Chapter 0:
My Morning Star
The first memory that I had of her was when we were children. Baddo had introduced me to a customer of his mining company, an incredibly well-dressed man. Seeing how nice he looked scared me for some reason. Maybe it was because this was the first time I had seen such fancy clothes. Maybe it was because he looked like he must have been left out in the sun for too long and was burnt, but I couldn’t help but hide behind my Baddo’s legs, like that could have hidden me from his scary eyes. Something about me hiding must have amused him, because he barked out with laughter.
“Don’t worry, bushka,” the scary man said. The patterns on his clothing rippled, gleaming with inlaid gold fibers. From the sound of his voice, it appeared that he had traveled here from a land very far away. “He’s just as nervous as you are. Come on out and help him feel welcome.”
Hiding behind my dad’s customer’s legs, another child poked her head out. She looked as crispy burnt as her dad, but while he looked rough and scary, there was a fragility and beauty I never forgot.
“Go on, Eva,” The man encouraged. “Say hello.”
Eva looked like she might be around the same age as me. At her dad’s encouragement, she leapt out from her hiding spot, grinning wide and wildly. “Hello!” She boomed.
Her loud exclamation scared me. Made me want to shrink in my Baddo’s clothes and vanish. Thankfully he didn’t let me. Baddo guided me into the open, into her orbit.
We have been inseparable ever since.
How do I describe Eva? She was everything I ever wanted in a friend. There were times where she’d sneak out of her home and break me out of mine so we could try and teach each other magic against the starry sky. Her eyes were as green as a verdant lake, constantly sparkling and brimming with life, with a smile brighter than the noon day sun. Every time she entered or left the room, I couldn’t help but watch. It was like an angel had descended from the heavens. Wait, that’s not good enough to describe her beauty. Angels and the heavens are still confined to our world. She was… an alien goddess, glowing with compassion and had a mischievous streak that went farther than her hair was long.
I didn’t know it was love at first. But I’m grateful I was hers, and she was mine. We didn’t even think to call ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend, but we did all the things they’d do.
Before I continue on, I suppose it would be prudent to explain that Baddo is what we affectionately refer to my dad. His actual name is Shad Carick, and he grew up in a strict household that emphasized their cultural heritage as Vitali descent up south of the Caucus mountains before Baddo’s family moved down here working in the mines. He had been a lot more lax with teaching us his native language, probably because Isa wasn’t Vitali either. Once I had gotten old enough, my Baddo asked me if I was planning on dating Eva. I didn’t even pause to entertain the notion and started laughing. He didn’t like that.
“Adan,” Baddo said sternly. “Love is a beautiful thing. It gave me you. Don’t hurt Eva if that isn’t something you are considering having with her.”
“I know, Baddo,” I assured him, despite not understanding what he meant at all. The idea that I could hurt my friend seemed impossible. “I would never hurt her.”
My father was unconvinced, though. Baddo was convinced I was more ignorant to the ways of the world than the rest of our family, and often would share his wisdom with me, frequently without notice.
“Son, I think it’s time I told you the ten tiers to love,” He continued. “You’re at that age where you may have noticed changes to your body, and you might have noticed Eva changing as well.”
“Excuse me?!”
Baddo gestured to himself and then to me. “You’re growing. Soon you’ll be as tall as me. Maybe bigger. We have all heard you train your sceptre late in the evening; Don’t try to deny it, your brothers and sisters know it, and I’ve talked with them then about this when they were your age just as I am speaking with you now. Your sceptre is a mighty tool, but its power should never be abused. Our king has not abused us during his rule, and neither should you wield your sceptre unrighteously.”
“Why are you calling it a sceptre?!” I exclaimed, feeling the blood rise to my cheeks with every word he kept saying. “This is embarrassing!”
Baddo waved my outburst aside. “There’s nothing embarrassing about it, and after having to explain it so many times I’ve gotten pretty good if I do say so myself,” He retorted. A wild grin split across his face. “But would you prefer I just call it the –”
“Sceptre is fine!” came my interruption.
So Baddo taught me about puberty. He assured me that everything was completely natural, and with it would come impulses that I could choose to control, or let them control me. I didn’t realize it then, but the wisdom he shared with me was something that helped me understand myself as I grew older, as well as just how often we were controlled by our hormones and impulses.
