CURSED: The Last of Five Kingdoms.

Epsodode39-Lake of Fear(B)

They knew that if they wanted to get there alive, they had to do everything that is asked of them. Mael keeps his cool, takes a deep breath and slowly begins to walk deeper into the three. They had been expecting something scary or magical like the ones back in school, or at least a fortified, ageing castle. But to their surprise, they met crystal-covered walls and ceilings as they entered completely into the tree. The Guardians occupied the entire space, it looks rather calm and welcoming than the scary-looking place they thought they will be walking in. Ceilings are low, the wooden floors creaked, and the cramped room glittered because of the crystal around it.

As they strolled in, the enormous birds turned into humans. Two beautiful women with silver long hair, glowing skin that could blind your eyes and green eyes. Their look tells that they are not humans but supernatural beings.

Seeing them, the three started sweating crazy. The tension that once tried to settle within them went crazy once more. Those beings are intimidating and could make you tell the truth merely by looking into their eyes. But their discomfort is worth it: as they’d strode through the space further and further, the crystals had turned to them. The crystals are showing something different from their normal reflection. It is showing something deeper. It is something like a whisper of darkness. A little intimidation might do great harm. But the black cape, the exquisite clothing, and the mask transformed her into a whisper of darkness. A little intimidation never did any harm. They walk to a wooden desk.

"You know that only the pure may leave here. One must become a sacrifice. Pick a flaming pot," they instructed.

"Isn't that pot hot? How are we expected to touch it?" Melody whispers to Harry?

Mael without complaint picks up one of the flaming pots, followed by Melody and then Harry.

“What are you doing?” Mael whispers.

"Trying not to die," Harry answers, using a piece of his fabric to put under the pot.

Melody seeming unsatisfied drops the old one and lifts another flaming pot. “I hope I've not chosen my doom. If this is for our good, then I don’t see why I can’t have a look.”

“A little faith. Everything will be fine,” Mael hisses.

The new flaming pot she picked up, she begins examining the nature of the pot. Everything that is in it. Markings the continent. It looks blurry inside and she couldn't make out what is inside. She has this bothered look on her. She is trying to tell them something with her gesture but can't get their attention as they are charmed.

Harry. Mael,” she whispers, accidentally letting go of the pot, leading it to shatter. “What have I do?." She mumbles. Putting up a straight face as if nothing had happened, she knows that, at that moment her faith is in the hands of that pot. "Can I take another one?.”

The Guardians who has her back turned to them, hears the crashing sound and faces her. Without uttering a word, they ignore her and lead Mael and Harry who doesn't seem like themselves into a smaller space with a lot of roots and even more crystals. “You may not enter!” They wailed.

“No,” Melody snaps, half-twisting where she stood, trying to get closer to the door. She c***s her head, twirled the nearest root once more in one of the crystals and set it down. " I can't let my friends go in anyone."

"You may not enter." They wailed, their voice louder than it was before. The entrance together with the Guardians, Mael and Harry disappears out of sight.

Melody almost bumps into the now invincible entrance. Checking around, she couldn't see any hope of what to do. She sighs and sits on the floor.

It looks like the outside has nothing compared to the darkness in here. The roots were alive and ready to eat up anyone troubling their peace. There is something so beautiful that looks out of place in there. There is a larger crystal that stands out, facing them. It has this purity and aura of goodness. It is a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with a flamboyant diamond frame, standing on two pillars. There is an inscription carved around the top: It will show what is hidden. Only the truth shall be revealed.

"Step forward," the direct them forward.

Not saying anything, they move nearer to the mirror. Mael first steps in front of the mirror, feeling drawn to it but sees nothing yet. The flaming pot is still burning in his hand but as soon as one of the diamond pictures catch a glimpse of the pot, it absorbs it. Making the pot disappear. Seconds later, Mael felt himself once more. He is out of the trance and his eyes have cleared completely.

He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from screaming. He swivels around. His heart pounding more rapidly than someone that had just finished a race. Instead of showing a reflection of him, the mirror is showing something else. A whole crowd of people kneeling with their heads bowed, right behind him. But the room is empty. Breathing very fast, he turns slowly back to the mirror. There it is again the crowd but now it is showing something different. He is on a throne made entirely of gold with a golden crown on his head and someone by his side, a Queen. The Queen is faceless but she is there. Mael goes pale at what he has just seen. Once more, he looks over his shoulder to see if something is going on without his knowledge, but still, no one is there other than Harry and the Guardians. Or, were they all invisible, too? Is this an invisible room or did it reveal what is hidden? Was this his future or a prank being played on him?

Mael can not understand what is going on. He had no intention of becoming a king of any kingdom. That has never crossed his mind even once. Was this another burden that he had to deal with? He isn't ready for something like that.

"What does this I am seeing mean? I am no King." Mael says.

The Guardians circle Mael round and round, "what you see sometimes is not everything!" They hiss, still circling him. "You can change your destiny. And the path you take can change it. What you see, is, what might be."

"Why is this been shown to me?" Mael ask, surprised.

"Omiri, there's more to the little you've seen. This is not all. Just a part of it."

As they finish saying that He looks in the mirror again. A woman with purple regalia and a crown standing right behind his reflection is smiling at him and waving. He reaches out a hand and feels the air behind him. His hand is going deeper and deeper. If she is there, he’d touch her, their reflections are so close together, but he only feels air and emptiness— she and the others existed only in the mirror. Mael looks at his reflection and the woman alongside her, he sees the striking resemblance.

"Mom?" He calls out with teary ears. For the first time, he is seeing what his mother looks like.

