The White Elfin Princess (Part I of II)

I am about to tell you an amazing story. One that the reader may find hard to believe. Yet, it truly happened, as surely as you who are reading this now is real. It is the tragic life of a girl; an Elfin Princess named Artcele.  It is not her story alone to tell - for she had a twin brother named,  Setsero. They two were as close as two human beings can be because they shared their mother’s womb. Even inside of their mother’s stomach, they learned to speak to one another. There were the special Elves of their race with psychic ability - but their’s started much sooner then most. It created a bond between the two of them that was limitless, timeless and could not be matched or bound in any way.

The circumstances of their birth and childhood appeared relatively normal to any observer. The labor was a little difficult. Artcele was born first, being the stronger twin of the two. It was as though, she came first into the world to assist her dear mother Anaid and to encourage her twin brother Setsero to go through with it. For you see, Artcele knew that her dear brother had many times thought about not going through with being born into the world. Artcele had to talk him into staying with her and not leaving her alone to face the cruel fate that awaited them in this life that was being thrust upon them.

One would think that they two were blessed, being born into a royal elfin family of privilege. This is only what appeared to be so to the others. For even as Setsero and Artcele were forming their little fingers and toes within the warm and safe confines of their mother’s protection, an evil was seeking to destroy them. Why? Because our dear twins Setsero and Artcele were bearers of the White Light. Their mission was to bring Light and Truth into the world; when a great darkness was beginning to take it’s sinister root. This dark force tried to destroy the twins even as they were developing in their mother’s womb. Once, through an illness that came upon their mother and almost caused our dear Setsero to forfeit his life; and then again another time when their mother  Anaid fell off of her horse halfway through her pregnancy, almost causing her to miscarry both of the twins.

The Light is always stronger than the darkness; and after that difficult pregnancy and birth, the early childhood of the twins had at least a few years of relative normalcy. It was Artcele who kept the dark forces at bay; being the more psychically developed and stronger minded of the two. For it was she at the age of three who met  the evil and dark Moon Demon and somehow defeated him for a while. We may never know how, but somehow our sweet Artcele was able to absorb that blackness into her own being and prevent it from harming others; at her own dear expense. An illness began to develop within her.

Setsero and Artcele played , laughed and learned like all other normal elfin children. They both loved art, music and poetry, and excelled. Artcele was particularly good at writing and Setsero loved to play a wind instrument that was a special flute that Elves played. They also loved animals and nature, and spent many long afternoons playing in the woods and the mountains together, by a flowing stream and a peaceful lake.

Signs of the illness came on slowly with Artcele. It was as though each year a piece of her was being taken away from her. She became melancholic and started to not take pleasure in the usual things that elfin children do. Her mother and father became concerned and brought the best herbalists and magicians from around the country to try to heal her. They concluded that something was sapping Artcele of her energy; a vampiric source, that they could not identify. Only Artcele knew what it was but she was afraid to say anything, as though if she acknowledged what she was dealing with; it would become stronger and more of a reality. She was placed on a special diet and herbs to strengthen her, and it helped a little but not entirely.

During these early years; the insidious Demon of the Moon, was forming it’s evil plot to destroy the twins. First it would destroy their family, then separate Artcele and her brother, Setsero. They would be depleted and destroyed in this manner and through any other means. Even now, the Dark One was sapping poor Artcele of her stamina and will to live. It was her love for her brother that kept her going. That and a deep sense that she was born for a purpose; a purpose that she must fulfill.

It was on the twins 13th year that the Evil One came into their lives in the form of a human. It took the menacing form of a man that came to work in the palace as a magician/physician to their mother Anaid. Then, in an evil and successful ploy to usurp the throne, he poisoned the twins’ father; then he seduced and married the queen. For years the twins assumed that their poor, innocent mother had been a willing player in this evil plot. Finally one day, when they were sixteen, they could contain their anger no longer; and in revenge and fury they both ended their dear mother’s life. What a sad and miserable day that was for the two of them; standing over their dear mother, bloodied knives in their hands, as she lay their bleeding from the very womb that gave them life. In her last dying breath she asked them why. They told her, as they both held her sobbing. The very white breasts that gave them milk, were now stained red .  “I am innocent, my children,” she cried. It is the King, your stepfather, who did this. Not I; for I knew not of his evil plan. “ She sighed and then lay lifeless before them. If they could take back what was done, they would have; but it was too late for the evil fate of the Dark One’s scheming had now been played through.

Setsero took the blame and was banished from the Kingdom. It was not customary for Elfs of royal blood to be executed; but banishment was by far a worse fate. For years Setsero would wander, tormented and lamenting about the death of his mother by his own hands. His insanity is the only thing that kept him from returning to avenge his mother and his father’s death.

In the meantime, poor Artcele was forced to live in a palace among strangers; with her stepfather King, knowing what he had done. And, to make matters even harder, he incessantly tried to seduce Artcele into marrying him. Artcele became more ill and weaker by the day. It became harder for her to bare up under the weight of her sickness and knowing that she and her brother had taken their innocent mother’s life. The only thing that kept her alive was waiting for her brother Setsero to come back for her and to avenge their parents. The psychic link that she held with Setsero gave her courage too. It was what kept the two of them sustained for years to come. That was the only thing that kept Artcele alive; that, and not wanting to see the evil king win.

And evil he was. Besides never leaving Artcele be, he oppressed the Kingdom with taxes and had anyone and everyone who he even suspected of speaking against the throne, put into jail without counsel or a trial before the Elfin Elders. In fact, he banned that tradition as well, by having the Elfin Elders placed into a sanctuary/prison where they lived a life of isolation and seclusion. They too hoped that Setsero would return one day to set up the rightful kingdom and undo the wrong and evil of the present rule. (to be cont.)