Kingdoms End

Planet: Huberg

Person(s): Lord Greg Haavik and Lady Lizandra Haavik

Lizandra and Queen Zurnich were in the former’s bedroom. The little lady was seated before a mirror, while the queen stood at her back, fixing her hair. The two had become very good friends since the queen discovered the girl’s true identity, two months ago.

“Hard to believe it has been two months already since you got here, firstborn,” the queen said, holding the girls hair together at the top and binding it with gold twine. She called Lizandra “Firstborn” now and so did Linus Chase. The girl had told them that was what all her friends and family at Mareda called her. “What I find most intriguing is the fact that I have not visited my father or siblings since they left the capital these two months ago,” the girl stated, sadness in her tone. “Do not be sad, firstborn,” said the queen. “Remember that today, for the first time, you will be revealed as a member of House Haavik and before elvish royalty also. What an honour.” “How are they royalty if they have no kingdom to their name anymore?” the girl asked. “Firstly, an elf nation is called an ELFHELM, not a kingdom,” the queen replied. “Secondly, the elves of Meryn only deserted their elfhelm because their world is dying and it would be madness to remain there.”

The queen put a long hairpin though the large gold twined bun she’d done Lizandra’s hair into. “Their royals are here in Sanel seeking our help and your gracious father decided to host them in your skyscraper until their rooms are ready at the Royal hotel.” “I know Lord Haavik would never consent to any social gathering and those elves are only here because you must have just told them you would host them here and Lord Haavik never argues with you,” Lizandra stated. “That is correct,” the queen said, reaching down and tapping the girl’s nose from behind. Lizandra laughed. “And firstborn is ready to go,” the queen said next, stepping back from the stool on which the girl sat.

“Rise and show me the fruit of my fashion labour,” said the queen and the girl obeyed. Lizandra got to her feet and turned to face the woman. The girl was a beauty. She had on a high-collared leather shirt, white in colour, and with golden seams at all the edges. The leather shirt was open down the middle and beneath it was a long, black, cotton blouse which was longer at the back than in the front. The back of the blouse ended behind her knees, while the front ended mid-thigh. Her Black leather leggings disappeared into white knee-length boots. Her hair was done into a bun and the bun was concealed by a long, golden band. Her lips were painted white and tiny, black tiny writings were done around her left eye, while her right eye was simply lined with black.“By the gods!” Queen Zurnich exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands. “You are so beautiful!!”

Lizandra smiled sheepishly now and covered her face with her hands. “You truly look like the ruling lady of a great house,” the queen continued with her praises. “Now I see why my little boys keep saying they’d like to marry you when they grow up.” “But they are just eight and eleven,” Lizandra stated, laughing. “And my daughter says you’re her role model. I used to be her role model, but they’ve gotten to know you during your time here and now, she replaced me with you.” “She’s only twelve, aunty,” Lizandra stated, “she knows not what she says.” “She most definitely does know what she says,” the woman countered, “and since she will be queen someday, I am glad to know that she picks only the best persons to admire.”

Lizandra suddenly moved forward and threw her arms around the queen. “Thank you for finding the time to be a second mother to me, your highness,” she said. The queen gently pushed the girl away from herself and smiled down at her. “Your father was like brother to me, growing up and even your mother was my good friend during the short time I knew her, before she left for Mareda. Now that they are both absent, I will always treat their child like my own,” the woman explained. Lizandra was smiling and tears came to her eyes. “No. No. No. You cannot cry now. It will ruin your makeup,” the queen warned, grabbing the girl’s shoulders.

“Let us go and present you to our elven guests before you ruin this hard work of mine,” the queen said now, leading Lizandra to the exit. The two ladies exit the room and as they began walking along the hallway, six guards followed 10ft behind them; three Bruttites and three royal guards. Queen Zurnich was dressed in a beautiful, strapless, white and black, knee-length gown. The two looked like mother and daughter.

“So, what exactly happens to a world when it dies, aunty?” Lizandra asked the queen as they walked. “And what kills a world in the first place?” she added. “Setuh is the oldest of all the Versall worlds,” the queen stated. “My family has blood ties to the ruling house of the Holydoma, Halo-Bir, because our ancestors came here from Setuh, where they had a little kingdom under their rulership. The kingdom later became a a Queendom and Queendom is what later became the Holydoma of Halo-Bir which we hear of today. Setuh eventually has become too old and must die like all things with life.”

“As for what a planet does upon its death, I have not witnessed it before before, but the Tesh tell of what it would be and we wholly believe them. After all are they not the most intelligent beings in existence and as they reincarnate, their knowledge just continues growing from their first lives until their present ones.” “So what do the Tesh say of a dead world?” Lizandra asked. “The planet with become riddled with great storms of all sort, but for rain, snow, or any other storm that brings moisture. The planet’s liquids will dry and it would become utterly arid. There would be sudden extreme rise and fall in temperature like nothing we know. Such a planet will not be capable of holding life and the storms would so powerful they’d pull the greatest cities apart. There are some other things to be said about a dead planet, but I did not bother myself going any further on learning about it. All I know is that a dead planet will not hold life, not conveniently at least.” “Not conveniently?” Lizandra asked. “Then there is a chance that it might hold life?” “I am no Tesh, firstborn,” the queen replied with a smile. “Some day, a pack of them may pass through Sanel and if such a day should come, then I will have them brought here and you may ask them all the questions in existence. They like inquisitive people and enjoy showing off their knowledge of everything, thus, you and them would really get along.”

