Son of The Prisonland (The Myth Shadow Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Aylan sat down on a cushion kept beside the Master’s cushion, keeping enough gaps to show respect to him, “Pardon me, Master Dorian, but I didn’t get it,” he said curiously.

  “Your Father, Aylan. He told me about you leave with the book of the map to the Fountain of Life. Since then, I’ve been counting the days of your return here,” Master Dorian explained.

  That answered half of the question. Aylan was thinking about his father. He saw him escaping from him but didn’t try to stop. Instead, he informed Master Dorian and probably waited eagerly for his return.

  Master Dorian smiled at Aylan, “No son, he knew that his time would end by the time you return. And he was prepared for this.”

  “You can read minds, too!”

  “Yes, because I, too, drank the water from that mysterious fountain. You’ll find more about your abilities. Better say, you’ll feel them when you are in need.”

  “I guessed so,” Aylan smiled back, looking at the carpet as if was recalling his memories. “I knew that you’ve given this book to my Grandfather to keep it safe. And he did it very well. All my childhood I’ve seen him guarding the chest, and it made me more curious to see what’s in it. So, after his departure, I was looking for a chance to get to it. And the day I left my parents, the opportunity came to me all of a sudden. I didn’t know that my father was watching me,” he stopped and looked up, “By the way, did you know that I’d go to the same place one day?”

  “Well, I had guessed it, since you had the book. As far I know, the fountain chooses the person it wants to be there. There are many people know about it as a myth and try to reach there. But not everyone can make it. Not everyone can be there just in time.”

  “Like the dying monk, I’ve met in the desert,” Aylan whispered.

  “Poor soul,” Master Dorian sympathized. “Somehow he knew the way to go there.”

  “Yes, Master Dorian,” Aylan commented. “It seemed like he knew where exactly the three mountains are located. I was just crossing the desert to return to home and found him in the middle of nowhere. He said he was there for a few days without any food and water and wounded. I tried my best, but it was too late. Before he dies, the monk gave me this ring of wizard king Burundas Jadukor,” Aylan took it out from his pocket and showed it to Master Dorian.

  Master Dorian seemed surprised to see it. He took the ring and looked at Aylan after having sure about the ring, “The monk gave it to you? How did he look like?”

  “It’s a bit difficult to describe his actual face, to be honest. His long and unwashed hair and beard had covered his face. But I guess he was in his mid-forties, tall and had an adamant body structure.”

  “Was there anything on his face or body, for example, any birthmark or scar that seemed a bit unusual to you?” Master Dorian leaned forward to Aylan.

  “Well,” Aylan paused for a moment and tapped his head to remember. “I think I’ve seen something inside of his right wrist. Probably a birthmark looked like a fishing net.”

  “Prince Mirad Hedarsor. The crown prince of Ashaland,” Master Dorian sighed and sat back on his cushion.

  “Prince Mirad?” Aylan was surprised. “I thought he was dead in a battle about thirty years ago.”

  “I always doubted about it,” Master Dorian replied. “He faked his death to escape from the royal life. I met him just before the battle in the Kingdom of Kalimabad. He was saying to his fellow travelers in a restaurant that how tired he was as a prince. There was an old man, called Gatik, who had the same kind of birthmark on his right wrist, approached and asked the prince to go with him in exchange for this ring. Prince Mirad took it and came out with Gatik, but returned in a few moments like a hysterical patient. His guards went outside to arrest Gatik, but he was disappeared. Anyway, when I came here and heard about his death and the situation they found him, I realized that he had done what he dreamed of. And his life had ended in the middle of the desert.”

  “That’s sorrowful,” Aylan commented. “But if he didn’t escape, the Ashalandians wouldn’t fall into this situation.”

  “Everything happens as it is supposed to happen, son. We have nothing to do but do our part in it. Now, tell me how did you know it was King Burundas’s?”

