"Might I pry into the royal thoughts?" General Dominic broke the silence when he saw the thoughtful gaze in Princess Munirah's eyes. He loved her with all his heart, soul, and mind but could never tell her. That was what hurt the most…
"Why does she not indulge in the 10 perfections?" She whispered sadly. Sighing as he closed his eyes, Dominic was reluctant to break the magic of the moment when she looked so beautiful under the moonlight by talking about the red-haired Devil Mirah. But he had no choice. She is the princess of his heart and his future queen. Hence, he had to answer her questions.
"Because she is eaten by greed and envy and consumed by the hunger for power." He whispered back.
Munirah shed a silent tear. "Were we not given the same form of education in perfecting generosity, morality, wisdom, energy, forbearance, truthfulness, resolution, loving-kindness, equanimity, and even renunciation if we chose spirituality?"
Dominic bent down to gaze into the pools of gentle aspiration. "She dropped out, remember? Little Dove has energy has been geared toward defense, attack, and destruction. That was why I told you that you must not allow her to upsurge you for the sake of the people on Earth. A coup on her part would tear the planet apart. For the welfare of the world, we must be prepared."
The Crown Princess wanted to flee Dominic's arms and sob her heart out. Why must the world be so cruel? Sometimes, the safest place on Earth seemed just within her grasp. Yet, she was unable to do so. Not only do walls have ears, but some even say the shrubbery too. At all costs, she had to maintain a proper distance. For his sake at least …or maybe it was for hers. Her heart would not be able to bear it if he were sent home to Ursa Major. So she simply settled for a smile that warmed the General Prince's heart - her special smile meant for his eyes only and no one else's.
Spying on them from the veranda of his palace suite, Sultan Ra saw the intimacy between his favorite daughter and his favorite general, the son of one of his closest friends, King Mortar, who had been reduced to a minor king during a coup d'état, but he was given a smaller domain as compensation. He smiled an agreeable smile. He liked the idea of them getting married. It would ensure the safety of lineage of the right caliber. It would also mean an unbreakable alliance between Earth and Ursa Major. Everyone knew that the Kings of Ursa Major had come to a point where they thought with one mind, and their every action was carefully discussed to maintain peace and harmony.
"Alihan…" the Sultan gently motioned his faithful and overly soft-hearted Prime Minister to his side. Even Alihan's wife often wondered how her lamb of a husband ever grew to a position of such great importance. One in such a position needed to be wise and tough to make difficult decisions and take drastic actions whenever necessary.
"Your Majesty?" Alihan enquired, looking curiously at his Lord.
"While one daughter is a total disaster, the other is more than I could ever dare dream of. How many fathers are lucky enough to have the perfect political advantages and still make his daughter happy?" The Universal Monarch sighed, feeling sorry for the other fathers in the Universe at the same time.
"None that I can think of, Your Magnificence. You certainly are the luckiest of us all. Blessed beyond measure by the gods themselves!" Alihan bowed extravagantly with his hand waving in the air above his head in small circles before reaching all the way down to the floor in absolute awe and reverence. Pleased with the answer and the events at hand, Ra smiled as he stroked an invisible mustache.
In a secret room, Princess Mirah was pacing up and down, muttering angrily to herself over the humiliation cast upon her earlier when she turned to her magic crystal ball only to see the tenderness exchanged between the two lovebirds in the Garden of Moonbeam. The sister she hated and the man she could never have.. how sickening! With an incontrollable fury, she kicked her poor Utopian slave until she curled up into a fetal position. "Scream, you bitch! Scream if you feel any pain! You love that brat of a princess, don't you? Just like everyone else!!" Biting her lips n pain, the slave dared not cry out, for she knew it would further incite her mistress's wrath. Mirah heard a rib bone or two cracking with her last few kicks. She would have her replaced when her anger dissipated. Dissatisfied that she couldn't find any reason to torment Baeisha further, Mirah smashed a priced mirror that hung just beside her. It was the most expensive mirror in her possession - 16 blue diamonds embedded in a pure gold frame and was engraved on the back 'In honor of our General Princess. The Strength and Might of the Kingdom. The Flame of Kzahmut'. It was but one of the many gifts for her 16th birthday - a coming-of-age gift that was auspicious and significant. It was part of her wedding dowry, which would have shown the extent of her wealth, background, and status. Her father's disapproving gaze flashed through her mind. "No! I do not want to think of what my father would say or how he would look at me!" She cried and screamed out her frustrations.
Hearing her wails of torment, her nanny, an old toothless soothsayer, appeared at the doorway, faithfully as ever, to soothe the princess' troubles. "Them again?" She scowled. "I will show them! How dare they upset my baby!?"
Really?" Mirah sniffs. "You would hesitate no longer?" Her eyes open wide in anticipation.
"I never did hesitate, my dear. Many a time, I cast my spells that would have killed a thousand men, but she seems to be protected by heaven itself! I would have to use something even more sinister this time!" Her mind flashed back to the time when the Crown Princess was only a tiny blot in her mother's womb. By using the terrible magic weaved from the darkest and deepest parts of the ocean bed, she was able to insert the soul of her own daughter into the queen's womb as well. She had prayed that her daughter would be the chosen heir instead of Munirah. But still, the true princess managed to be the firstborn to claim her rightful place.
