CHAPTER TWO
It had been a while since anyone from the Kingdom had made contact with Marcus. He was getting restless. It was absurd. People from the Kingdom always kept contact. Always. Be it after a week or even a month but there would be some form of communication. This time, there wasn't. It had been two full months since the last gruff letter had come through the box. He checked the box again to see if there was a letter, or a note for that natter. Nothing. Just empty mahogany that had began gathering dust. He felt the sides of the box for the key that he was supposed to give The Chosen One when she turned twenty-one.
Marcus took out the key and observed the engravings on its side, SPEM MENDACCI VOBISCUM. He only knew so much Latin that he could manage to make out only one word, Hope. He needn't know the meanings of the other words as he bore witness when His Excellency the King gave the decree to his right hand man and Marcus' mentor, Elissa. He turned the key around and felt its inner markings. They were written in braille as per the King's orders. " It will come in handy when she is robbed off her sight. The best and keenest of warriors know that sight is only but a distraction to their ultimate goals," The king had declared. It was mandatory for all the king's men to pass a rigorous training schedule, one which included full blinding as 'vampires are better off without their eyes, it makes them even more lethal.' Marcus felt no need for this but it eventually came in handy during one of his outer-world missions in Guatemala.
He held the key in the light and watched as it cast its shadow on his Persian carpet. It had a round head and three crosses, each at ninety degree angles from each other. It was double-sided with identical ridges which were coated in gold. It looked heavy with the eye but was light on the hand, with its weight heavy enough to be felt though cloth but light enough to be tossed around like an ordinary off-the-store key. The king had it specifically made by his master swordsman with the help of the best elves at his command. With a little bit of their elfish magic, the key could be bent to the wielder's will and open any lock ever made. Some even said it was the key to success. The key had been dormant over the last decade but it woke up recently. At night, the box could be heard rattling, as if the key was calling to its rightful owner. Only that its rightful owner had not been found yet. Marcus needed to find her- the woman who was deemed to be the hope of his home world.
He had been searching for her for the better part of the last two years. All he could come up with were faint traces of her blood. He visited all kinds of witches and mediums but all they could tell him was that either the girl did not exist or she was cloaked well and by powerful magic. That information was as useless as telling him that she was dead. The key said otherwise. Each day, the cracks on the box were getting wider and wider- a clear indication that she was out there somewhere. Probably waiting to be given directions. Marcus proceeded to close the empty box along with his doubts with it, slipped on his daylight ring and walked out with the key in his hand.
"Here goes nothing. I hope this is not a dead end." He sighed and tossed the key in his breast pocket. He felt its weight on his chest as he threw his coat on. His master plan was that he would use the key's energies to track down the girl and hand it over to her, the key taking over from there. It seemed simple and somewhat funny when he came to think of it but the hard part was whether the key would be right. Elfish magic was said to fail at times- He hoped that this would not be one of those times. He had tried everything else and right now, he needed to have and believe in having faith. That was all he had.
The downside to using things that are of Elfish origin is that they are not compatible to modern technology. The key could not be adapted into Google Maps so he opted to take a little piece of it and fix it on an old-fashioned compass that he got at a gift store for less than ten dollars. It only took a little bit of shaking and voila, his makeshift hope-finder was ready to use. It led him downtown to an open arcade, just at the edge of town in a serene environment. The compass proved to be a lot of help but with one setback- girls were everywhere and it stopped vibrating. So much for having faith in it. Maybe it was playing games with him. He decided to play back, literally. At the corner of his view was a young lady arranging what seemed to be her chess pieces on the board with no one to play with. Marcus saw it fit to join her in a game- if he was already here, a game was the least he could do.
"That was a good game." He managed after suffering a defeat. "You had some pretty solid moves."
He had never been beaten before. This was a first and it intrigued him. She tried making small talk but that was not his strong hold and subtly promised her that he will avail himself for a rematch. The loss just added to his list of disappointments that day after the failed compass and the empty box. He resolved to make one last sweep of the place as he got out but none of the women looked like hope material. He sighed, returned the compass to his pocket and stepped into the pavement. As if mocking him, it started vibrating in his pocket. He doubted it at first but whatever it was trying to show him had to be in the arcade. For now, he needed some rest and replenishments. He would come back later, probably when it was closing time.
It was seven p.m. The skies were getting darker and the streets emptier. A typical night like this in his kingdom meant that dark times were coming. He was a vampire but the dark was not among his favourite guilty pleasures. He made his way to the arcade with the compass rattling harder with each passing moment in his pocket. It only stopped when he was at the door, face to face with Kate, who seemed shaken a bit.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"What am I doing here?" Marcus said. "That is a good question, Kate. Why am I here, you ask?"