Freebie: Avalon - The Fallen King: Chapter 8

Chapter Eight -

Theo sat in his class, staring absentmindedly at the doodles he kept drawing over and over on a sheet of paper as his teacher, Mrs. Heights, droned on about the history of Avalon. He only half paid attention, his mind on other things. Things like the enormously awkward fact that he was now heir apparent to the First King’s throne, a man he had idolized practically since birth. A man he had admired above pretty much anyone else.

It had been three and a half weeks since the Proelia match, when Jeks marked him as heir to the First King’s throne. In that time life had gotten crazy. He was constantly hounded by people and had even met with King Winston, who had originally come to bring him back to the palace but left without him after Theo flat out refused to go until after he finished out his senior year. He still could hardly believe that encounter actually happened. He had literally been just a few feet away from one of the strongest battle mages in Avalonian history and on top of that, arguing with him incessantly to stay in Old Columbus for a few more months. Eventually, Theo’s stubborn refusal to leave finally got to the grizzled warrior and he “washed his hands of the whole mess” as he put it and let him stay so he could graduate. Before leaving to head back to the palace, the king even outed his parents as former Prime Guardian Warrick Arkin and Second-in-Command, Xerya Arkin. Theo was still coming to grips with that and wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Of course, he’d known of the pair. Both had been famous Royal Guardians, even named two of the best in recent times, but then they had both been mysteriously killed.

Except nope. Not dead. Just conscripted into parenthood apparently for Theo. Seeing his father drop his morphism and slip into his actual face had been both bitter and exciting to see. He even let his famous scar appear, something that Theo would have immediately recognized as belonging to Warrick Arkin from when he battled against a Jarean mage on a peace-keeping mission to their kingdom over sixty years ago. His mother was equally famous as well and looking back on his life, he wondered how he had been blinded to their true identities for so long. The morphism his father applied didn’t even change their faces all that much. And they kept their first names. He felt like an idiot. A stupid child too dumb to see the truth staring him right in the face his whole life.

“Theo,” someone whispered. “Theo!” The whisper got slightly louder and more urgent.

He turned around and stared into the round, cherubic face of Horace Fulna, one of his best friends. Gray, wide eyes stared inquisitively at him.

“Sorry, yeah?” Theo asked. “What’s up?”

“How fast do you think those two Guardians are? You think they’d tackle me before I got a chance to hit you?” Horace asked. His gaze went to the two people in Guardian armor at the back of the class that stood out like white roses in a field of red ones.

“I think they’d take both your hands off with a battle spell before you could even twitch toward Theo,” their other best friend, Chaucer Vaughn, said with a wry smile.  “But do go ahead and try. I want to see if they’re as good as everyone says they are.”

“Nah,” Horace said after a brief moment of indecision, almost as if he actually did want to test the Guardians protecting Theo.

“You are bothering, Theo, louts. Can’t you see he is contemplating his life now and requires a moment of internal reflection?” Artemis scolded them and then tossed in, “Now leave him alone or I’ll pluck your eyes from your heads,” for good measure.

“It’s always with the eyes in’t it,” Chaucer replied back. “You really need some new material, ya birdbrain.”

Artemis fluffed herself up and snapped her beak at Chaucer which made Horace laugh. The teacher stopped her lecture to glower at all three, boys and bird. Chaucer was right in the middle of trying to snatch the crow off Theo’s shoulder.

“Boys,” the teacher admonished, her voice high-pitched but stern. “Refrain from your disruptions and concentrate on your textbooks. I want to stress, yet again, that the material I am currently covering will be on the final exam. Failure to pay attention and take adequate notes will most assuredly result in a failing grade.”

Chaucer snapped a fist over his heart and gave her his best serious face, which ended up looking mostly ludicrous and got a laugh out of all the other students in the class.

“Yes, Mrs. Heights. Your wish is my command, Mrs. Heights.”

That elicited yet another round of laughs which made Chaucer smile smugly. Eventually, she just rolled her eyes and continued her lecture on the great Maurloque Wars of 590. Theo listened but only partly. Most of that subject he already knew anyway because he’d always had a bordering on obsessive fascination with Avalon, its history, and the ruling High Family.

The Pantheons.

Of course, his absolute favorite of every Pantheon that ever lived had been Micah Pantheon. His effortless command of magic and how he made it look so easy was inspiring. So were the massively complicated spells he created with no help from anyone else. And of course, his familiar, Jeks. The focus was such a beautiful symbol of the First King’s might. A symbol that now belonged to him. Somehow.

“Did you know King Micah…that King Micah…he can teleport?” That was one of the first things he remembered saying to Horace and Chaucer on the playground back when they all went to elementary school together. “He’s like…like…uh…the only one that can do it. Or…maybe there are some others but not many. That’s cool right?”

Fortunately for his younger self, Horace and Chaucer had also thought the First King was as cool as he did. As they grew older, though, the other two drifted toward different interests. Sports. Girls. Shows at the local theater. Girls. Etc. His love of the Pantheons and King Micah, however, never dimmed and even though he would sometimes get made fun of by his classmates for it, he never pretended otherwise.

