Embers of Light and Darkness

"You're here." The old man said, lifting his head from the book he was buried in

"Hello Lyla," he said, rising from the bench and approaching them. "Keeper" 

"Hello Paisios," the woman beside her addressed

"Good afternoon, Paisios," Lyla replied, a small smile forming on her lips. 

The man's eyes sparkled as his smile got brighter, "You finally got it right."

She had. She hadn't even noticed it.

"Well, I'll be leaving. I'll come back to fetch her," the Keeper stated

"No need, I'll bring her myself."

The Paisios ushered her back to the bench and handed her the book he had been reading.

ROYAL SONS 

"That book contains much about the two princes, Alexander and Nikandros. From their childhood up until the war"

"Long ago, our realm was one, there was no wall separating us, and although we had our differences, we were still one Kingdom, one people. Back then, we were ruled by a royal family, a mighty King and Queen. The leadership was passed down through the bloodline, but the heavens were the ones to choose who among the relatives or children was to inherit the throne next. 

The last King and Queen, Leandros and Callista, were by far the most beloved of any two that had sat on the throne. The love they had for their people was rivaled only by the love they had for each other, and their love for the Kingdom was fierce; as a result, our realm had never been as prosperous or as great as it was during their reign. 

The beings of this realm loved and respected them just as much, but there came a time when they were worried. The King and Queen had been married for a while but hadn't bared any children and the people became afraid that the throne would be given to another as a result but they weren't as scared as the royals themselves not for fear of losing the throne alone but they were afraid they wouldn't get to have children of their own.

They did everything to make it happen, tried different tonics, consulted powerful healers even from far-off worlds, but still nothing. They pleaded with the heavens and came to me to plead on their behalf, but for a long time, the heavens were quiet.

That was until a fateful day, the Queen fell ill, and when the healers came, they announced she was pregnant. The whole Kingdom was in uproar when they heard. People celebrated for days after. Never had the Kingdom known such joy. 

I remember those days, there was so much light in the people's eyes, such joy."

Lyla smiled at the spark in the man's eyes, but she did wonder why he spoke as though he were there? 'came to me to plead on their behalf' 'I remember those days' 

She had heard that people here lived a few hundred years, but for him to have lived that long wouldn't it mean he was more than five hundred years old?

"You… you were there"

"I was"

"but…I mean, I know beings here live for a long time, but 500? Isn't that a lot?"

The man laughed, "Yes, I'm very old."

She opened her mouth to speak, but she wasn't sure what to say. There was so much she wanted to ask. The Paisios smiled knowingly, "Another day," he said

Lyla reluctantly nodded

"Where was I?" he continued, "Ah yes, months after the Queen gave birth to a set of twin boys. The king named them Alexander and Nikandros, meaning Defender of the people and The people's victory.

The boys grew, and soon it was time to find out what gifts they were blessed with. We brought them to the stone, but the strangest thing happened: it could not identify their power. The royal household was worried that their children had been cursed with no power, but I assured them that they indeed had power, just not one that could be identified, so they had to wait.

One day, the Queen was in the jewelry room picking out a necklace for an event when she accidentally knocked over one of them, and it broke. She was devastated because the necklace in question was a family heirloom left to her by her grandmother, who had inherited it from past generations. The Queen was silently crying when little Alexander saw her and went to console her.

While holding her hand, he also cried, but a miracle happened. The Queen felt something in her palm, and when she looked, she was shocked to see a necklace similar to the one she had just broken. The only difference was that instead of red rubies, this one had blue sapphires. 

In shock, the Queen rushed to the King and told him what had happened. He summoned me and explained the situation, that's how we discovered that little Alexander had the power of Creation and recreation. Since the power was foreign, I was the one to train the boy. 

Nikandros was yet to discover his own and as time went by he envied his older brother for the attention he got and the power he had so he asked his parents to let him join in the training but they refused, he got angry and that was how we learned that he had the power of Destruction after he turned everything in that room to ash.

As they grew, they became an unstoppable force, their power greater than any other. They led the armies to far-off lands and won almost every war, but Nikandros noticed that people grew afraid and wary of him because of his power. 

He had done so much to help his people yet they didn't shower him with the praise they did his brother, hate started to stain his heart and he grew to hate his brother, his parents, and their people so one day as they went on a hunt to search for a rogue group of currently extinct beasts he hatched a plan with them to kill his brother but fortunately someone knew of this plan and informed the royals.

The king, in his rage, banished his son to the badlands, a vile place where the scariest of beings and creatures dwell till date. It's currently located in Umbraeth. In retaliation, Nikandros persuaded several beings and creatures to fight alongside him; they intended to take over the whole realm. The war raged for so long, and many lives were lost, the King almost lost Alexander, and to prevent more of his people from dying, he called for a truce.

Nikandros demanded to be given part of the territory; he wanted half of everything. Desperate for a resolution, the king reluctantly gave in, and that territory is what you now know as Umbraeth. He and all the races that helped him, whether they engaged in the war or not, were to forever keep to that side, while he gifted Luminara to his oldest, Alexander. The heavens sealed the truce by bringing down the wall."

Lyla remained quiet for a while, letting the history of her predecessors settle in.

"Didn't the King and Queen have any other children?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Were the two princes close before?"

"When they were younger, yes, even when Nikandros was yet to discover his gifts, there was only a minor drift. A simple child's anger and envy, but once he did, everything was back to usual. They usually trained together and did almost everything together. Of Course, they would get into fights as normal children would, albeit theirs usually ended up with more wounds and damage than others, but for them it was understandable."

"How did you train them?"

"It was hard, mostly trial and error. I was learning just as much as they were, but familiarizing themselves with their power and learning control set the best foundation. That's what we'll start with."

"Will I have to try with both at the same time?"

"We'll set the foundations separately, then learn to work with both."

"Which will we start with?"

"Destruction"

"Any particular reason?" she smiled nervously

"Yes, it was the second gift you displayed."

She looked at him in confusion, her brows furrowed, and lips in a frown, before it finally clicked, "The day I destroyed this room," he nodded.

"You had known"

"I had suspected. There is only one gift that would turn things to ash like that."

The Paisos stood and held out his hand, a small smile gracing his lips

"Let's begin."