LUCIA

8 The Four Kingdoms (Part 2)

Marcia led them out of the room and into a larger living space with only two comfy cushions. Lucia and Luke sat on the chair and Marcia snapped her fingers as her clothes changes. She now had on a pair of glasses and wore a blue pants suit with a blue inner coat and white shirt while holding a short stick which made her look like a teacher.
   She cleared her throat and said "Well, today's lesson is going to be a little history class about the four kingdoms located in our continent, Hyacinth". She spun the stick around her and a stream of water followed it. When she was done, it had formed a circular ring around her and she smiled which caused the water to form a dome around her before disappearing.
Marcia threw her hands out and an invisible force followed after. It went in different directions and touched all four kingdoms of Hyacinth. To the people of each kingdom, it was but a light breeze but the hearts each flinched from the feeling and chose to ignore it....All but one which had completely stopped the intrusion.
Behind Marcia, it looked like a small waterfall had formed but it was quite thin as many colourful screens appeared behind her and the water seemed to be changing colour to match the pictures displayed on the screen.
What Lucia noticed, was that, to each kingdom, there was a large screen and within that large screen, were nine smaller screens which changed scenery from time to time. She looked from kingdom to kingdom but one had completely caught her eyes as all of the screens belonging to it, were blank and even the name of the kingdom was strange.
"The Unnamed Kingdom" Lucia mumbled and Marcia had to turn back
Marcia sighed in a depressed tone "That one is quite strange" she said "No matter what I do, she always tends to block me. That kingdom is where the Queen of hearts resides and it's quite secretive for some odd reason. I'll explain that kingdom to you last...and Neinhart will be the second to the last as I'm sure you already know its history" she tapped the stick against her palm for a while before saying "That leaves Elencia and Lupin" she said
"Then, can I know about Elencia?" Lucia asked which made Marcia shiver "Is something wrong? I've heard only a little about Elencia from my sister. She said they are quite inhumane, have heart harvesters and make the poor live underground while the rich enjoy the daylight"
Marcia sighed and adjusted her glasses "That isn't the only problem with Elencia" she said "Elencia was once one of the most beautiful countries. Rear flowers used to bloom on Elencian soil and had abilities like no other in the past. Their people also possessed powerful magic but, that all ended when one of their very own people attacked their third heart in the core. After the attack, the third heart found it difficult to produce magic and keep the balance which in turn caused Elencia to become a snow covered country"
Marcia tapped the stick on one of Elencia's screens which caused it to zoom in "The hearts after the third heart, didn't know the meaning of love and as the next generation of Elencians came forth, they too had begun to change and they had been the cause of many wars in the past with the Ming family as a leader. I almost got killed by a harvester from Elencia and they had also waged war on Neinhart in the past because of your mother's core. As such, the regions began to automatically reject Elencians entry into the other kingdoms" the screens changed and she continued her explanation "Elencia got divided in two....four even. That country now, is one of nothing good" she cut the screens for Elencia
"Deborah-Jane said the same thing. 'It was a kingdom of nothing good'" Lucia said
"You do realise you have another relative in Elencia, right?" Luke asked and Lucia looked at him confused "She holds a high position in Elencia and is Melvin's half sister"
"My father had a half sister?" Lucia asked
"She was the sole reason for the elimination of the Roosevelt family" Luke said "Your grandfather was forced to marry Melvin's mother, your grandmother. Sure, the man loved her but, that love was nothing when compared to his love for the woman from Elencia. He loved both women and had...two sons with his wife and one daughter with his mistress. When your grandmother found out, she killed your grandfather after becoming a mindless beast and your elder uncle, Melvin's older brother, Michael, killed his mother while also dying with her. Neinhart wanted to blame their deaths on Melvin's half sister but Melvin helped her escape from the kingdom"
"The royal families of each kingdom are cursed in one way or the other. Just like hearts" Marcia said "But the Roosevelt family is more cursed than others. It's like a disastrous power of destiny where the family members fight to the death. All because their bloodline ability controls time itself"
"So, I was destined to either die by my sisters' hands or kill my sisters? Just because I am both a Roosevelt and a heart?" Lucia wondered as she stared at her hands shakily
"Although that seems to be the case, there's no heart who's pure from the day they are born" Marcia said while adjusting her glasses "Hearts have to kill too, in other to survive. And that knowledge is passed down to the next hearts. It's like killing ants and that's why we're loathed"
"Continue with the history lesson. We don't have time for this" Luke said "Building her knowledge is very important. I want to know whether or not she lost her passed memories, or they were sealed in some way so she couldn't use magic" he said with a grumpy tone "I was so weak in Neinhart that I couldn't even hold my own against a summoned beast. Yet, the heart who was supposed to be the source of my magic power was on my back. Unbelievable"
