The Chimera (Legends of the Dark Creatures Book 2)
Chapter Twenty: Ethan's Past

Ashley lips parted slightly. When Ethan turned to face her she couldn’t keep her gaze away from him. It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul. If that was the case then the window to Ethan’s soul was as opaque as fog. As always his eyes held no distinct emotion.

Hearing Ethan’s age was indeed a shock to Ashley. But what took her aback the most was what he said before that.

“Your mother was Marina Thalassa?” Ashley asked, while her mind tried to remember where she’d heard that name from.

“You’ve heard of her?” Ethan inquired.

Closing her eyes briefly, Ashley began to gather bits and pieces of the memory from the corner of her mind.

“After the battle with Sebastian, Richard told me of a legend that says Marina Thalassa was the one who once saved humanity.”

“My mother paid a hefty price for that act,” Ethan said, his voice dispassionate and calm. “However, before marrying into the royal family, my father was my mother’s most trusted General and Aurora Gillfire— the mermaid who soon became Richard’s mother— her best friend.”

The wind hitting hard against the window and the sound of thunderstorms raging in the distance made the atmosphere in the room even more intense. Ashley stared at Ethan in shock and kept her mouth shut as he continued speaking.

“I was born in the once-great kingdom of Arianis. In those days, war was a common cry that echoed throughout the realms. But despite that, my mother’s power ensured that the merpeople of Arianis lived through days of peace. With my father by her side and Aurora as her bodyguard, my mother was on the verge of bringing peace to all the underwater kingdoms...”

Ethan paused for a moment.

“For a while, my family too was happy. And I like everything else; I destroyed that happiness.”

Ethan told Ashley what happened when he was seven years old. Before that day, Ethan said he thought he was only a Sorcerer— a magic user like his mother. But when his own cousin tried to kill him, it was discovered that he was also a Fire Demon.

“I had always heard stories of how Fire Demons had no control over their abilities,” Ethan continued. “That side of me may have awakened because I wanted to protect my friends but that didn’t stop me killing them.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Ashley said, in a futile attempt to empathize with him.

Ethan ignored what she’d said and continued, “My mother, my father, and Aurora found me.” He chuckled, in a sinister and scary way. “My father was the first to call me an abomination. He probably feared for his life. You see, the terror of Fire Demons was so powerful in those days that once one was discovered they, and the parents that gave birth to them, were considered cursed and would immediately be executed.”

“After that day I never left the palace and the only one close to a friend that I had was my mother’s Dragon companion, Xalesia.”

“Dragons existed?” Ashley asked, able to hide her astonishment.

“Most species are extinct now but some still roam the earth.”

Ethan cleared his throat. “My mother managed to seal my Fire Demon side with her magic and spent the next course of her life trying to replace a cure. The seal placed on me was volatile and Magnus’ satisfaction would only be sated by a permanent solution.”

Ethan stood up.

“I was ten years old when it first happened. With hopes of replaceing a cure, my mother and I had traveled to another realm. On our way back a horde of bandits raided our company. They were extremely powerful and highly skilled to be ordinary bandits but were no match for my mother. I suffered many fatal injuries and when it became clear that the assassins were after me, my mother immediately knew who sent them.”

“It couldn’t be...”

“It is the tragic truth; my own father wanted me dead. Apart from my mother, only he and Aurora knew of what I truly was. At the time, it was still uncertain whether or not he was working with Aurora. After we returned home my mother never once brought up the matter. My parents grew distant towards each other. In time, the great love they once had for each other rotted into a terrifying hatred. After three more attempts were made on my life my mother finally confronted Magnus. I don’t know the details of what transpired but my mother came to me that night and said we had to leave the kingdom. I later found out that my father had made a deal with her. In order for my secret to remain hidden, my mother was to surrender the throne to him.”

“We had no other family to turn to so we left. Xalesia also came with us. Later, my mother lifted the spell that sealed my Fire Demon side. She believed that with practice I would be able to control it. Of course, she still continued her research on replaceing a cure.”

Ashley could sense a gentle warmth in Ethan’s tone whenever he talked about his mother. He must have really loved her, she thought.

“For over seven earth years, we traveled from kingdom to kingdom and realm to realm. They were those within my father’s circles who went behind his back, sending assassins after us. Tired of always watching my mother and Xalesia protecting me, I trained myself to survive. I killed so many at such a young age and word of my abilities began to spread.”

