I believe, as the story has come to this far, you may have a firm knowledge of our hero’s background which might cause you to believe the existence of Armond was most definitely insignificant under the comparison. However, it was no mean at all.

Here, I am going to solve the mystery for you, on behalf of Armond’s unpromising childhood. Of course, as a responsible storyteller, I have a duty to detailedly explain to you the truth, and nothing more but the truth.

To do that, I need your help. Please follow my lead to a beautiful summer of 1910, you should see a peaceful pond inside one of the woodlands in Munich Germany when the continents were far away from wars and noise from all sorts of violence and when the sky was clean and blue and people knew what a human truly meant.

There, the air was cleaner and fresher, less iron stain of blood and less saltiness from weeps. Peace sang in the air, the breeze was the melody of summer.

Somehow, the sun was tricked by the place. He thought his domination was over the entire face (merely the part which was in front of him) of the earth but the spot wittingly tricked him. Perhaps for the sake of his dignity, he was not told. 

The place was rich in the colour green on the top of the air, formed by elegant tree crowns, stretched upward with the elongated branches Therefore, as wise as the young man sitting under the tree, he didn’t waste the scenery by just daydreaming, he looked up and discovered a web quilt knitted by so many different colours of greens.

Suddenly, something dropped in the pond. He quickly glanced around, looking for the potential monster. But it was the same peaceful pond surrounded by a soft pastel purple flower bed. Well, maybe not all purples, there were also blue and dabs of white.

As he believed it was the end of false alarm, there were other disturbing sounds, yet, this time it came not out of the pond, but seemingly from it. So, he finally forewent his comfortable posture and walked to the pond. Just as the Germans didn’t expect for WW1, so as he didn’t expect to discover a Mythical creature struggling in the water.

He couldn’t depict on what that actually was just at the first sight but the closer he walked to the edge, the clearer he saw, a moment of breathlessness, a moment to retake his breath, wordless.

A Fairy, for heaven’s sake!

However, excluded his fear and wonder, there was no second delay for him to jump into the water and pulled her back on land.

It was quite intriguing, actually, that he even cared to save a life that was different from his kind.

See, how simple truth was, it was simply to follow the righteousness formed in your heart by the Giver of life.

One shalt never make any judgment before seeing the truth. Being a biological deputy professor in researching mystical creatures for his grand research project, he knew how it felt to be teased by his fellow colleagues who believed such project would end up as an extended section of silly fairy tales for children instead of sharing the honour to be printed on the annual academic journals published on behalf of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. In fact, most of his colleagues believed it was a disgrace to mix science with the uneducated mythical beliefs.

Anyway, in conclusion, this fine gentleman whose name was Curt, knew how unfair it was to be judged before his work had any opportunity be shown to the public. So, he didn’t judge the fairy in the water based on his previous imaginations toward a fairy or haunting pictures of their features drawn by any fairy tales illustrator. Perhaps that was the reason why he was so completely unprepared for her beauty.

Except for her delicate glittery wings, there was nothing of her complexion and figure that said a second word against her similar features with the portrait of the Girl with a pearl earring.

However, at that moment, her countenance only showed shock and worry, with no elegance matched with her beauty. She knew it was too late to hide or to transform herself to a size of a thumb. He had already seen her.

The fairy wore a light cotton pastel pink gown with a design pattern so rarely detailed in a renaissance style. Fortunately, she was wet by water, not paints. Otherwise, she wouldn’t forgive herself for ruining a new dress within a day.

“Please, take it,” Curt awkwardly bent down next to her and handed her his yellow silk handkerchief, “I know it’s quite small in size but please try and dry yourself.”

Couldn’t help, she giggled, “You are funny. How could I possibly dry myself with this wimpy thing?” Somehow, she forgot her situation and her potential danger, to be seen in the Realistic Realm. She had lowered her guard.

Very similarly, Curt didn’t find himself in any shock or disbelief. He believed there were more creatures and more than one realm. That was the reason for doing the grand project, to prove his thesis - There are worlds beyond one world and creatures beyond imagination. He was simply too in awe and was struck by her presence.

“At least, it is…...something you could use. Don’t get cold.” The moment he finished his statement, the moment he started to feel the hotness of his embarrassment crawling up from his stomach to his face and to his ears.

She received it and wiped her hair. It was soft and cascaded elegantly down to her back as a colour of the golden sun, shining as summer and the curls waved as a smooth afternoon ocean face.

“What is this?” She playfully, yet, carefully touched the spectacles hung over the bridge of his nose.

“These are my glasses. They help me to see clearer.” He smiled with a dab of coy.

“What is your name?”

“I am Curt, and you?”

“I am Emma.”

“I don’t mean to be rude but where do you come from?”

She shook her head, “Sorry, I can’t tell you that. Why aren’t you afraid of seeing me?”

“Well, because I believe fairies exist.” It sounded quite weird when the words were formed by a 30 years old man. He continued, “and because you are beautiful, not as daunting as what some others have drawn of your kind.”

