Meenu woke up hours later than normal, but she was feeling fresh and happy, even though she was still unhappy with her current engagement to the King.

But something about that morning made her feel good.

She stayed in her bed for some time, wondering about silly things. Like the paintings on the ceiling of this room. And the view from the balcony... she hadn't gotten a chance to look out from it yet.

As she thought though, there was a knock at the door.

Meenu got up quickly and walked over to the door, wondering who it could be. When she opened it, she was rather surprised by the maids who looked stressed and annoyed. "You're late, Lady Kyrus." One of them said.

Meenu hesitated. "Late?"

"Lord Seliaryn has been waiting for you to wake up for hours."

Meenu's eyes widened, but before she could respond, the maids had rushed into the room to help her get dressed.

The women washed her and fit her into a tight corset before throwing on a new, red gown.

It was a lovely gown that was not too fancy and not too simple. The sleeves were short and loose, falling over her shoulders slightly and the material was soft and silky. She felt rather comfortable in it, though she normally hated gowns.

The maids brushed through her hair and pinned it up so that it wasn't in her face. However, the maids all realized that Meenu looked rather horrible with all her hair back, so the pulled out some strands and fixed it up into a neat half ponytail.

When they were done with her, makeup, jewelry and all, they sent her out.

Meenu walked out of the room with a big sigh, looking like a princess, but definitely not feeling like one.

However, Seliaryn, who was waiting outside the door, did a double take when he saw her. Meenu grinned when she noticed him and he shook his head as he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against. "I guess this was worth the wait."

Meenu hesitated, not understanding. "Sorry... I slept a little too long."

Seliaryn chuckled. "You look gorgeous, Meenu." Seliaryn said. "Red is a beautiful colour on you."

She blushed when he said that. "Thank you." She said. "But why do you look so exhausted, Seli?"

Seliaryn scratched his head. "Troublesome night."

"What happened?"

"Nothing that's important enough for you to worry about." He smiled at her. "Are you ready for today?"

"A tour, yeah?"

Seliaryn nodded as he held his arm out for her to take. "You'll enjoy it. This castle is thousands of years old and filled with history."

Meenu nodded eagerly. The one thing she liked more than running around with Knight and saving the village from ogres was getting a good lesson in history.

Seliaryn spent the whole day showing his close friend around the castle. He was a smart man, who quickly retained any information that was given to him.

Seliaryn was known for never forgetting. And that was why it was so easy for him to tell Meenu every story he had learned... from the story behind every single statue in the palace to the story of why they chose a certain type of stone for the walls.

But finally, they got to the interesting part of the castle.

The Lumynos Family Hall.

Meenu stood in front of the large doors and tried to read the Ancient Raffyrian writing on top of it.

"You can do it." Seliaryn encouraged.

Meenu chuckled. She had taken Ancient Raffyrian writing classes as a child because her father believed it was important to know their ancient language.

"Hall... of the Lumynos Clan?"

Seliaryn nodded. "Very good."

"What's in there?" Meenu asked, curiously.

"The History of the Lumynos family."

Now Meenu was more excited than ever. "We can go in, right?"

Seliaryn smiled at her as he pushed open the heavy doors. "After you, my Lady."

Meenu lifted her dress and walked into the extraordinarily large room. The ceilings were high and because of all the bookshelves lined up in the middle of the room, the room almost looked endless.

She walked around, noticing carvings on the walls, all of them in Ancient Raffyrian.

"These walls have the names of every single Lumynos that ever lived." Seliaryn said as he walked up to her. "When a child is born under the name Lumynos, with their red eyes as proof, they have their names carved onto these walls."

Meenu scoffed as she stepped closer to the walls. The writing was tiny and there were probably thousands and thousands of names on the wall. "How do they fit them all onto here?"

"Well, these days many of the women marry out of the family. So that kicks out a lot of people since their children are not considered Lumynos." Seliaryn said. "And because of that, we're dwindling in numbers. I fear our clan will one day go extinct."

Meenu looked at Seliaryn and saw the joking look on his face. That made her chuckle. "The Lumynos family? Going extinct? Impossible."

Seliaryn let out a small laugh. It was true. Even if they were close to extinction, one way or another, the family would rise back to the top.

But as she talked about the Lumynos family, she was reminded of Seliaryn's. "How are your parents, by the way?"

Seliaryn smiled. "My mother is good. My father is... his usual self."