  “The stone king of Jangaliya told me. Apparently, King Burundas Jadukor had blessed their kingdom with his power to keep it safe from their enemies. He felt it in my pocket and told me that eventually, I’d know about its power. At present they are in big trouble as the Dainees had stolen their Cricles, the magical five stones that kept them out of sight of the world.”

  “The Dainees, yes,” Master Dorian muttered. “Your part starts just here.”

  Aylan was going to ask about what Master Dorian had meant by his part starting, and then he remembered being the chosen to drink the water from the mysterious fountain. “Before explaining about this, could you please tell me what happened to me after drinking the water? I feel like I’ve changed upside-down?” he asked.

  Master Dorian smiled at Aylan, “That’s what I was going to explain you, son. You’re no more an ordinary human being. You are one of the chosen. You are a Myth Shadow now.”

  ***

  Meanwhile, in the city, Cro had heard the terrible news from a young female Crow, which he had fancied since he saw her the day before. Her name was Chara and she were a royal Crow. Specifically, she was a pet bird of Queen Mother Chaya.

  When Cro arrived at the city, he found that almost all kinds of birds had gathered here, leaving the village and the surrounding area. It’s made more difficult for him to find some food. Chara saw him wandering around behind the restaurant and invited him to go to a rather quiet place to find food. She thought he was a crow, like her and Cro didn’t try to correct it. The place she took him to was by a canal, opposite to the Queen Mother’s secret garden, the hideout for the apprentice Dainees. He met the other crows there, and none of them seemed friendly to him. He was tolerated because of Chara, as she was one of the leading crows in this crow community and the primary food supplier at this critical time. Cro was amazed by her personality, too.

  Chara had shown him their hidden storage where they had kept the food away from the other birds and then in the evening, they flew over the secret garden to go to the Queen’s tower, where she lived. Cro got back to the place after visiting the tower. And was preparing himself to propose to her, though he was aware of their age gap.

  When Chara came back at the third hour in the morning with more food, Cro asked her if she wanted to go somewhere to fly around. Chara agreed to go out with him as she had the news to tell him. As they flew from their hideout, Cro and Chara sat on a branch together. Cro stayed silent as he was trying to get his words together, but Chara spoke out first, “Listen Cro. I wanted to tell you something.”

  Cro flinched. “What is that?” he asked.

  “Yesterday, when you flew to the tower with me, I realized that you’re not an ordinary crow. In fact, you’re not a crow. While I was thinking about it, the Queen Mother came to me and said that she felt the presence of a bird who was supposed to be the companion of their enemy and asked me to find out the bird. I couldn’t tell her about you, as I started liking you and know how evil the Queen Mother is,” she paused.

  Cro was struggling to absorb the news. He couldn’t say a word back.

  Chara continued, “Now, I want you to leave and let your companion, whoever he is, know about the situation. The King is going to blow up the whole village. He wants to have some fun while getting rid of those innocent people. Please go and try to do something to save these people.”

  “Well, that’s not what I’d expected to hear, to be honest,” Cro said, frustratingly. He wished for a peaceful end of his life, here with Chara. Apparently, it wasn’t possible yet. “Anyway, do you have any idea why the king is going to something so awful?” he asked.

  “As far I know, the villagers aren’t producing enough crops, nowadays. On top, they are trying to form an uprising against him.
They’d strike anytime, and I don’t blame them at all. For decades, they were living in that hell, called the village and being tortured every now and then. Sometimes even for no reason. Somehow the king came to know about it, and he’s going to strike first. Also, he has a plan to give that place to the Kajlas to live and work for him.”

  Cro remembered what he had seen the day before, the poor people in the village and their miserable condition. He felt the urge to get back to Aylan and tell him everything. He said to Chara, “Thank you very much for this information. I actually called you here for an entirely different reason, but that isn’t as important as it is.”

  “I know what you were going to say,” Chara said. “It’s really awful not to be just ordinary birds and ignore the human problems like nothing happened. But we both know our responsibility, and we have to get on with it.”

