THE SUPREMACY

Treasures of the gods

King Hector stood in the throne room, just gazing at the Royal seat, it was a very large chair made of gold and iron, with diamond and ruby gems fitted in on every edge as decoration. The hall was vast, longer that it was wide, concrete pillars stood at both sides of the room holding up the higher floors, and purple banners displaying the sigil of House Vernon hung down in between each pillar,

Rays of the sun's light shone through the large window on the wall and above the throne onto Hector's body, the highly reflective jewels on his crown sparkled.

The doors creaked open but he didn't react, Valkori stepped into the hall, wearing a white off-shoulder gown, her full black hair unpacked and spread over her back and neck

"Father, you sent for me?" she asked, her voice echoed mildly as the hall was empty, he finally turned to look at her

"Yes, I did"

She walked up to him and stood by his side, under the light which came in from the window above, she waited for him to say something for almost a minute but he kept on standing;

"What's going on father?"

He put his hand on her shoulder, and pointed the other to the throne

"What do you see when you look at that throne, Valkori?"

"....what?" she asked confused, what was she supposed to see?

"That throne, what does it mean to you?" he clarified

"Ohh, I guess, my uhh...my duty, and responsibility..." she tried thinking of every big and smart word she could come up with, Hector gave her a side eye look

"Go on..." he requested

"The throne, the seat of the Sovereign, it's the symbol of my mandate, our mandate, to rule over and protect our people, in all six-"

"-Five" he corrected

"Five, in all five kingdoms of the Supremacy, to vanquish all demons and forces of darkness, and hold together the world of magic, ensuring peace and prosperity in our lands, from this day, and to the end of time..."

She glanced at him nervously as she waited for a remark, he smiled at her and held her shoulder firmly;

"Did they teach you that in school?"

"No, they don't teach anything like that in school, I learned it from you, you used to talk about stuff like that all the time when I was younger"

"You learned very well" he praised her "You'll make a very fine queen, one day"

He removed his hand from her and began to walk towards a corridor by the side

"Follow me, I want to show you something" he commanded, she walked down the hallway beside him and they continued their discussion

"Do you know where you come from Valkori?, where you really come from?"

"You've told me before-"

"I know that, answer the question" he cut harshly

"Helia, I'm from Helia" she replied, feeling very uneasy as she wondered what all these questions were for

"And how did you get here?, Valkori of Helia" he asked sarcasticly

"There was...civil war, my family, House Royalé, the original rulers of the Supremacy, they fought against each other for power and they all died, I was the only one...the only one who survived"

"Is that all?" Hector asked seriously, "Do you not remember the other parts of the story?"

"I do father"

"Then go on"

Valkori stuttered briefly

"After the last battle, you came in to help the survivors, you and Lord Shiro, and that's where you found me, as a newborn baby, and you took me from my dead mother's arms, you brought me back here to Tremore, and took me as your child"

"And are you grateful for that?" He asked coldly

"I am very grateful father, for saving my life, and raising me as your child and heir, I owe you my life and my existence father, and I'll do everything possible to live up to your expectations, and carry on your heritage"

Hector stopped at the front of a door and she did the same

"Have you been here before?"

"No, no father"

He opened the door and stepped into it, holding her hand and leading her in, Valkori saw a gigantic painting on the wall, a painting of five dark human silhouettes, four men and one woman, the man in the center sat on a throne, similar to her father's, the dark figures all had blue glowing soulless eyes and seemed to be wearing some sort of foreign but high status attire

"Who are those people?..." she asked in fear as the painting horrified her

"That was your family, not all of them of course" Hector replied

"Why do they look like that?" she asked again, she was beginning to feel very uncomfortable

"Because they were monsters, tyrants, maniacs, drunk on power, the whole realm wanted them dead, but they were far too powerful, every single member of the bloodline was not only a sorcerer, but bore their treasure as well, the power of-"

"The eternal light" Valkori whispered

"You're well learned" Hector said proudly, he began to walk back and forth slowly, to the painting on the wall and to Valkori

"Have you learned about the history of magic in our world?, how the Supremacy and the Royal houses came to be?"

"Yes father, we learned it in school-"

"Answer the question" he shut her again, she gulped and went on

"Nine hundred and thirty six years ago, a breach occured between the living world and the other side, demons rushed in through the opening, hundreds of thousands of them, allegedly"

"They possessed human bodies in other to exist properly within this world, and could only be identified by a mark on their chests, they killed, slaughtered and consumed every human and creature they came across..."

"Go on" Hector urged her

"And the humans, being driven to the brink of extinction by opponents they could not defeat, prayed to the Heavens, to the six gods above, and they answered, by choosing six prophets, one prophet for each god, one who was to be their champion"

Valkori saw a map of the Supremacy on a table in front of the painting and walked up to it, Hector followed her curiously. She pointed to the kingdom of Tremore on the map

"The first god, the Lord of Dominion, granted his prophet with the treasure; the Temple of Sacrifice, and this treasure is possessed by House Vernon today"

She pointed to the Kingdom of Burmah on the map

"The second god, the Lord of freedom, granted his prophet with his treasure; the nine divine beasts, this treasure is possessed today by House Devantri"

She pointed to the Kingdom of Yunhai "The third god, the Lord of war, gave his prophet the treasure of the Golden dragon, which is possessed today by House Luo-Xian"

She walked over to the other side of the large map as her hand ran out of reach, she pointed to the kingdom of Tsukihama "The fourth god, the Lord of blood, granted his prophet his treasure; the Red Garden, possessed today by House Kamitsuki"

"Impressive" Hector thought to himself

"The fifth god..." she pointed to the Skolgard Islands, "The Lord of nature, gave his prophet the treasure; the Voice of Nature, possessed today by House Skolgard"

"And the sixth god..." Valkori paused

Hector raised an eyebrow as she stepped back from the map, Helia her home kingdom wasn't on it, she felt betrayed for some reason, she couldn't explain why

"And the sixth god, the Lord of Eternity, gave his prophet his treasure; the Eternal light, possessed today by...House... Royalé"

Hector noticed that Valkori was feeling bad, he didn't realize this 'interview' would force her to understand how lonely she actually was, to confront the fact that her whole family was actually dead and she just went on with her life like it was nothing, she began to feel a sense of survivor's guilt, and Hector could tell

"Valkori..." he drew her closer and hugged her, she hugged him back, "I didn't mean to...it's not your fault Valkori"

"I know Dad, I know..." her voice was weary, she sounded like she'd burst into tears any moment

"I am your father, and you're my daughter, now and forever, nothing is ever going to change that" he assured her. She let go of his embrace but his hands were still on her shoulders

"Get your things ready, I've made all the arrangements for your trip, you'd be leaving in a week"

Valkori smiled and wiped her eyes "Really?!!"

"Yes..." he replied

She hugged him tightly again

"I love you Dad"

"I love you too..." he said as he caressed her full hair, he looked at the painting of the Royalés as he hugged her, his facial expression changed to anger, but he still caressed her lovingly

"I love you too" he repeated.