Meenu held back her laugh, but smiled.

Lord Roviaryn, father of Seliaryn, was quite the man. A frightening man, but almost as much of a legend as Meenu's father was.

He had been the top advisor for the Dukaryn and even the king before him, and before that, he was a Knight that was so frightening that his enemies would turn and run in the sight of him.

Meenu had met the man a few times... and she had always been scared of him. He looked very much like Seliaryn except Seliaryn was very gentle and kind... this man was anything but that.

Just the thought of him made Meenu shudder.

Seliaryn made jokes about his father whenever he was in a joking mood, which was rare, of course... but when he did make jokes, Meenu was always too afraid to laugh.

So she shook the thought of the frightening man away and made her way down the hall. She touched the names with her fingers, and only stopped when she reached the end of the list. "Tharyna the fourth." She read.

Seliaryn smiled. "She was born a week ago."

Meenu smiled. "This is a lovely idea though... I wish we did that with our family."

Seliaryn didn't say anything to that. He simply watched as she went backwards searched for familiar names.

"Seliaryn the sixth!" She said excitedly when she found him.

He smiled.

"And then there's Dukaryn the Third." That one wasn't exciting at all.

But then she realized something. She lifted her finger up and placed it on the name that was on top of Dukaryn. "Avaryn the First." She said, more to herself.

"It's names like that one that makes people in our family wish we didn't carve them onto the wall."

Meenu turned and looked at him. She knew that the topic of Avaryn was not a topic of interest for Seliaryn.

After all, Seliaryn was one of the people who was most hurt by Avaryn's madness.

They were once best friends.

So Meenu decided to change the subject. "What are in all of these books?" She asked as she walked over to the shelves.

"Various things." He said. "Most of them are histories of the family."

"Really?" Meenu asked.

Seliaryn nodded. "Thousands of years of the successes and failures of my ancestors are recorded in these books."

Meenu's eyes widened. "Failure's too?" She asked.

"That's the thing about our family. We do not hide our failures, like many other families do in their histories. We record them... If anything in more detail then the successes. That way, we make sure we learn from the mistakes we have made." He said. "Why do you think our family is so successful?"

Meenu nodded. That made sense to her, every history book she's ever read talked mostly about their successes... And little about their failures.

And many of the families and kingdoms she's read about had ultimately failed.

She read the titles on the spines and walked around. The titles didn't seem too interesting. All they had were years on them. But every book was thick and there were hundreds. These histories must have been written in excruciating detail.

But as she walked down the aisle, she noticed a door. "What's in there?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to take you in there... But it's just a weapons room, filled with the legendary weapons of legendary Lumynos."

"Like the axe of Lumyryn Lumynos, the creator of the Lumynos clan?"

"Exactly." Seliaryn said. "I'm surprised you knew that."

Meenu smiled at him, though she wondered how she knew that too.

But as she looked at the door, she noticed more carvings on the wall at the very far end of the hall. She didn't think much about it originally, as she thought it was just more names. But now that she was closer, it looked more like an upside down tree.

A family tree.

"That's the Royal family tree." Seliaryn said, noticing her eyes. "Every time a king and queen has children, the names would be carved onto this wall. However, the tree only continues from the son or daughter who becomes ruler."

Meenu nodded. No wonder it looked like it had a significantly smaller number if names then the other walls.

She looked at the very top of the tree. "Seliaryn the First." She said as she looked at Seliaryn. "You were named after the first king?"

"Indeed I was." He said with a tone that made Meenu laugh. "Do you know much of how my family came to rule?"

Meenu shook her head. "Simply that there was a war and your family won it."

Seliaryn nodded as he walked over to a windowsill and sat. "Raffyre is thousands of years old, as you probably know... And in those years, it has been ruled by hundreds of Kings and a few Queens too... but the most horrid set of rulers were the kings that filled for the last couple hundred years, the kings and Queens from the Lumynos family."

Meenu chuckled as she walked over to him. It was funny to hear him speak like that about his own family. She sat on the floor in front of him and listened as he spoke.

"The Lumynos invaded Raffyre and waged a war. It that lasted over ten years... thousands of Raffyre's greatest knights faced the small number of the Lumynos fighters. And the Knights of Raffyre lost. The king was killed. And the Lumynos started their reign."

"Why are the Lumynos so strong?" Meenu asked. She had heard countless times of the unbelievable powers.