Lizandra smiled now and her head was filling up with the many questions she would like to ask a Tesh, that is if she ever got to see one. “Come now, child,” said the queen, breaking in upon the girl’s thoughts. “Our guests await us.” The two ladies were coming up to a set of ornate doors behind which was the grandest hall in the entire building.

The doors were opened as Lizandra and Queen Zurnich got to it. They entered the hall and were greeted with a very beautiful sight. The hall had been decorated with a lot of enchanted plants, many writhing, or swaying like they were outdoors. There were shiktuks here also, a race akin to elves. The elves were beautifully dressed and their carriage was graceful. Against one side of a wall, some fifty or so elf soldiers stood in a block formation, bows at their backs and mexa-sharubs/elf swords at their sides. Elves were beautiful, so Lizandra remembered hearing as a child and seeing so many at once now, she believed her childhood memories.

The shiktuks on the other hand were beautifully, but sparsely dressed. They had on little clothing like fairies, but their materials were the best. They had long ears, much longer than those of elves, 1ft on average. They were basically a race of hunters and craftsmen. They were born with light grey coloured skin which darkened the older older they got. Shiktuks and elves were kin, each race would fight and die for the other without questions. Planet Setuh was dying and wherever any Elfhelm fled to, it took whatever shiktuk tribes it knew with it and Meryn was no different.

“This is one large royal family,” Lizandra said to the queen’s hearing. “Tis both the royals and nobles,” the queen explained. Only a few heads turned when the ladies entered. The elves were busy dancing, chatting, or just admiring the floral decorations. The music being played was by a band of elves and GLORIOUS would be the best description for their tunes. Amongst those who turned to see the new entrants was Elf lord Tuyer Fokam, ruler of the Meryn elves. “Silence,” the elf lord said in a soft voice which even the most attentive person would not have heard in the gentle ruckus inside the room, but every elf heard their elf lord’s word and all was silence at his command. “Queen Zurnich Halel,” the elf lord said next and the elves gently applauded the Sanel queen.

“I am honoured to host you all in my Queendom,” said the queen once the soft clapping had seized, “but more honoured is the young lady with me, in who’s house you find such great hospitality. May I introduce Lady Lizandra Haavik.” The soft applause rang out once more and Lizandra bowed low. “She is a guest of the house and her father, the lord,” the queen went on, then she turned to the girl now. “Go and bring us your father, my dear,” she said aloud. “Tell him it is an order from myself,” she added in a whisper.

“I had been led to believe that there was only one member of House Haavik left and his wife died without ever birthing a child, after which he never knew another woman again,” said the elf lord, coming towards the queen and Lizandra now. “Lizandra is a long lost child of Lord Greg Haavik,” the queen explained. “I shall go and bring my father,” Lizandra said once the the elf lord was standing before them. “As the lady of the house pleases,” the elf said with a smile. Lizandra bowed to the elf lord, then to her queen after which she moved toward the doors through which she’d just entered the hall.

Once outside the hall, the girl made her way toward the main living room which was still on this same level of the building. She walked briskly and so did the three bruttites following behind her. She had hardly done anything with Lord Greg Haavik, he never said anything to her directly and had behaved like she hadn’t even been in the building these last two months. Lizandra still kept trying to relate with the man, but only because Linus and the queen kept telling her to.

She got to the doors of the living room now and one of the six ordinary guards outside the room, held one of the doors open for her.

Inside the living room, Lizandra found her father standing before the glass wall looking down at the city below. He had his hands behind his back and didn’t seem to notice her entrance. He was dressed in a long purple robe with gold embroideries his shoulder-length black hair had been gelled and was very glossy. His fingers bore no ring but that one of transparent glasslike material which he’d used in drawing spells that day of battle at Mareda.

Lizandra came up to just begin the the man, before speaking. “Queen Zurnich orders your presence at the hall where our elven guests are being hosted,” the girl spoke. “Will she ever let me be?” Lord Haavik thought aloud, then turned and headed for the exit. Lizandra followed him and came to walk next to him. Greg Haavik made no comment or argument throughput their short walk to the hall where he was being expected. They were followed behind by Lizandra’s three Bruttites and once they neared the doors to the hall, one was opened for them.

Lizandra and her father were just stepping into the hall when she took one of his hands in her hers. They were already inside the hall now and many people were looking at them. Queen Zurnich and Elf lord Tuyer were making their way towards the new entrants, but what Greg did next, froze all in the hall and drew all their attention.

Lord Haavik pulled his hand free from Lizandra’s hold and turned to her with great anger on his face. “How many times must I tell you to leave me be?!!” he thundered. “You have been brought here to further the Haavik bloodline and nothing more!!” His words were simple and short, but their effect on all within the room was great. The music had stopped and even some of the elf soldiers were looking in his direction. Lizandra stared up at his face for roughly five seconds, her mouth vibrating and tears coming to her eyes. Lord Haavik’s anger remained intact, thus the girl just ran out of the hall.

