Chapter 301 - History Lesson II (1/2)

”An era of inaccuracy and turmoil,” said Asala. ”A period of fifteen years from whence the duchess rose to power and the Beaumont royal bloodline faded. And yet, there art no true details of this rise.

Not even interviewing at length with the elderly and historians of all the cardinal cities yields a proper, unified narrative.”

”Turmoil, yes, but now, things are better,” said Mason. ”Because of the duchess. The tainted and traitorous Beaumont bloodline is gone now, and though the Lightborn blood is now lost forever, the great sun god has placed his trust in the hero Sunstar.”

Li held back a snort. He knew Helius and he knew Sunstar.

He could not imagine the sun god having the will to give his blessing to anyone, least of all Sunstar. It seemed that the Lightborn bloodline originally ruled Soleil having blood directly from Helius himself, but now that it was lost, the duchess used Sunstar as a surrogate for it to justify her rule.

”The Beaumonts did the best that they could,” said Lira. ”All of you speak of events far past last I walked this world freely, but during the Third Darkening, the Beaumonts were worthy of respect.

Soleil was not independent then, being one of seven bickering and quarreling kingdoms, and yet the Beaumonts were the first to try to put aside their differences to fight the Darkening.”

”The Beaumonts did not rule during the Third Darkening. They stole the crown afterwards,” said Mason, and Li c.o.c.ked his head, knowing that the books said that the Beaumonts essentially usurped power via assassination after the Darkening.

”I am old, but I should say my memory is still fine,” said Lira. ”The Beaumonts have ruled over Soleil since the Schism following the Second Darkening that broke Soleil apart into seven kingdoms. Do they not still rule now?”

Asala began to explain. ”The human, hm, Mason, doth be greatly misguided, weaned on inaccuracies as he has been. I hath read much into the chronicles of 'history' that the scholars of Soleil now write.

There is claim that the Lightborn family ruled for five cycles ever since the descent of the gods, conjuring up a fanciful image that for five entire cycles, across even another Darkening, that the south remained unified under a single bloodline, only to be broken up by the machinations of the Beaumonts.”

She shook her head. ”A recollection that doth reduce the complexities of history into the realm of fairy tales. Nay, the Lightborn bloodline fell in the Second Darkening of 500, and following a great civil war known as the Schism, the south split into seven kingdoms.”

Mason sat down, putting a hand to his head as he tried to think through everything. It was evident that the young man had always grown up with a strong sense of duty and pride to his country.

He  wore a sun necklace from the Order of Light, believing in the good of the Light and what it meant. He fought for his people, yes, but also for a sense of country.

Of pride in the concept of Soleil, a concept that he did not know was likely mostly fabrication constructed by the duchess to consolidate her power.