"I'm sorry" Lucia said and Marcia smiled before tapping her stick on Lupin's screen
"The next is Lupin" Marcia said "My kingdom in the past was once a seaport kingdom. We were known for our seafood delicacies and of course, the material that appears only in this kingdom, Lupinite. However, some hundreds of years back, when our second heart was harvested, the kingdom suddenly began to sink underwater. If not for the power of the sea demon who later became king, and the house of Lupin's crown princess' bloodline ability, Lupin won't even exist today"
Marcia tapped on one of the screens with her stick "The sea demon turned all the humans in the kingdom into mermaids while the Lupin family built the dome above head. Their children from then on, began to connect magic power from every citizen to themselves...the royal family acted as hearts for three hundred years. As such, the Lupin household, never had people who lived longer than fifty.  The fairies which were and still are our second race, helped make the seabeds fertile for plants grown above ground, to grow without problem here. Thanks to all our hardships, Lupin is several years ahead of other kingdoms"
"Stop growing a big head" Luke said
'I think she's growing a long nose instead of a big head' Lucia thought and Marcia pouted
"You two are truly related" Marcia said "Anyways, all of their efforts weren't in vain and instead of a new heart being born, one was created or chosen from the royal family. That was me" she said "And like I mentioned earlier, the royal families each have their own curses. As you can see, my body stopped growing as the fate of my bloodline mixed together with my fate as a heart. The royal family bloodline ended with me as soon as I turned thirteen, years ago"
"That's horrible" Lucia said
"I have Lu-Lu to keep me company. Unless he's harvested, he'll live for at least ten thousand years. Being able to adjust his appearance as he pleases" Marcia said while waving her hands
"Don't feel sorry for us. Because you're in the same position" Luke said while looking at Lucia "Hearts can't die from old age. But when you break those rules or follow them down to the latter, you'll die anyways. You'll have to be careful from now on as spirits are hearts without rules" Lucia gave a slight nod and hummed
"I don't need to teach you history on your own country. As a princess and as a heart, you most likely know better than me" Marcia said "I will however, show you what's happening right now" she made the screen for Lupin disappear and tapped on Neinhart
   Lucia's eyes widened and even Luke couldn't look a the screens. Lucia was watching people she had grown up knowing being meaninglessly slaughtered before her very eyes. She was watching once beautiful forests and towns burning up as people screamed. She was watching everything she had to abandon....her home, go up in flames.
Her vision got blurry and she looked away as tears fell from her eyes
"How could Diane-Annabel do this?" Lucia cried as a periwinkle to white gradient began to dye her clothes and Luke felt his magical power increase a bit "How could she destroy our home? How could she curse our father? How could she kill and hurt innocent people like it's nothing?" she opened her eyes and there was a glow to one of them "Why does she keep making Jane do this stuff? She's hurting her"
"This was the personality hearts from Elencia had developed after what happened to the third heart...."
"I don't care" Lucia shouted "I'll never forgive her for this. She has gone too far"
"Marcia, cut the damn screen" Luke said and Marcia cancelled out the screens for Neinhart. Before long, Lucia's clothes returned back to normal and her eyes stopped glowing.
"Sorry, Luce, Lu-Lu. Are you both fine now?" Marcia asked worriedly and the two nodded which made her sigh in relief "This is the last one" she tapped her stick on The Unnamed Kingdom but it still remained blurred out "The Unnamed Kingdom is a kingdom that suddenly sprouted out from the ocean. When it was formed, every heart could tell that the heart belonging to that kingdom, was far more powerful than the rest which earned her the title 'Queen'. There is also the possibility that this kingdom is made up of only magic users and they have items even the other three kingdoms can't comprehend"
Marcia cut out the screen for the Unnamed Kingdom "The Unnamed kingdom doesn't do any business with any of the other kingdoms; as such, even after the hundreds of years since it sprouted, nobody knows the real name of the kingdom. Not even hearts can enter that kingdom unless permitted. It has too many unknowns which is quite scary. But one thing for sure is, they've never participated in any of the wars in the past" the waterfall behind her completely disappeared and her clothes went back to normal "I hope you liked our history class" she smiled
"Thank you for the class" Lucia said
"How about we take a look around Lupin?" Luke asked "I can't keep you locked up in here. You need to get some fresh air and you need new clothes"
"Oh" Lucia said but her mind clearly wasn't there
"Lucia?" Luke called out and Lucia tried to get up but, her whole world went blurry and she fainted. Luke managed to catch her at the last second and Marcia came to check on her
"She has a fever. Her body can't handle her heart form yet" Marcia said while touching Lucia's forehead "She'll be out of it until tomorrow. It seems like we can't start training right now"
"Sure" Luke said while looking at Lucia in his arms