"That bitch queen of Sultan Ra! She must have altered the course somehow… I inserted Mirah nearer to the entrance of the womb." The old woman whispered to herself.
Mirah should have been born before Munirah; heaven was able to cheat the old witch of her victory by giving Munirah the last laugh… and perhaps it is the ways of the dark arts to trick one into losing everything. The cost of this dark magic came with a heavy price - to give up the one thing the welder loves the most. To Deidera, Mirah's nanny, it was to be admired by all who looked upon her. To be able to captivate them and bend them to her will. Her siren powers of seduction were unmatched by any of her kind. A man had only looked upon her face, and he was hers. His soul would tremble in fear of displeasing her. She missed that feeling of triumph over the lives of meager humans. The taste of their blood upon her lips, draining them a little by a little every day or dragging them into the deep to watch them suffer as the ocean water filled their lunges while they frightfully hung on to life just for her pleasure. Theirs was a bare flimsy thread ready to break at any moment to fulfill the pleasure of her cold, black heart. Now, her daughter is second born, the spare instead of the heir. Besides that, Deidera is forced to live hidden under the skin of an old hag -bent and toothless with breath so foul that one had to cover their noses and mouths as she spoke. The only person she was permitted to display all her glory and beauty before was her darling daughter, Mirah. For what!!? This angered her so much!
"No! That wrench will not laugh so easily. I will make her pay! All of them! They will squirm and wiggle like worms at my feet, and I will keep them barely alive for my amusement!" Oh, the joy of that thought. It made Deidera want to dance with the tempestuous waves of the sea. "They will pay! This, I swear!" She muttered silently to the wind. Oh, and what more? With Munirah's death, Mirah - her precious daughter shall be the new anointed heir! Her lips twisted into a sinister smile, and she laughed with a sound that crackled like the breaking of a thousand human bones.
Suddenly, the smoky mist in the magic crystal ball cleared again to show the scheming duo a plan that would make all matters fall into place. The secret lay in the dark forest of old. It was a story in old wives' tales where the forest would appear for a short span of time, often in different places, and quickly disappear again for hundreds of years. It showed that the old Elf King of the forest was dying, and to live, he needed to marry a virgin of pure heart. Only with the power invested in her blood could he be immortal. The only problem they had was…where were they to find him? Baeisha trembled with fear and pain. But her concern for Princess Munirah cleared her thoughts enough to utter a silent prayer. "Oh God of Gods, protect the heir of Kzahmut." She knew so much and was unable to reveal anything to the Sultan. Her only hope was prayer.
Mirah and Deidera exchanged a swift, knowing glance before racing to the General Princess's bed. There, they turned the carving of the Damask rose on the headboard clockwise until the flower faced the ground and the stem faced the heavens. As the bed moved to the side, it revealed many large steps down an ancient pathway. Deidera muttered in a strange tongue, causing Mirah's Ruby necklace to light up with an eerie red glow. With that as their only light source in the cold, damp darkness before them, they journeyed down many flights of stairs, keeping their hands on the wall as they moved and counted the turns and secret doors in the underground labyrinth.
Old and unknown as the maze was, its steps were well-trodden, and specific paths were clear of cobwebs and dust. But all that was lost upon the scheming duo in their eagerness to achieve their goal. As the hours grew longer and their breaths grew shorter with the increase of stale air around them, the sounds of the lapping waves of the sea grew louder. Excitement shot through Deidera as she quickened her paces towards the sound.
"Oh, how long it has been since I have touched and smelled the beautiful sea! I long for my homeland. My princess, when we reach the mouth of the cove, keep the ruby in your mouth and say... ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!" Deidera screamed with terror as she fell into a trap door beneath her. Sliding down the slippery antediluvian slide, she dug her nails into the sides of the walls as hard as she could in a desperate attempt to stop falling. Climbing up brick by brick yet sliding down further again each time. It was simply of no use. Had the slide been made of a smooth rock or made slippery by liquid of any kind, she could have commanded the forces of gravity to withhold the fall. Unfortunately for her, it was spun with the hair of Circinus Galaxy's fallen warriors. Theirs was hair finer than the softest silk, a thousand times more slippery than an oiled catfish as their lifespan is 1000 years compared to our 100 years – Earth's oldest enemy.
"Deidera!" Mirah screamed and kicked at the walls of solid mountain, trying to find the niche that her nursemaid could have triggered. She was alone and afraid. This was the first time they had adjourned down to the tombs of Ngeri though they had memorized the paths from an ancient architectural plan written by the first ruler of Kzahmut - Mananaog the Conqueror. However, they knew not what terrors lay waiting in the forgotten paths.
For the first time, the General Princess succumbed to her fear of the unknown and sat cautiously on the ground, her feet drawn to her in silent tears. "I don't know what to do. The sea is a world I have never been to. Without Deidera's guidance for the first time, I'm lost." Mirah sobbed.