“All hail great Khan!”
“All hail great Khan!”
Riaz looked up at Ace who in turn squeezed his hand assuringly. Riaz let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes. I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine, he assured himself. He looked ahead and saw Akira and Alexa. Alexa smiled at him and he nodded.
It’s the Lantern Celebration today. All the people are present and surprisingly, the least expected person, Darco, is present. Who would have thought? Well, evil recognizes evil so it’s no surprise they know each other.
Khan came forward with a red unlit lantern in his hand. He raised his hand and everyone went silent.
“It’s so great to see all of you here again. Alive, and well.”
Cheers erupted in the crowd and Riaz rolled his eyes. “A lot has happened throughout the years, right?”
“YES!!”
“We all wouldn’t be here tonight if it wasn’t for the great and selfless sacrifices made by the heroic warriors in the past. We shouldn’t let thier shedded blood go to waste.”
Every word Khan spoke made Riaz’s blood boil. Heroic death? He scoffed. The innocent, heroic and selfless blood spilled on the land was non other than his family’s and people’s. His warriors did nothing!
“And now, I light the lantern.”
As he raised up the fire to match the lantern, Riaz raised his voice. “Stop!”
“Riaz, no, we should -”
Riaz yanked Ace’s hand off his and walked forward.
“Who dared interrupt the king?” A warrior yelled.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t be so harsh.” Khan said calmly. “Let them come forward.”
Riaz pushed past the crowd and got in front of Khan. “Who are you, young man?” Riaz maintained a piercing glare with Khan’s gaze. Khan found his eyes familiar.
“Why couldn’t you stop him!” Akira mind-linked Ace.
“It wasn’t my fault. I was caught off guard.”
Akira groaned and faced Alexa. “If things get worse, you have to help him.” Akira said and Alexa nodded. She had already made that decision before Akira mentioned it.
“You should recognize the child of the person you killed, shouldn’t you?”
Gasps erupted the in crowd. They looked at one another in disbelief. Who was this young man? How could he accuse thier kind king of such atrocity.
“We should seize him, my king!”
“No, calm down, people. We should listen to the man.” Khan said, moving closer to Riaz.
“Please, explain yourself.”
Riaz smirked. What a fake! Riaz stepped back and took off his hood, revealing his long white hair.
“It’s a witch!”
“Kill the witch!”
“He must be here to destroy all of us!”
Khan was in utter shock as he stared back at Riaz. Riaz took off his cloak and faced the crowd. “I am not a witch!”
“Liar!”
“Your kind should be executed!”
“You killed our people!”
“Wrong!” Ace roared from the crowd. All attention was directed at him. “Actually, his kind are the real owners of Red Orleans! You king here killed them all to take over the land!”
The soldiers were getting agitated. Darco sat still on his seat, legs crossed as he enjoyed the show.
“And he’s not wrong.” Alexa said as she joined Riaz. Seeing Alexa, Darco sat up in his seat.
“So this is where you’ve been.” Darco smirked. His day just got better.
Alexa turned to Khan. “Not only did you kill them all, you stole their land and made a fake history to taint their name?”
Khan turned to Riaz. He still can’t place his finger on where he’s seen him before. Looking into his eyes, it clicked!
“You’re Atlas’s child.”
“You recognize me now?”
“How could I not? You have his fearlessness in his eyes. You’re his. But how are you still..”
“Alive?” Riaz scoffed.
“There’s someone that wants to meet you.” Alexa said. Khan stared at her in confusion. “who?”
“Meet her yourself.”
Alexa stepped back and closed her eyes. “My body is yours, Venusa.”
A bright blue light emitted from Alexa’s chest. Everyone shut their eyes to prevent them from getting blinded. Khan opened his eyes and saw Venusa. He gasped and flinched back.
“Y… you…”
“Remember me?”
“You’re alive?”
“As you can see.”
Venusa smirked and faced the crowd.
“Evening, people. I am Venusa, the descendant of the line of priestesses. I am not a witch. We were never witches.”
“Lies!”
“She’s telling the truth!” Riaz yelled. “She is my mother. I was alive at the time your king invaded our land. I would have died if my mother hadn’t saved me.”
“How are we supposed to believe you?” A man shouted from the crowd.
Riaz turned to Venusa. “Mum…”
Venusa smiled at him and moved to the center.
“If you don’t believe it. I’ll show you.” Venusa said and Riaz pulled her back.
“How are you going to let all of them see it?” Riaz asked.
“The same way I let you see your memory.”
“But… isn’t that going to take a toll on you?” Ace chipped in.
“I’ll be fine.” Venusa assured. Venusa raised her hands to the sky and closed her eyes. She began to chant some enchantment and the sky began to rumble.
“Is she going to kill us?” A woman gasped.
“She’s not.” Dandelion yelled. “She’s about to show you the truth.”
The cloud swirled around as Venusa chanted as a high speed. The moment she opened her eyes, everyone went into a trance. Their eyes changed colours and they were pulled centuries into the past.
Everything was played before them. They saw how Khan destroyed Red Orleans. How he killed all of them. Including the real king and queen. Venusa was beginning to get weaker. She couldn’t hold all of them anymore so she fell to the ground. Riaz quickly rushed to her and held her.
“Mother, you’re bleeding!”
Venusa threw her head back, to stop blood from dripping out of her nose.
“I’ve gotten weaker throughout the years.”
“It’s worse since you’re not in your true body, right?” Ace said and Venusa nodded.
“What was that just now?”
“What did we just say?”
“Have she been saying the truth?”
Everyone began to murmur. Venusa stood up with Riaz’s help and she addressed them.