SPELLBOUND

"You've seen this bow before?" Evie asked Zanya, shocked and excited at Zanya's claims.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zanya replied. "This was the ultimate weapon and treasure the previous queens had been searching for so long. In fact, from the looks of it, this seems to be the very same bow that was mentioned in many books in Crescia before the city's destruction. It is stated in those books that this bow is as old as the tree of light. History has stated that this was the very first weapon of the first ruler of the light faes."

"First ever… the very first queen…" Evie echoed and Zanya nodded.

"The records had stated too that this bow was forged with pure light magic. And it's said to be the most powerful weapon ever existed. There was even a tale that a light fae queen named Raila single-handedly defeated legions of monsters with the help of this bow." Zanya continued. "As to how she even did that or how a single person could even defeat legions of monsters with just the help of a bow and arrow… the tale did not have the details of it. Or perhaps, since the story was passed on from generation to generation without the actual records of Queen Raila's battle, I think the details or even the truth of it had been lost in time. But even though no records of the battles involving this bow existed, the book that mentioned the origin and existence of this bow still existed. Well, it was only until Crescia was destroyed."

"Did it state there in that book what exactly is the purpose of this bow?" Evie asked. Her interest with this bow was increasing more than ever now. She did not know why but every time she looked at it, she felt a peculiar feeling she could not even recognize nor put into words. And she wanted to know more about it, everything about it if that was possible.

"It is said that this bow is created for one purpose and it's to defeat the darkness. This bow was made to make sure that light will always prevail over darkness."

Zanya's answer made everyone fall silent. "There was also one ancient song with lyrics that told a story where once upon a time, the entire land of Lirea was swallowed by the darkness. The name of the queen who was reigning at this time wasn't mentioned. But she was just simply referred to as the Light Queen. That song also had mentions of this bow as the ultimate weapon used to end the darkness and brought back the light. The song had said that the entire sky and even the land were enveloped in darkness and chaos and destruction painted the lands a bloody red. It was the Light Queen wielding a golden bow who had emerged and defeated the darkness and made the light prevail over all once again."

When Zanya mentioned that song, Evie remembered the prophetic song Zanya had sung for her back in Crescia. And there was only one thought in her mind now. This could only mean… that the story in that song must be true.

"You know ancient songs aren't just simple songs, right Your Majesty?" Zanya asked and Evie nodded. "That's why we firmly believe that this song had been telling the story of what had actually happened during that time. All light faes believes in the power of this bow… even all current light faes before the Queendom's destruction. And that's also the reason why during that last war, we had tried searching for this bow. The late queen did her best to search for it because we all believed that it'll be our last resort to win the war at that time. However, we couldn't find it. The bow had been missing for an immeasurable amount of time and we had no clue on even knowing when it even went missing. When I spoke with the late queen about this, she told me that she believed the bow had gone missing after that event in the song about the Light Queen. To think that this treasured weapon had all the while been here in the Under Lands! It is no wonder that we couldn't detect it at all."

"Gav had mentioned that he found this bow in the Abyss of Darkness," Evie told Zanya in a soft voice. Then she looked at Gav and at the dark fae King and Queen.

Her expression was a bit severe at the thought that came to her. "Could it be that the darkness the Light Queen had defeated was the same thing living in that Abyss? And that was why this bow had ended up there?"

Everyone looked at each other. Now it is all starting to make sense to them, the reason why such a bow that belongs to a light fae Queen could even be found in such a place.

"That's a very probable reason. In fact, it could be the best explanation we have right now on why the bow was even there in the first place." The king commented. "If the story in that song indeed happened in the past, I also think that it should be the same darkness we are going up against anytime now."

"I have a strong belief that the events of the story did happen." Evie said, "and I think that if I touch this bow now, I will be able to see what had happened back then. And this will help us understand more about what sort of enemy is coming at us. And I strongly believe that this will be the way to stop that disaster I keep seeing in my dream."

Silence reigned. Evie stared at Gavrael, waiting for him to say something. But he remained silent for quite a while looking downwards and pondered. Eventually, he looked up again at Evie and gave her a slight nod, signifying his agreement to her suggestion.

Relieved, Evie flashed him a slight smile. She thought this Gav would stop her again. However, she sighed helplessly at the sight of the obvious worry that was blazing in his stormy blue eyes. The way he tensed up when she mentioned she would touch the bow was enough to make Evie feel his palpable hesitance and reluctance to it. But she understood why he was feeling that way.. Of course, he would worry… but she needed to do this… and honestly, she would not listen even if he ended up saying no.