Chapter 24
Orion’s birthday celebration began at dawn the next day. With his brothers at his side, he had everything he had wanted and more. There weren’t many people at first, but by noon, the crowds had gathered. Everywhere Orion went, he was greeted with laughing children and smiling faces. People would call to him from the crowds as he walked by.
“Happy birthday, Majesty!”
“Happy birthday!”
“My, what a fine young man!”
“Good day to you, Majesty!”
“Long live Prince Orion!”
“Happy birthday!”
Orion smiled at everyone and shook dozens of hands. By two o’clock, he was exhausted, and stole off to be alone for a few minutes. He found refuge behind a large bush, which was showing off it’s brightly colored flowers. This bush reminds me of that flower shop I met Sandra in, he frowned at the memory, wondering if Sandra still hated him. He sighed as he sat down and closed his eyes. A rustling beside him told him that he wasn’t as alone as he thought. He sat bolt upright and stared at the girl beside him. She was unlike anyone he had ever seen. Her hair was light reddish-brown, shining like hot tea in the sun. Her cream face was smooth, and gave way to cherry lips that smiled at him. But what caught his attention most was her eyes. They were green, as light and delicate as the new spring grass, yet full of wisdom and power. Her eyes seemed larger than normal, but that can’t be right, Orion thought, staring at her. It must be my imagination. She’s beautiful, though. He smiled.
“Are you Prince Orion?” she asked.
“Uh,” he muttered, trying to find his voice.
“You must be. That crown of yours gives you away. I hear that you’re really a lunimorf.”
“Half,” Orion stuttered, “Half lunimorf,” he corrected her. “I’m half lunimorf and half telblec.”
“Good.” She seemed unimpressed with what she saw as she looked him up and down. “That saves me from having to ask you, then.” Orion scooted back a little as she leaned closer. “Listen, I have something very important to tell you.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Orion’s curiosity took over as he became still and listened. “My name is Kelia. I am not a telblec,” she said, “nor am I a lunimorf. I am a being that is somewhere in between the two. I am a jisbae.” She paused, allowing Orion to take it all in. When he didn’t say anything, she continued, “There are two kinds of jisbae, a pureblood and a halfling. A pureblood is someone who’s parents are jisbae, and their parents are jisbae, etc. A halfling is a person who’s parents are not jisbae.”
“Well, what would their parents be then?” Orion asked, imagining what it would be like to stroll along the shoreline at night with her, holding her hand, and not believing a word she said.
“To understand properly, I have to give you a bit of background on the jisbae. You see, thousands of years ago, the jisbae flourished. There were thousands of them, and they were the most powerful race in the universe. But even with all that power, they were peaceful, and they helped to keep the peace among other peoples. Then it happened. It was inevitable. It happens with every race now and then.”
“What was it? What happened?” Orion asked, not really paying attention. His thoughts were on a warm, moonlit night with waves crashing against the shore, and her sitting next to him in the sand.
“A civil war. Nobody knows why it began. Some believe that skin color had something to do with it, but whatever it was, it split the jisbae into two groups.”
“The purebloods and the halflings?” Orion wished she would get to the point so that he could ask her to go dance with him. He was a fairly good dancer, and he thought he’d be able to impress her. He listened to the band playing in the background.
“No, Prince Orion. Halflings didn’t exist back then. They came about as a result of the war.” She didn’t like being interrupted, and she let him know. He was shocked that she wasn’t treating him with the kind of respect he deserved as prince, and on his birthday, too, but he didn’t say anything. If he upset her too much, she might not want to dance. She continued.
“The two groups began fighting with each other. Many lives were lost, including innocent children. The royal family was split, mother killing son, daughter killing father. There were two princesses and their brother, the king. Finally, one of the groups left the planet and settled on the moon. That group wanted to take control of the planet, so they continued to attack the group that stayed. Neither group wanted any acknowledgment of the other, so they both changed the name of their race. This war lasted thousands of years, and still goes on today.
“Because these two groups have been separated for so long, they lost some of their powers, each group losing different powers. If, at any time, a member from each group comes together and has a child, that child will be born, not as a member of either group, but as a jisbae. A halfling jisbae.”
“So what did the two groups become?” Orion asked, with a feeling that he already knew the answer.
“The group that stayed on the planet’s surface became known as telblec, and the group that fled to the moon became known as lunimorf,” she said. “And you, being born of both groups, Orion, are a jisbae.”
“Yea, okay,” Orion said sarcastically. “So, would you like to dance, Kelia? I’ve got the most popular bands playing,” he hot up to leave.
“Wait, Orion, there’s more!” She grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. He hit the ground hard, scratching his arm on the bush and staining the knees of his white pants.
