The Rracoette Revolution

by Jong Woo, Aisyah, Nayeon, Olivia, and Nathan

Chapter 1: Flabel

The moon was covered by the dark clouds that veiled the skies. The only thing to be heard was the faint rustling water below and her pet giant salamander Yukon’s heavy footsteps as it carried her across the Bridge of Jugular towards Maverolia. The bridge was one of many that connected the five islands of Rracoette. Usually the bridge would all be crowded with people trying to cross, but when the moon rose, most dared not to cross the bridge. The darkness was to be avoided, as it was when the spirits crept out from their home island, Tanatok. It was a curse, a bad omen, and therefore had to be escaped from.

Flabel the young merchant considered such talk as nothing more than myths. She was tired, but wanted to cross before dawn broke to return home as she wanted to stock up on candles before the Season of Eclipses, a period of time when the sun didn’t rise for months. She would have slept whilst riding Yukon, but didn’t want her only companion to be lonely But as she crossed the Jugular, she squinted to see a group of people ahead. The people were covered head to toe in black, with what seemed to be large barrels that blocked the bridge.

She pulled the restraints on Yukon, which made him stop, and yelled, “Hey! What are you doing here?”, expecting a reply, but none came.

Instead, the group took off. Confused, Flabel walked off her giant salamander, and crept towards the pile of barrels. She twisted open a barrel and was faced with a pile of gunpowder As she stood back in shock, a single flaming arrow flew across the

sky heading towards the barrels. Flabel realized what the purpose of the barrels were. They were going to be used to detonate the bridge.

Hurriedly she backed far from the explosives, but not far enough. The bridge exploded with a giant fire, and the beams of the bridge collapsed. Flabel was met with splinters of wood and flames. Flabel screeched in pain. Her body was burnt and bruised, and Yukon wasn’t looking better.

Her friend was croaking on his backside. The blast had launched his body against one of the poles, which left him incapable of moving. There was nothing Flabel could do for him as her legs felt numb, and she couldn’t stand. All she could do was cry up tears for Yukon as the darkness consumed her vision.

Chapter 2: Jessie

Sweat was dripping down my face and the cave was boiling hot. We could smell the sweat and dirt on everyone's faces. But, I was used to this. I grew up here in the mines of Collosia and believed that I might as well die here, but I never wanted to. It had always been my dream to escape this place and never see it again, but I never thought it would have been possible.

We were digging continuously and trying to find gold, or anything valuable. It had been years since we had found really good stuff, and now we were beginning to lose hope, but our boss was determined to find something, anything. Most of the time, we

would find pieces of garbage rotting there in the ground, or maybe junks of metal. But I tried to keep positive and have a smile on my face throughout the whole journey! Some people think that I’m crazy for being happy most of the time, but I can’t help it, I just couldn’t wipe that smile off my face. When I once heard a joke from one of my fellow friends that was hilarious, I couldn’t stop laughing. So this was when I had the complete idea to tease my friends with a couple of jokes I would have made myself, but honestly I don’t think they were impressed.

It took a while for me to find out that I was digging in one of those hopeless spots, because we had searched there too many times and had found nothing. So, I had been wasting most of my time there and thought it would have been smarter if I just moved to another spot. I kept on digging and digging and finding only pieces of junk, as suddenly Mr. Dagon, our boss, came to inspect us. I found it odd because he normally checked up on us during the breaks, but this time was our time to work. Everyone was muttering distinctly to one another, until he broke the chattering with a loud booming, “Quiet!’’ and the room fell silent instantly

“I have an announcement to make. This might bring frowns upon some of your faces, I know But it is important. You see, we haven’t been getting many valuable items. Maybe because you weren’t working hard enough, or you were simply doing nothing! So, I wanted to change that and have decided that you will no longer take any breaks from now on.”

Everyone was staring at him with shocked and disgusted faces, my friend Isla looked pale and looked like one of those creepy dolls and didn’t move a muscle. Me? I was just in shock like everyone else, and something that had never happened in ages

suddenly did. My eyebrows furrowed with anger and I had the thought to speak of my thoughts and go up there and stand up for everyone else, because we had the right to do so.

“Why do we have to put up with this torture?’’

The words just slipped from my thoughts, into my mouth. But, maybe the confidence from Crystal, my best friend who had died, had made me do what I had never wanted to ever do.

“Sorry, what did you just say, Ms. Jessie?’’

“I said nobody should ever be put to this kind of torture!’’

Now I really had it this time, everything inside me just burned up and I wanted to just slap him across the face. It was really unfair

The crowd started booing and started to protest about how badly they were being treated.

“I said that’s enough! Ms. Jessie, look at what you have influenced the others to do.’’

Everyone's eyes were fixed on me.

“Come here, guards!’’ he said with an ear piercing voice and the clattering of footsteps were heard in the distance as a few men came in and grabbed me by the arms and dragged me away. I was wailing and crying so hard. This was exactly what my best friend had to put up with too, her necklace was the only thing I had left of her.

I was roughly being dragged into a room located in one of the mines where we would be beaten up and tossed into the desert. I was kicking my feet and tossing my hands into the air, as if I could do anything at all. The room was dark and had only one

window with barely any light coming through, some of the dust was left on the ground and made my favorite dress ruined and smothered with dirt. A couple of cobwebs could be seen in every single corner of the room and several rats could be seen through the cracks in the walls, it seemed abandoned and wrecked. They tied me against a chair with thick ropes impossible for me to detangle. They taped my mouth shut and I tried to scream at the top of my lungs but it was just muffles that came out instead. Tears were all over my face and my vision was blurry, it felt like I could pass out at any time. One of the guards came back into the room with a bat and repeatedly started hitting me with it, leaving me with terrible bruises everywhere. I felt lightheaded and fainted, leaving me hopelessly tied to a chair I couldn’t remember what had really happened, but I believe they stuck me upside-down on the chair and started violently shaking it. Some blood started to trickle down my mouth and then they placed me back onto the ground. The next thing I remembered was being carried away from the room, untied from the chair and walking miles away from the mines, taking forever in the hot blazing sun. I was tossed into the desert falling helplessly onto the ground and hearing a thump onto the thick sand.

Chapter 3: Dr. Rosa Muller

I was slowly walking around in the bright colorful jungle near my lab on Mandolasia, my home island and the tropical island that produced fruits for the Capital.

It was early morning and the sun had just come up. All the trees were really spaced out so pools of sunlight came and hit the ground. The sky above me was orange and pink and yellow and the jungle was a beautiful place. It had swinging vines that the monkeys could swing on, and in the distance, I could hear a waterfall. I got on my hands and knees peering at the soft muddy ground. I was looking for something, something very special that would possibly save the whole Capital. What was I looking for? I was looking for a flower, a magical flower that could heal many people with just one petal.

I started searching. I searched hard in the ground and even in the trees. I would climb up them and go searching through the branches and leaves to find even a clue that may help me find a magical herb that could help save the Capital.

“Think Rosa, think.” I whispered to myself. “If I were a magical plant, where would I be?”

The newspaper was rolled up and pocketed in my lab coat pocket. Now, I took it out and unrolled it. I held it out in front of me and stared at the headline:

PERSON ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL WITH STRANGE SICKNESS, NO CURES

FOUND SO FAR

I repeated it and then read the article out loud to myself.

I realized something, this strange sickness had happened shortly after the shortage of candles. This had happened because the bridge that connected Maverolia to the other islands had been blown up and Maverolia uses whale fat to make the candles.

I thought to myself what if these two things were connected somehow? If people are put into darkness, the obvious solution is to make light. What if people are getting sick because there aren’t enough candles, which equals darkness! All I would have to do is find a plant that will light up their lives again! My hypothesis was that the plant would be hidden underground in the darkness since it was magical. This was definitely harder to do than to just say but I was determined to save the whole island if I had to. This would show them that I can indeed do anything, I don’t care if no one will ever listen to me again and if they will talk about me and say “this woman is crazy.” I have heard people say how useless I am a million times and have told me that I can’t do anything. It doesn’t hurt me as much anymore. I have suffered a lot to get here and I am determined to show people what I am capable of.