“One day, while trying to protect me from some High Elves in the realm of Argamon, Xalesia was fatally wounded. Her scales were impenetrable to many weapons but not to those imbued with powerful magic. She would have survived if she had been in her dragon form. But in order to tend to the wounds I had sustained, Xalesia was in her human form.”

Ethan’s voice was as unreadable as his features. Words of console were right on the tip of Ashley’s tongue but she couldn’t bring herself to say them. So, she just continued to listen.

“Using the last of her strength, Xalesia reverted into her dragon form and flew my mother and I to safety.”

Ethan walked to his bed and run his hand over his leather coat.

“Before she died, Xalesia offered her body to be used in a ritual called Rokvat. The closest English translation I can think of is The Final Gifting. The simplest way of describing this ritual is that the dragon’s entire body merges with yours; becoming your sword and shield. Dragon Riders consider it the highest honor a Dragon can ever demonstrate.”

Ethan picked up his coat.

“This coat... these trousers and boots were once part of Xalesia. They can withstand intensely high temperatures; a fitting gift for a Fire Demon. The rest of her turned into a sheath and hilt for the sword that formed from her very bones. It was customary for a warrior to name his sword and I named mine after my friend... Xalesia.”

“After that incident, my mother began to see me gain more control over my abilities. She one day decided that we return to Arianis and show the people, and realms at large, that Fire Demons were not a species to be afraid of. It was finally time to stop running; at least that’s what I thought.”

Slowly putting on his coat, Ethan said, “When we returned to the Earth realm, and to our home kingdom, a lot had changed. In only seven years, Magnus had managed wage war against most of the merkingdoms. We also found out that he had taken Aurora to be his wife a few weeks after my mother and I had left the kingdom. My mother went ahead of me to the palace. I waited in a nearby town and learned that Magnus had not fathered a child with Aurora throughout the time we were away.”

“But when I heard that he had sent most of the guards away from the palace I realized that my mother was swimming into a trap.”

Ashley felt her stomach tighten as she thought of what could have happened next.

“It was too late. By the time I arrived, half the palace was already in ruins. I remember swimming and screaming for my mother as I heard the explosions from the distance. When I got to them my father had already emerged victorious. My mother was on the brink of death. She was the most powerful magic-user in all the realms and yet her lingering love for my father must have had blinded her faculties. They were in the dining hall and I could tell that she had been poisoned with Devil’s Venom prior to their battle. That— together with the fact that my father wielded the Trident of Poseidon, a weapon my mother had to surrender when she abdicated her throne— my mother stood no chance against him.”

“At that moment, all I could think about was her. The blood pouring out of her abdomen, the pain and tears in her eyes, her hand reaching out to me... begging me to run away. Crimson flames ignited around my body and I attacked my father. I lost sense of who I was but I still remember. My sword continuously clashed with his golden trident. He kept calling me a monster— an abomination that had no place in existence. He said that my mother had placed a spell on him. It was a spell that prevented him from having any children and that’s why he killed her; to break the curse. I ignored everything and charged at him until finally... I felt the three spears of the trident run through my chest.”

A sickening chill ran through Ashley’s skin.

“I was defeated. Magnus came down to me, pulled the trident out of my chest and looked at me. My vision blurred but I could see him raising the trident. He stabbed me again, this time with more force than the last. My ribs were crushed, my lungs punctured and I couldn’t breathe anymore. My entire body went numb. I’d never sensed more hatred in my life than I did from him. Aurora swam in and begged him to stop, saying I was already dead. But he said an abomination like me shouldn’t have the honor of dying as a merman. So, he stabbed my tail, forever separating me from my merform.”

Ashley bit through her shaking lips and suppressed the tears forming behind her eyes.

“Ethan... I...” She held off her words and in a shaky whisper asked, “What happened next?”

“I died, little mermaid,” Ethan answered. “It’s a vague memory but I remember being in an empty void; surrounded by a darkness so thick you could almost touch it. Amidst that darkness, I heard a voice. It kept repeating ancient words as if chanting a spell. I had lost all memory of who I was so I didn’t know that it was my mother’s voice I was hearing and the very last words I heard her say were...”

Ethan then said two words in a language Ashley didn’t understand.

“The words mean... I love you,” he said.

“The spell she cast,” Ashley said. “That’s the one that turned you into a Chimera.”

Ethan chuckled and looked up into the ceiling.