“How dare you!” he was enraged. “I ought to have you arrested for treating me like this.”
“Shut up and listen.” She knew he didn’t believe her, and she was determined to make him understand. “There’s a price that everyone who’s born of a telblec and a lunimorf has to pay. It’s the transformation. Right now, you are a lunimorf, physically. But sometime today, at the moment you were born, you will transform into what the jisbae really look like. You will become stronger and more powerful. Your senses will increase tenfold. You will lose your voice and grow a tail and wings. And this transformation will be painful. Very painful. You’re going to faint from the pain, and be unconscious for days, but when you wake up, you will be in the best days of your life. You will finally understand what it means to be jisbae, who they were, what they were like, and how they lived.
“It will start as a small stomach ache. I’ve seen it before, Orion. There are halflings here and on Lunspae, but they’re hiding themselves. It will happen today. Prepare yourself for the transformation.”
“Whatever!” Orion yelled angrily. He was back on his feet. “I don’t believe you. There’s no such thing as a jisbae. While I am half and half, I’m not some weird monster that will transform into a hideous beast come nightfall. You can forget the dance, too. Now leave me alone!” Orion ran away from her, afraid that what she said might actually come true. That’s a load of bunk! Orion thought irately, I’ve never seen one of those things, so why should I believe they exist? If the jisbae really did become telblecs and lunimorves, then why haven’t I heard of them before?
Because they don’t exist! He answered himself. He ran up to his rooms to change clothes, since the outfit he was wearing was now grass stained. Back outside, he found Alex engaged in a game of tawttuwy ball, so he joined him. Alex was still wearing the long brown coat, despite the heat of the late spring day. Kelia’s story haunted him until dinner, where everyone’s chattering and the clinking of dinnerware echoed throughout the banquet hall. There was a long, main table draped in white cloth with gold trim set up against the front wall for the royal family. Everyone else found seats at the many smaller, round tables with matching tablecloths scattered everywhere. After everyone was seated, Orion stood up and called for silence.
“Thank you all for coming to my birthday party,” he announced, both verbally, and using ninmisn, so that everyone could hear him, “I hope you’ve
all enjoyed yourselves here.” There was a lot of cheering and clapping. When the noise died down, Orion continued, “I know some of you may leave early, and that’s fine, but I want you to know that I have gifts for everyone here.” Again, the hall erupted with cheers and clapping, this time even louder than before. It took a while for the noise to die down this time, but Orion continued once it had. “The gifts will be passed out after dinner. If you decide to leave early, please don’t forget to pick up your gift on your way out. Once again, I thank you all for coming to my birthday party. Let the feast begin!”
Lots of servants with food carts loaded with various meats and side dishes came from the edges of the room where they had been waiting. They served everyone as fast as they could. There were three servants handing dishes to the royal table. The food was delicious, but Orion wasn’t enjoying his dinner as much as everyone else.
“What’s wrong, Orion?” his father asked between bites, “You’ve barely touched your food.”
“Nothing,” Orion answered, “just a bit of an upset stomach. I’ll be fine.” But Orion wasn’t fine. What started out as a dull ache quickly turned into severe cramping, and the pain began spreading throughout his whole body. “Excuse me,” he said through gritted teeth as he got up and left the banquet hall, clutching his sides. Gripped with concern and fear that his son might have been poisoned, King Frederic left the table after Orion. Orion didn’t make it to his rooms. The pain had brought Orion to his knees in the hallway. King Frederic found him on his side, writhing in pain, and trying to scream, but unable to make a sound.
“Orion! What is it?” King Frederic was powerless to help his son, and he knew it. He looked around for an answer, but there was no one around, just a strange girl with green eyes.
“Don’t worry, he’s not dying,” she said. “We need to get him into bed.” King Frederic didn’t hesitate. He picked Orion up and carried him the rest of the way to his rooms. Once there, Kelia began explaining that Orion was going through the jisbae transformation, and that there was nothing to worry about.
“MY SON IS IN TERRIBLE PAIN AND YOU SAY THERE’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!?” King Frederic shouted at Kelia. “Are you nuts?! This is my son we’re talking about!”
“Please calm down. Yelling won’t do any good.” Kelia calmly looked down at Orion, who was crying, sweating, and gripping the blankets so tightly, he could have gotten water out of rocks. “The only thing you can do for him is to give him a pain killer, but even that won’t take all the pain away.”
Just then, a doctor burst into the room. King Frederic stood by and let the doctor do his work, but all the doctor could do was give Orion a shot to help him sleep. Finally, Orion calmed down and fell asleep.