A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 2

Prince Ragnar had a soft spot for his third uncle, Robi and his family. Avira, being the same age as Ragnar was more like his best friend from childhood. Nodin and Oren were more of his younger brothers than just cousins.  

After his wife's death, the Emperor refused to marry again and brought Ragnar up all alone. Uncle Robi's wife, Tamara was a kind woman who looked after the young prince as her own. In fact, she cared for Ragnar more than her own sons. Ragnar would always do the impossible for the ones he loved.  

He was so fast in his actions that the next moment they knew, he was standing dangerously close to the men before beheading them at once.  The one standing behind prince Nodin started to tremble in horror.  The young prince was a sight to behold but not when he had those murderous obsidian eyes upon you.  

The soldier's hands began to shiver causing the pointed dagger to fall on the muddy ground with a thud. He started walking backwards as the prince strode towards him with his deathly glares. Ragnar captured him by his neck and lifted him a good few feet off the ground. The soldier gasped for air and clutched at Ragnar’s wrists in an attempt to release himself from his iron clasp. For a split second, the soldier's eyeballs moved from the prince’s face towards something behind his head. Before Ragnar could turn around, he felt an excruciating pain on his right abdomen. He grunted, tightening his hold around the soldier's neck before slowly turning around. His balance wavered slightly upon seeing the one who had stabbed him.  

"Wh-why?" He groaned in pain. It wasn't any small weapon that was sticking on the prince's side. It was an ancient trident spear which had punched three large coin sized holes in line. Anyone else in place of Ragnar, would have collapsed right that moment but he could still balance his magnificent body proudly, as if it was just an ant bite.  

Ragnar thought he saw a small amount of regret in Nodin's eyes but he was proved wrong when he stabbed Ragnar on his neck with the dagger which was meant to be pierced into his body. Ragnar fell on to his knees. He could have easily taken Nodin along with him but he wouldn't do it under any circumstances, even if it would save his own life.  

He didn't know about Nodin, but Ragnar considered him as his brother.  

Suddenly, he heard Aldeb's booming laughter from somewhere around. His vision was becoming blurry and his breaths were becoming shallow, indicating that his soul was hanging by a thread in his body.  

He realized that Nodin was somehow manipulated by his evil uncle and his sons. He knew that Nodin’s life would be at risk after Ragnar’s death. "No-Nodin. R-run away.. they will kill..you after they are done with.. m-me.." He warned him while gesturing with his hand weakly, asking him to run.

Nodin stood there like a fool with unwavering self-confidence and stared at Ragnar for a long while until he was hit at the back of his head with Aldeb’s sword, making a deep cut.  

Ragnar tried to warn him but it was too late. He watched as Nodin fell with his face down before his blood and soul drained out of his body. 

Ragnar glared at Aldeb who was walking around him with amusement.  

"Nodin was such an i***t to fall for our fake promises. He thought we would give him a part of this kingdom to rule, if he helped us kill you. Tsk tsk tsk.. How naive?"  He walked around Ragnar with long and proud strides. He looked too happy thinking that he had finally defeated the invincible Ragnar.  He assumed Ragnar was now at his mercy and that he was going to make him beg for his life before finishing him for once and for all.  

Ragnar used his sword and tried to stand, balancing his body with it. Pearls of sweat wear trickling down his chest. He was too exhausted from the war that he wanted to rest but at the same time he did not want to give up on his life so easily. He had no idea about the Emperor since he was at another part of the battlefield.  

"Thinking about your old father?" Aldeb asked, leaning down to level with Ragnar's eyes. "Let me be the one to give you the bad news. My father killed that old piece of s**t. He beheaded him to be precise." His menacing laughter filled the thick air around them.

Ragnar fumed with anger at Aldeb's words, that he would have gouged his eyes out of the socket if not for the few meters’ distance between them.  

With a loud cry and enormous force, he pulled out the long trident from his abdomen. He closed the distance between them by forcefully penetrating it into Aldeb's chest and pushed it further until he coughed out blood.  

Within seconds Aldeb started choking upon his own blood and fell dead on the ground.  

"Arghhh..." Ragnar grunted loudly, pressing his palm against the wounded part of his body and fell beside his cousin. He coughed blood a few times and lay thinking.  

He hated this life, right from childhood.  

He hated being born in the Imperial family.  

He hated all the attention that he got as a prince.  

He hated the rigorous training that he had to undergo to become the desired prince that he was. 

He hated the jealously and rivalry that prevailed among the royal family members.  

He hated the fact that he had to kill his own blood at the end.  

Finally, he hated those wars which were never ending. 

 He wished he had a normal life, like that of the peasant, who came every month to the court to offer his chickens to the king. He envied the man for having a peaceful and long life. He wanted to live and grow old like him. He would have lived a simple and a happy life that way, he thought. Why did he have to be born as a prince?  

"Ragnar.. Ragnar." He was interrupted when he thought he heard someone call his name though, he had no energy left in him to respond.  

As the source of the sound moved closer to him, he recognized it was no other than his favorite cousin, Avira.  

She gasped loudly looking at his bloodied body and ran to sit next to him.   She looked around and found her brother and Aldeb lying in their own pools of blood, not that she felt bad for them.  

Even with all the pain, he tried to smile at her, comfortingly. She lifted his upper body slowly from the ground, placing his head gently on her lap. "Ragnar.." She sobbed, rocking his head between the crooks of her arms. All she could hear was his painful grunts. She knew it was too late to save him and she wanted nothing other than to comfort him in his last moments.  

"You don't deserve this cruel fate. Life was so unfair to you. People around you were unfair to you but I cannot let this happen. I promise you.. that I will change everything for you. I will change this fate of yours." She kept rocking him until she felt his body go limp and heard no more of his grunts.  

She looked around for a wooden barrel, in which the soldiers used to carry water to the battles and when she found one lying nearby, she crawled to grab it. She crawled back on her knees towards Ragnar's dead body. She pulled out her jeweled knife, which she always used to tuck under her dress for her safety. She grazed it gently on his wrist, causing the blood to ooze out of the broken skin. She placed his wrist just above the wooden barrel's narrow opening to fill it with his blood.  

Her guards helped her carry Ragnar's body from the battlefield before anybody could notice them and buried his body secretly under the caves. She stood there holding the small barrel while watching her guards cover him with the fertile soils of Vonentis.  

Later that night, when the war was declared to be over, she stood beside the large fire pit in her chamber with her uncle Jaheba, who was also a royal swordsmith.  

"I need his blood." He said stretching his hand out.  

"Here" She handed over the small barrel to him and watched him pour it into the fire pit. They joined their hands and continued to chant their spells which echoed in the huge room.  

As they stopped, the fire suddenly went out and she looked down, smiling at the weapon which had a deep blood red blade and a bony white handle to it.  

‘’Born on a blood moon night with the star sign of Virgo, she will be a descendent of your bloodline and the one to be able to turn back time.’’ Closing his eyes, he predicted the future, one of his many abilities.

He guided her hand towards the sword’s sharp edge.  

"As you slit your finger against this sword which is made of his remains, you will be able to travel into the future in search of this girl but once she turns back time, you will not remember any of this. Her royal bloodline and her compatible star sign with that to the prince will save his life." saying that he pressed her finger on the blade. 

A few millennium later

“Is she the one?” Jaheba asked Avira, standing outside a neonatal care unit. They were facing a newborn baby girl with her head full of reddish brown hair and ocean like blue eyes.

“Yes, Isn’t she beautiful?” she asked and he nodded his head, absentmindedly before walking out of the hospital.