  “You are an excellent lady, Chara,” Cro commented. “I’m sure the humans would appreciate what you are doing.” He prepared to fly and looked back to Chara, “Take care of yourself and don’t get caught for telling me the secret news.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be alright,” Chara said.

  ***

  Aylan didn’t get the meaning of the word ‘The Myth Shadow,’ though he could feel the weight of it. He had felt the change and the new kind of power of wisdom and endless energy inside him in the past few days.

  Master Dorian understood his thought and said, ‘the meaning is very simple. You are the shadow of a myth. You do exist, but no one knows about it, except for your powerful enemies, though they only can feel your presence, they will not able to detect you. And you have one mission, help the others.”

  “It’s a blessed but cursed task at the same time. Your life would be miserable if you don’t keep up doing good deeds. I assume that you haven’t achieved enough power as you supposed to have by now.”

  “I’m still confused about myself,” Aylan said. “Whatever this power is, it has made me heartless. I didn’t shed a single tear for my parents. I was sitting by their grave for the whole night. I was upset because I couldn’t see them one last time. I wasn’t sad that they were gone, and I would never see them again.”

  “That’s not because you became heartless, son. The reason is, your focus is more on others concern than your own. And you know that. You know what you’ve done in the past few days before coming here.”

  These words comforted Aylan, a little bit. He nodded to Master Dorian. “What made you say that I haven’t achieved enough power as I supposed to have?” he asked.

  “Well, this is a great power but has some limitation, too. For example, if you break your promise, you’ll weaken it. And it happened to me. I broke my promise and ended up losing the endless energy that you’re feeling now. I had to leave the battleground, fighting for the oppressed and hide here.”

  “I have done the same, as well,” Aylan confessed. “I have broken the oath I gave to the Darkhors that I have chosen to join them by myself, knowing that there’s no way back and only death could set me free. Otherwise, I’ll be punished. And I’ve been running away from them for three years now.”

  “The only way to break it is, you’ve to face them. Only the end of either side would set you free. Anyway, you’re lucky that you have the ring of the king Burundas Jadukor. It is fighting against the oath for you. Keep it very safe, until you’re done with your problem.”

  “I--,” Aylan had to pause to look at the window, where Cro was flapping his wings to get their attention. “Come in, Cro,” he said.

  Cro jumped down on the floor and walked to them. He curved his neck to have a look in the office room. Then he fixed his glance to Master Dorian with a question in his eyes.

  Master Dorian smiled at Cro, “Welcome my old friend. Looks like you haven’t recognized me yet?”

  “I might be old, but still have clear vision old timer,” Cro replied. “You’re the young man I met at the three mountains. Happy to see you again.” He walked close to his old friend.

  “You do have a good memory,” Master Dorian smiled again. “Nice to see you, too. I always have wondered what you have been doing. We haven’t crossed each other in past one hundred years, can you believe it!” He petted on Cro’s wings.

  “I guess the Duray is big enough to cross our path, old friend of mine,” Cro replied. “By the way, I have bad news for you two. Just before I came here, I learned that the king is going to blow up the village.”

  “I assumed that this day would come,” Master Dorian murmured.

  “But, why’d he do it to his own people?” Aylan asked. He couldn’t take the news.

  Cro told him what he had heard from Chara and added, “But she didn’t say when it is going to happen.”

  “I think it’d be after the end of the autumn festival,” Master Dorian said. “Because it is in a few days and a lot of people are going to come here to see it. The king will not take any risk to ruin his reputation in front them. Every year, after the festival, there’s almost no outsider lives in Ashaland during the winter. That’d be the perfect time to commit the crime.”

  “But, aren’t any other people going to notice this massacre?” Cro said. He still can’t believe that this incident would actually happen.

