Chapter 5

“Alexi, I have been expecting you for a while. Welcome. Please take a seat.” An elderly gentleman greeted cheerfully as I stepped fully into the room making me jump slightly. I turned to see him stood in the corner leaning over a cabinet I hadn't seen previously either. I dropped onto the sofa, my eyes riveted on his back.

He wasn't at all what I had expected, even with his back to me I could tell he was old, but he stood tall, he was lean of build with shoulder length grey hair and dressed in brown trousers and a grey jacket, clothes that may have been from the fifties judging from their condition. His voice was strong, commanding, the kind of voice I expected to belong to a middle-aged businessman not a decrepit old inn keeper.

My mind whirled as I took everything in, I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster, fear anger confusion disappointment relief amazement, one emotion after another had raced through me over the last month, and now this. I was honestly surprised that the guy existed and even more so that he seemed to be expecting me, I know what my Mums letter had said about him being aware of the situation and that he would be expecting me but that had been written years ago. “Mr Williamson...” I started although not entirely sure what I was going to say at that point.

“Please call me Peter.” He stated turning to face me with a smile before taking a seat beside me on the surprisingly comfortable, straight backed sofa.

“Peter. Why am I here? Who are you? Why have you been expecting me?” The words left my mouth in a rush before I even thought about them.

He breathed deeply before looking me in the eye and I had to hold in my gasp of surprise. The man that had before appeared so ordinary now looked anything but. His skin shimmered like the reflection of a ponds surface and his eyes were the most vivid shade of purple I had ever seen. It was unnerving and I briefly wondered what kind of illness the man could have suffered from in order to cause such a strange reaction in his appearance.

“I have been expecting you because I knew your parents. They were good people, I'm sorry about your loss.” He bowed his head slightly his words distracting me from my curiosity.

“I never really knew them.” I stated, getting over my shock at his appearance and spitting out the first thing that came to mind. As much as I would have liked to know my birth parents, the reality is that I didn't, not at all, and the fact that some strange man was telling me he apparently knew them better than I struck some kind of cord in me.

He looked at me in silence for a minute before speaking again. “I apologise, I'm afraid that I am assuming that you know more than you might. Pray tell, what exactly do you know?” He questioned with a furrowed brow and my breath caught in my throat. This was it, this was why I was here. One way or the other I was about to get my answers, I just hoped that I could handle the truth when I heard it.

“Very little. My Mum left me a letter saying that I was the last in the line of Drovnic's and that we are a royal family in this city. They told me there was a world I had never before imagined and that it was important, I be introduced to it. They told me to find you and that you would explain everything else.” I stated, hoping that the guy didn't think I was insane. I felt insane just speaking the words but there was no other way to find out if what my parents told me in their letter was true.

“Well, I must admit I had expected they would have told you more than that. Never mind, it is all just information which I can give you if you so desire?” He questioned with one grey eyebrow raised. And I stumbled over my words as his registered, with one small sentence he had told me that what my parents told me was true, or at least that he believed it was true.

“I guess so. I am more confused than words right now.” I murmured absent-mindedly as my thoughts raced and my eyes scanned his face. As interested in the conversation as I was, I kept getting distracted by his eyes. They were so far from the norm that for a few brief moments I considered that maybe there really were things in this world that I knew nothing about.

“I can understand that. Well perhaps I should start at the beginning and give you a little of our history, perhaps then other things may make more sense.”

I nodded my head and sat back on the sofa, redirecting my eyesight to the empty fireplace. I didn't really care what order the information came in so long as I got my answers.

“The history lessons you received amongst the humans were no doubt somewhat lacking,” He started, his voice taking on a tone that wouldn't be amiss on one of my university lecturers. “I have seen their records myself and, well let’s just say that we have kept better records over the years, not to mention that our records extend back several hundred years before those of the humans.”

Peter stood from his seat, not at all appearing to feel his age as he moved swiftly around the sofa and took up a book from his desk before retaking his seat. The book was titled; All things mythical and appeared to be more of a tome than a book, it was huge.

