Immortals Of Byolla Bay

“Do you remember that hole in the wall, tiny gas station we passed by when we first came here? Well that’s what our dear girl calls a grocery store.” Maggie explained her reaction to me when she returned from dropping off the love of my life.

“Doesn’t surprise me. She’s lived here her whole life so to her the biggest building in the world that she’s ever seen is that mall the next town over. If she could see the skyscrapers and supercenter stores we’ve seen it would be culture shock. Gene is on his way there to walk her back home. He’s not really gotten to speak to her so he wanted to take this opportunity to do so. I had a pretty vivid nightmare last night, by the way.”

Maggie sat down and listened to me intently. “Trygve was just as bad as Drakkar and those two were inseparable. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s not been traveling here with him. Even with one hand Trygve is still just as dangerous. That’s disturbing you would have a dream about him taking her and she just willfully going. But you don’t have to worry, you know that’s not going to happen.”

I nodded, but my gut still was telling me not to let this go, “I’m going to father’s study to pick up where he left off about her ring. Are you going to Meshella’s to go over whatever party plans you are going to torture my girl with?” Maggie nodded, “Yeah, plus I’ll be almost next to her house so I can take quick trips over there to check on her. We’ll have fun. Let me know if you find anything.”

Father had humongous piles of papers, maps and books stacked on his desk, spilling into his chair. He had to go do something at the docks this morning or else he would still be here going through all this. He always assumed that the person in his dream who was meant to lead us home would know how we were going to accomplish it. He would have never guessed in a million years that it would have been a human, who was not only clueless about our world, but meant to be mine forever.

Forever. That struck a painful chord for me. I promised Kinsley no more secrets, but how am I supposed to bring up her mortal life and my eternal one? How am I supposed to tell her that our happy ending is only temporary for me because one day I’ll have to grieve for the rest of my unnaturally long life. I felt unbidden tears trying to fall, but I held them back and decided to grab a book from his desk and concentrate on that.

Flipping open to a random page, I found a story I hadn’t heard since I was a child. It was about Zunnrahilde, the queen of Drakkar’s tribe before his father came into power. Her husband, king Inkre, was thought to be killed while on a quest in a neighboring realm and she took over the throne, as our lore’s command. There were rumors that she ordered a hit on him, but no one dared investigate it for fear of her wrath. She was wicked and treated her clan like the dirt beneath their feet.

She was said to have strength that could overpower any man. She could also somehow see things before they happened so any plot to overthrow her was thwarted immediately, beheading the guilty parties publicly.

After about 300 years of her tyranny, King Inkre returned. Time passed differently in the realm he was in because he thought he was only gone three years. He was furious at the hell Zunnrahilde put his people through and ordered his wife to be put to death. When she drew her sword to behead him, king Inkre raised his hand to soften the blow. A white light encased his hand and froze Zunnrahilde where she stood.

She still had her own unnatural powers, however, which freed her though she was wounded. She screamed she would return before she transformed into a black shadow and vanished with the next gust of wind.

King Inkre was speechless, even more so when he seen a white shadow rise up out of his hand, then flew off into the East. The rest of his life was spent searching for answers to what happened that day, but he never could find anything to explain it. The king was laid to rest, his soul taken by the keeper of the stars without ever finding the truth. Zunnrahilde has not been seen or heard from since that fateful day.

I threw the book in the floor and ran a hand down my face. That didn’t help me one bit. “Patience my son. The answers you seek must be found through studying more than just one of these books and you must endure many headaches as well.”

I turned to see my father standing in the doorway of his study. I didn’t hear him walk up. “Well you make this look easy. You always know the exact book to go to and the exact location of whatever you are trying to find.”

He chuckled and came to put a hand on my shoulder, “Again, you must endure many headaches. There were nights I would be reading through all of these,” he gestured around the study, “and became so frustrated that I debated burning it all in the backyard. Answers don’t come easy, especially when the answers pertain to the well-being of those we love. Patience also does not come easy. It’s earned only after we lose it many times. I still don’t have a lot of it, I’m just good at hiding my frustration now is all.”

I laughed despite this grim situation, “I won’t tell your secret, father. It’s best if everyone in the family still thinks you know exactly what you are doing.” He laughed as well, “Now, tell me son, what is it that is bothering you, other than the obvious situation with the psychopath?”

I proceeded to tell him about my dream. He narrowed his eyes and scratched his chin in thought, “And you are positive it was Trygve? I always had a theory he had found his way back to Drakkar after he escaped from Gene. We know Drakkar is after her, but if Trygve has anything to do with his plan then Kinsley may be in more danger than we thought.”

Gene came into the study a little while later, “She is home and Maggie is frequently checking on her. Have you met her friend, Meshella? My stars is she beautiful. Why haven’t you introduced me to her yet? I told Kinsley to invite her over whenever she liked.”

Father and I burst out laughing. Gene smiled and sat down in a chair beside me, “So what are we doing?” I quickly caught him up to speed and he growled, “If he shows his face here, I’ll make sure I take his other hand along with his head.”

Father held up a hand, “Let’s not be hasty, son. If Drakkar has magic granted to him from the Oracle of Vengeance than we should assume that Trygve is protected as well. Charging him may prove fatal in this world. We need to think this completely through before we act.”

Gene leaned back in his chair, scooting his legs out and his feet hits the book I threw in the floor earlier. He bent down, “What’s this down here for?” Father chuckled, “Eerikki was trying to learn the hardest virtue to obtain, patience.” Gene looked at me, “And did throwing the book help?” I jerked the book out of his hand, “It ended up in the floor so what do you think? I just randomly picked a page and started reading. Do you remember the tale of king Inkre and Zunnrahilde?” Gene nodded, “The crazy queen who vowed vengeance and turned into a black shadow. Yeah, haven’t heard that story since we were kids.”

Father snatched the book out of my hand and started intently reading it. Gene and I stayed silent as we knew it was hazardous to our health to interrupt father when he thinks he’s on to something. Father tossed the book on his desk and marched to one of the bookshelves. He pulled a scroll out and carefully opened it up.

After a few minutes he exclaimed, “My stars! How did I not see this before!” He raced in between us to show us a long description of what the king, who was granted the ring of souls, saw on his journey to the Oracle. He says a white light circled his hand suddenly and a white shadow appeared rising out of i. That’s when the Oracle appeared before him.

She entered his body to search his mind and soul before she decided to make herself known. That’s how she knew he was there for the good of his people and not selfish needs. She said all Oracles manifest themselves the same way. That’s when I had a so called light bulb moment, “If all Oracles manifest themselves the same, then does that mean an Oracle is who saved king Inkre that day?”

Father nodded, “Zunnrahilde is Drakkar’s great aunt as it turns out. She turned into a shadow vowing vengeance. Drakkar went searching for the magic to help him get revenge on us.” Gene piped in, “Zunnrahilde was a Dark Oracle!”

Father rolled up the scroll, “Not only that, but I believe she is the Oracle helping Drakkar. Now that I am certain of what we are dealing with, we can efficiently search for how to stop her. We’ve been going about this the wrong way, my sons. We’ve been searching for ways to stop Drakkar, when this whole time we should have been searching for ways to stop Zunnrahilde.”