My first clue was to look in any spots that had sunlight but that would be extremely difficult since there was sunlight almost everywhere, since all the trees were so widely spaced out. But I would not give up. I started digging up the muddy dirt with my hands since I had not brought a shovel with me. When I had dug for a long long time and I had made a deep hole and found nothing, I decided to move on to a new place. I kept on going like this for hours. I was tired and sweaty but there was no luck. I was so weak and tired that I feared I would collapse onto the soft muddy ground but I was strong and I kept at it. I found nothing and it was already early afternoon. I groaned to myself.

“When will I ever find something?”

I decided to come back the next day as I was very hungry and had not eaten anything since last night and my stomach had been growling horribly

The next day, I only had one more place in mind. The waterfall. The waterfall was practically bathed in sunlight and as I approached it, I could not help but think how amazing it was. The waterfall was glistening and the drops of water hitting the rocks went up into the air and looked like little crystals.

However, I couldn’t get distracted. I had a mission and I was going to fulfill it. I brushed my dreadlocks out of my face and set to work. I bent down on my hands and knees and started scraping bits of soil to the side. I had almost lost hope of ever finding a cure but there was still a tiny spark of hope deep down inside me.

I was digging for almost an hour and was thinking of giving up. When I saw a glimpse of yellow I brushed off some dirt from it and saw a simply beautiful flower emerge from the ground. It was gorgeous. Bright yellow, as bright as the sun itself, and glistening splendidly as if a bucket of glitter had been dunked on it. It was mesmerizing!

I gasped in awe and in shock and I thought, Yes, this might be it! But I could not be sure.

I took out my magnifying glass and peered at it. It looked very bright and almost blinded my eyes! It looked like if anyone swallowed it, light would start poking and shining out of their sockets, nostrils, mouth and ears.

I was still not convinced that this flower could possibly be the solution to the whole Capital’s problems so I carried out some tests to see if this could be the one. I plucked off a petal from the flower and examined it. Then I took out my small wooden pocket knife from the chest pocket of my lab coat. It had belonged to my grandmother and it was one of my favorite possessions. It had a marble pattern made with wood on

the handle and the blade was long, sharp and bright silver. I placed the petal on the ground and I cut right through the petal, slicing it in half.

I scooped out the inside of the petal and dropped some onto the petals of a nearby flower Instantly, it started shining as bright as the sun. Beams of light were bursting through the folds of the flower.

This yellow flower was the one! I could not contain my excitement! I took out a mini case that I had been carrying and gently placed the flower inside. Then, I rushed back towards my lab barely holding my excitement in!

Chapter 4: Investigator Mellow

A teenage girl dressed in oceanic designs sat on the slate tiled floors with her hands laid up on the wall and cuffed. Even if she tried she could not stand up since her feet were fastened by two balls attached to chains. The cuffs chafed her ankles, grating her sore bruised skin, maggots festered in the bare flesh. The iron door enclosing her from the rest of the islands creaked open, golden light from the crack appeared, scorching the eyes of the girl in the room. The door swiftly opened and a bucket of water was splashed on the young lady and out stepped a tall man in a tuxedo. He shut the door and flashed his lighter, he looked down at the girl, he saw her bloodshot eyes, her hair with bits of flesh stuck to it and a beautiful cotton dress with aquatic designs soaked with water and blood.

“Hi Flabel, I know it’s been hard. Let's have a moment to talk.”

Chapter 5: Prince Half-Dan

The story of the bridge had just recently spread all over Rracoette. In the palace in the Capital, Half-Dan was just drinking a cup of tea, and having his own time.

“Thomas, can you bring me more sugar?”

Half-Dan was a prince, but he had no interest in what was going on outside of the palace. All the power as a prince was held by his older brother and he was nothing but a puppet driven by Queen Velcika anyway.

People, politics, and power were nothing more than mere idle play by adults. He didn’t want to take part in the game with weak chess pieces like a “young dumb stupid prince.” For now, he thought his life as royalty was enough, lying down on his pretty, gorgeous sofa and getting sugar from his maid and servants.

It was a time of peace today for him as well, but the peace broke in a short time.

“Half-Dan! Half-Dan!”

A crow-like voice rang out. Strangely, it was similar to Half-Dan’s voice, but there was a pungent part, so it was a voice that was somewhat different from the soft Half-Dan’s voice.

“It’s time for royal swordsmanship class, and what are you doing!”

Soon the protagonist of the evil voice was revealed. Her impression was as cold and fierce as her crow voice, and the resemblance of Half-Dan’s long legs and big clear eyes made her recognized at a glance that she was his mother.

As her black cloak suited with the atmosphere drew near to Half-Dan, the servants and the maids backed away.

“My stupid son Half-Dan, are you having your own tea time? Ridiculous! How can everything be so irrelevant, the bridge has been bombed now! We're not going to be able to get any more candles! The money I am losing right now, do you know how much? Do I have to teach you everything about looking up the news?”

“My mother, the noble and wise Queen Velcika.”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses from you! Hurry up and change your clothes! Your brother is waiting in the stadium to fight with you.”

Half-Dan responded calmly, but the conversation stopped in an instant. He wanted to have a longer conversation with her, and try to convince Velcika that he didn’t have any intention to make her feel bad, but he couldn’t say anything more.

“Ha…” Half-Dan sighed. Now he was no longer wearing his pajamas anymore. He was standing in the middle of the big hall, dressed as a full-fledged knight. To Half-Dan, the clothes were so uncomfortable. His duel with his brother had been going on since he was young, but it was because he couldn't get used to it.

When the queen and his teacher sat in the stands to watch the tournament, he thought there was no way to run away

Suddenly, the horn sounded.

“Valentin, Lord of Mandolasia and First Prince of Rracoette.”

And Half-Dan just closed his eyes slightly.

Valentin, a brother who was different from himself from the basics. Brave as a pirate's blood, he was as extraordinary as the title of the Great Lion of Lacoste, and at the young age of 18, he had become Lord of Mandolasia.

“How can I defeat him…”

Valentin scoffed at Half-Dan's frightened appearance as if it were funny, and wielded his sword first as usual.

Half-Dan finally took out his sword. In fact, he lost his position as a prince, his honor, and everything to his brother, but he couldn't even fight back in sword time and was defeated by Valentin because he seemed to prove himself to be the “Scarecrow.”

Clash. Clash. Clash.

For a long time, the sound of swords clashing against each other filled the large stadium.

Obviously, he would lose this game to his brother as well, but Half-Dan had been thinking every single time, imagining that he would knock his brother down, pointing the sword at him, and then…

“Will the valiant red eyes still shine brightly?”

Clash.

Valentin had been attacking while Half-Dan was lost in thought.

“Dear my brother, Half-Dan, I know you are going to be defeated this time as well.”

Confused by the sudden attack, Half-Dan took a few steps back and said,

“Well…I don’t know.”

It was a force. He flew into Valentin.

The force may have stemmed from a ray of hope. That meaningless hope that he might not lose this game to him.

“Oh what’s this?”

The voice instantly dampened the hope of Half-Dan.

It was a very low voice similar to the queen’s. A strong voice very different from his weak little brother’s.

“Yeah, come to think of it,” Half-Dan thought, “it wasn't me but my brother who always looked like my mother.”

Only Valentin was recognized as a son.

“If so, if so..What am I…”

You're a sugar-eating pig, just dressed in silk!

Clash!

It was a moment when a strange voice rang out in Half-Dan's head and he was thrown onto the sand.

Half-Dan's silver sword had flown far from where he had fallen, and it was as usual.

“It’s again the victory of Prince Valentin, your highness.”

