Prologue
Time has stopped for mankind. The only evidence of Earth
lies within the relics of Racidorkina: a new medieval
culture. No one knows how this land came to be. Three
countries have emerged in constant war: :Dersontium, Botaduca
and Medieroton. Each fighting for a power to rule over
all, to control everything. However, there is a power
that lies within a daughter of Dersontium: Takara. She
alone is the turning point of this new world's future.
Yet before she can help her world, she must be able to
save herself from herself.
***
The door opened to a dark room, and we walked through
very carefully. As we moved across the floor, candles
lit up the shrine. We stopped before the stairs that led
to the ceremonial bath. Akasha would be the first to complete
the Ordeal of Royalty. I followed her; our white gowns
moved softly across the stairs behind us. But Akasha was
calm, she smiled. I myself was worried. Why couldn't the
trial be a battle to the death, like in the ancient's
times, or a great journey, like in the books I found in
the Tombs of Earth. The Ordeal of Royalty would be in
front of the Elders, the first step to our naming. The
Elders peered through your mind, tearing out everything
you know, everything you had ever said, and everything
you had ever done, to see how pure you were. From sunrise
to the setting sun, you sit and wait while they decide
who should be the heir to the throne.
Akasha knelt before the water's edge. She then stood
and removed her garment. Stepping into the pool, I followed
moving as gracefully as possible. The water was freezing,
but I managed to preform the cleansing with Akasha beside
me. The sun peered through the eyes of the Goddess.
"Takara and Akasha, you are here in the name of
the Goddess, do you wish to continue?" Arcadam, our
teacher, stood at the other end of the shrine.
"Yes." We both answered as if we were afraid
of what was to come.
"Akasha, you will be first ..." He inserted
his staff into the statue of the Goddess, and a door opened
at the bottom of the shrine. She dove and swam to the
center of the pool. She stood and put her arms into the
air offering her loyalty to the Goddess.
"Pure heart, Keeper of Light, I am here, ready to
challenge your might. Let me enter with the protection
of the Goddess, and favor me with all your love!"
She submerged and swam to the chamber below. The door
closed. I swam to a pillar and climbed to the top.
"Takara, you will wait until night. You must not
move. Pray for your sister. Pray for yourself. Pray to
the Goddess!" Arcadam left, leaving me to meditate.
Wait and meditate was all I could do. It would be a long
time until the next sunrise. Hours went by, and all I
could do was worry. What would happen to me?
I looked towards the Goddess, her golden face laughed
at me. I couldn't pray to her. She wasn'tt real, just
a statue, lifeless, and dull. "She laughed at me
once before, and she laughs now," I thought.
***
"Don't defy the teachings, Takara," Aksasha's
words still haunt me today. It was so long ago, yet I
can still remember the pain and the terror: so many days
of training, going against father's wishes, and testing
theGoddess's power. So long ago...
The field...The field where we thought no one could hurt
us, where we were safe from all harm, and we could play.
Akasha and I would play there for hours; we would ditch
Arcadam's teachings just to go play with each other in
the flowers. We were so alike, and yet so very different.
I was always jealous of Akasha, her blonde hair was always
so long and perfect. Mother would always braid it and
tell her she would make a fine queen someday. She never
braided mine. She always told me my hair reminded her
of a raven, with dull feathers, long and black. I didn
't mind. Braids were for the weak. I was always too busy
fighting with the boys in the village or training. I didn
't have time to do those girl things. Even though it would
have been nice if... if she accepted me. We both had the
same piercing green eyes, like father, and he too favored
Akasha. He always told me I should have been a boy; I
didn 't have Akasha 's graceful figure. I resembled father,
with breasts and a woman 's face. I was the son he never
had.
Akasha and I would both go to the field where we could
be whoever we wanted to be. We had a bond that neither
our parents nor the Elders could explain. We were not
twins. I had a different mother, but it was as though
we shared the same spirit.
"Don 't defy the teachings, Takara." Still
waiting for Akasha to emerge from the chamber, my mind
wondered back to that horrible day, the day that seemed
to separate us forever.
The sun was hot that day. It shown down on the open field.
There was a sweet honey smell on the air. The day I defied
the Goddess was the day I questioned her teachings. Akasha
wanted to pick flowers for Father, and I wanted to make
a crown for Akasha. Yet looking around, only the white
flowers grew nearby this time of year. To get the pretty
blue ones, I had to go down the hill and by the forest
edge. Akasha was sitting by the pond, so that gave me
time to go pick them before she saw me.
