Issue #2: Chapter 4

"It all started in the world of Arak," the old man continued, "There was once a lively, peaceful kingdom within the land of Pratus known as Shalom. There lived a newly appointed king and queen through an arranged marriage, and the people there lived peacefully there.

"Everything was going so well until the new monarchs were pressured to have an heir to not only continue on the family line, but also win favor amongst their people. They tried to produce an heir, but found out that the new queen was barren.

"This grieved the king as his and his wife's reputation were ruined by their townsfolk and the aristocracy. He and his wife tried everything to make his wife fertile, even praying to the gods for help but only found failure, leading themselves into further distress.

"So the new monarchs separated themselves from the rest of the kingdom and turned to other things to get over their distress. While the queen turned to sowing, the king turned to hunting.

"Yet despite all this, even that didn't work in their favor. And so they continued on with their daily lives until one day while the king was taking a walk in the forest, he stood by the lake and sighed with a frown.

"The thought of not producing an heir still haunts his mind. He stared at the reflection from the lake. 'O, what am I going to do now?' the king said, 'I tried everything to maintain my legitimacy as king of Shalom, but I failed to prove my worth.' He covered his face with his hands as he sobbed. 'O, what am I going to do now? How do I make people take me seriously as king again?'

"Then the witch heard the king's cry and tsk-tsked him. 'O, why are you so glum, my dear king?' She asked.

"'Huh?!' The king was alerted when he heard the witch's voice, pulling out his sword. 'Who goes there?! Come out and show yourself!'

"Then the witch showed herself to the king and the king was frightened when he saw her, aiming his sword at her, 'You stay away from me!'

"'But why, sir? I'm here to help you,' the witch pleaded.

"'Stay away from me, you demon! You witches will all burn in Ginnom once I kill you, and the gods will honor me for it!' the king warned with a glare.

"'O well, if you keep pushing me away, how will I be able to cure your wife's barrenness?' the witch questioned with a frown.

"The king gasped and immediately put away his sword, 'Excuse me, miss. Did you say you have a cure for my wife's barrenness?'

"'That's right,' the witch said with a nod, 'I could definitely help you fix your problem by making a potion.'

"'Oh, you would do that?'

"'Oh, why, yes, I would most certainly do that but there's some payment that you owe me.'

"'I'll reward you anythin', woman. You name your reward.'

"'Good, good. That's what I want to hear. Your heir will be your payment.'

"The king became confused and asked, 'My heir? You want me to give you my heir?'

"'Why, yes, your heir-your son,' the witch nodded.

"'And why do you want to have my son?'

"'The king's son helps witches with their longevity by a huge margin and any other babies in Arak, it's just what witches have to do to survive after we discovered eating humans actually does give us longevity long ago.'

"'And you couldn't find another way for longevity?'

"'I'm afraid not, my king. You will have to give me your son as payment for making your wife barren.'

"'Please accept money as payment over my son.'

"'Absolutely not. I do not take any other payment other than an heir, sir.'

"'Please, accept any other payment besides my son, please.'

"'Well, if you feel you can't provide me an heir, I shall leave your wife barren and have your kingdom remain in ruins, sir. Have a nice day, my king.'

"'Wait!'

"'Yes?'

"The king paused for a moment there with his head down, before he returned his attention to the witch. 'I shall provide you my son as payment.'

"'Excellent, I knew you would make the right choice. I shall provide you my potion once it's ready.'

"'Brilliant.'

"And the witch did as she promised and gave the potion to the king. The king returned to his wife as they were getting ready for the night. The king said to her, 'My love, I've got you a cure for your infertility.'

"The queen gasped and smiled at her husband and said, 'Really? Well, what is it?'

"The king gave his wife the potion. 'Here.'

"'This is my cure?'

"'It is indeed my wife, but I must make a payment in return.'

"'What payment in return?'

"'I must provide an heir to the witch.'

"The queen was rightfully horrified at the news and said, 'You made a deal with the witch?! Our gods' mortal enemies?! Have you gone mad?!'

"'I have a plan though, and it wouldn't really be our son.'

"'What?'

"'If we have an heir, we'll send someone's son to the witch instead. We'll still keep our heir, trust me.'

"After the queen calmed down a bit, she then said, 'Fine. If we're going to do this, we better keep it to ourselves.'

"'Why would I disagree with that?'

"So the king and queen kept their secret to themselves and the queen drank the potion that would made her fertile, which pleased the townsfolk and the aristocracy throughout Shalom. They produced four daughters which would get them out to the public a lot more. Yet they still didn't have an heir and were pressured to produce it.

"The king and queen did and they finally produced an heir, which excited the kingdom of Shalom. Yet they encountered the witch watching them from the window, leading them to go on with their plan.

"So they visited the witch in the forest and provided her with a wrapped baby boy.

"'There you are, woman. We appreciate what you've done for us,' the queen said.

