent her twin loved her after finding out about how Kelly had used Egav and medicinal herbs to delay her delivery, risking her life so that Astra would deliver the firstborn and keep her position as the Queen along with birthing a Crown Prince.

Astra had let all her doubts go and embraced her sister, knowing how much Kelly loved her.

Their sister's bond was unbreakable, even when they grew up. They didn’t fight much, unlike other siblings.

Did his father predict she will suffer in this marriage and ask Kelly to marry Astra’s husband? Or was everything a coincidence?

If it was not for Kelly, Astra couldn’t manage her duties as a Queen and maintain the Harem Palace.

Kelly was responsible for the Harem Palace, since she could not trust anyone other than her twin.

Everything would have been perfect even if her husband was a womanizer until she came into their life.

Gracie Raaga….

The one that threatened everything Astra had.

Gracie Raaga, whom none knew about, nor her origin.

No one knew where she came from, who her parents were, or why the King married a nobody all of a sudden. Her husband was the only Raaga to marry many women.

She had been surprised that he risked the alliance with Zeta to marry a nobody.

A year and a few months, she lived in the castle.

She was ethereal and the subject of everyone’s envy in the harem palace. It was not because she was more beautiful than all of them.

It was because of the newly crowned King, Hagen Raaga.

Hagen Raaga didn’t go to anyone’s bed nor interact with any of the females in his Harem Palace.

Gracie Raaga had put Hagen Raaga in her hands.

None knew how she managed to keep the womanizer in her bed for so long.

Astra had been cruel beyond words to Gracie, but she smiled and bore everything. She never complained nor went to the King. Seeing Astra’s behavior towards Gracie Raaga, other people in the harem had started to treat her cruelly too, from pushing her to stealing her things.

But the King one day knew how the women in the palace were treating Gracie Raaga when he visited the Harem Palace and saw how Gracie was sleeping on the floor in her room since her bed was broken by people.

Astra could never forget that day.

Hagen Raaga had lifted Gracie off the floor, and he carried her off to his own King’s Quarters, taking her away from the harem Palace, as it was the last time Gracie was in the Harem Palace because the King had kept Gracie in his room, and had stopped coming to the Harem Palace at all.

Astra had been petrified the way Hagen Raaga cared for Gracie Raaga.

Her husband had never loved anyone, and the one person he loved in his life was Gracie Raaga.

Astra had been burning with envy as her husband never cared for Astra as he did for Gracie; the way he carried her off when her feet hurt or the way he bought flowers every day for her made Astra mad with jealousy.

Astra had tried to abort Gracie’s baby when she got pregnant as it was a threat to her son, Lehan. But, nothing worked.

Astra was pregnant with his second child when Hagen Raaga brought Gracie Raaga to their Harem Palace. The way he cared for Gracie when she was pregnant and the way he ignored Astra even though she was pregnant too made her weep silently in her room while Kelly consoled her.

Astra never will forgive Gracie for taking her husband away, even though Gracie didn’t care anything about the position of Queen, which only made Astra to hate her more.

And one day, all of a sudden, Gracie committed suicide after giving birth to her son.

Why?

Gracie had everything. Yet, she committed suicide.

No one knew the reason behind it.

The King didn’t even wait for a month before marrying another woman, taking her as a fourth wife, going back to his womanizing ways.

Gracie Raaga had always been a mystery, even in death.

But she was in the past….

But now, even more of a threat was living in the castle, Gracie Raaga’s son, the one the King favored.

Ziyou Raaga.

He was a threat to her son’s position as Crown Prince.

Astra didn’t know much about Raagas and their tradition, so it was no wonder she had been ignorant about how the eldest doesn’t get the Crown Prince title automatically and how the Prince who has the highest World Synch will be crowned as the Crown Prince of Vabaaga.

Her firstborn, Lehan, was the one who deserved the title of future King of Vabaaga. Astra didn’t tolerate everything to let her son be in the background. The only purpose in her life was to make her son the King. She loved Lehan so much that she was ready to kill anyone on her son’s path.

And Ziyou Raaga was in the way.

She had tried to assassinate him many times, but he had escaped every time, making Astra to stop and think. If she cannot kill him easily, then the only way to take him out of Lehan’s path is to ruin his reputation in Hagen’s eyes.

That was what she had been doing for over a week, trying to fill the King’s ears with Ziyou’s growing popularity and how Ziyou would one day take over the country from him by making the people rebel against him.

Hagen Raaga wouldn’t have believed that if it wasn’t for the incident.

The day Hagen Raaga put the crown on Ziyou’s head, and the way the crowd chanted Ziyou’s name in reverence had shaken her husband, and she was taking advantage of that.

Hagen Raaga only came back to her room, no matter whom he spent the week with.

Not because he loved Astra or something, but she has the one thing Hagen Raaga longs for.

Peace and sleep.

Astra had realized what her husband wanted long ago.

She had gone to Rose Ura, the wife of her cousin and had asked for a remedy to sleep peacefully. Rose Ura had given her a herb, asking her to use it in tea and warned her not to consume it too much.

Astra didn’t want to make her husband consume it and become ill or something. So, she had gone over to a perfume maker, asking him to make a perfume with it and the side effects of it.

So, Astra always uses the secure version of perfume on her hands and waist, where he kisses her whenever he visits her to put him into sleep, manipulating the King to believe he can only find peace and sleep peacefully in the presence of Astra.

She moved to the restroom and took a bath, scrubbing her body of the perfume and Hagen Raaga’s touches.

She rinsed her mouth and put on a simple gown suitable for sleep before getting out of the room. She ignored the guards, and moved towards the adjacent room to hers.

Kelly was awake when Astra entered her room without knocking. Kelly moved and made some space for her to lie down.

“Did he go, Astra?”

The only one allowed calling her by name, and Kelly only called her when they were private, not that she minded.

“No, Kelly. The pig is sleeping in the room.”

Kelly giggled at her snide remark on the King. Astra didn’t have to worry about being heard since Astra and Kelly’s room was protected with multiple layers of Egav shields as the King visits their rooms often.

“Come now, sleep, sister.”

“Yes, Kelly. Our plan has just now begun. There is so much to do, and now is the only time we can rest.”

Kelly nodded, pulling the blanket over them after Astra laid down on the bed beside Kelly.

Astra had grown used to Kelly’s presence even in the womb that it felt strange to not be around Kelly.

She slept peacefully, all the while plotting how to pull an eleven-year-old boy into the mud and make her son the future Crown Prince of Vabaaga.