And he was a part of that millenia-old legacy. He was a Pantheon. Heir to the throne of one of the greatest mages of all time. A trueborn son of King Micah. Like, his actual son. Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, and all that. His mind still hasn’t stopped spinning from the news despite the fact that he was constantly hounded by anyone he came across and constantly peppered with questions of every type and flavor.

The bell signaling the end of Mrs. Heights’ class went off, snapping Theo out of what Artemis referred to as his internal reflections. He gathered up his books and notebook, stuffed them back into his bag, and got up. Chaucer threw an arm around his shoulders in a good-natured way but even so, one of the Royal Guardians, a man named Jasper Thompkins, twitched a bit and his arm went to rest on the hilt of the sword he had belted to his waist. The other Guardian with him, this one a woman named Lynn Torrance, giggled to herself when she saw her partner overreact.

“Better be careful,” Horace remarked. “I think he almost killed you for touching Theo.”

“I’ll be happy to kill him myself,” Artemis murmured but quietly and mostly to herself.

“Guys,” Theo said, suddenly irritated with the both of them. “Just knock it off, okay? I already get enough weird looks from everyone else around, I don’t need you two treating me differently too. Just cool it with all the questions and weird stuff.”

“Fine, fine, my boy,” Chaucer said, smiling and hugging Theo closer to him. “Just remember you said that so your buddies in armor over there don’t try to take my head off.”

“If they wanted your head off,” Horace said, adopting a goofy, deep-voiced and overly dramatic tone. “They’d take it off.”

“Dang,” Chaucer said, staring at Horace with genuine pride. “That was really good. You can be one of those guys that narrate theater shows. You’d make a fortune!”

“You think?” Horace asked, smiling.

“Actually, yeah,” Theo told him, not even joking. Horace always had a knack for doing weird voices. “He’s right. You could make a killing.”

“Nice,” Horace replied, smiling to himself.

“Now let’s hit the cafeteria,” Theo said, starting to feel more like himself. He just had to stop thinking about the weird 90-degree turn his life had just taken. Or attempt to anyway. “I’m starving and I hear they got a bunch of good stuff today.”

The trio made their way through Weyd’s wide halls full of expensive, wooden arches, columns, and wainscotting, past the trophy case full of glistening golden symbols of sports triumphs, academic triumphs, and even drama triumphs for the plays the theater kids put on every fall and spring. On their way, they passed other kids and Theo forced himself to ignore how they looked at him now. Hushed, whispered conversations flowed toward him too but he disregarded those as well and talked to Horace and Chaucer instead.

“Oh,” Theo said, suddenly remembering the match. “Do you know if Coach Kelts mentioned anything about the match being rescheduled yet?”

“Didn’t say anything to me,” Chaucer replied. “I wish my last match got a chance at a reschedule. Me and Horace got our asses handed to us by Jess Walker and Prynn Underwood from Pantheon Charter.”

“Yeah, no,” Horace said. “I’d rather take the loss and move on. Those two are vicious.”

“I watched your guys’ game, it wasn’t that one-sided,” Theo said, trying to be supportive but they knew him and could immediately tell he was just trying to make them feel better.

“Come off it, man,” Chaucer told him. “They took out two of my three sprites before I could even formulate any kind of counter.”

“Yeah, they had back up plans for their back up plans. Honestly, they were pretty damn good. Might even give you a run for your money one day,” Horace said.

“Uh…yeah. Maybe,” Theo said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What? You don’t think so?” Chaucer asked.

“No, no,” Theo told them. “You’re probably right. Besides, I do more solo matches than paired matches so it’s not really the same.”

Both Chaucer and Horace stopped dead in their tracks. Theo groaned and his stomach made very loud and very pronounced gurgling sounds.

“Come on guys,” Theo pleaded. “Don’t do this. We’re so close to food.”

“Tell me right now and look me in the eyes when you say it,” Chaucer ordered. “Do you actually think Walker and Underwood might be a hard match for you or are you just bullshitting us to make us feel better?”

“I…”

“What’s going on with you three?”

Theo looked up and saw Therresa appear as if by some divine magic.

“Nothing,” Chaucer stated. “Just finally realizing how much of an arrogant prick your boyfriend is. He thinks he could beat Walker and Underwood easily and we think they’d give him a run for his money.”

“You mean the pair you two faced off against from Pantheon Charter?” Therresa asked. She looked at the two of them, back and forth, trying to judge how serious they were. “Oh come on guys. Really? You can’t be serious.”

“What?” Horace asked, genuinely confused.

“They telegraphed almost every move they made. Even I saw what traps they were laying down way before they triggered. And they’re all brute force, too. The kinds of players that hammer you over the head with sprite attacks and spell cards. I think a six-year-old child just starting out in Proelia could probably beat those two.” Therresa laughed again.

Theo smiled and shot her a thankful look right before he gave her a quick kiss. 

“I didn’t want to be quite that…uh…brutal with the honesty,” he told them, clapping his two friends across their backs. “Now let’s eat!”

