"Now with all of that said, I have decided that the time is now to tell you a bit about the Beringer family and our legacy." Dominic told Alannah of his famil and their heritage, as she listened, she couldn't help but wonder if this was the right thing to do.

Dominic turned to Alannah, his features sharp and daunting, and with a matter-of-fact tone he continued his tale, "My family has remained the head of a very wealthy empire, and are the sole authority of Los Linga. Though we have since left the castle to the tourists - I believe that it has been magnificantly transformed into a hotel. My ancestors abolished all taxes except for those on incoming trades and port maintenance. We had the Chateau built hundreds of years ago, where we now reside. This was not only the best move for my people, but it gave the residents of the island their own identity and freedom. Yet in all this time our empire remains strong, though now instead of fortified stone walls, the walls themselves are an invisible force that cannot be breached by physical force - and I …." He said taking her cold hands in his, "I am the sole heir of that fortress."

He leaned back and gazed upon the stars in silence for several moments, his expression sombre. "The world has become a very dishonest place, Alannah. Because of this, for many years I felt the walls closing in around me until my very existance felt like a prison. The people still live by the old feudal ways and hold to the beliefs and values that go along with it, though they claim otherwise and hide behind a wall of denial. Yet those same people will attack a person like a mob, to torture and murder, like a pack of ravenous wolves. They will taunt and harass for no reason except that they have surrendered their individuality to the will of the mob, which has then taken on a life of its own. In this day and age the feudal belief has disguised itself as the modern corporations, and what we now call a Democracy, when in truth, all those men in power, including the parties of governments themselves, a nothing but a various collection of ones feudal beliefs.

"I like your father am a feudal lord, Alannah. But that is where the similarity between us ends. I believe that with great power comes great responsibility. My forefathers left Spain to fight for the freedom of their own people, because they too believed that the power they held must justify itself towards a just cause. Those that they fled, on the other hand, were too much like your father. The leaders at that time believed that the only power was the power of life and death, and they held this power over their citizens. Simply stated, this is the difference between a good ruler and that of the rule of a thug.




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