"I'll get there." Seliaryn said as he continued. "The Lumynos family has it in their blood to be evil. Anyone could see this just from the red of our irises. We have a saying you see, a saying that goes something like, "let the evil overcome you." It was a saying that simply meant to allow their inner beast to awaken. This beast was a beast that every member of the Lumynos family had, and when it awoke... it was blood thirsty."

Meenu nodded her head, listening. Her father had told her about this 'beast' before.

"People believe that we were born evil, the sons and daughters of the Devil, some called us, and each member of our family would only die peacefully after killing thousands of men and women and children."

Meenu laughed at the sarcasm in his voice. It wasn't often that you heard Seliaryn act so relaxed and humorous.

Seliaryn gave her a quick grin before he continued. "But as foolish as the last bit sounds, it is undeniable that the Lumynos are a cruel, self centered and harsh clan. My mother told me that every day our people would wake and hope that the current king had died. The people of our land were silenced, and they were scared. Life in our land was no life at all."

Meenu frowned. Raffyre was such a lovely place now... She couldn't imagine it ever being a bad place.

"But things changed slightly when King Maroryn took the throne. He was originally as bad as the others. Some could say worse. But years into his rule, he came across a beautiful girl, a woman of your very own village and the daughter of the mayor at the time. King Maroryn wanted her. He made it his mission to have her. But, though her family was thrilled with the idea of joining the royal family, she refused to marry a man like him."

"Wait... Maroryn's marriage to the Amberdyse girl was how Amberdyse became a part of Raffyre, right?"

Seliaryn nodded.

"So he did marry her?"

"When she refused him, he took matter into his own hands and raped the young woman, impregnating her and giving her no other option but to marry him. After all, in a society like ours, it is very difficult to get married after bearing the child of another man."

Meenu frowned deeply. She hated that people could do that kind of stuff and get away with it.

"So the new Queen married the evil King and a prince, Prince Kyryn was born into a life of hate, misery and distrust. However, many noticed that the more time that passed, the softer this King became. Soon, a second son, Prince Lyryn, was born and things started to look better for our people.

"It was tradition for the Lumynos to marry only those in their family, to keep their blood pure. But many began to believe that the fact that King Maroryn married an outsider, though it is uncertain whether or not she actually loved him back, was what changed him... And that would be what changed their sons."

Now Meenu smiled.

"Life became easier for our people, my mother told me that they were all happier. But one day, the beloved Queen died. And King Maroryn grieved like no man of the Lumynos had ever grieved. His days were filled with never ending sorrow and soon, he followed behind her."

"Aww..." She said, though she still didn't like the man for what he did to his wife.

"But a new King was crowned shortly after, King Kyryn of Lumynos. Our people worried greatly about this mans rule, after all, he was the first son that was born from rape. Many believed he was as cursed and evil as all the kings before him, as cursed and evil as his father once was."

Meenu hesitated. The name Kyryn was a familiar one to her... her father mentioned that name often. She had heard that he was a good friend of her father... but she had never heard that he was evil.

Seliaryn, seeing Meenu's confusion, smiled. "That was not the case, however." He started. "His mothers kindness to him was infinite. She knew from the moment he was born that he would not be treated as an equal. After all, even her own parents feared this child. And King Kyryn took greatly after his mother. Though he had had the eyes of his father, he had his mothers smile, and his mother's heart."

"Oh... good." Meenu smiled. She knew her father wouldn't be good friends with an evil man.

"He shocked all of our people by ruling as a great, kind king. The first that our country had seen in years. And in a matter of a couple years, King Kyryn surpassed every King before him. Including the kings that came before the Lumynos family. Raffyre was at its peak of prosperity under King Kyryn's rule and people were happy."

Meenu nodded her head. "He's the one who made the festival's, right?"

Seliaryn nodded. "Yes. King Kyryn believed it was very important for a civilian to know his or her king." He said. "And, more importantly, he protected our countries peace and during a great battle he saved your father's life. After that they became the greatest of friends. He married a beautiful woman, again from your village. And this woman, Lady Tabitha, was a great friend to your mother."

Meenu nodded her head. She had heard the name Tabitha often too.

"Soon, Lady Tabitha and King Kyryn gave birth to a son. Avaryn was his name, and his birth was celebrated by our people... and you know the rest of the story."

