The Cursed Prince

"Well.. I am not sure how Lady Emmelyn could get the scarf. We have to ask her," Elmer said. "I only know very little about Cretea from my old master. Before he died, he showed me several magical artifacts and explained them to me. He also told me about a mysterious place called Cretea. Nobody knows where it is exactly. Some people actually said it is where the gods reside."

"That's very interesting. What else do you know about it?" Mars asked Elmer, feeling very intrigued.

He couldn't wait to see his wife and asked her about whatever adventures she had without him. Mars remembered how he really wanted to see the world with Emmelyn someday.

After he heard from Emmelyn about her travels, Mars realized he hadn't seen much aside from the lesser kingdoms that he conquered. As for Emmelyn, she had seen faraway places and met people of different races from her. Her stories all sounded so exciting.

That made Mars secretly wish they shouldn't immediately have children so he could take her to travel and go on adventures. He knew she liked that sort of thing and he wanted to do it with her.

Spending a lot of quality time together before they settle down and take care of the children would be the ideal way to start his life with Emmelyn, that's what he thought.

However, his wish didn't come true because Harlow was conceived right away and was even born prematurely. It was like she couldn't wait to be with them.

Mars didn't regret anything though. He loved Harlow with all his heart. He just wished to see the world more.

"I am sorry, I don't know much about Cretea except from hearsays and rumors," Elmer replied apologetically. "My master only told me a little bit when he explained the different magical artifacts he left me. He did slip up when he was on his deathbed. He said the magic we have in our world originated from Cretea."

Everyone was listening attentively to Elmer's story. They had never heard of such a place before. Seeing their enthusiasm, Elmer continued his explanation.

"Well, it is said that Cretea is in another realm where all the people there are magic users. The royal family of Cretea had seven sons and they were all very powerful. Each one was the master of an element. They sometimes came to our world and watched how humans live their lives."

"One of them, the seventh prince, felt compassion when he saw humans couldn't use magic. They had such a hard time. They were helpless against attacks by monsters around them, and the harsh environment. So, he thought he needed to give them some."

Elmer continued, "He saw how hard we live without magic and decided to help us. So, one day, he secretly smuggled some magic dust and spread it to our world. Slowly, magical things started to happen and a few people can suddenly use magic. After a few hundred years, it became something that people could study. And now, we have many magic users in our world. Our life has become so much better."

Mars admitted that he couldn't imagine living without magic in his world. Maybe life would have been very different.

Even though he was not a magic user himself, he had been exposed to magic in his life and they had experienced how magic could help humans thrive in health, agriculture, and battles.

"Well... I mean, only gifted people could learn to become witches and wizards, but the gift of magic was the thing that we received from the seventh prince. Before he blessed humans with the magic dust, no magic had ever been reported in our world."

"That's a very interesting fairytale," Mars commented.

He didn't know Elmer believed such a story. Usually, this was the type of stories or fairytales told by nannies to the children they took care of before they slept. A bedtime story.

So, hearing it from the old wizard made Mars feel conflicted.

"So, you said... it first started several hundreds of years ago?" He asked the wizard. "How come I never heard about this before?"

"Well.. only a few people do. And it's only limited to our community of magic users. Also, they are just rumors passed down through generations of wizards. So much is lost between then and now. If I didn't see the magical artifacts myself and learned high-level magic from my master, I might never believe the stories. They sound like fairy tales we tell our children before sleeping..." Elmer smiled.

Mars was taken aback by the wizard's remark. It almost felt like Elmer could read his mind. The king nodded in understanding. "So, what happened to the seventh prince? Was he happy with the way humans use the magic he gave us?"

Elmer shook his head. "I am not sure. Nobody has ever met him. I heard another rumor that his father was angered by what he did. They were not supposed to share the magic with humans. So, he was punished for his transgression. The seventh prince was banished to the human world and was not allowed to touch magic ever again."

"How did you know so much, Elmer?" Mars asked again. "You said you didn't know a lot, but you have been telling us such a detailed story."

"No, not really, Your Majesty... I read about those from a book my master left behind, but there is no way to prove the accounts told there. And I lost the book when he died." Elmer sighed. "That's why I said they are rumors. It would be interesting to know if there is any truth to it."

"If they are just rumors, how did you know that this scarf contains magic from some royalty in Cretea?" Mars touched the scarf that covered his father's back, trying to feel anything unusual or magical from the item.

He furrowed his brows. It honestly looked and felt like a regular scarf.

"Oh... I can feel the energy. It had similar energy to a magical tree I touched before. My master once took me to a special place. There was a tree on this island which he said was created by one of the seven princes. I have never seen or felt anything like that in decades, until today."

Mars furrowed his brows. Emmelyn surely always got involved with very interesting people. He couldn't wait to meet her and asked her about the person who gave her this scarf.

"To be honest, everything sounds like an elaborate joke or superstition, Elmer," Mars admitted. "But, since I respect you and I know you don't do nonsense, I will believe everything you said. I hope you are right, that this scarf can heal my father."

Everyone felt exactly the same way as the king. They hoped there was some truth in Elmer's story and that this scarf was indeed a magical artifact that could bring healing to Jared Strongmoor.

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The story of the seventh prince is inspired by the story of Prometheus.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the god who stole fire and gave it to humans so they could start civilization. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced Prometheus to eternal torment for his transgression.

Prometheus was bound to a rock, and an eagle—the emblem of Zeus—was sent to eat his liver (in ancient Greece, the liver was often thought to be the seat of human emotions). His liver would then grow back overnight, only to be eaten again the next day in an ongoing cycle.