“Valentin, I'm so proud that your sword skills seem to improve every day.”

As Valentin smiled brightly, Velcika stroked Valentin's black hair It was a sight of a harmonious mother and son.

Beside them, Half-Dan did not seem to exist among them. He was like an invisible person.

It was a continuous defeat that had been repeated all this time. But today, the strange voice that Half-Dan had been hearing in his head kept ringing in his head.

“Sugar-eating pig…. just dressed in silk. So, can't I beat Valentin forever?”

Chapter 6: Flabel

After the interrogation by the Capital’s investigator had ended, Flabel was led to the hospital where Yukon was under care. The giant salamander’s body was covered with bandages soaked in blood. His eyes were closed, with faint breathing. Flabel stumbled towards her friend, holding his head tight. She spun her head towards the doctor.

“Will he get better?” she desperately asked.

“He needs Hytroleum, but our supplies have been cut off since the explosion.

We’re not expecting a new batch until three moons. He needs them by the following moon.”

“What’s taking the supplies so long to arrive?”

The doctor glimpsed around, looking to see if anyone was watching. He whispered towards Flabel’s ear. “Government’s withholding all the supplies until the Season of Eclipses ends. “

Just as Flabel felt she would crumble, the man whispered, “There is a solution.”

“What do I have to do? I'll do anything you say.”

He pulled back the sleeve of his sweater, showing a black crescent moon with swirls of purple and yellow revolving it.

“Do you want to join the rebellion? “

Flabel felt her heart fall. The rebellion, the group that had made Yukon ill, was now asking her for help, in exchange for Hytroleum.

“I heard what the rebellion has done to you too, and as one of the senior members of the rebellion, I would like to give you an apology We never intended to harm, but a mistake occurred. No one in the rebellion expected a person to be on the bridge at midnight, especially knowing that the demons lurk nearby with the eclipses. We need someone of such skill, to brave the night, and to infiltrate the Queen’s castle.”

The doctor looked at Flabel’s mixed face of confusion, shock and anger and stopped.

“If you want to take the mission, meet me near the docks at Kalk’s Tower at sunset. I’ll give further explanation then. And if you're considering exposing us to the royals, just know we’ve got hitmen with your exact description. If you succeed, you’ll be rewarded with Hytroleum to save your friend.”

A nurse then appeared at the door, “There’s another case of the mysterious virus.”

The doctor nodded towards the nurse, then walked out of the room without any other words, as if nothing had ever happened.

Flabel knew she had to take the mission. There was no other way of saving Yukon. She knew that even if she exposed the doctor without getting shot, when had the Capital ever helped citizens of Maverolia throughout the year? She knew that if she was caught as a part of the rebellion, her life would be as good as over, but there wouldn’t be anything she wouldn’t do for Yukon. Besides, Yukon had saved her life as well. *

Sunset had finally arrived and Flabel was on the docks, holding the wooden rails. While waiting for the doctor, she looked towards the beauty of the golden sunset. No matter how many times she saw the sky, she always looked in awe. The sunsets before the Season of Eclipses were known for their vibrant colors.

“So you came.”

Flabel looked back to see the man, now in black clothing from top to bottom. The only reason he was recognizable was by his voice. Besides him stood a young man, who was around the same age as her. He wore the same clothing as the doctor.

“So tell me about the mission.”

“The rebellion needs to convince the people about how terrible Queen Velcika is. We’ve been hearing that the Queen is hoarding large amounts of candles for herself, but we have no solid evidence. That’s where you come in. We want you and our Orlin, the person you see next to me, to sneak inside the palace, and convince the second heir of the throne Half-Dan to find damaging information.”

“Why him?” Flabel asked.

“He’s the weakest link of the royal family He resents them all, and we believe that we can convince him to join the rebellion.”

Getting inside the palace of the royal family was difficult enough, but how would she ever even speak to the prince? The place was filled with guards, equipped with swords sharp enough to pierce the skin of the mighty lions.

“How am I supposed t–”

“You get in using our harvok, Noir.”

Harvoks were giant silent creatures of the night, gliding through the sky without a sound, even though they were the size of a small boat. They were known for how dark they were, being practically invisible under the night sky if it weren’t for the moonlight. Flabel now realized the connection. Under the darkness gained by the eclipse, she and Orlin could enter and exit without notice.

“Orlin has mastered how to ride the bird, all you have to do is speak to Half-Dan and get out while Orlin is on lookout inside the castle. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then I’ll leave you with Orlin to carry out the task.”

Chapter 7: Jessie

It took some time to figure out wherever I was, but I still had no clue. Everything was a blur, my head still throbbed with pain and my muscles were too weak to move at all. I believe it was night, but it never gets dark here on Collosia. It only gets dark during the Season of Eclipses, which is happening soon. I believe that the moon does all of this, it is cursed and blood-curdling to think about. Everyone here hates the dark, and I am one of them.

I was glad it wasn’t dark, but I had to find somewhere to stay My eyes were almost shutting, and I tried my best to keep them open. I ran as far as my legs could handle. Nothing. Just big piles of sand. I walked, walked, and walked on and on. It felt

like days had passed but I would have never known. I was dying of thirst, I started imagining little patches of water were in the sand.

I squinted my eyes to see what I thought was a white long bridge in the distance. This made me have hope, and ran faster and ignored the pain in my legs. Happy tears were trailing behind me in the air, I had never felt this free. Now, I really wanted to learn about the other islands. Staying in Collosia wasn’t as fun.

I could see the bridge so close and was running towards its direction. I saw a couple of creatures that were tied to the bridge, they were being fed by some guy. They were under the shade and were locked in stables. I had seen nothing like them. Each creature had a beak with green and pink stripes across it, long beautiful wings that followed behind it, with four long skinny legs. I tried going closer to the stable, and tried to make the man not notice me. I crept next to the stables as he slowly got away. As soon as the creature saw me it squawked in a horribly loud squeak, it alarmed the man and he rushed over to the stables to examine what had happened.

“Ay, watch it!’’

Surprising me with his voice.

“Sorry, they are just so fascinating.’’

I drifted away from him and took a look at the creature's fur.

“These? Y’a see ’em all the time in Mandolasia, they are Flagburgs, these cheeky little creatures are nothin’!’’

“Mandolasia seems wonderful!” I replied with a giant smile across my face. “How do we get there?” I questioned.

“Just take one of these. Cross the bridge all the way till y’a see a jungle, then you’re there!”

“Thank you! You are amazing.’’

I jumped with glee and tried to open one of the stables as he led the way and grabbed one of the shortest Flagburgs they had and I hopped right on it.

It slowly began walking to the bridge, I took a glimpse over the edge of the bridge to see an amazing view of the sea. There was a sense of freedom I had never felt before.

It felt not long after we reached Mandolasia, I was just happy to be somewhere else in the world far away from that toxic place.

It was completely different from what Collosia was, everything here was damp and wet and you could find water easily! I had the urge to go to one of the waterfalls there and gulp down the water. The waterfall was under the shining sun, the waterfall glistened and sparkled in the sunlight. I quickly ran across the jungle to get closer to the waterfall, then immediately scooped up water for me to drink. The water was fresh, nothing like the ones in Collosia. It would be perfect to just live here for the rest of my life.

I heard the chatter of people close by, so I started to investigate where it came from. I walked across the pathway that led to a small village that was close by. I was happy to finally find somewhere where I could find food. I had saved some shells from my mining and was able to buy some bread. Everything here was perfect. I walked even further into the town and found a newspaper lying down on the ground. It was covered with dirt and sand. The headlines of the newspaper wrote:

‘’IS QUEEN VELCIKA CONTROLLING US? FIND OUT MORE…’’

I had no idea who Queen Velcika was but flipped through the newspaper anyway A huge picture of a woman whose face was always plastered on the front of the shells was there. Was this Queen Velcika? She had a fancy hat placed on her head and an evil grin that haunted me. I read below the picture, it wrote:

“Queen Velcika, the queen of all the islands of Rracoette, has decided to use us as tools, according to the public. They believe that she doesn’t pay respect to any of the other islands, making her somewhat ‘selfish.’ She uses us to get food from us, medicines, etc., because the Capital does not have any of these resources.’’

