Chapter 107: The Story Unheard, Untold.

King Aenon walked up and down inside the chamber. He was out of ideas even though he tired was trying to be strong outside. He did not want his family to worry about the situation even though they have reached a dead end. He did not expect Tai to find the secret about his family but it was not completely true either. 

"Pa, relax," Milan said. 

"I'm fine," he replied his daughter. 

"No you are not," Milan said. "Ma tell him," she said looking at her mother sat at the table, her hand on her head, rubbing the temples. "Maaaa,"

"Shut up and rest for sometime, are you not tired?" Queen Rivera responded back. 

"Milan relax," King Aenon said back to his daughter. 

"I am but you two are not, see he can do nothing to us, he cannot touch us, and he will never dare to kill us, don't worry," she said to her parents who exchanged looks at each other. "Ma, Pa, do you think am a fool and still not understand the seriousness?"

"We know," King Aenon said. But they had no clue about what she just said. Milan smiled. She extended both her arms. And she let her hall fall down her shoulders. Her eyes glistened and the atmosphere changed instantly. 

One winter night, the lone wolf never stopped howling, it was evident that the villagers living close by the Water Realm were in need of help. It was a singal, a warning sent out.

The village was in a mess. House on fire, everything torn down, cursed and animals killed. The beasts it was, that has come down from the moutians, breaking the magical barriers. They were avenging their ancestors who set traps, murdered, and sold them, their skin and their magical and powerful bones in the black market to make weapons. The white owls, the foxes, wolves, and Centuars. They decided to show no mercy. They wanted pure revenge. But little they try understand the fact that, it was not the same people, but now innocent lives that lived in the village. 

King Aenon wh couldn't sleep peacefully, constantly worrying about the call, got up from his bed. But Queen Rivera woke up along. The fiery animals, the shape shifter they all were, they did not give up but took control of the village, feeding the people to their hungry wild beasty children who were yet to be taught and tamed. The bloodshed did not affect them but what mattered was how good they felt. Feasting over the blood and flesh. 

The villagers soon became the prisoners of the beasts. The weak ones became the food. This continued for few hours and beasts refused to return back to the woods where the unavailability of food became a serious issue. They did not wish to starve and remain inside the barrier. 

The Water King ordered the troops led by him personally to march fast to the village and save the peoples, treat the injured among the villagers and beasts and arrest those who initiated the crime. He asked the soldiers to not kill any more lives and asked them to not shed another drop of blood on the soil. He watched the troops fighting and trying to bring peace taking control over the violent creatures. King Aenon's heart ached to see all the dead bodies. Some heavily injured, some torn apart, some ripped apart, some stabbed, some tortured to death, some flayed and some alive and hiding in several corners while some were made as slaves. 

The leader who led the beasts came over to meet with the king. "What about our loses all these years? Answer us," A male centaur asked the king. "What about our orphaned children? What about our families? Do we not have rights?" 

To that Aenon had nothing to answer. But he spoke like a King should. "The problems had existed for centuries and that is why we built a barrier for saving your lives, recently the cracks have been reported. And we mended them, but today, why did you come down from the mountains? Why did such an attack happen? Give me the answer," 

"We need our child back," 

"What?" The King asked back. 

"If we dont have her, we will lose our habitation forever," Centaur said. 

"Explain," King asked him to tell him in detail. 

"Who protects the barriers and moutians in the Water Realm?" Centaur asked the King 

"The fox king," King Aenon replied. 

"But our King had a weakness," Centaur went on. "Love," he said. "That was what mattered to him than the forest and the lives living there. He was not careful enough and had unmatched trust on the civilians of the village here," Centuar looked at everyone. "Years later, we found out that, he has been, meeting with a low level fairy from his village, she served well," he was embarrassed. "We thought he had no intentions. We thought he would behave, but instead, he fathered a child with that fairy, spending time with her, where did all the fox pride go?" 

"So he killed the fox," a woman came shouting. 

"You, " the centaur said and took his sword back. King Aenon froze him and some other beasts and the lady approached the king. The king looked at her shocked, she was carrying a new born baby in her hands, not more than 3 months old. 

"They all killed him, they killed my husband and hunted for my child, but they couldn't touch her," she wept. Her throat aching  trying to control her tears, to speak bravely. 

"The fox king did come to me and we married against all the odds, near the river down the hill, we were happy and he never cared less about the forest and the lives, he protected them well and fed them well, but they weren't happy with him, they weren't happy that the fox King was the only one who had powers, among them, these mythical creatures, because he was not just any fox, he was a gumhiho. A nine tailed gumhiho. His heart carried the power. Spiritual. He was in grave danger whenever he was in the forest. He was always hurt whenever he came to visit me, and I would keep him around me until he healed. They killed him, one night when he returned back, I followed him, he did not know about it. He did not even enter the forest, but on the way, the centuars, there were three, they stabbed him from the back when he he had his guards down, they killed my Hong, they killed their own fox King, with the poison toad blade and they ate his heart to grow powerful. Then they dragged the body back to the village and blamed all of us. I saw the hole on his chest and witnessed everything. But for them it was not enough, because his powers had been transferred to our child when she was born. He gave away everything except what he needed to keep the forest intact, and his fox bead. Knowing about it , they came for me, but his protection charms Hong put on us, they failed to kill me and take away my child, and today they returned again. This is what happened your higness," she cried. She cired out loud. And Aenon felt the pain in his. He failed as a King. He failed to look after his people, and he let the Fox King meet a tragic ending unaware of the happenings in the forest, he regretted it.

"I apologise to you miss, am deeply sorry for everything I have done," 

"I have proof, you can touch my child and see what happened, reading her memories, an sure you can," the woman said still crying. "I buried him down the river, you can go see him if you will, am not lying, please save my child's life, please," 

Love does weaken one's strength or else the most powerful Fox King wouldn't have met with such an ending. He put his guard down and he trusted his followers too much, blinded, that he got back stabbed. Aenon checked the memories and everything indeed was true. King Aenon grew angry, and showed no mercy. He asked his general to execute the Centuars and his followers on the spot and bought mercy for the woman. As for the other beasts, the criminals were punished while few others were taken back to their habitation and sealed inside strongly, to live there until they die. But this incident was not reported to the Celestial Emperor. 

The nurses were sent from the palace to treat the wounded and buried those were dead. King met the expenses of rebuilding the village and he took the woman and the child to the castle. But the woman fell sick. There was a poison found spreading in her body, caused by the blade of the Centuars. 

A week passed and the woman said goodbye to the universe, leaving the new born behind. She was buried along with her love, Hong the Fox King, on the river banks, according to her final wishes. The unlucky baby, lost both her loving parents to their ill  fate. Aenon decided to raise the child. The news was kept a secret and King Aenon soon announced a good news to everyone around the universe. 

The cub took time to grow up but it fit perfectly with the time of Queen Rivera's fake pregnancy. The child was not shown to anybody until the first birthday. The Water Realm held the biggest banquet in its history on the first birthday of their second child. And they named her, Milan.

The lights in the room dimmed and her eye color changed to blue, the blue fire blaze formed around her like an aura, and the nine tails displayed. King Aenon and Queen Rivera stood shocked, staring at their foster daughter. The smoked curved on Milan's lips said everything. "And it begins now," she said.