Growing up, I had the pleasure – or displeasure, of having to deal with three older brothers and two older sisters. They’re names were Alan, Davan, Armani, Sophia and Roma.
Alan and Sophia were the oldest. They always bickered, but it was never malicious. As is tradition, Baddo was training Alan to take over the family business our father and his father maintained. Even though Sophia was younger than Alan by two years, she always acted like she was the oldest and was very motherly towards all of us. When I was younger and was using words I still didn't entirely understand, said they were arguing like a married couple, and they both yelled at me to not say such disgusting things. I would have gotten smacked if not for Baddo's timely interruption!
Davan was a year younger than Sophia, and always chafed under his sister's care. He was a natural troublemaker and would always go out of his way to tease her the most. I think that was because he wanted to be in charge, and is always the first to our defense the moment bullies would try and harass us. He was a good kid, but he was just impulsive at times.
Armani and Roma were twins, and only two years older than me. Something that was regarded as an unlikely miracle here in the southern province of Orodin. They were very private and distant from the rest of us though, and often disappeared for long stretches of time before abruptly returning every few days. As a child, I was unaware they were even members of the family simply because of how often they were absent in our lives. Baddo assured us that they still care though, and shared a story once where there was a cave-in in the mines, the twins were the ones that spearheaded the rescue effort of the miners, personally searching for survivors and refused to return to the light of day until everyone was accounted for. I do not know them very well, but I always tried to include them whenever they visited.
The greatest memory I treasured of my siblings was when all of us got together to kidnap our dad when I was only seven years old. Normally the company’s profits were substantial enough that Baddo could have had a purely administrative role in the mine, but he always insisted on joining his employees in plundering its depths every now and again. On the day we enacted our plan, Baddo was working alongside the miners, exerting himself with the ferocity of a starving predator. Perhaps he didn’t realize it was his birthday. Or maybe he just didn’t care. But we did. The protests Baddo made as we stole him away, blindfolded and confused back to the house where we ripped away the covering to a room with presents and cake, was worth it all just to see his tears of happiness at the effort we put in.
There was one more member of our family, but I never got to meet her. Isa, Baddo’s wife. Baddo didn’t talk about her alot, but Sophia told me it was because she got sick shortly before giving birth to me, and never recovered after I was born. I wish I could have gotten to know her.
The province in Orodin was called Seras, and the town we lived in had the name of Havenwood. Havenwood was a mining town, settled only a few hundred years ago by explorers on orders from King Devron of the Valley. I think it had something to do with wanting to boost the economy after his crusade against the neighboring kingdom of Apa, so Havenwood was established on the opposite end of the kingdom near the coasts to keep it from being a viable target from the Plainswalkers. The town quickly began to turn a profit, and even grew in popularity as a tourist destination for the pristine beaches, romantic cliffs and forests the King quickly declared as a nature reserve. As I got older, I started to get worried that I or any of my family would end up being conscripted for the King’s fights, but thankfully Baddo assured me that our worth to the economy was greater here than on the field of battle.
What made me nervous however, was that Eva’s family, the Applegartens, lived on the border between the Zul and Apa kingdoms, in the north easternmost province of Zul. There were times where I was convinced that the Plainswalkers would cross the border and kill Eva and her family, or even trek all the way around the Meruya Mountains to attack Seras. Baddo assured me though that the Plainswalkers were only at war with us though, and to skirt around the southern mountain ranges would be tantamount to declaring war on the Zul, who we were allied with. But that still made me a little uneasy, because the Applegartens were here and not at their home at the border. The Desert Lands were all encompassing from the continent’s eastern border to its southern, so it didn’t make sense to me that Eva would be all the way over here instead of anywhere else in Zul with her family. I guess that was business though, since Edgar was working for my Baddo’s company as chief of security.
Regardless, I had my best friend. So I was happy. All I wanted was to live a life of stability and normalcy while she craved excitement and adventure. There was something odd about Havenwood. Something that didn’t feel right; a mystery, or conspiracy or monster, we weren’t sure.
All I knew was that Eva wanted to find the answer. Maybe that was what drew me to her. If only I knew then what I knew now, I might have treasured her more. Had I been stronger, maybe she would still be here. And it all started with that day we found that cave, and our lives were changed forever.
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