  “No one would bother if once it was done. As the king would do it to his own people. Also, just to have a backup, the royal family and the lords of the king’s court have tried to spread enough false propaganda against those poor people. Such as, they are thieves, robbers, and murderers. These people were ‘caught red-handed’ numerous times,” Master Dorian explained.

  “That means we’ve to strike first,” Aylan said. He thought for a moment. “I have an initial plan, but it all depends on how much the villagers trust me.”

  “As a Gypsy man? No chance,” Master Dorian said.

  “Why?”

  “It’s been a long time now. The Gypsies are banished from Ashaland. On top of that, the royalists had spread a lot of false rumors against them, just as like the villagers. And, I know the reason why.”

  “The Dainees?” Aylan asked.

  “Yes. The king is being controlled by his mother, who herself is a Dainee and I have a feeling that they’re plotting something bigger, something terrible.”

  “How come you’re not doing anything against them?” Aylan asked. “After all, you’re a myth shadow.”

  “I wish I could do something,” Master Dorian grinned. “This is what I was explaining to you before, Aylan. This is where I have broken my promise and ended up losing my power.”

  Aylan frowned. Cro gave a glance to Aylan, then looked at Master Dorian and asked, “Is that because, you’re a Khuli, too?” he just have remembered that Master Dorian did say his name at the three mountains.

  “Yes, I’m a Khuli. King Goran Khuli is my Brother Gorian Khuli’s grandson,” Master Dorian said. “But that’s not the main reason. I don’t support Khulis being a monarch.”

  “Then what is it?” Aylan asked. He had never known that Master Dorian and the present royal family are related, and he doubted if many people knew about either.

  “Let me explain you the reason,” Master Dorian said. He was looking through the window as if he saw something. “When I came in Ashaland years after staying away from my own tribe, I saw my brother Gorian was preparing to be the king, even though he knew about our Midney fate. So, as soon as I got the chance to see him in private I reminded him and warned him about the consequences. Gorian understood that I wasn’t like the other Midney, but could guess I’m not someone ordinary either. However, he wasn’t ready to listen to me. Instead, he tried to convince me by saying, how our tribe’s condition was going to change, and he didn’t become the king forcibly. The people have selected him willingly.”

  “So, he became the king and proved himself as a just ruler. At that time, I had opened this school and would visit every now and then. Once I came back here and heard about his son Gora. I immediately went to the castle to speak about the
future of the kingdom and discovered that the administration had already changed and wherever I look, there are only Midneys. I warned my brother once again. He was ill and bedridden at that time. I thought he’d have realized by that time. But he proved me wrong and made swear to not to stand against his ancestors ever. After his death, his son took over the throne and started to oppress the people. They came to me for help. I couldn’t see their misery. So, being promised to my late brother, I have tried to help the people by giving them secret training here to fight back. At first, they have done well. Although I have found myself weaker than before, and by the time I’ve realized the reason, it was a bit too late.”

  “You had lost your power for breaking the promise,” Aylan commented. “Is there any connection between the king and the empty school?”

  Master Dorian shook his head. “Gora Khuli came to know about my secret training. He was aware that he can’t do any harm to me, so he had stopped the Ashalandians to get here. He gathered all the people at the lower part of the kingdom, where he could keep an eye on them. Nevertheless, he wasn’t satisfied with this, as many youngsters would protest every now and then. So, he had built the massive wall around them and restricted their movement. His son, the present king, has summoned to everyone in the kingdom to avoid my school. He let the outsider come, but no more than five student’s a year.” He paused and then said, “That’s why I’ve been waiting for you eagerly.”

  Aylan nodded. “I’ll do my best to get these people out of that hell. Could you please say about anyone who’s respected and trusted to them and whom you trust, too?”

  “Laam Yaadsor. He is a very brave and intelligent young man. He somehow manages to come here to study from the village. And get back to his home daily,” Master Dorian replied. “But I don’t get how are you going to make five thousand unarmed people come out of that dungeon, which is being watched over the day and night?”