The Entity:- Auria-lia

Love was a strange emotion to say the least, and it was difficult to define at best. It gave her butterflies in the stomach and made her knees go wobbly. Her heartbeat would go up a notch and her palms would get all sweaty whenever she saw him, and she’d try her best not to look in his direction, but she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from doing so every now and again to steal a fleeting glance. She started to lose appetite and she was beginning to lose weight. She struggled with it for months but the feeling did not go away and if anything it only got worse. Auria-lia was at a loss. She didn’t know if the feeling was mutual, she didn’t even know if he noticed her, and she wasn’t confident enough to approach him. He was tall, lean, with shoulder length black hair and his features looked like they were chiseled from a block of granite. Just thinking about him got her all hot and flustered. There was something else about him, there were rumors in the palace that the younger warriors were beginning to flock around him, and that meant that he posed a threat to the king, uprisings were not something that were unheard off, and if the palace so much as caught a whiff of a rebellion, he would be instantly killed. The king, her father would never allow it. However, if he was to become a son-in-law, he would not only be save, but it would allow the king to forge a new alliance that would strengthen his grip on the throne, and would further Chareon’s career in the army and hence it would be a fortuitous alliance on all fronts. She knew that she could convince the king to allow him to ask for her hand in marriage, but before she could do so she received news that took her by surprise.

According to what her ladies in waiting had uncovered, Chareon was in love with a woman from a neighboring kingdom, the princess Phailin who lived in the kingdom of Panpuri, and they were planning to get married. Despite being taken aback by the news, the princess, who was used to getting things her own way was not about to give-up, and she consulted her ladies in waiting. Fortunately for Auria-lia the father of one of her ladies in waiting, was a monk of some standing, and Kannika, the lady in waiting in question brought the matter to her father Thaptim’s attention who told her that it was possible to help Auria-lia, he knew a monk in a monastery located on the slopes of a distant mountain that would be able to aid her, but it would cost her a small fortune. Kannika relayed the message to the princess, who was not short of money, and they made arrangements to travel to the monastery, and a couple of days later, they got on their way. They travelled for about a week, through flat rugged land, and steep perilous mountain paths, before they reached the gates of the monastery. It was located in a forest, surrounded by tall effervescent trees that released invisible bubbles of joy that filled everyone that they touched with a light, tingly feeling. They were greeted by a monk at the entrance, who recognized Thaptim, he’d visited them on numerous occasions. The monk walked them to a small courtyard, where the company of four were left waiting for about a quarter of an hour, before they were greeted by another monk, who Thaptim instantly recognized, and with his help, the princess quickly told him of her troubles. The man remained silent the whole time, and once she was done, he asked her, “did you bring the payment?”. The princess nodded her head before she reached into a satchel that she had slung across her shoulders, and pulled out a pouch filled with silver coins, and handed it to the man. The monk took it off her, and said, “I can offer you a lifetime with the man that you love, but you won’t be able to have any children”, he paused for a moment before he continued. “Do you agree to the terms?”, he asked, and Auria-lia replied with a firm “yes”, without giving the matter a second thought, and a deal was struck. They talked briefly for about a quarter of an hour, before they parted company, the monk promised to send Thaptim the amulet in a fortnight with instructions, and they left the monastery. While they made their way downhill, leading their horses by the reins, the monk’s parting words echoed in Auria-lia’s ears, “it will forever be known as the amulet of Auria-lia, and upon your death, your soul will be enshrined in it”.

They made it back to the palace, and once there, they returned to their normal duties, and as promised the amulet was delivered to Thaptim a fortnight later, and as soon as the princess wore the amulet around her neck, she felt a subtle change come over her. The next day, she approached Chareon, and like the monk had predicted, he was taken in by her, and a week later, the pair approached Auria-lia’s father and sought his permission to wed, and the king was only too happy to accede, for reasons of his own, it would further consolidate his hold on the throne, and ensure the loyalty of the younger warriors. They were wed a month later on the night of the full moon, and prior to their wedding, unknown to anyone, Auria-lia had Phailin murdered despite knowing that it would start a war.

Almost a month later, the kingdoms went to war, and Phailin’s father was killed in the subsequent battle, and his army decimated. In a fit of unmitigated jealousy and wanting to erase all traces of Phailin’s existence, Auria-lia asked Chareon who’d led the king’s army to raze the entire kingdom to the ground, and the tears, and misery that followed in the wake of the carnage that ensued, fueled the amulet, and its power increased manifold, and because it was fueled by negative energy, its baser instinct was to kill, and whoever wore it would over time, have to make living sacrifices to keep the barrier of negative energy that surrounded the amulet like an invisible shield intact, sometimes knowingly, and at other times, unwittingly.