I ran as fast as I could, but my dress kept getting in
the way. Finally there, I crouched down to pick the prettiest
ones. A shadow covered my light. Turning around, three
large men suited in armor towered above me. They seemed
to be knights; however, I had never seen their crest before,
a serpent of some kind.
"Rkv vaeq 'kq aez, ag vaew daeqbwmkx? Laok rkwk
fqb yk 'ii xray vae yrv vaew qaz fiiaykb fwaqb rkwe."
He got off his horse and came close to me. He put his
hand on my head. I tried to pull back, but he grabbed
my arm. The other men dismounted. I scratched the face
of my captor, and he let me go. I ran as fast as my legs
could take me. I could hear them behind me.
"Jkz rkw, dkgawk zak azrkwaqk!!!!!!!" They
ran after me. I tried calling out to Akasha, but I couldn
't speak. It felt as if the Goddess pulled me to the ground.
Powerful hands gripped me by the waist, and a man with
a scar ripped my dress. I had never felt such pain. Time
seemed to slow down, and the pain went on and on.
"Raib xzmii fqb ofvdk vae 'ii imhk mz..... #%$!!!!"
"Takara!" I heard Akasha 's voice, and the
men took to their horses. They fled into the forest. I
was left half naked and crying.
"Why didn 't the Goddess save me!" I screamed.
Why did she let them do it?" I sat up, and Akasha
ran to my side.
"Takara, are you all right? What happened? Who...?"
"The Goddess didn 't... she left me to mercy of
men... they...they...tainted me. They... a knight with
a serpent crest... tainted me...She...She...Damn her...
Damn her!" I started hitting the ground.
Akasha wiped my tears and crooned to me.
"It 's all right sister. You must stop with these
stories. Knights? Sister, please, no one can come here.
It 's our special place."
I couldn 't believe it; she thought I was making up stories!
"Sister! It was men. The Goddess let a man touch
me! She didn 't stop him. She let him touch me. Damn the
teachings!"
"What are you saying?" she looked startled.
"You would defy the teachings? Question them?"
"She didn 't help me, a time of danger, and she
didn 't help me! She...I could see the statue in my mind....
She laughed while those men...."
"You do realize, Sister...."
"What?" I couldn 't explain the look on her
face, but it looked familiar. It was like the face of
the Goddess, like Akasha saw what happened, but she didn
't stop it. She just stared at the blue flowered crown
that lay at my feet.
"Don 't defy the teachings, Takara!" Her words
were ice.
"Defy the teachings! They are no more than children
's tales before bedtime!"
"Takara, don 't think that, or you won 't pass the
Ordeal." She helped me to my feet. "A girl of
purity and virtue must...."
"Bite your tongue!" I glared at her. "Speak
of this to no one. Not even Akradam. The Ordeal is not
for many years, Sister. No one needs to know...."
"But you must not lie. A girl of Royal must be pure,
kind, honest.... Akradam said...."
I couldn 't tell her. It was like she didn 't want to
believe it.
"Akasha, the teachings are nothing. The Goddess
is nothing. She says that fighting is a sin; we still
do it. We study the teachings and the ancient battles
of Earth. We are also taught that our Goddess will come
to us, and she will aid us in a time of great trouble."
I looked away. "They hurt me. The...man... man touched
me. He..,". I at Akasha,. "Say nothing, sister.
GIVE ME YOUR WORD!"
"Fine, Sister. I can 't change the way you think."
Akasha leaned over and kissed my cheek. She picked up
the crown and placed it on her head. "Don 't defy
the teachings, Sister...."
****
"Takara, you may enter the water. When Akasha emerges,
it is your turn. Be true to the Goddess, my child."
Arcadam removed the staff from the statue of the Goddess.
"Memories good or bad, they will haunt you to your
grave," I thought as I jumped down from the pillar
into the water.
The chamber opened, and Akasha swam to the surface. She
looked older. She had changed somehow. She shook her head.
The water flew off her, and I felt a presence leave me.
It was like she had been in my mind the whole time. She
swam up to me, and she placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Good morning, Sister. May the Goddess save you
from your own mind...," she smiled.
