Chapter #02: Unseelie Now

My sixteenth birthday party was being held in the Grand Ballroom. Like the rest of our castle, it was mostly white marble with gold trim. Today there was a bit more color, though. Ribbons wrapped around support pillars; photos of my life, sitting on easels around the room; banners saying Happy Birthday. There was a stage set up for a band and a dance floor directly in front of it. The rest of the room was filled with ornate tables and chairs. There was also a drink bar in the corner. I still hated it. I wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. 

Over the next hour, hundreds of nobles and family acquaintances poured into the Ballroom. Even the Seven Elders of the Seelie Court were there. Everyone was making such a big deal of their precious Prince Mordekai Hexum becoming a man. They kept coming over and congratulating me. I played my part like a good little prince, put on a fake smile, shook hands, the whole damn thing. I didn’t care about any of them. I only wanted my mother here. 

“Hey man, how’re you holding up?” Sam came to my side. 

“Well, I haven’t puked all over myself… yet.” We both chuckled a little. Sam looked intently across the room. 

“I think you have an admirer.” He pointed to a girl leaning on the bar. She looked about my age, and kept smiling at me as she sipped from her wine glass. 

“Either that or a trap,” I joked. Like everyone else, she was dressed in fancy formal wear and had her blonde hair twisted into elegant braids. Intricate jewelry adorned her pointed ears, neck, and wrists. Her makeup was on point, really complimenting her radiant blue eyes. Her skin was a sun-kissed peach, like mine. I had to admit to myself, I thought she was gorgeous. 

“Go talk to her, dude.” Sam nudged me in her direction. “Go get yourself a girl. And I’m gonna go get myself a boy!”

I snickered as I followed Sam’s gaze to a dashing young man leaning against a pillar. We both headed off in separate directions. 

“I was wondering if you were gonna come to talk to me or not!” The girl grinned and bowed her head slightly as I approached her. “I’m Lazula Rose. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Your Royal Highness.”

“Please, just Kai is fine.” I smiled back and extended a hand. “Personally, I can’t stand the formal title crap.” She giggled as she shook my hand. 

“Don’t fancy the royal life, then?”

“Not even a little.” We both laughed. Then I leaned in and lowered my voice to a whisper. “I suspect that I secretly desire to… run amok…”

She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a louder snicker. “Don’t let your father hear you say that.”

“What can I say…” I leaned in more and whispered in her ear. “I’m a bad, bad boy…”

“My favorite kind of boy,” she replied and blushed. She began whispering something in my ear as well, but I didn’t understand her words. 

Is she chanting some ancient language? I thought to myself. Then she turned and walked out of the Ballroom… and I followed. Against my will. Aw crap! She hexed me! It freaking figures! I just HAD to flirt!

I suddenly took the lead, my body moving without any input from me. I headed deeper into the castle with Lazula right behind me. Any time we passed someone in the halls, my mouth spoke on its own and said I was giving my friend the grand tour. It didn’t take long for me to realize where we were headed. Crap, she’s gonna try to use me to get into the Vault of Secrets…

That was where my father stored all magical artifacts that were created by Chaos Magic and deemed too dangerous to be out in the world. The door to the Vault had a Blood Seal, meaning only a member of House Hexum could open it. But my father had always forbade me from entering the Vault, so I expected the Blood Seal to reject me. 

Once we turned down the corridor leading to the Vault, I spotted two guards playing cards at a table next to the door. They both grinned. 

“Good evening, Prince Mordekai,” one said joyfully. “And Happy Birthday!”

“If you’re looking for a… quiet place for you and your lady friend, the second floor conference room is empty,” the other offered. 

“Actually, my friend here would like to play cards with you.” Again, I was speaking against my will.

“Oh, is that so?” The guards raised their eyebrows and grinned again. 

“But I use special ones! Check these out!” Lazula reached into her dress and pulled out two cards between her index and middle fingers. The runic writing on the cards began to glow bright blue. With a flick of her wrist, she sent them flying through the air, one sticking to each guard’s forehead. They looked confused for a second, and then slumped over in their chairs, unconscious. 

We approached the large round door to the Vault. It was made of dark stone and covered in runes that were engraved in a spiral pattern. Still under Lazula’s control, my body stepped up to the door and placed a hand on it. 

Nothing is going to happen, I said in my mind. Imagine my shock when the runes on the circular door lit up and it rolled to the side like a wheel, granting us entry. Then a thought hit me. There’s no way Dad would have let this open for me as a child - he’s too smart for that. So is the Blood Seal designed to open for a Hexum only when they turn sixteen? Is that why Lazula waited until my birthday to show up and pull this stunt? How did she know it would work?