Meenu's smile faded as she thought of Avaryn. "It's sad how such a great story could be tainted like that."

Seliaryn let out a small laugh.

Meenu stood up and walked over to the family tree. She looked up and saw the spot where Avaryn's name once was. It had been scratched out and covered with stone... but you could still see it. "Who did this?" Meenu asked. "That was rather immature."

Seliaryn laughed. "Dukaryn. Who else."

Meenu looked at him and rolled her eyes. "He act's like a child." She bent back down and looked at the carving... and then noticed that Avaryn's name was linked to another name, that name too was scratched out and covered.

"Avaryn was married?" Meenu asked. "At such a young age?"

A shudder rushed up Seliaryn's spine. He had completely forgotten about that, forcing him to hesitate. "Not married... engaged."

"To who?" Meenu asked. "Is she still alive?"

"She... she's alive... but she disappeared when Avaryn did."

"Well, that's good news for her. People probably would have tormented the poor girl."

A rush of sadness filled Seliaryn.

"She wasn't evil too, was she?"

"Not in the slightest. She was an innocent young girl." Seliaryn said.

"Well that's good." Meenu said as she turned to Seliaryn. "I feel really sorry for her... to have had to been engaged to such a person. You knew him, didn't you? He must have been... strange."

Seliaryn let out a short laugh as he crossed his arms and leaned against the stained glass window. "He wasn't strange at all." Seliaryn said.

Meenu tilted her head.

"He was normal. A little bit quiet and good at almost everything he did... but he was normal."

Meenu was surprised to hear that. But what surprised her the most was Seliaryn's small smile as he said that. "He was a phenomenal fighter for his age and he cared deeply for those he loved... especially the girl he was going to marry."

"Do you think that he went mad?"

He looked at her. "That's a good question." He said. "And no. I don't think he went mad."

Meenu's head jerked back in shock. "Really?"

Seliaryn shook his head. "No." He continued. "A man like him couldn't be shaken like that. He feared little."

"What do you think then?"

"I think he was a liar."

Meenu narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that?" This topic interested her very much. She rarely every brought up Avaryn around him because she knew it upset him. But today... he didn't seem that upset.

"I mean that he lied to everyone about who he really was. Including his people, including his family and including me." Seliaryn sighed. "My best guess was that Avaryn was never happy with containing that power within him. That power that his father forced him to hide and control... The second his father died, Avaryn unleashed that power and went on a rampage. And when he was satisfied, he went into hiding."

Meenu frowned. "He's horrible."

"And now he's out looking to kill someone... he's seeking revenge for something."

"Really? How do you know that he's seeking for revenge? You think he's still alive?"

"I know he's still alive." Seliaryn said. "And I don't know if he's seeking revenge for sure... that's what I think."

"I can't believe he's still alive... how can such horrible people get a chance to live."

Seliaryn smiled sadly at her. "There's one thing he didn't lie about though." He said as he looked at her.

"What?" Meenu asked.

"His love for y­–" He cut himself off. "His love for that girl."

Meenu's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"Really." Seliaryn said. "Like I said before, Avaryn was very quiet. And it was hard to get him excited about anything. But... bring the topic of this girl into the conversation and suddenly he was on his toes."

That made Meenu chuckle. "That's not true."

"It is." Seliaryn said as he looked away. "He was like a gardener talking about his award winning, rare, gorgeous roses."

"No. That's impossible."

Seliaryn smiled and nodded. "It's very true. He loved her very much... after all, he knew her since she was born. She was more to him than a friend... or even a lover." He took a deep breath. "She was a part of him."

Meenu smiled. "That's actually very romantic."

"And I know... that the only thing in this world that he regrets is leaving her behind to suffer for his mistake."

Meenu pursed her lips. "You make him seem not that bad."

"Back then, he wasn't that bad." He said. "Now... it's different."

Meenu nodded but then hesitated before she asked a risky question. "Seli... do you still care about Avaryn?"

Seliaryn looked at her. "No." He said, bluntly.

Meenu was surprised. She had thought that since he was speaking about Avaryn so kindly, he cared for him.

"Avaryn is a criminal who deserves to die." He said. "He is a murderer and people like him don't deserve love, or respect, or kindness. What they deserve is nothing but hell."

Meenu bit the inside of her cheek, upset that her question seemed to anger him.

"I hate Avaryn." Seliaryn said. "And I hope that one day... I can kill him myself."