This was the first paragraph I had read from the newspaper and it sounded a lot like the public hated her I heard in the distance a large carriage pulled by numerous Flagburgs was being driven through the crowd, lots of people were protesting, but I had no idea what was happening. They shoved large amounts of food and medicine into the truck and loaded them in. The carriage shut closed with a large whack and got away. I knew it was connected to something…the newspaper and the public, obviously.

Chapter 8: Dr. Rosa Muller

It was early in the morning, just after dawn, and I was in my bamboo hut. I was eating my breakfast, a fruit salad consisting of papaya, passion fruit, dragon fruit, and lychee, and I was also eating some bread and cream cheese.

Suddenly, the eagle post arrived. I had a medium-sized window, big enough for an eagle to enter through and a horizontal bar right in front of it for the eagle to land on.

As usual the eagle was holding a rolled-up newspaper, the latest copy, in his beak and its small black eyes glinted at me.

I got up and stroked the big bird on the top of its beak and then signaled him to open his mouth. I grabbed the newspaper and unrolled it. Then, I scanned through the article to find what I was looking for When I had found it, I cleared my throat and held the newspaper out in front of me. I began to read out the article:

Mysterious sickness is a threat to our capital

By Amanda Stewart

Last week, a young man was found with a strange sickness and was admitted to our local hospital He was conscious but didn’t seem to know what was going on. We were told that he was last seen on the streets taking a stroll late at night. We wonder if he was cursed or simply was ill with an unknown sickness.

The patient had horrible symptoms. Coughs and headaches, seizures every other hour, and so much loss of flesh that you could see the outline of his skull Sunken eyes, and strangest of all, a dark and seemingly dangerous shadow seemed to be looming over him, waiting to attack and to swallow him whole! Exactly one and a half days after being admitted to the hospital, he was found dead sprawled on his hospital bed in room 209.

A few days after that horrible incident, six more people were admitted to the hospital with the very same symptoms. This was a horrible event for them and everyone and two days later, those very people were taken up to heaven. Yes, those people were dead. Dead because of that sickness that will possibly change our lives and the lives of future ones forever.

Now, we realize that this sickness is deadly, possibly the most deadly sickness in all of history. And now, this sickness is planning on wiping out all of our islands. We must do something about this now! Our brave queen is going out of her way to stop this horrific sickness and has ordered some of the most amazing doctors and scientists to cure it

I slowly lowered the newspaper and sighed. The Capital will really need me now, but will they ever accept me for who I am? And will they let me save them? I was very worried and I decided that the next day, I would start preparing an antidote to save the Capital. But first, I had to finish my breakfast. I sat down and started reading the rest of the newspaper until something caught my eye. It was a small paragraph outlined in bold and I was curious so I started reading what was inside it.

“QueenVelcikahasdecidedtobringalldoctorsandscientiststogetherattheCapitalto handoveranantidotethatwillcureourislands Theantidotethatcuresthesicknessthebest willearnastayatthequeen’spalaceandwillgettoseethequeen!Theywillalsoearn

1,000,000goldshells!CometotheCapitalinaweekandadaytogiveusanantidoteat midday Weareexpectingyourverybestsopleaseworkhardonthis”

I gasped, this could be my big chance to save the islands and to have admiration from everyone. They would all cheer for me and I could prove myself to people once and for all! I was over ecstatic and decided that I would collect some plants and herbs today because I couldn’t just use the raw flower itself. I had to find some other plants and herbs to add to the antidote. I wasn’t worried, though, because it would be really easy to find them as I knew a lot about plants and herbs and I would know exactly where to find them.

I decided that I would start the antidote the next day as soon as I could, to have more time to find some more ingredients. I really wanted my cure to be approved but I was ready if it wasn’t. So many people had ignored me and had thought that I was good for nothing so I was used to it by now

But nevertheless, I pulled on my labcoat and I grabbed a woven basket on the table and I also took my wooden pocket knife, magnifying glass and test tubes inside the chest pockets of my lab coat and hurried out the door. I decided to search in a different place instead so I started walking towards a small forest that was not so far off.

As soon as I entered the small forest, I knew that I could not stay on the path because I would spend hours not finding anything so I decided to wander off because I knew that the most precious and rare plants and herbs would be tucked out of sight of any wanderers on the path. So I set off.

Chapter 9: Prince Half-Dan

“Belmoga, shuffle the cards one more time please,” Half-Dan whispered. Originally, the bedroom was a natural space, but the door was completely locked, and the lamp that gave off a subtle scent of smoke created a secretive atmosphere that could not be seen in anyone's room. Half-Dan's voice seemed to be heard in the white tent then.

“It's been 20 years since I became an astrologer and tarot master and I've never seen such a woozy stubborn prince as you. You can't repeat the results once you've

seen them.” An old woman's voice was heard. At the same time, as her curly ginger hair slipped out of the white tent, Half-Dan hurriedly pushed her deeper into the tent.

“What are you doing, we can get caught by my mother!”

“And also I've never seen a prince who's so nervous about nothing, like this!” Instead of focusing on politics and military science, Half-Dan was interested in things outside the palace. Things happened in the messy alleyways filled with the clutter of cheap beer made from starfish dregs and seawater. Tarot was one of them, but Queen Velcika wanted Half-Dan to only hear the clear sound of wine glasses made by beautifully rubbing hands together, with her incompetent son in the palace for the rest of his life.

“What are you going to do because the prince of a country is so timid? So how could you possibly violate the Queen's trust?”

“So, can’t I ever achieve my mother’s trust?”

“Yes, I just picked the cards to interpret the queen’s mind. This card here is a card that means justice, and then the death card, then ah...It says 10 of wands, there is no flow in which the prince is recognized by the queen in the next 10 years. I'm sorry.”

“Haahhh…what should I do…”

“If you're really worried, would you like to see the advice card for the future?”

“Okay, that sounds great.”

“How many times do you want to shuffle the cards?”

“Um…maybe...6.”

“Okay…”

Belmoga then opened the cards in front of Half-Dan. Half-Dan put his hands on the cards and tried to gather energy and picked the card at the far left.

When she turned over the card, the first thing he saw was an angel with wings in the blue sky The angel was blowing a trumpet, and the dead body in the coffin was awakened by the sound of the trumpet.

“What’s this?”

“What? Let me pick another card.”

Then Belmoga picked another card and another.

The first card was the devil card and the second card was again the death card.

“Interesting…interesting…!”

“Belmoga, what does it mean? What does it mean?”

“The prince will soon have a tremendous opportunity to reverse the situation. The opportunity comes with a lot of risks, but it'll be fine…”

“What? The opportunity–”

“Prince, I got to go. Keep these cards as a commemoration.”

Belmoga gave Half-Dan the three cards he picked, but his hands were shaking as he was handed Belmoga's cards.

“But I am not…I am not sure…How come? How come…? I am so worried...”

Belmoga softly covered his face. “My dear little coward prince, if you're that scared, count the stars in the night sky before you go to bed. That's how Belmoga became the best astrologer.”

Belmoga grinned and tied the bag to his shoulder. Half-Dan took out a jewel box next to her, took out a gemstone, handed it to her, and Belmoga said with one eye wink, "Don't forget to drink a cup of hot milk!"

A few minutes later, Half-Dan, at Belmoga's words, headed to the balcony with his quilt and pillow. How could it be so effective when it's just a prescription from an old wandering woman in the alley, not a royal doctor's word, but seeing the twinkling stars embroidered in the open sky, both the fear of Velcika and the feeling of inferiority to his brother Valentin flushed away from his mind.