Theo grabbed a full, smoked turkey leg, mashed potatoes and gravy, two rolls, and a pile of carrots mixed with corn. For dessert he snagged a pack of Origanimals from a wire rack next to the register at the end. They were his favorite candy, mostly because he loved fruit chews of almost any kind, but also because after unwrapping them, the paper would fold itself into a random animal. He had a pretty extensive collection but was still missing an elephant, a crane, and a frog. To drink, he just took a plain lemonade.

After he paid, he found a table and sat down. He ripped into his food, once again forcing himself to ignore all the staring from the other students, their whispers, and the two Royal Guardians continuously shadowing him. He also tried to block Jeks out of his mind too. The phoenix was flying up near the ceiling as if it knew Theo was still uncomfortable with its presence and was trying to be sensitive to his needs. Either that or Jeks got tired of the near constant threats of violence directed toward him by Artemis. It was one or the other.

“This is just so bizarre,” Therresa said, sitting down next to him.

“Can we not talk about it?” Theo asked as kindly as he could. Even so, it still came out a little rude.

Therresa, who’d been staring at the Royal Guardians out of the corner of her eye, jerked her head toward Theo. He sighed miserably, knowing full well that he just stupidly started something with her that was not going to end well for him. Her mouth had even thinned to a barely visible line. That was a sure sign she was pissed.

“You never want to talk about it,” Therresa snapped and already Theo was wishing he hadn’t said anything.

“Talk about what?” Chaucer asked, sitting down with his own food.

“All…” Therresa started, spreading her arms out toward all the kids staring at Theo and whispering loudly, as well as the Royal Guardians. “This.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Chaucer responded and then shut his mouth.

“You don’t understand, Therr,” Theo said. “You can’t. It’s all just a lot to absorb and constantly having it shoved in my face is getting overwhelming.”

“Is that what I’m doing? Shoving it in your face?” she asked. “Am I shoving it in your face that we have no privacy anymore? Or that Lynn and Jasper over there follow you around everywhere? And I mean everywhere. I barely see you anymore.”

“You know what?” Horace interjected. “Now that I’m thinking about it, I see what you meant before Therresa. About Walker and Underwood. They totally do telegraph their moves.”

Horace elbowed Chaucer in the ribs, who had been oblivious to the fight before because he was gnawing his way through the turkey leg on his tray.

“Ow,” he said, and then saw Horace’s eyes dart toward Theo and Therresa. He caught on quick. “Uh…I mean…yeah. Definitely agree. Telegraphing all over the place. Thank you guys for pointing that out. Totally going to up our game in the future. Man, this weather, am I right?”

Horace let out a groan and slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.

“What?” Chaucer asked, turkey grease on his chin.

“What about you two?” Therresa asked, completely disregarding what they just said as if she didn’t even hear them. “How do the two of you feel about Theo being a prince? A future King of Avalon? How do you feel about always being watched and having no privacy?”

“Uhh…” they both stammered.

Therresa whirled back on Theo.

“I know you didn’t ask for this. I get that. I really do. But don’t toss aside my concerns like they don’t matter,” she said. “It is bizarre. All of it.”

“I know it is!” Theo told her, his own anger rising. “Trust me. I know. It’s bizarre. It’s strange. It’s weird. It’s all of those words. I have to live with those Guardians watching every move I make. I have people looking at me weird and whispering about me. And I have you and how you clearly don’t know how to act around me anymore. What am I supposed to do when everything is spiraling out of control?”

Their fight didn't get any better and by the time it was over, Theo and Therresa barely spoke to each other.

A week and a half went by and in that time, things took a turn for the worst. Their senior year of academy schooling ended and although the two were still technically together, they didn’t spend a whole lot of time with each other. This only served to make the chasm between them grow much wider. To Theo, it felt like a gap too far to bridge and whenever he did manage to spend some alone time with Therresa it was filled with awkwardness and uncomfortable silence.

The match that had been interrupted by Jeks got rescheduled for two days before their graduation even though they had already played in the district’s Proelia tournament and came back as champions. Theo ended up winning the rescheduled match with Pantheon Charter with two sprites that didn’t even make it onto the field. Despite his and Weyd’s victories, the constant attention, lack of privacy, and almost non-stop questions kept irritating the hell out of him. He tried to tell himself to get over it, that this was his life now, but that seldom worked.

Things really came to a head when Lynn and Jasper tackled one of his classmates to the ground after graduation when the student, a kid he had grown up with, came over to congratulate him. Fed up with everything, pissed beyond belief, his anger unleashed itself on the closest person to him. Therresa. They fought, loudly and for a long time, and it ended with the two of them finally breaking up. She ran off crying, even though it was supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives. It was graduation. One of the most anticipated events in any child’s life and Theo could only feel bitter and breaking up with Therresa only made that bitterness root itself deeper inside his mind.

Feeling like there was nothing else he could do, he ran away. Lynn and Jasper came after him but when he cut across a building, he started to weave an invisibility spell inside his head. It was a difficult spell and trying to put it together in his head, while running at the same time, showed an insane amount of magical skill.

Not long after, Theo vanished from sight.