34. Truth Beyond The Darkness

His heart sank into depths of darkness and shattered like a glass. Marco steadied his nerves while hesitating to converse back.

“Relax Marco,”, Kamli spoke, “You must be enlightened.”

After Marco didn’t say anything, Kamli continued, “It’s a long story... a story of an unborn child of prophecy.”

“Pro-phe-cy?”, Marco prompted.

“Years before William was born, a prophecy was made in the light of four people, namely, Alen Zimon, Patrick Hymes, Ronald Sunshiller and Orthodoxylcamiprochino.”

“The soothsayer?”

Kamli’s head swayed up and down, “It seems that you have already met him... Yes, he’s the one who told the prophecy.”

Marco remained silent.

“None of them are alive today except for the soothsayer. I will avoid taking his name... terrible name.”

“What on earth might be his age?”

“Too old for a normal human like you... as a matter of fact, he was just thirty six when he made the prophecy... he has natural powers. His father was a wizard.”

Marco tilted his head higher, “But what prophecy?”

Kamli spoke, “I know not the exact words really... but it goes something like this.

“Two years from now, a day shall witness birth to their first child and on the same auspicious day, another boy shall be born in the districts of Legendia. This other boy shall serve as a great purpose to this world. Many years later, they will be blessed again with a second child... but he shall mark the tidings of dark times. Evil shall rise to the peaks and this second child will prosper into the most terrifying and strongest Dark Lord of all times. But yes... the other boy... from the districts... shall be the key to peace. He shall have the courage and power, to alone confront the Dark Lord and befall his defeat. Search for the boy, he shall be the saviour of the world...

“...so were the words, perhaps.”

Marco tightly clasped both his hands together, “So the boy from the districts was William...”

Kamli nodded.

“William Crevol?”

“Indeed.”

Marco dreaded for any further revelations. Bewildered to the heights, Marco drooped lower gazing at the pure water bubbling in the pond, “Those old couple I saw at the funeral... they were his parents. Not Mr. Crevol’s...”

“Indeed.”

“Lord Zimon... I have called him with this name all these years.”

“And so will we continue with the same identity for the rest of our lives.”.

Marco looked back at Kamli, “You owe me more explainations.”

Kamli hissed and shifted a bit, “So let’s go back to the story of prophecy. A dinner was arranged by Alen Zimon for the three guests that night. The guests were Patrick Hymes, your grandfather, Ronald Sunshiller, William’s master, and the soothsayer. Alen was a great friend of your grandfather and Sunshiller. The soothsayer was gaining popularity in those days due to his numerous prophecies which proved to be true. Curious of his abilities, Alen invited the soothsayer to predict his future with no momentous intent. It was just for fun. Less did he know that a world threatening prophecy would be made that night... He was told that his first child, Crypus, won’t be the only one to be born in Legendia that day. Another child from the Brimble Society, Alen found out, had also taken birth the same day, as said in the prophecy. No other child was born that day. This took them by surprise, for it was rare for two births to take place the same day as well as proving the prophecy to be valid. Beatriz feared the soothsayer’s prediction might come true. She feared for Crypus’ safety, bearing the third method in mind. Alen was furious at the fact that a Dark Lord would be born from his own blood. He tried to ignore the prophecy assuming the birth to be a coincidence. On Beatriz’s constant persuasions, Alen agreed to meet William’s parents, Louis and Oysma Crevol. Sunshiller and Patrick advised Alen to adopt William and swap him with Crypus. Louis and Oysma were highly reluctant to this shocking decision but they surrendered as the king pleaded them for the betterment of the world. Alen told them about the prophecy... so they are the only other two people alive that know about the prophecy. They were asked to parent Crypus like their own child while Alen and Beatriz promised the same for William. But naive and unlearnt William’s parents were, less did they know that if someone discovers that the king’s second child, yet to be born, was the Dark Lord, William’s life would be in danger. Anyway... so the years passed... Crypus and William were revealed the truth at the age of twelve. But fate had made them friends long before that. They had stumbled across each other near the River Keto at the age of ten. They took the shock pretty well for twelve year olds. They merely smiled and Crypus said he was lucky to have two wonderful parents.

“Crypus led a comfortable life... He was allowed to visit the palace at his own will and was taught and schooled with William in the palace itself. When people questioned this gracefulness of Alen towards the old couple, they told it was a reward for saving the queen from the jackal that attacked near the hills. Crypus and William bonded too well with each other. They spent countless days wandering, playing, fighting, and supporting each other. They stood by each other in all good and bad times. They had the deepest bond of friendship that everyone envied. Crypus was soon known as the wisest man in Legendia. He had all the solutions to all the problems. Thus, he was equally loved by all the people. Things seemed fine but he was not revealed everything unlike William. He was certainly revealed about his true parents, but they hid the fact that his own brother would become a Dark Lord one day. He was just informed that William was the child of prophecy who would be the one to destroy the Dark Lord and thus was adopted to provide the fullest means and necessities to match the Dark Lord... and Crypus would be kept safe far from the castle lest any calamity should fall on the royal blood. Only William was disclosed the whole thing. The prophecy proved to be crawling its way to the truth when Zimon excelled in magic and progressed to become a magician at just the age of fifteen. While on the other hand, Crypus showed no keen interest in magic. When they turned in their mid twenties, Crypus showed no interest of marriage either. William, however, did not want to jeopardize the future of a wife and children and thus never married. The legacy of Zimons would stop, true... but the legacy had already stopped when William was adopted. The true heir to the throne was Crypus, not William. When William took the throne, Perth was a disturbed mind already. He was inclined towards greed for the treasure, power and magic. He insisted William a lot on revealing the treasure’s entrance but William would never do so. Perth’s hatred for William grew like a poison in blood and one fateful day Perth insulted William in front of a filled courthouse. Perth abused William for not sharing the location with his own brother. William lost his temper and hit him with a spell, breaking his bone. Never was Perth ever touched, not even by his own parents. Enraged by this act, he made a decision. During the war between Saberon and Legendia, Perth disappeared faking his death and only returning later as a half formed Dark Lord threatening Zimon a war in thirty years’ time.”