Once Lizandra was gone, Queen Zurnich stepped forward and slapped Greg Haavik hard across the face. “I pitied you once, but now I see that you are no more than a disgrace to your family!” she told him, then rushed out of the room, going after Lizandra.

The queen got to the girls bedroom door, just as it was being locked from within. The three Bruttites who protected Lizandra were at the sides of the door. The queen began knocking and calling to Lizandra, but the girl didn’t open the door. The queen could hear the girl crying right begin the door.

“Please open the door, Lizandra,” the queen begged, but her pleas did nothing to change the girl’s mind. While she tried coaxing Lizandra into opening the door, Greg Haavik walked past her, on his way back to the living room from which Lizandra had called him. The queen had her back to him and so did not see him pass and with the sounds of her pleas and knocks, she didn’t hear him either.

It was late in the night now. Lizandra was seated on her giant bed, right in the middle of it. She had her legs pulled up so her knees were beneath her jaw, while her arms were wrapped around her legs. She still had on the cloths she’d worn for the occasion with the Meryn elves. Her makeup was messed up, all the crying had spoilt it. She was not crying profusely anymore, just sobbing a little. Her thoughts were of her stepfather and siblings. They had treated her better than what was supposed to be her real father. She missed them terribly.

Queen Zurnich had left the door after a whole hour of trying in vain to make Lizandra open the door. Lizandra felt bad now for not having opened the door for the woman; she had been nothing but good to her since she met her. There was a knock on the door now and Lizandra was pulled out of her thoughts by it. “Who is it?” she asked in a croaky voice. “Tis I, Linus,” came the reply. “I’m coming,” the girl spoke.

She got out of bed and walked to the door. She unlocked the door with the key which she’d left in the three locks and opened it to find Linus in the hallway. She turned around and headed back to her bed. Linus followed her silently, shutting the door after himself. Neither said a thing until Lizandra was seated on the edge of her bed and Linus stood before her. Lizandra was still sniffling.

“I heard of what your father did before our elven guests, my dear,” Linus spoke. “I must apologise for his actions.” “I miss my real father and my siblings,” Lizandra said with a small voice. “Please so not deny Lord Haavik, firstborn ,” Linus said, quickly sitting down next to the child and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Your elven guests have already said they will not spend another night in this house. They are leaving for a less grander hotel very early in the morning. Elf lord Tuyer says he’d rather wait there until their rooms at the royal hotel are ready, than stay in the house of one such as your father.” Lizandra looked at a digital clock on the wall and it showed “02:40"

“This is already way in the morning,” she stated. “If they don’t go now, when then do they plan on leaving?” “They leave at zero five hundred hours,” Linus replied, “but that is not important. What I am trying to say is that outsiders may not understand your father’s predicament and they will abandon him, but you cannot do the sane. You must try to help him.” “I have been here over two months already and still Lord Haavik shows no sings of changing,” the girl stated. Her voice was weak and shaky. “I tire of trying to reach out to him. He insults me too much and my mother raised me to hold my pride above all else. I have given Lord Haavik too much already and refuse to give anymore. You go and talk to him. Tell him he is loosing his daughter and try to get him to reach out to me.” “Please do not be like this, firstborn,” Linus spoke, dropping to one knee before her. “Greg is a very good man. Just put in the effort and you shall see a father like none other.” “I will always be here for him, should ge ever seek my relationship, Master Linus, but I cannot demean myself anymore before a man who does not know the meaning of the word father.”

“Please, firstborn,” Linus begged. “Do this for me.” Lizandra looked into the man’s eyes for awhile. She knew she could not tell him no. He’d been the closest thing to a father she had had since arriving here. She eventually let out a long sigh. “I will try again,” she spoke, “but I do it for you and not that man.” Linus smiled and hugged the girl. “Thank you so much,” he said, then let go of her.

“I shall even go to his bedroom later today,” she spoke, “just you inform my guards.” Linus got to his feet and smiled broadly.. “Queen Zurnich was very angry with your father for his action,” he informed the girl. “She went to him in the main living room and screamed at him for hours after you refused to let her come in and console you.” At the mention of the queen, Lizandra’s heart sank. “I should have let her in,” she said. “She wishes only the best for me and I had no right to deny her the pleasure of comforting me. I need her comfort ever so badly right now.” “I shall take you to the Palace of Enders layer today if you wish,” Linus offered. “I would like that,” the fur accepted. “I shall apologise to her majesty and spend some time with her children. I would like to rest a little now, before going to Lord Haavik’s......I mean, my father’s room.” “I shall leave you to it then,” Linus said, backing away.” “Please do not forget to inform my guards that I shall be going to be with my father,” the girl said, getting into bed proper and laying down. “I would never,” Linus replied, then turned towards the exit.

Lizandra watched Linus until h we left the room, then she got out of bed and went to the door. She locked the door and rushed towards her mighty wardrobe. She opened the wardrobe and began sifting through the many clothes within.