As we entered the Vault, we found ourselves in a massive rectangular chamber filled with rows of wooden shelves. The walls were lined with cabinets and chests. Just about every surface was cluttered with various trinkets and artifacts. A lot of it was covered in dust and cobwebs. 

Lazula began walking up and down the rows, searching intently for something. Then she found what she was after. “Aha! There you are!” It was a thick grimoire with a black leather cover and the same runic script as her cards. 

“What the hell is that?” I meant to say that in mind, and was a bit surprised to hear it aloud. Then I realized I had control of myself again.

“Well shit!” she clearly hadn’t anticipated her hex ending too early. She frantically pulled out another ‘knock out’ card and tossed it at me. I held out my hand towards her and fired a bright green fireball from my open palm, which blasted the card to shreds before it could reach me. Fortunately my father made sure I was trained in Arcane Mixed Martial Arts from a young age. 

“Kai! Your dad’s looking for you!” Sam’s voice echoed from around the corner. “Kai! Are you over here? You need to - what the hell?!”

Looks like he found the unconscious guards outside. 

Sam ran into the Vault behind us and skidded to a halt. “What the hell are you guys doing?! Are you trying to get in trouble?!”

Lazula flung another card at me, and I shot another fireball at it. But then she waved her hand and unleashed a gust of wind that redirected my fireball towards Sam. 

“What is - WHOA!” He dove to the side as the fireball slammed against the wall and fizzled out, leaving behind a few cracks in the stone and a char mark.

“Crap! Sorry dude!” I said, then looked back to Lazula. “Look, I don’t want anyone to get hurt. You have that book - that’s what you came for, right? So just leave.”

“And let you tell the police which way I’m headed before I am able to get out of town? Ha! I think not!” she cried out defiantly. 

“You’re damn right we’re gonna tell!” said Sam as he came to stand next to me. 

“Dude, stop! You’re gonna make it worse! Just let her go!” I insisted. 

“No way! You said she came for that book! So she’s a thief!” Sam stood firm. 

“Guess I gotta whip out the big guns!” Lazula smirked as she shoved the grimoire into her purse, which must have had an extradimensional storage space inside. She then brought her hands together and conjured a tiny thunderstorm between them. She threw the storm cloud up above her, and it rapidly expanded to cover the entire ceiling of the vault. Bolts of lighting began striking the floor in various places, followed by heavy swirling winds and torrential downpour. Then she started directing the lightning bolts towards us with hand gestures. 

“Holy crap!” Sam cried out as we ducked for cover behind a shelf. “She’s not messing around!”

“Oh man, once enough of this rain builds up on the floor, those bolts will get us no matter where we are!” I exclaimed. Then I had an idea. “Wait, Lazula! What if we let you use your knock out cards on us this time? Then you will be able to escape before we wake up!”

“Absolutely not!” Sam protested. 

“I’m totally gonna call them knock out cards from now on!” She laughed. “Step out here and let me use them on you, then.”

“Kai, no!” Sam pulled me back as I moved to walk out in front of Lazula. 

“Sam, listen, we need to… We need to… Um….” My eyes were drawn to the tall mirror leaning against the wall behind us. It had a crystal frame that was beginning to glow white. Something about it… clouded my mind.

“Kai? What’s wrong?” Sam was worried. 

“Are you guys coming out or what?” Lazula was getting annoyed. 

Their words faded away as I stared at my reflection. I saw myself… changing. My eyes were glowing. My skin was turning light green. I was getting taller. My limbs were extending. My muscles were bulging. My suit was ripping. My teeth became fangs. My face contorted into some beastly shape. My faerie wings manifested. Their normal butterfly-shape shifted and morphed into… dragon wings? 

“Kai! Kai! What’s happening to you?!” Sam’s words seemed distant, echoes of a lost world. He was… so short now. No… I was taller. Like some massive troll or something. And I was angry. I needed to get out of there right away!

Without really knowing what I was doing, I roared loudly and ran at the wall, smashing right through it. Everything that followed was a blur of raw emotion, but somehow I made my way back to the Ballroom, wreaking absolute destruction upon the castle along my way. People were screaming and fleeing out into the courtyard. And I think I shot green fire out of my mouth at some point? 

I was barely conscious for most of it, but I remember seeing Lazula vanish around a corner yelling, “Thanks for the distraction!” And I remember thinking: What the HELL did that mirror do to me?!