"'Yes, absolutely,' the king agreed, 'We wouldn't have done this without you.'

"The witch looked inside the baby wrap and saw the baby smiling at her, touching his nose a bit. 'Why, of course, of course, my dear king and queen. And I also thank you for your offer. I appreciate your gratitude and accept your payment gift. I hope you two have a good day and wish you both a prosperous kingdom.'

"'We wish you to have a nice day and great longevity,' the rulers said as they waved at the witch and left the forest. After the witch waved back at them, she looked down at the laughing baby and licked her lips. 'Ah, yes, yes. You're all mine now and I'm just starving.'

"Nine days after the witch ate the baby boy, she was enjoying her day in the forest until a couple of women passed by her. She hid behind the bushes to avoid being detected, while their laughter echoed throughout the forest.

"'Did you hear that the prince of Shalom is getting a holy cleansing provided by the gods this morning?' One of them asked as the witch became confused.

"'The prince of Shalom is getting a holy cleansing?' the witch asked herself in a lower voice, 'But I just ate the ruler's heir. I don't understand at all. How could he survive being eaten by the witch?'

"'Why, yes, of course I have,' another woman answered. 'He's just so cute, I bet he's even cuter when he was cleansed.'

"'I know right,' one of the women said as she and the other one laughed. The witch came out of hiding and her face became even more confused, walking back and forth until she finally figured it all out which made her very angry. 'Oh, they tricked me! They gave me the wrong baby to eat! Oh, I'll get them for that! They shall see my wrath.'

"After the prince was cleansed, the rulers threw a celebratory party for his cleansing. The king and queen were having a good time in their kingdom and gaining respect from society again, until the witch arrived and pointed her finger at the rulers, right after she found out that the baby was indeed alive after all.

"'You tricked me! You said you would give me your heir as payment for making the queen fertile, yes? And yet you tricked me into eating the wrong baby boy! Did you want me to die young? Now you will face punishment for breaking your promise to me!' The witch roared. She cast her spells on the king and turned him into a lycan, the queen into a vampiress, and their four daughters into other monsters alongside the aristocrats, staff and soldiers there.

"The monsters there terrorized and killed the townsfolk there. The witch killed the heir with her fingernails and watched the kingdom of Shalom in ruin with joy, preparing to feast on the heir, becoming ruler of the kingdom. With some of the townsfolk having died ever since the incident, some of them survived and asked the kingdoms for help to rescue Shalom from the witch.

"Before help arrived however, the witch used her magic to seal off the kingdom and prevented other kingdoms from saving Shalom, never mind finding it. Shalom was never found and thus the survivors were never taken seriously ever again because of this. It became the kingdom of never returning.

"As the years went by and the majority of the people were killed there, the witch decided to unseal Shalom as a peaceful town without the castle being present there. Changing the kingdom's name to Pagis, she tricked travelers into attending there through her good deeds and got them killed for her to feast on. And the cycle repeats with no one to save the kingdom from her and it remains like this for years to come."

Remaining standing there with my arms crossed, my eyes still darted at the old man and I asked him while wandering my eyes around, "Ah, so this place used to be called Shalom before the witch became ruler of the kingdom, eh?"

"Yes, it was," the old man responded while he stood up from the chair. "I think it's safe for us to go find Silverus and Aleke while we're at it."

"And who are they exactly? Are they friends of yours or something?"

"Why, of course, yes. They are," the old man walked around the table past me with the crossbow and the candle in his hand. "We have to find them to help us save Shalom and get out of this kingdom. Then we shall have to destroy all the monsters and the witch-the first one being Alpha, the lycan king. It's the only way out."

You've gotta be kiddin' me…like, is there no other way besides that?! Seriously?!

I raised my eyebrow at him. "And I'm guessin' this lycan king is the king of Shalom, yes?"

"Yes, that's right," the old man said before he widened his eyes and grabbed onto his chest, which led him to stop moving and collapsed to the ground. "Argh!"

The candle and the crossbow landed on the ground, nowhere to be seen. There was smoke ascending towards the ceiling, as I assumed the candle was blown out already. The sound of the crossbow sliding on the floor revibrated until it hit the stairway.

"Huh?! Hey, are you alright?!" I dashed towards the old man and kneeled down on the floor, shaking the old man. I didn't expect him to collapse, but here we are regardless. I heard no response from him as his eyes were closed. "Hey, are you okay, old man?"

There was still no response from him, so I said, "Hello?!" to him and shook him a couple more times. Still no answer from him.

I frowned at the old man and moved my eyes sideways. I was quizzical about whether he was dead or not.

Oh, please don't tell me you're dead. Please don't tell me you're dead.

I turned to the stairway and the old man back and forth, struggling to decide whether I should leave the old man dyin' alone or save him. After a while though, I was more likely about to leave the old man and get the hell out of here, yet I couldn't sit by and see him die like that. So I remained with him and hoped that he would remain alive.