“Oh my god, look at the stars…”

Half-Dan, in admiration, laid himself down on a green net bed. He was greeted by the cool breeze, counting the stars.

“Virgo, Gemini...Oh, is Mars the brightest star in the distance?” Then Half-Dan's fingers stopped at the North Star.

For Half-Dan, the stars weren't just a bunch of nameless twinkles floating in the vast sky Thanks to Belmoga, each constellation was a story to him. For example, when he found Spica, he found Ross, and then he pointed at the stars next to it, one by one, and then he completed the Virgo. Thoughts followed, followed, followed, and then followed.

The fantastic story of Belmoga's Virgo, the story of Demeter's daughter Persephone becoming the queen of the underworld.

What else was there? The Hercules story was fun, too. Ah! The story of the Big Bear and the Little Bear was also interesting. It was a little sad though…

But in time, Half-Dan realized that he saw something wriggling around the North Star He thought, "Is the star in the constellation of Bear moving?" But it was nonsense. As Belmoga said, the universe is expanding, but it wouldn't be possible in such a short time.

He opened his blue eyes, and the wriggling object drew nearer and nearer.

“Squeak!!!”

In time, when he noticed that his squeaky bed was not simply shaken by the wind, but the wings of a black beast, he had no choice but to plop down.

“Noir, be quiet...! Shhhh!”

It was a blond girl of his own age who was riding on the huge black bird.

Half-Dan's peaceful constellation showtime was ruined. Who is she? A victim sent by my mother who is ferocious? Or is it a petty thief who's after all the gold and silver treasures I have?

But her large, round eyes did not appear to bear malice. To be honest, he thought she was a little cute. Except the long coat she was wearing was a little dirty

"Oh! I forgot to say hello, my friend, my name is Flabel! The daughter of a merchant! I came here to help you become a king."

Flabel asked for a handshake. But Half-Dan said, clearing her bangs, which had been messed up by the wings of the black bird named Noir that she rode in, “Haah…? What? Are you kidding me?”

Suddenly, an unknown girl shows up and asks me to be king. What kind of nonsense is this?

“I'm sorry,” he said, “but I've never seen my face in public, and I can't believe you said that. How do you know me and say that, not just a royal family but a commoner?”

“Because your mother is such a wicked and evil queen, and your brother is a follower of your mother? You're the only one who's better.”

“I don’t want to be a king! And why do I have to?!”

The two had a long quarrel, but there was a low voice heard mediating the fight between the two.

“Stop, Flabel, just give up, who cares if he doesn't have the desire to be king?”

Then Half-Dan realized that Flabel wasn't the only one who came to see him on a black bird. There was a young man at the reins of the bird. He was so plain, and ordinary, that Half-Dan couldn’t recognize him in one sight.

“Yes Orlin, you are right, how clever! Okay Half-Dan, I understand, never mind.”

“What?”

“I said, never mind, what’s the matter? I don’t want to force you, how can I help you when you don't have the will, but let's just get closer as friends.”

Flabel reached out her hand again.

“Hello Half-Dan.”

Half-Dan looked at her hand and agonized, then said, “You know...The dirty coat you don't even know where you bought it...take it off and I'll shake your hand.”

“And….that’s the reason why I hate seaweed crab soup…Fishy, salty…it’s disgusting!”

For about an hour, the two had talked about each other's lives. Flabel had a heavy duty to persuade Half-Dan to become king, but she had no particular sense of duty They'd been only talking about the lame things that teenagers of their age can say

“Well, a food that I hate is a candied starfish,” said Flabel. “You don't know, it's a little cheap food, but I hate it. It's a little hard, bitter, but I haven't had it since I was 4 years old, and my dad said it's okay not to eat it.”

“What, your parents allow you to be picky? My mom only served seaweed crab meat soup. For three days after, I hated seaweed crab meat soup and now I have to eat it twice a week.”

The story became a topic of conversation about his cruel mother and her missing father

“Oh seriously, I don't know why my mom acts like that, but she still treats me like a child! Is your father like that too?”

“My father went missing on Tanatok Island a few years ago. so I don't know,” Flabel said with a pale expression.

Half-Dan wanted to ask even more, but it seemed hard.

As the atmosphere suddenly became solemn, Half Dan immediately changed the topic to his mother. Half-Dan complained about Queen Velcika, her cold manner since childhood, the difference in her attitude toward himself and Valentin. There was a sword class with him every week, and he could never beat him. The story of how he envied Valentin, who followed his mother to official events every day.

“To be honest, I was so scared of my mother today, too…I was worried about the future, so I came out as Belmoga advised...”

“Oh? Your own tarot master? Is it because your fortune-telling is not good?"”

“No, no...It didn't come out bad, but I'm a little worried? Just in case, I asked if I could be the heir, and she said there will be a huge change soon?”

Flabel remained silent for a long time. It was because the atmosphere was going to die again if she brought this up.

“All right, then you'll be king.”

“What…? I said I don’t want…”

“Well, you don't want to be king? Didn't you say you were jealous of your brother Valentin? You said you were upset that you couldn't win in swordplay Why did you ask Belmoga if you could be heir in the first place?”

“Tha...that’s…”

“I think my proposal is a huge change. The great fortune that makes you king. Please wake up. I think you're hungry for succession, but you're hiding that desire out of fear. Half-Dan, there are a lot of people who want to help you become king.”

“For me…?”

“Yeah, the people in the kingdom right now are tired of your mother's mess. And you are the key Key to eliminate your mother, and bring peace to Rracoette. You are not alone. That's why I know your name, ‘Half-Dan’! The royal blood!”

“You have people to help me? That's really…”

Flabel jumped up and walked to the end of the balcony. Her blonde hair fluttered in the wind. Half-Dan, watching it, was stunned by her sudden silence. Then she turned around and spoke in a grave voice.

“Half-Dan, all of the people in Rracoette want to get rid of your mother, Velcika. She's exploiting the people and keeping resources like candles and medicines for herself!”

Half-Dan felt as if he had been hit in the head. The clothes he wore, and the source of noon tea time he enjoyed every day, must have been made up of the blood, sweat, and tears of the people.

Flabel gripped Half-Dan by the shoulder. In a strange mood, Half-Dan had no choice but to stall before answering. Because she had spoken very bluntly.

“How could she do that…This is…shocking! Do you think I can? Do you think I can be a king? Can make the people happy?” Half-Dan asked carefully

Maybe he'd been neglecting what was so important as a prince.

“Yeah, of course…If you join our rebellion.”

Chapter 10: Jessie

I thought about the newspaper and knew I had to do something about it, especially because I also had been mistreated just a while ago in the mines. And, this was affecting almost everyone, except for the spoiled Capital. But, I had no idea where I was. I was stuck in the crowd and you could hear many chit-chats in the background making it hard for me to concentrate. I took a few steps back and headed back into the jungle. Trees were towering over me, it was something I had never seen before, the smell of mint and fresh fruits were lingering in the air.

Until I stumbled upon someone wearing a paper white lab coat. It was very noticeable and I crept closer to her I was sneaky and tried to sneak up on her, I noticed she was looking very carefully at the plants that were covered all across the ground. She had lovely dreadlocks and had many gadgets on her She looked determined and very focused on what she was doing, her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes were deeply focused on the plants. I tried getting out of the bush I was hiding behind and took a few more steps forward. She was looking at the most colorful-looking plants she could have found there.

I got closer to her and I believe that she had probably noticed me by now

“Who’s there?’’ she called, she had swung her head towards where I was hiding. Immediately, I had swooped down even more from where I was hiding, trying to not make any sound. She looked closer to the bush I was in and hovered her head above it. She had clearly seen me and jumped, her eyes were as large as saucepans.

“What are you doing here! Do you need anything?’’ she replied with a very harsh voice, it reminded me of my boss. I slowly lifted myself off and shook off all the leaves that were covered all on my dress.