“With creation came destruction, with life, death, with light, darkness— and out of that darkness I, the Chimera, was born. I don’t know how long I had been in that Abyss but when I came to, I was on the shores of an island and awoke as someone with no memory. I was alone, with only a sword sheathed behind my back. It was also then that this appeared.”

Ethan slowly pulled up the left sleeve of his coat. Ashley was flooded with both curiosity and intrigue when she saw the black symbols that spread from Ethan’s wrist to his elbow.

Standing up, Ashley walked to Ethan to get a closer look.

“What are these?” she asked, almost wanting to touch the marks.

“These, little mermaid, are the keys to all the realms,” Ethan answered. He extended his right hand and gently held Ashley’s left one. He closed his eyes and chanted words in a language similar to the one she’d heard him speak earlier.

Suddenly, similar marks appeared on Ashley’s wrist— but only around her wrist.

“I am sure you’ve already learned from my brother that everything in existence has its own unique magical signature.”

Ashley nodded.

“Well, everything in existence also has keys to different realms.”

“Sebastian also told me about how you once gave him the key to the Arzyria-Earth portal,” Ashley recalled.

“Anything that tries using a portal without possessing the key to it would immediately be incinerated. You, little mermaid, have had these keys since birth.”

Ethan studied the marks on Ashley’s wrist. “Interesting. Humans typically have only one to three keys and merfolk only have keys that grant them access to fifteen realms at most. But you—” He looked amused. “You have access to over one hundred.”

“How can you tell? Can you read this language?”

Ethan let go of her hand and the marks on her wrists and those on his arm disappeared.

“We seemed to have gotten carried away,” Ethan said. “Shall I continue?”

“Please,” Ashley said.

“These marks on my left arm— the reason I possess the keys to all the realms is that apart from once being the ruler of Arianis, my mother was also a Rygeen.”

Ashley remembered that Richard had mentioned that word before.

“She was the supreme protector of the earth realm but also helped maintain the balance between the realms. Like those before her, she could travel to any realm, and just like them she passed on the mantle to someone.”

“To you,” Ashley stated.

“I know she did that only to protect me from Magnus, but giving me this key was a mistake. When I woke up on those shores, I had no idea of what I had become. By instinct I chanted a spell, opening a portal to the first realm that would soon suffer the horror of my nature. And that’s how I left earth and never returned for the next fifty thousand years. It was the same wherever I went. War, hatred, suffering, bloodshed... Kingdoms would hire me to fight for them. But after witnessing my power they would immediately try to destroy me. I would retaliate, destroying them instead. During that time I took countless lives. I had no name, no purpose, felt no regret or empathy... only killed and could never be killed. Zelthan... The Red Demon. That’s what they started calling me. For fifty thousand years I was a walking plague of death, darkness, and destruction and as time went by even I grew weary of my existence.”

Ethan then turned and faced Ashley. The next words he uttered shook her to the core.

“Seventy thousand five hundred twenty-five. Those are the exact number of methods I consciously tried using to destroy myself. But after five thousand years of futility, I gave up and eventually found myself back on Earth. I spent the next ten thousand years in some of the most isolated regions and soon the Red Demon faded from history and many theories about how he vanished exist even today.”

“One day I stumbled upon troops claiming to belong to the great Rathzorian Empire.”

“Rathzoria... That’s the kingdom Richard comes from.”

“Aurora Gillfire and Magnus Thane... The two of them had lived for over sixty-five thousand years by using one of Arianis’ most sacred treasures. The Vial of Immortality. They stole it from the palace before they left Arianis. A drop of the Vial’s divine waters would halt one’s aging for a hundred years but as a rule in Arianis, no king or queen was allowed to live for more than a thousand years. Magnus and his army had just returned from battle. When he saw me he drew his sword and I unsheathed mine.”

“Sword? Not trident?” Ashley asked.

“To this day, The Trident of Poseidon has remained a remanant of history and hasn’t been seen since the day my father used it to end my life. Anyway, when Magnus realized that I had no memory of what happened or who he was, we returned to his new empire together, for what he once saw as an abomination had now become an opportunity.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see, back then I was still a dark creature in transition. Despite all the lives I had taken, I never once consumed human blood. Normally, a transitioning dark creature dies within a specified amount of time unless they drink the blood of a living creature. But I didn't.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Ashley asked when she saw Ethan walking towards the door.

“Come with me, little mermaid,” he said. “There is something you have to see.”