Mael couldn't control his tears, it grows into loud sobs and then he notices the woman crying too. He moves closer and closer to the mirror as if that will get him any closer to the woman. The woman's cry turns into a happy smile. His eyes catch the reflection of the man that has appeared beside the both of them. He even looks more like Mael. Every bit of him reflected on Mael. He has his arms placed on Mael's shoulder, so does the woman.

Without even noticing, he is inches away from the mirror.

Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection. "Are these my parents?" He asks in-between tears.

"You see what you want to see." They hiss in unison.

“Mum?” he whispers. “Dad?”

They just look at him, smiling. And slowly, Mael looks into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and see other pairs of eyes like his, his entire feature. They look at him with love and care, smiling and crying in-between — Mael is looking at his family for the first time. His parents were looking like they wanted to hug him but the mirror is restricting. Mael on the other hand looks like he wants to eat them at any moment. The joy and love he felt seeing them, he has never felt that way since he was born. Each time he tries to touch them, his hands disappear to a different place. The mirror is some portal. His hands press flat against the sides of the mirror. He has a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness and fear. Staring into the mirror, the images start fading gradually.

"No. No. No. Where are they going? Not yet. I want to spend more time with them." He hugs tightly to the mirror. Turning to continue with his family, he meets a different reflection. A woman dressed in a red long gown, looking fierce and angry, with another woman dressed in all black, looking mischievous, is standing with a lot of dead bodies littered around them. Mael is equally standing there with them. His hand gripping tightly to the tilt of a shiny sword, looking ready to engage. He is facing the women and they look like they were about to devour him.

Cleaning his eyes, "what does this mean?"

"Your path is rocky. It might get unbearable. To save all, you must sacrifice a lot." Saying that with a wail, there is a whoosh of loud wind, driving him with force into the mirror.

How long he stood there, he didn’t know he is sent through the portal.

"Step forward," the order Harry, and just like what had happened to Mael, the same thing occurred. His flaming pot gets accepted. But, instead of revealing his future, it shows him trapped in-between the carnivorous looking roots. Immediately, the roots grab him and push him deeper into one of the big roots and the rest entangles him.

"What is happening? What are you doing?"

"Your heart is not pure. Your part is not pure. You must be sacrificed. You are the death that must occur!" They wail and transform into hideous beasts. Seconds of wrapping around him, Harry is nowhere to be seen.

Melody on the other side is denied passage. She is still sitting on the floor, tired and almost crying. She couldn’t stay here feeling sorry for herself she had to find her way out of there. She begins to check everywhere for a way out. "What have I done? I need to be out of here! My friends need me." Bringing down her voice, almost in tears, "I am sorry. I just need to help my friends," she whispers.

"Your intentions are pure but your courage has failed you," an echoing voice speaks.

"If that is the only sin I've committed, punish me but help my friends," pleading, she screams and the crystals shatters. Then she breaks down into full hiccups. Uncontrollable hiccups.

From behind her, “you may enter,” says the Guardians, sharply.

Startled, "really. Oh, I mean, thank you so much. I won't be a problem. You won't even notice that I am anywhere near you. I'll behave" she blabs but get no response.

As she steps in, she is equally astonished at how beautiful the place is. Just like others, she's instructed to take up a flaming pot and step into the smaller space with more living roots.

"A beautiful mirror," she says as soon as her pot is accepted and the enchantment out of her eyes. Instead of her reflection, she sees herself on a golden throne with Ice surrounding her. Lots of ice. Just as Mael had reacted, she looks over her shoulders numerous times but sees nothing. Then she sees herself drowning in a river of blood. Before she could say anything, the Guardians has sent her through the portals.

Back at the entrance of the crystal filled room, Lucas and the rest has been patiently waiting for the enormous birds to grant them access, hoping that Mael, Melody and Harry successfully crossed. One after the other, they start performing the ritual, some got rejected and others were granted passage through the portal. Duke and Grenada got over successfully. Lucas however, didn't. He joined Harry, whose loud voice got Lucas's voice from inception.

"Dad! Dad! Dad!" He keeps screaming endlessly. "Please, save me, dad!"

"Let my son go, please." Lucas pleads.

"It's the purity of the heart that gets you through the portal," the Guardians said.

Lucid with a second thought pulls out the knife that he has tucked into his ankle and begins slashing the roots. With each cut, theirs a scream with the voice of a man who has been injured.

"You dare disrupt the Lake of Fear? More of you shall return. GREEDY HUMANS! GREEDY HUMANS!" they wail loudly. Flapping their wings loud and trying to thrust their beaks on Lucas. He is fast to avoid the attack, still cutting his through to get to Harry. Harry's voice has become faint and distant, Lucas increases the pace of the roots his cutting. He needs to save his son.

Lucas is fighting his way through the living rooms, the birds and the little knife. It wasn't a matter of concern, he was ready for the consequences of what we were doing. The wailing continued as Lucas keeps cutting and cutting, the entrance begins to fade one after the other. "This will teach you a lesson," a shrieking voice said. The entrance folding up itself and disappearing.

Lucas felt that the entrance is more alive, increases his pace. "Harry! Hardy!" He calls out. He gets no response. He continues cutting until he sees Harry in a corner squeezed and looking unconscious. With his energy, he lifts him and slouch over his shoulder and hurried towards the mirror. He jumps into it as soon as his eyes catch a glimpse of it. Exhausted, both of them comes out to the other side.

Everyone has safely crossed to the other side except the men who didn't make it but the rest has very well joined Mael.

To everyone's greatest surprise where they expecting to be is not where they are. It is even worse, the last place they had expected to be in a thousand years. They weren't ready to be here. It is not what they want to deal with now but they've to find a way to deal with it even more.