“No, I’m sorry I just wanted to get back in here and get some quiet space,” I replied back shyly.

“Oh, yeah. I know it can be very loud back there. I understand. Sorry for using that tone of voice back there.’’

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m used to it.’’

“What’s your name?’’ she asked me.

“Oh, it’s Jessie.’’

“Nice to meet you, Jessie. Never heard of that one before.’’

“Oh, yeah it’s not that common here,” I replied back.

“It’s wonderful.’’

“Thank you.’’

I smiled back at her, it had been a while.

“Sorry, may I ask what you are doing here?’’ I said.

“Ah yes, I was searching for a cure for the disease, don’t you know? The deadly disease that everybody is worrying about.’’ I took a minute to process what I had heard.

“Never heard of it.’’

“Are you serious?! This news had been spreading like wildfire ever since it was mentioned in the newspapers.’’

“I have never read any news about a disease, sorry, I have been living under a rock, I was raised in a labor camp if you wanted to know.’’

“Oh, I’m sorry.’’

“No, don’t mention it, it’s all good now,” I reassured her one more time so that she wouldn’t freak out.

“Anyways, I have to go to the Capital to deliver a cure for the disease, do you wanna come with me? I just thought that you might want to learn more about the Capital and stuff…’’

I jumped with excitement, because this could have been my chance to know more about the queen. My freedom was off to a good start.

I followed her and we ventured off into a fancy little bamboo house, with a little veranda that had many of her lab stuff and experiments that she used. We entered the room that had a little sofa and a dining table that was made out of bamboo too. We went into her room and gathered all of the things we needed to go to the Capital. She had given me a bundle with a change of clothes. And she had brought lots of lab materials to make the cure for the deadly disease. I went along with her and we both went to get a Flagburg to travel on while crossing the bridge. This Flagburg was even bigger than the one I saw last time. Its wings were dragging across the floor, and it had a little shimmer of gold and pink. We hopped on its back and it immediately started galloping. This time, the bridge was not as long as the one from Collosia to Mandolasia. Vines were tangling around the bridge, and they started to disappear the closer we got to the Capital. We reached there and the weather was surprisingly good, it was not too cold and not too hot, it was okay. I didn’t want to be too happy about this place because the Capital is too spoiled to cherish, though I must say it was beautiful but the negative energy destroyed it.

We walked deeper into the Capital and everybody here looked fancy and posh, needless to say they were living in the Capital. The Capital was home to many rich people. I had seen a restaurant nearby and they seemed like they were eating manta-rays or sting-rays, I had no idea which was which. We headed closer to the palace and I could see the palace clearly from a distance, it was indeed large. There were statues guarding the entrance, they looked like goblins or some creature, I couldn’t tell. The front door was colossal, it was bigger than any other door I had seen. The palace obviously wasn’t the best place to be, but they tried to cover it up with all the

gold and fountains. There was also a lake surrounding the castle to keep everyone away I tried to get in the palace but it seemed that there were guards standing nearby, they were armed with swords and armor made of gold. They got closer to me and grabbed me by the collar, I was almost suffocating but there was still room left for some air. Rosa was there, terrified and frozen.

“What are you doing here?” the one with the giant mustache covering half of his face asked me.

“Me and Dr. Rosa Muller need to meet the queen, it’s urgent,” I replied back.

“Did you arrange a meeting with her? I haven’t heard anything about a meeting. Did you hear anything, Gismo?’’ he asked and looked at another man, he was short and slim and his hat was half his size.

“Yes, well I had heard of one with Dr. Rosa Muller, but not this young lady,” Gismo said.

“Okay, well then please leave.’’

The man with the beard had pointed at me and ordered me to leave, but I still refused.

“Please! I really need to meet her.’’

“Nope, never,’’ he replied back.

I thought of an idea that had randomly popped in my head, though they could not have been that dumb…I tried it anyways even though I might just be kicked out any second.

“Pssst, I heard someone trying to break into the backyard,’’ I whispered in his ear He immediately raced behind the castle along with the other soldiers, and honestly I

thought it would have never worked. A smirk was plastered across my face and I was laughing so hard on the inside, I felt like exploding at any second. Rosa was also snickering behind me and was all red in the face.

This left me with just the door, me and Dr Rosa. I looked beside the door and found a wooden lever hoping it would just lift the door open. My hands were trembling as I grabbed the lever, it made the ground shake for a second and the door fell slowly to the ground, making a bridge for me to cross on.

“Great work! I was scared for a second,”’ Rosa said. I had seen a few sweat glands on her forehead. It led us into another large courtyard with a beautiful fountain right in the middle. We decided to split ways and she entered Building B while I wanted to search in Building A.

“Until we meet again Jessie!’’ She had a nervous smile across her face, probably because of her meeting. I smiled back and walked into Building B to search for the queen. There were extremely long hallways with millions of fancy doors, I wondered what they even did with these rooms! I walked deeper into the castle until I saw a door that caught my eye, the door was a mixture of gold and silver with two statues of soldiers right next to it. This might be it, the queen's bedroom!

I immediately barged in and saw a balcony with a massive black bird right there and two people discussing something. They both had blonde hair, their hair shimmered and looked like gold even in the darkness. Someone who seemed as if they were wearing blue checkered pajamas made of fine silk, and another wearing a black outfit blending in the darkness. They might have seen me—well, I wouldn’t blame them.

Chapter 11: Dr. Rosa Muller

After Jessie had talked to the guards and they had let us in the big doors of the castle, we found ourselves in a gigantic but beautiful courtyard. It had rose bushes surrounding it and right in the center, there was a simply gorgeous fountain! It had marble surrounding the outside and the bottom of the fountain and in the candlelight, I could see that the fountain was baby blue and white.

The Season of Eclipses had just begun but it was strangely light outside and not dark like outside the castle. I made my way around the fountain and stepped into the door that was opposite to the one that Jessie had gone in. The door was miraculously unlocked and no guards were guarding it which surprised me but the thing that surprised me the most was the candles. There were candles EVERYWHERE and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. There were three on each side of the door, at least ten hanging up on the walls, five on a small table near the door and six on a chandelier that had candle holders and they were all lit.

I gasped and thought to myself, This is so unfair! The queen is hoarding all the candles for herself. That’s so evil! I was a bit mad that people were dying out there and the queen was just sitting on her throne and hoarding all the candles.

I had other things to think about so I forced myself not to think about it and I started to walk through the small corridor The walls, floor and ceiling were made out of stone and my feet echoed with every step since there was no one around. I soon realized that this place was a literal maze. I was getting worried that I would get lost forever because in every turn I took, all the corridors looked the same. I realized that I

was going in circles and I was a bit scared that I would get lost so I started shouting for help from the top of my lungs. Soon, I heard footsteps and I saw a guard hurrying towards me.

“What are you doing here!” he hissed.

“I’m sorry, I’m just here for the antidote competition.”

“Really, well you’re very late,” he said, sounding annoyed.

“Oh.” I had not realized the time and now that I checked, I saw that it was way past midday.

“Well,” he said, “I’ll bring you to the room right now.”

When we finally arrived at the throne room, I couldn’t help but look around in awe. There were marble pillars in the four corners of the room. The floor was also marble and so brightly polished, you could see your reflection in it. The walls had amazing oil paintings of the ancient royals who had lived here and the ceiling was painted in real gold! The room was very long and at the very end of the room there were three steps that lead up to a magnificent throne. It had a red velvet lining with a silver edge. It had golden arm rests with spectacular carvings of beautiful beasts like eagles, oxes and lions on them. The feet of the throne were in the shape of a lion and at the very top, there was a golden sun in the shape of a sphere with sun rays attached to it.

Hanging over the queen was a blue velvet curtain and on either side of the throne that she was sitting on were two white marble statues facing her. On top of the marble floor was a red carpet leading to her.