“This is a book given to our children when in school, it covers most of the basic facts of our world including details on many of our races. I am sure that even living amongst the humans you will have heard of a lot of the races in this here book although they do tend to get it wrong from time to time, and what the humans do not know is that every race and creature listed here actually exists although several have become extinct.” The old man stated as he handed over the book. I tried to cover my shock at his words by opening the first page, I didn't even register what was depicted on it, I just needed some way to hide my emotions.

When Peter had first greeted me stating that he was expecting me I had been amazed and confused and a little scared but there had also been a sliver of hope worm its way into me that perhaps my parents weren't crazy after all. But now he expected me to believe that every child's fantasy and nightmare actually existed. That was mental. If there had been any truth to his words, then there would be proof of that by now. The man was certifiably insane if he expected me to believe all of this.

I shook my head slightly, flicking through the pages in the book without taking any of it in. I felt like an idiot. How could I have ever hoped that any of this was real. It was so amazing, so unbelievable that I had wanted so badly to believe it. The idea that my birth parents had left me something, anything, had given me a hope I had longed for, but I should know better by now. Life rarely works out the way we want it too and this time was no exception. I squeezed my eyes tight against the tears that threatened and readied myself to make an excuse to leave.

“I know that this is a lot to take in but the story is long so please bear with me.” Peter's words stilled me and my eyes flicked to his face. He seemed genuine, sincere as he gazed at me, almost pleading with me. I was contemplating running anyway, but the part of me that longed for a connection to my parents still hoped, even as I knew I was only going to feel disappointment in the end. My eyes raked over his appearance, after all there was definitely something different about this guy. What if? And it’s a big if. But what if he's telling the truth?

I nodded my acceptance and closed the book, turning my attention to him once again, after all what harm could come from indulging an old man's fantasies?

“I expect you are familiar with the theories of evolution?” He asked and at my nod he continued. “Well, they are true, somewhat. Humans did become because of evolution except that they evolved from other races rather than monkeys. Our world.” He hesitated. “Our city is known to us as Primogentius, it is a name we selected many centuries ago along with the creation of the city itself, it means first born. There are many races in our world, most of which are detailed in that book. Originally the whole planet was our home, now however we keep to our own world, one that is shielded from the eyes of Humans.”

I nodded to let him know I was following so far although I was confused again. None of this made sense. The words he spoke, the picture he was portraying seemed too elaborate to be the musings of a crazy person or even a hoax but how could it be possible for all of this to be truth if no one knew about it.

“The first human was born to a Shield and a Shade, two of our races, it wasn't known initially that the child was without any powers, mixed race children at that time were very rare and no one knew what the outcome would be. You see if two people of the same race birth a child then the child will have the same abilities as its parents, the child will be of the same race.

Now we know that if a mixed-race child is born it will usually adopt the abilities of one parent however occasionally a child is born with no powers, no abilities at all and that child was labelled many centuries ago as a human. Then as you know a child born from two humans can only be another human. Are you following so far?”

“I think so. But if all of the races once lived together in the open, in amongst humans then why have things changed and how is it that humans don't seem to know anything about all of this?” I voiced the first in a long line of questions that were running through my head as I got into his story. I was hoping for it to be true, but the disbelieving part of me wanted to pick holes in everything he was telling me.

“Well as I was saying. The first human was born to a shield and a shade, it was an unusual match in those times, and no one could foretell that the child born to them would be a human. So, when the girl turned twenty-one, which is our standard age of maturity, and didn't reveal any abilities her parents banished her. They saw her as some sort of an abnormality, and in those times, she was, she was different and with fear born from not understanding she along with any and all humans born after her were banished to another land. As you can imagine, a group of humans living together eventually produced more humans and so on and so forth.”

He took a break to pour two cups of tea from the tray on the end table. Things had moved so fast, Peter was explaining things as though he expected me to believe them and there was a part of me that felt as though everything, he was saying was right, I wanted to believe him, I wanted to know that my parents weren't crazy but still I couldn't help but feel sceptical. Who wouldn't? I took up the cup he offered and sipped at the hot sweet tea as I tried to calm my racing mind.