“Thank you,” she smiled, “and you are not as daunting as what the realm says you people are.”

“Was that a compliment or gratitude for my saving your life?”

They both laughed, care-freely and open-heartedly.

From that day forward, they constantly met each other, though secretly, they enjoyed every bit of moment spent together. The border between the two realms was set between an invisible line in the woodland. It was only one of the border lines. Of course, a place such remote was hardly a populated area. Only nature admired it, but also, this young man who fell so madly in love with this young maiden.

However, as we all can guess, love comes and love goes. It would be a different case for true love. But such love as short passioned between Curt and Emma as something expected to be burned away quicker than a candle flame.

Two years after their relationship, Emma gave birth to Armond, the start of a new journey embarked an end of their walk together as a couple.

“Let me tell you something, you have never loved me as your wife!” She bellowed.

“I…..no! I just don’t understand. Why can’t I know your origin? Why can’t I know the portal to your realm? For heaven's sake, I am your husband!”

“Yes! I am your wife without any legal recognition!” She turned her back on him, didn’t want him to see the weakness shown on her face.

“Oh, woman! You are a fairy! You have no identity! Here!”

The atmosphere grew heavier with his words, ponding at her heart. Woman!

So, she was only a woman to him.

“You get close to me just so to get access of my origin. You just want to do research on me and my people. You just want to gather evidence in my land! Am I right!”

“You’ve searched my library?” His voice suppressed a deeper layer of rage and doubts.

“Don’t think that I only do folly just because I am a fairy. I know you’ve been doing some research over mythical creature ever since that day we met!”

A bitter infant cry brought their war to a halt. They both ran upstairs to check on Armond to see whether he was fine. When they saw the handsome little creature who possessed a bit of his father’s heritage and a bit of his mother’s, with a hair colour mixed with blonde and brown, with eyes that glowed the emerald her mother owned, the windows to her soul.

Suddenly, they forgot what they were fighting about, just for that split second. After that, they promised to try to be together for the child’s sake. However, their promise was as weak as their love for each other. It broke four years later and so as how Armond’s family collapsed into pieces of memories.

***

Now, the time was exactly when we left the last chapter, in Armond’s bedroom, standing inside a secret chamber hidden within the structure of his Castle. At the very same night the General was assassinated, the very same night Aurora rose him from the dead, the very same night we discovered another layer of Armond’s secrets.

The wall enclosed itself so the view to his regular bedroom was seen no more. It was another area of bewilderment, a rectangular space full of books and documents and shelves and jars that were tightly closed, stacked neatly on another display shelves.

He walked to the back of the chamber where the wall was built by stones. Without any thought, he pressed the stones in a regulated pattern, as if a secret code and the stones were buttons.

Suddenly, another wall was open. Compared to the chamber, what hidden inside that wall was just a closet and a delicately crafted wooden box.

He opened the box and it revealed a scroll. Its value was coloured with a thousand years of age. He slowly unfolded it and read the letters carefully.

Years of waiting, patience is trailed.

Tears from praying, heavens heard.

A crown from above, eternal glory.

A Princess of rose, praised and sainted.

A Queen rules with love and passion,

Heals the sick and raises the dead,

A sign is given to the barren age,

Darkness shall cease at the start of sage.

Star of hope, shall be born.

Ye whose life fainted at the thorn,

May thou be the aura of the throne,

As a lasting aurora for the noble stone.

This was a prophecy he was reading, in regard to the Fantastical Realm. It was handed down from generation to generation in the household of the Prophet. The scroll was written so many centuries ago which was about how a Queen would rule over the Land of Fantasia and her reign would be the one of eternal joy and glory.

There was only one bloodline of Prophet, the household of Samuel. Households other than his bloodline and without the ancestral relation shall not come forth a prophet. However, Armond was a special case. His household, though was of fairy, was long founded with the source of the Prophet household but it gradually developed into its own extension, as a branch exceeded from the trunk.

History might have forgotten them but their power still remained. Not to mention, they were more than just ordinary fairies. They had the gift to write prophecy and they could do it more accurately than some fruits blossomed quite closely to the family tree trunk.

Yes, the scroll was written by his mother’s ancestors. Though their power was not distributed from generation to generation (sometimes it skips quite many), the members of the household kept the scroll nice and knit, just as how their ancestors had ordered.

Miraculously, this generation, Armond was chosen to receive the power. Of course, by the start of it, Emma was far more than excited because, without Armond, this branch would be ended with just four women with no bearing. Yet, not only did Armond carry the seed, but he also carried the power of the ancestral gift!

Nonetheless, what sparked on Armond’s eyes was not how aged the scroll was and what a fine job he had done to protect it, but rather on the words “A Queen rules with love and passion, Heals the sick and raise the dead” and “aurora”.

He sank into his reading sofa and allowed his mind go wild with lots of assumptions and he was shaken by one of them, “It can’t be more obvious. She is the Princess and the future Queen of Fantastical Realm! Princess Aurora!”