I hadn’t realized until now how many people were sitting down on velvet chairs and staring at me with disgust. I also realized that they were all men! There was not a

single woman in there, besides the queen. The guard shoved me through the big brass doors and I started to walk confidently on the carpet, scanning the seats to see if I could find an empty seat. When I finally found one, it was right in front of the queen herself. She was studying me with crimson red eyes like I was garbage. Her black hair was knotted in a sleek and fancy do and she was wearing the most beautiful dress. Next to her, I noticed a tall man in a black tuxedo. His eyes were as dark as coal and they were staring deep into my soul. He was very frightening and was towering over me.

Anyways, I hastily sat down and grabbed my antidote. I could see a brown sack to the left of the queen and I guessed that those were the shells. Queen Velcika spoke in a loud booming voice and everyone visibly shrank away from her

“Will the first person kindly step forward?” she said, staring at me.

Everyone stared at me. Probably because I was the one closest to her. I proudly stepped up onto the first step and I held out my antidote for everyone to see. I started to explain what it was and how it worked and how I made it but after a few sentences, I saw a few people murmuring, rolling their eyes and giving each other glances. I heard them say things like “What rubbish” and “She’s a girl, she can't possibly know all that” and “Ughhh, she’s probably from that island…the tropical one.”

Like always, no one was listening to me and my ideas. I stopped and the queen made a gesture for me to return to my seat. She smiled at me but it wasn’t a kind smile. There was no twinkle in her eyes and her smile seemed fake.

I stomped down the steps and I sat there slouching, not listening to anyone else’s words and not looking up and everything went by as a blur When everyone had finally

presented their cure, the queen stood up. She was very tall and she said, “The winner of this competition is…” She looked at the people and her gaze stopped on me.

“The winner of this competition is…” she said, still looking at me. “Alex H. Smith!”

A middle-aged man behind me stood up and whooped. He stood up and went to shake hands with the queen. She handed him the sac with the shells and said “Congratulations!”

Everyone clapped hesitantly and you could tell that they were really disappointed. I was so mad right then something inside me just burst and I saw red. I stood up because I had kept my feelings bottled up inside me for so long that I just got fed up and I shouted, “What nonsense, I am most likely the best scientist in this room! How could you treat me like this? It’s so unfair how you always judge me just because I’m a woman, I can’t take this anymore.”

The queen just stared at me in disgust and shouted, “Guards, throw her out!”

Suddenly, two hard hands picked me up by the arms while another opened the doors. Then, they flung me out of the room. I hit the ground hard and I just lay there for a few moments. Then, I slowly got up, shaking with fury

Chapter 12: Flabel

On the balcony of Prince Half-Dan’s room, Flabel, Orlin, and Half-Dan were met by Jessie, someone who wanted to convince the queen to make changes.

Jessie and Prince Half-Dan began talking about reasons why they hated the royalty. Jessie had been in a labor camp on Collosia for her entire life until now after 15

years. Prince Half-Dan hated how obnoxious everyone a part of the royal family was, their arrogance and greed. All this anger made Flabel question how much she really knew about the evils of the queen. It also made her question why Orlin had joined the rebellion as well.

“So why did you decide to join the rebellion?” she asked Orlin.

Suddenly, Orlin started pouring words out, as if from an unclogged pipe.

“There used to be so many harvoks. So many. All across Rracoette. You ever wonder where they went? After the Capital started spreading rumors about the darkness, how dangerous it was, people feared it. The scare spread like wildfire. People tried to control the darkness, and anything that lived under its protection.”

Orlin looked up at the stars, sighing with weight.

“My grandpa told me of a time where people on the island of Tanatok and the harvoks lived in harmony. They had the ability to control the spirits of the dark, keeping us safe from their hands. But now, only 30 harvoks remain, all in secret. Now spirits roam wild, haunting us all. The rebellion was the only thing that stood in the royalty’s way of killing all harvoks. The rebellion built sanctuaries for the birds, and helped my tribe escape Tanatok, which became contaminated with dangerous evils.”

Flabel couldn’t help but think of Yukon as well. The bright red and gold salamander was hunted as an accessory for the royals. Nature and its creatures had to be preserved. The revolutionaries had obviously made a mistake in hurting Yukon, but she decided their heart was in the right place.

“We have to do something,” said Prince Half-Dan. “The world isn’t going to change by itself. People all over Rracoette are suffering from the regime, which needs to be changed for the better.”

“That’s why I came here. I need you to find proof that the government is hoarding all the candles,” Flabel said. “Would you be willing to do that?”

“Yes.”

Chapter 13: Jessie

Me, Flabel, Orlin and Prince Half-Dan had all agreed that we needed to do something about Queen Velcika. We went ahead to search for Rosa, I was hoping her meeting had finished. We got outside into the courtyard after many long tries to find the exit and entered Building B. The building was quite identical to Building A but there were fewer rooms, and more statues and paintings of the queen hung up on the walls. I think she had said she would meet me at Room 201, because that was where the meeting was held. So we started speed walking and scanning each door to find the number on each one of them.

“...199, 200, 201! Yes, finally.’’ I took a few gulps of air to catch my breath and then I noticed her standing right there outside the door She looked really mad. I ran up to her and asked.

“Hey! How was it?’’ I said. A few sweat beads were falling from her forehead. She didn’t respond for a few minutes and stood there constantly wiping her eyes.

“Jessie, I didn’t win, okay. Can’t you see?’’ I could see the anger in her eyes and knew she was going to burst out any second.

“Whoa, don’t worry You did amazing, I know it! They just don’t understand your talent and everything,” I said just to try and comfort her, but she just started to cry non-stop. How could it have not been the cure? She was an amazing scientist after all.

“Don’t worry about it, I know it can be tricky especially when my mother is judging them. I’m sorry you didn’t win though.’’ Half-Dan tried to cheer her up so she had the energy to walk out into the courtyard with us for some fresh air. After numerous tries of finding the exit we decided it would be nice to spend some time outside in the courtyard and enjoy the stars to calm Rosa down. Though, we wouldn’t be there for too long because we wouldn’t want to catch the darkness disease.

We stopped off at the fountain and sat on a bench while eating some Caveria (a sandwich which contains bits of fried stingray, avocado and corn). We were admiring the stars and I knocked up some jokes as well. But I was wondering about the candles that were spread all over the floor, what were they doing there?

“Hey, Rosa what were the candles doing there?’’ I said out of curiosity

“Yes! I saw many scattered on the floor and I think she’s hoarding all of these candles to herself. No wonder why all the hallways were lit and bright,’’ Rosa replied.

“I knew it! All this time just seeing candles lit up everywhere around the castle, we just knew she had been hoarding them all this time,” Orlin said.

I thought to myself for a bit, wondering why she would just keep all the candles to herself when there is literally a serious disease out there.

“Selfish brat.’’ I mumbled to myself. I took my bindle with me because Half-Dan had suggested that we could go back into his room and talk things through. While we were walking through the hallways my throat felt sore and I felt like coughing. I shook it off and still kept searching for the prince’s room. After a while of searching we had finally found his room and entered as soon as we found it. I sat down onto a chair and felt really sick, as if I would pass out at any time now. My skin was peeling more than ever. It was.. strange.

“Jessie, are you okay?’’ Rosa had seen me and was shocked with what was happening, the rest had just crowded around me wondering the same thing.

“Yeah, everything is fine, don’t worry about me.’’ I felt lightheaded while saying that. They then tried to lift me up and place me on the bed. The bed was as soft as a cloud and definitely helped with my head. I was coughing every second, and Flabel had handed me a cup of water to help with my throat. I looked behind me, because I had felt a presence.

“Could it be… the darkness disease?’’ Orlin struggled to finish the sentence, but he was right, could it be?