Kamli stopped when Marco tried to speak. He said, “So the prophecy was also hidden from Elezabor! Thinking that killing Lord Zimon would also kill him, Elezabor always spared his life and instead planned on capturing him. Sorry... Please continue.”

“Okay... Now I see that you were asked to bring the Merlin’s Mirror from the Grand School, by Crypus. William must have not known what Crypus’ real purpose was. You see when Alen and Beatriz gave birth to Perth and didn’t give him away to anyone else... that was the first time Crypus felt something fishy. He was still young and did not object. All these years he confined to the law not to view the dead in the mirror... But when you told Crypus about the Dark Lord sparing William’s life in the battle field... his mind started working up. He understands well that any Dark Lord wouldn’t spare William at a whim. So that’s why he wanted to see the real identity of the Dark Lord.”

“And knowing that the real brother of the Dark Lord is himself,”, Marco said, “Mr. Crevol quarrelled with Lord Zimon that night for hiding this truth from him all these years. I get it all very clear now...”

“Yes he came to know that William had known the truth about who the Dark Lord was. However, I don’t think that was the reason he was mad at him. He would have simply accepted the truth as always.”

“No,”, Marco disagreed, “He didn’t even bid Zimon farewell when we left for Dark Dume. He was very furious.”

Kamli disagreed again, “Crypus was possibly furious that all this was connected to his own brother. He felt that William’s life was in danger and his best friend was risking it too deeply. William’s real intentions were that of killing the Dark Lord with the aid of Yulisa. But when Crypus came to know the truth, it feared William the most. William knew that Crypus was watching him through the eye platinar and feared that Crypus would kill himself, if he senses William’s defeat. William was hanging between two pressures. One, Crypus should never commit suicide and two, that William had promised Alen that he would never harm Perth and always take care of him.”

Marco shut his eyes, “Why did he go through all of this.”

“Harsh... but true... William loved Alen and Beatriz like true parents and even loved Perth like a true brother. Alen always loved Perth since the beginning. Torn between two responsibilities of bringing peace by defeating the Dark Lord and at the same time not harming him, William landed in a difficult situation. But since, the Dark Lord crossed his line and attacked Legendia, he decided to finally kill Perth once and forever.”

Marco squinted at Kamli, “Does this mean that Mr. Crevol wasted his life? ... we were already gaining in the battle when we got help from Yulisa.”

“You see...the third method to take effect, takes a while. And especially since it was not a quick death for Crypus, he probably cut his wrist before Yulisa even arrived... maybe when your army was attacked by first shower of arrows. He must have seen that William was losing. To ensure that William remains unharmed, he ended cutting his own wrist... ensuring that he killed the last survivor of the bloodline of Dark Lord. It takes a long while until it takes affect on the Dark Lord’s soul. The magic has to travel all the way from the deceased to the Dark Lord’s body.”

Marco’s words came very slow, “...I saw it... the Dark Lord was already on the ground clutching at his cloak and screaming...so Lord Zimon stabbed himself only later... why did he have to do so?”

“Only you saw the truth incidentally... he knew that Crypus had already killed himself and would soon be labelled a sinner by the world and hated by all for being the brother of the Dark Lord. In order to save his reputation from being ruined, he killed himself so that people would believe he was the brother of Dark Lord and not Crypus.”

Marco stood up in dismay and astonishment. “He... did all this... just to save his name and reputation? He killed himself to disguise himself as Dark Lord’s brother and throw a veil on Mr. Crevol’s death?”

Kamli slithered down the ground, “He died to save his best friend’s good deeds and good name that the outer world would badly remark had they known the truth. He tried to save atleast his image, if not his life.”

Marco’s head throbbed, “Lord Zimon knew all the possibilities. He made the letter just in case Crevol killed himself... he knew it all along. I thought I understood all that he went through but I actually knew nothing. I even disgraced him saying that he could have killed himself long before saving all the bloodshed... but he actually would have done it if that was possible! He was not from the same bloodline... so he never did it. How ignorant have I been...”

Kamli remained silent.

Marco continued, “He did all this for his empire, for his men, for his king, for his best friend... He killed himself not to save a person... rather just a reputation!”

Marco knelt down again and didn’t even realise he was screaming, “How can a lonely person do so much for nothing in return? How did he manage to carry the burdens all by himself? How selflessly he proved himself guilty? All the good!... all the bloody good.”, Marco punched a mighty fist on the ground and he felt no pain; there was no pain greater than the pain in his heart.

Marco stopped sobbing, his eyes red, full of anger and grief, “Kamli... take this book. Keep it in the treasures.”, he breathed hard, “I have some unfinished job to do... I’m leaving!”

Marco didn’t wait for Kamli to react, “Zulfain!”, he was already running.