The Fairy Tale’s End

We found a door at the end of the room, past all the stacks upon stacks of golden ingots.

Before we entered the room, Elora placed her hands on the wall and closed her eyes. “Looks like Zac is in there by himself.” She looked up at me. “I think Ahv should go in alone to see him.”

“Yeah, might scare him if we all go in at once,” said Jeseka. She slapped Eon’s medallion onto my chest. “Don’t try to walk in there, though. Use this to fly. Keep pressure off that leg.”

“Thank you,” I said, fastening the medallion behind my neck.

My feet hovering but an inch off the ground, I entered the next room.

The light from the medallion revealed Zac seated upon a copper throne, one carved to look like countless serpents entwined with one another. Zac wore a scarlet robe, one I’d never seen upon him before, and a copper crown which resembled a single asp wrapped around his head.

The expression on his face was not the warm smile of a father-son reunion like I was expecting. There was suspicion there, a look of one who had reason to mistrust his visitor.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

“No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “But it looks like you are.”

I followed his gaze down to my leg, and the droplets of blood on the floor beneath it. With a shrug I said, “It’s not a big deal.”

He shook his head. “You sure do like lying, don’t you?”

My heart stung from his barb and I said, “You’re right. It hurts like Hell.”

Zac waved his hand and whispered a few words I couldn’t understand. The floor beneath me slid open and a chair rose underneath me. “Here,” he said.

I sat down in the chair, letting the medallion’s light dim.

Zac drew a circle in the air with one finger and a spark appeared. When he withdrew his hand, the spark grew into a burning flame, suspended in mid-air.

In a stunned voice I asked, “Is that… an Everburn?”

“Yes it is,” Zac said. “Mr. Muk told me I made all the Everburns. All the darklings too.”

After a brief moment of silence, I said, “What else did he tell you?”

“Who I really am,” he said. “That you’re not my real father. Where you found me. What I’m supposed to do.”

“And what are you supposed to do?” I asked.

“Judge the world,” Zac said. “When I grow up, I’m supposed to decide if the world should end or not. Mr. Muk said you knew all about that. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I… I guess I was scared,” I said.

“Scared?” He tilted his head to one side curiously. “What were you scared of? Me?”

“Scared of what might happen to you,” I said. “Think about it, Mr. Muk captured you because of… you know… of who you are. I was afraid that if I told you then someone like Mr. Muk might come to take you away.”

He gave me a skeptical raise of his eyebrow and folded his arms.

With a sigh I said, “And, yes… I was scared of you too. Scared of what you might do if you knew about your past… and your destiny. You’re the judge of the world, but you must understand, everyone makes mistakes. Good people, bad people… everyone. I was scared you might judge me because of my mistakes.”

He blinked twice, his eyes softening at the sound of that. “Umm… well…” he rattled his head and resumed a more stern expression. “So, you lied. All these years, you lied and said you were my dad.”

“Was that really a lie, though?” I asked, my tone pleading with him. “I didn’t put you in your mother’s belly, but that’s not all a dad is. A dad is your best buddy, who loves you, looks out for you, and is old enough to help you understand how to get through life. Your dad is someone who gives you good advice, helps you back up when you fall down… Am I not really your dad?”

The pause he gave hurt more than his accusation that I liked to lie. “We shall see,” he said, his palms grasping the arm-rests of his throne. “First, I want you to tell me everything you know about my mother. My real mother. You told me part of the story before, but I know you kept some parts secret.”

“Did Mr. Muk already tell you the rest?” I asked.

“No, but he promised he would.” Zac craned his neck to look past me. “But, since he’s dead, you're the one who has to tell me.”

I sighed. “This isn’t a happy story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod.

“Very well. This is the story as I learned it. Once upon a time, there was a woman named Lady Mitra. In all the world, she was the most beautiful of all women, and she lived in a palace on top of a waterfall. Suitors came from every land, hoping to win her love. They would shower her with gifts and flattery, and ask for her hand in marriage. She appreciated their gifts, but she always turned them down.

“Then, one day, along came a handsome prince. Prince Steed. And Prince Steed sung to her the most lovely songs, not just about her beauty, but also about her kindness and her wisdom. Moreover, he sung her songs about famous heroes of old, of glorious sunsets, and of far-off lands. For his beautiful songs, Lady Mitra fell in love with Prince Steed, and when he asked her to marry him she accepted. The two married in the spring, and by summer she was pregnant with their baby.”

Zac interjected, “That baby was me, right?”

“Yes,” I said, “But there’s more to the story.”

He nodded. “Continue.”

“But many men were jealous when they saw Prince Steed and Lady Mitra together. Even some who had been Prince Steed’s closest friends. So, they plotted against him. One day, they convinced him to come to a party they were throwing, told him that it just wouldn’t be a good party without his beautiful music to bring them joy. Happily, Prince Steed agreed to attend.

“Once he arrived, they locked the doors to prevent his escape. They fed him pastries and gave him wine to drink. And just when he was at his happiest, they attacked. They beat him, stabbed him, and shot him full of arrows. Once they were done and he was dead, they left his body to hang by the neck from a tree outside.”

Zac drew in a sharp breath, and when I looked up I saw tears in his eyes.

“It wasn’t long until Lady Mitra found out, and she was furious, though she did not know who had killed her beloved husband. All her bitterness and rage went into her child’s heart, and on the day her baby boy was born she said, ‘May this child judge all the world for what happened to his father. May the venom in my soul pour forth from him like a fountain, poisoning all who have wickedness in their hearts.’

“And she named her child ‘Zahac.’ Since that day, every one-thousand years, Zahac has returned to judge the world. Every time, he has decided to slay almost everyone, leaving only a select few to repopulate the world.”

Zac finally released the breath he’d drawn in, and I saw a tear roll down his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Like I said, it’s not a happy story. Those terrible men so long ago… what they did to your real father was so wrong… and millions… no, BILLIONS have paid the price for it, because the same wickedness was in their hearts.”

For just a moment, I saw his grief start to turn into anger.

“But, things are not the same as they were then,” I said. “I didn’t come down here to save you on my own, you know.” I licked my lips nervously, fearing what sort of terror he might be about to unleash on the world as revenge for his father. “Eon Maganti helped.”

“The bad man who killed Miss Keren?” Zac said, his fingers tightening on the arm-rests.

“That same bad man died so I could come here and save you,” I said. “He gave up his life to make sure you would be safe. He did this even though he knew that you’re Zahac and might destroy the world some day. Even though he knew you killed one of his soldiers, Avery If even a bad man like him is capable of something so noble, how bad could he really be?”

His eyes softened at that, and he loosened his grip on the arm-rests.

I stood from the chair, wincing as I was reminded of the pain in my leg. I lowered myself to my knees before him and bowed my head, then raised it again and held out both my arms. “Zac… let’s go home.”

He sobbed, stood from his throne, and ran to me. His arms wrapped around my neck and hugged me tight. I held him close and rocked him gently as he whispered a single, wonderful word in my ear.

“Dad…”