“Yes, it might be. You have some of the symptoms...you know?’’ Rosa said. That didn’t help at all, it just made things worse. I really wanted to just stand up to the whole city and tell every single person that she was hoarding candles while everybody was suffering. My throat was even more sore after a couple of hours, my voice did not come out of my throat. But thanks to everyone, I felt better about the situation. I was told to stay overnight in the castle because I was too weak to move anywhere. We all said our goodbyes and went to sleep after blowing the candles out.

It was the next morning, and I only felt worse. My skin was peeling even more than before, leaving my skin red and very thin, it was making them worried about me. Orlin, Flabel and Rosa had come once again to check up on me.

“Hey Jessie. How’s it going?’’ Rosa said with a worried look on her face.

“I’m fi–’’ A cough had interrupted me, it had come from Half-Dan who had also looked sick and tired. His eyes were sunken up and he was coughing really badly.

“Oh, not you too!’’ Orlin said. Everyone looked worried and panicked around the room.

“What are we going to do?’’ Flabel said.

“Guys I think it’s best if we should just try to ignore all of this and focus on the queen even if the sickness gets worse,” I blurted out just so that they wouldn’t have to worry much about us.

We had to think of a plan to expose the queen, but we weren’t sure how to.

Tomorrow was the queen’s birthday and come to think of it, it might just help with our plan. I thought of something really quickly and wanted to share it with everyone, so here was the plan: Since the queen’s birthday was tomorrow I decided it was a great plan to expose her there. Most of the town was going to be out on the courtyard, because Queen Velcika was going to make a little speech right on the balcony where everyone's eyes should be looking. Then, we would expose her right after her speech while, hopefully, nobody had left yet. Making all this news spread around the town, which would lead to her getting kicked out of the island.

“Isn’t that a great plan?’’ I questioned everyone in the room just smiling widely

“Well, we could give it a shot, right?’’ I said and looked over to Half-Dan, Orlin and Flabel.

“Hmm, sure, we could give it a go,’’ Half-Dan agreed and so did the others. I think this was going off to a great start. It was the afternoon and we all split up and I went along with Rosa and followed her back home. We made sure that we stayed far away from each other so that she wouldn’t catch the sickness too.

We woke up the next morning and quickly got up to the castle to meet Half-Dan. And met the guards, again.

“What’chu doin’ here?’’ one of the guards said.

“We were just here to meet the prince. But, just so you know our names are Rosa Muller and Jessie Bozelli.’’ I said. Hopefully Half-Dan had informed their guards about us.

“Ah, you lot. Yes, Prince Half-Dan is expecting you,’’ he said and pulled the lever so that we could enter the castle. We tried to find our way through Half-Dan’s room and finally found it.

“There it is,’’ I said, panting and Rosa was also catching her breath right behind me. We unlocked the door and found Orlin and Flabel were already there waiting for us. They welcomed us in and we discussed some more about our plan.

“Guys, just if you’re wondering, the ceremony starts at 12:00 and right now it is 11:30 so you guys better be ready,’’ Half-Dan informed us.

We all got ready and when it struck 12:00, bells were being rung and lots of people were gathered around outside. We snuck up on the queen so that the moment

she would be leaving we were going to announce about her hoarding right behind her back.

“Thank you for listening to my short little speech, I hope you all have a good day.’’ She had finished her speech and walked out of the door, leaving us with the empty balcony.

“Here’s our chance!’’ Flabel said and we all walked up to the balcony to announce about the queen’s hoarding.

“Hold on everybody, please listen to us,’’ Half-Dan began, and everyone gasped as they looked at us because I was pretty sure they were not expecting the prince.

“We have an announcement to make, about a few things that Jessie here is going to be talking about,’’ Half-Dan continued. This was it, I could finally do what I had been wanting to do since the moment I got here. I was more ready than ever. I cleared my throat and began my announcement.

“As most of you know, there is a sickness caused by the darkness that is happening currently and is affecting almost everyone. Candle shortages are everywhere and we have nowhere else to make any more candles. But, not many of you know that the queen was actually hoarding all of the candles to herself,’’ I began.

Everybody was shocked and most of the crowd started booing. I honestly felt proud of myself. All of a sudden, my head felt dizzy and was about to collapse at any moment. My legs felt weak and I couldn’t hold myself up any longer. I collapsed, right in front of the whole town. Gasps and screams came from the crowd which made everything worse. I couldn’t feel anything for a while. It took a few minutes for me to feel

better and my headaches had suddenly disappeared. I heard cheers coming from the crowd and a great applause.

I woke up and found Rosa holding her cure and a little spoon which held a golden liquid. I smiled immediately when I realized what had happened, the cure had worked! I got back up again and hugged Rosa really tightly.

“Thank you so much Rosa, now you can save the whole city too!’’ I cried. She handed another scoop of the medicine to Half-Dan and he looked better already. The whole crowd cheered once more, it really made Rosa proud of her accomplishment.

We left the castle and got back home. The next day, the news went wild and was all over the newspapers. Everywhere, people were reading the newspaper with the headlines of “QUEEN VELCIKA’S CANDLE HOARDINGS AND THE AMAZING CURE OF THE DARKNESS DISEASE.’’ We were technically famous.

Epilogue

The next day, Flabel and Orlin landed at Kalk’s Tower When they landed, Orlin talked to the doctor, who had waited for them. After a couple of minutes of conversation, the doctor gave the Hytroleum needed to cure Yukon to Flabel.

As soon as she was given the cure to her pet giant salamander’s pains, she ran towards the hospital where Yukon was, and fed it to him. Almost immediately, Yukon

started squirming around, and his amber eyes started to open for the first time in days. She hugged the lizard tightly, crying in happiness.

Two weeks later, Flabel was wondering what to do next. She couldn’t continue her old job as a merchant, and she still resented the Capital after hearing terrible stories about how outsiders had been treated, people like her. She remembered her time during the interrogation. One man had threatened her life if she didn’t fess up about committing the crime.

Just then, she heard a knock on the door of her temporary residence. She opened the door to see Orlin and Prince Half-Dan.

“Hey,” Orlin said.

“Hi, and greetings Prince.”

Orlin laughed. “It’s actually King Half-Dan now.”

“Really?”

“After the news of the candle stockpile on the royalty came out, there were countless stories of the victims of the dominating regime under Queen Velcika from slaves, merchants, royal workers and more,” explained Orlin. “Protests of the tens of thousands formed while you were huddled up with your scaled friend. Prince Half-Dan led it, and has now banished the queen and her son. He’s going to make large changes.”

“I added the rebellion into the government as a balance of power and to represent the people,” said King Half-Dan.

“And we want you to join the representatives of the rebellion to represent the Precentiac Region in Maverolia,” Orlin said. “ Remember Jessie, who you met at night in the castle? She’s now a representative, helping to stomp out remnants of slavery in Collosia Island. Your skills shown in convincing others…were certainly fit for the role. Do you accept it?”

“No.”

King Half-Dan and Orlin seemed shocked. “Why? There’ll be good conditions, food, why not?”

“My father has been missing from Tanatok Island for two years at this point. Most think he’s dead, and he probably is. But even so, with the slightest chance of hope, I can’t bear the thought of him alone. I couldn’t go because of the lack of time, but now, I have the chance.”

The King and Orlin nodded in understanding. “I understand your love for your father, and would be willing to go with you,” Orlin said.

Flabel smiled in light of her friend’s kindness. *

The Season of Eclipses was over Once again, sunset broke out with its beauty

The stars started to appear from thin air, and the ocean waves glimmered underneath.

Orlin pressed his head and closed his eyes against Noir for one last time for a while. “I love you, and I’ll be back,” Orlin said. “Remember me well.”

Orlin then walked towards the boat docked nearby called Javeil 77, which would be used to venture into Tanatok with its crew

“Who’s going to take care of Noir?” asked Flabel.

“Dr. Rosa. She said it was for allowing her to continue her work the way she wants without being controlled by the government's bidding.”

They waved goodbye to the King. Then the pair and their crew ventured off into the ocean.

THE END