Chapter 8: Moon god II
1673 Words
Chapter 8: Moon god II
Third Person’s POV
The drowning darkness of the royal Flame hall suddenly broke with the appearance of the floating white lights that is slowly entangling and merging into an image of a big white wolf. The stupefied guests dared not even breathe as the white wolf raised its proud head with utmost novelty, seemingly looking down on the mortals present gawking at its immortal beauty.
A howl filled with cold magnetism and sovereignty rumbled from its throat up into the sky creating a ripple in the light of the full blooming moon. The deep and sonorous howl thundered inside the hearts of every single person present, it seems to sprout a deep sense of dread and majesty that they failed to comprehend with their confused state of minds.
“This lowly one welcomes the moon god’s descent.”
Royal Advisor Agiel knelt in on his knees as he bows down until his forehead touches the cold floor while also respectfully giving way to the central platform where twelve stone tables stood.
“This Queen welcomes the moon god’s descent, may your light bless Regin for years to come.”
Nem placed her clenched right fist in front of her heart while her left hand gracefully clasped the side of her silver gown to kneel on her knees to give a formal curtsy only given to the ancient gods recorded since time immemorial.
The guest does not know why the royal advisor and the Queen of the kingdom have to kneel, but they also followed orderly without a sound. It must be the tradition recorded by the ancestors and even their Queen is kneeling so they don’t have the courage to stay standing lest they be charged with disrespect to the crown or even treason.
They do not even doubt the sudden descent of a floating wolf shrouded in white light because there are a couple of genius craftsman, inventors and artisans that have shown up in the kingdom of Regin, and they have seen different kinds of illusions made by fireworks and lights that has the same appearance as the one before them.
The idea of magic is just a joke that they spout once in a while but they do not dare to believe in such eerie and unspeakable things.
The big white wolf slowly strutted in the air of the royal Flame hall while surveying the twelve stone tables prepared that is the reason for its calling.
The tradition of the Eastern Regin Kingdom was passed down by the founding King, though every single royal advisor and ruler that have experienced it believed it to be just the mechanism created by the founder through the Flame hall as the medium.
No one believes in the mysterious word called magic, especially the unknown, maybe except for those who have experienced first-hand this so-called unknown magic by themselves.
Nem Asteria, the ninth Ruler and Queen of the Regin Kingdom are one of those who have experienced the novelty of magic. It can be inferred that it all comes down to those who have fate with it.
The big white wolf suddenly stopped in mid-air above the center of the twelve stone tables. It raised its silvery head in the sky and another howl burst out from its throat as lustrous twelve light pillars appeared in the dark hall that coincidentally lights up the twelve stone tables. The twelve light pillars moved with another howl from the white wolf and began to focus only on one position, the stone table that holds the exquisite bow and arrow.
The moon god has chosen, and its favorite sport of archery has shown itself again since founding King Regin’s crowning ritual.
A vigorous howl sounded as the phoenix bell that is silently situated on Nem’s waist tassels gave out a clear tinkle sound.
The moon god’s wolf figure made of white lights dispersed slowly as the echoes of the bell accompanies its joyful departure.
Nem bowed her head again in reverence and deftly stoop up as her back straightens without any trace of humiliation from kneeling even after being crowned as Queen Ruler. Kneeling to the gods is not in the least bit shameful.
“The moon god has decided and the competition is archery.”
Royal Advisor Agiel announced while standing up from his kneeling posture, as all the other guests followed his actions. They felt that the banquet is full of surprises since it started and are enthusiastic for more interesting shows.
“It seems that there will be a show of archery skills.”
“How will they announce the participants of the competition, especially a sudden one at that?”
“Maybe the members of the younger generation of the royal family will be the ones to participate?”
A couple of young nobleman near the middle of the hall whispered their conjectures. Zen, the son of the eastern general Kiros and a royal captain of the army lazily leaned on a stone pillar while indifferently listening to the noisy chatter of the nobles near him. He could not understand how the minds of these people works, why can’t they just wait for the instructions of the royal advisor instead of making different conclusions by themselves?
“Who do you think will participate on this archery competition?”
Zen grumbled in his heart that there is also someone near him whose mind doesn’t work.
He glanced at Maril and her fiancée, wondering why the three of them are always together though they clearly hate each other very much. Maybe the saying opposite attracts really works even in different situations.
Maril raised her right eyebrow at the unresponsive Zen. The guy does not even bother to give them his opinion. She already knows Zen’s stinky personality that is stinker than hers, but she could not help being dissatisfied at his stupid blank face.
She was about to open her mouth and rain abuse at Zen when the royal advisor steps into the central platform along with the new Queen.
“The rules of the tournament are as follows, there will be three participants along with her majesty, the Queen and there are three levels of difficulty. Level one will be a stationary target with a hundred meters of distance, the level two difficulty will be a moving target at a hundred meters far and the last difficulty is a flying moving target at the height of sixty meters while a hundred meters far.”
The following content of the archery competition that flowed out of Agiel’s mouth drove the crowd in excitement and zeal. It is always a stimulating thing for young teenagers to join or watch an event such as this.
“The other three participants will be decided by a drawing system, and everyone does not need to worry about the fairness as I will let our majesty the Queen to draw it herself.”
Royal Advisor Agiel gestured to the royal knights near the western entrance and they immediately carried a medium-sized wooden box into the platform and placed it on the stone table where the bow and arrow are placed.
“All of the young gentleman and young lady that are present tonight have their names inside this wooden box, and it also includes the young ambassadors that took their precious time to celebrate with us.”
A loud round of applause sounded with the suppressed animated feelings of those of the young generation.
Nem gently raised her left hand to silence the crowd before skillfully untying the silver ribbon on the wooden box and opening it without suspense. She did not even glance at the box before her slender fingers pinched three pieces of folded paper and giving it to Agiel.
The crowd watched with bated breaths as Agiel unfolded the papers and called out three names.
“Princess Seles of Regin, Ambassador Cairo of Southern Ley and Royal Captain Zen of Regin, please step forward and choose your own bow and arrow”
Nine palace servants appeared silently in front of the platform holding nine different bows and arrows with different lengths, width and even the materials of each one are different in quality.
Cairo, Zen and Seles who is currently deep in thought stepped forward in front of the platform while looking at the array of different bows presented before them.
Nem smiled at the three while nodding her head as a greeting to her opponents and carefully picked up the bow and arrows on the stone table next to her. She decided to just use the one picked by the moon god and maybe luck will smile upon her.
The other three also chose their own bow with the corresponding arrows. Seles chose a slender and lightweight one, Zen chose one with the length of a grown man’s opened arms, and Cairo just chose the one that is near him to avoid wasting time.
She is definitely confident in her archery skills, especially with all the years she spent on hunting on the wild forest behind the royal palace, but she doesn’t have the luxury to look down on her opponents since one of them is her older sister, a captain of the royal army and an ambassador of a kingdom that is ruled by fighting.
The palace servants and royal knights quickly prepared the five hundred meters wide open yard next to the Flame hall. It is wide enough for the hundreds of guests and the archery venue. Four circle stationary targets are placed a hundred and so meters away from the place of the four participants. All of them filed out in the open yard and eight giant lanterns placed in the four corners burned brilliantly that even the dark night felt like the bright day.
“Let us begin the competition!”
- Writer
