Page 22 of Captured By the Monsters
I hated that a piece of me immediately wanted to ask what would happen if he didn’t come around. That I felt sick to my stomach at the idea of him walking away from whatever was happening between the four of us.
So I quickly maneuvered onto my next question. Well, I suppose it was more of a demand. “Tell me about your lands and your people, please.”
Both of them sighed heavily, and I thought for a second they would refuse, but Axton simply said, “Go ahead,” as if that’s what Sylan was waiting for.
It was clear Axton was the leader of the group, and Sylan was the logical, more emotionally adept one. Rowen… Well, with his banter and forwardness, I’d say he was the one that used humor and physical contact to keep a wall up. He provided lighthearted jokes, but it seemed to me like an armor of sorts.
Perhaps that’s what I needed. For him to keep that wall in place for the both of us, because it was starting to become obvious that I wasn’t doing the best job of it.
Sylan began to explain and I drank every word in, excited to finally know more about this elusive land and the monsters within it. “Paratiisi used to have an abundant climate when our Queen and her Trifecta were ruling. Their Trifecta was matched to the central crystal that the main kingdom is built around. This crystal impacts the life of the land and all of its inhabitants.”
I had a sinking feeling I knew where this was going. It wasn’t that hard to put two and two together.
“The rulers were assassinated when usurpers thought they could take the crown, but it isn’t that simple. They couldn’t just kill them and take over because the crystals call to each Trifecta, like a pairing of its own. They don’t work with just any Trifecta.”
Fascinating, honestly. Several questions swirled in my mind about where the crystals came from and what they could do, but I didn’t want to cut off his story.
“So, our land was plummeted into darkness, literally and physically. The main crystal of our kingdom hasn’t paired to any Trifecta in the centuries that followed their deaths.”
My heart squeezed, feeling sorry for them all. “That’s horrible,” I breathed out, feeling the depth of the loss they faced.
“It is,” he answered. “This decline has led to the Specters, which is the form you see us in now, coming about. We used to be called something else when we were fully solidified and in our true forms. The central crystal is connected to all of us like a power source, but it only works one way. We cannot pull on it to reserve that boost. It is given freely to us when it is connected to the True Queen and her Trifecta.”
Anger spiked through me at how fucking stupid those assassins were for not thinking this through. They were blinded by power and who knows what else, and in return everyone else had paid dearly.
A question popped into my head, and he seemed to be done with his explanation for now, so I asked, “Have you three already been to the central crystal to see if you connect with it?”
Axton chuckled at my back, answering before Sylan could. “No, precious. Each Trifecta is required to venture to the main kingdom once they have found their match. It would be pointless to go before we found you, because it would not react to us until our unit was complete with our female at its center.”
My eyes flew open as I gasped. “Wait, you’re telling me the previous Queen was a human?”
Come to think of it, I had never heard them mention any female Specters. Did they have any? They had to…right?
“Indeed,” Sylan answered. “It wasn’t always like this between our kinds. Our history books speak of a time when our kind came and went, mingling and openly living together. Greed and fear led to the Great War and division between us.”
Holy shit. My mind was officially being blown. Was this why our government told us so little about The Below, Keeping us in the dark on what truly transpired and how we had once lived in harmony? I suppose fear was an easy way to get us all to bow to their rules.
“Fuck,” I hissed out, bringing up a hand to rub my heavy lids. “The life we’re living up there and the way they have made us fear you is all an intricate lie.”
“That would make a lot of sense as to why there has been a serious decline in the relationships between the Trifectas and their women,” Axton agreed. “Despite Trifectas finding their matches occasionally, even fewer of them actually get to enjoy time with their mate. Many of them have killed themselves out of terror of being down here and in the Specters’ presence.”
Pure rage rolled through my veins, lighting my entire body up. “I have to make this right. I have to bring the truth to The Above.”
And suddenly I had found my purpose in life. I had gone these almost twenty-five years not knowing what I wanted to do with it. Part of that was the fault of the fear that was struck into me daily by the government, but the majority of it was that I had felt lost.
I wouldn’t just go home to my family like a lost puppy when I finally had the chance. No, I would set the fucking record straight with how the life we were forced to endure was a sham.
