Laughter, lovely bright colours, pale skin, smiles. A woman's hand. Her caress. Her body.
Her gown was carried softly by the wind. Her feet were beautiful against the soft green grass.
Her eyes were pale grey yet twinkling with mischief.
Her laughter.
"Come, your majesty." Her soft voice called out, her pale hand reaching towards him. He
took it, held unto it. He noticed how smooth and soft her skin was against his roughened one. He
saw the daintiness it carried in its slender fingers. He felt the joy at that simple act of taking her
hand. His heartbeat was faster than average, his blood rushing to his brain.
He loved her.
"My king, please hurry up!" the voice said again, now carrying a sense of amusement
with it. He followed her. Felt his feet against soft grass. He was dragged by her little hand, and
he wondered how such a small hand could pull one as big as he was.
They paused their walk, but he didn't notice their environment, only the grey eyes that
were on him that called to him. The eyes held love, patience, love. His heart squeezed in his
chest.
"I love you." He found himself saying. He was staring at her mouth, her smile. She
exposed the beautiful set of white teeth as she pulled back her lips.
"I know. And I love you too." The mouth said. He found himself leaning closer, his sole
focus on the lips. Just when his mouth finally touched the ones he had been craving, the king of
Pres woke up, his heart hammering intensely in his chest.
That was not the first time he had dreamt of that. The dream seemed to be reoccurring.
The same eyes, the same lips, the same voice, the same skin.
Features that his wife does not have.
Just who was the strange woman in his dream? He thought.
*****
The King of Neba sent his son Wazir, along with Svetlana and her partner, to the
Kingdom of Pres. Darukï remained back at Neba, overlooking the kingdom's security and its
castle. They went back to the kingdom of Pres the same night they received the news of what
was really going on. It was a few days till two months was done, and they had to finish it before
then, just as the prophecy had claimed.
Wazir went along with his partners with his face blank, not an iota of expression crossing
his face, even as he walked through the streets of Pres that were soaked in fear and restless
despair.
He remembered when he came to the kingdom for his sister's wedding. The people were
lively all over. They screamed with happiness, wishing the couple a good life and happy
marriage. Even then, he remembered not being satisfied with the union. He was against her
marrying the king of Pres. As he thought of it, he realized that he wasn't sure if he felt that way
simply because his only sibling would not be around him any longer or because his seer senses
were tingling.
His seer senses only tingled when a bad thing was about to happen.
He figured he was right in the end. His only sibling wouldn't be around him any longer,
and he would never live to see her again. Her marriage was also a bad thing– no, a horrible thing.
If only he had the vision to stop it earlier, they probably wouldn't have been in a mess they were
currently in.
The streets were filled with people, their eyes haunted from whatever they were dreaming
of. They looked at them with curiosity and a heavy tinge of fear. They were right to fear him.
He was about to kill their queen.
He followed Svetlana and the short spy who escorted them to the hidden house they had
in the kingdom. It was run down and right inside the forest. The inner décor was surprisingly
neat and straightforward, especially with its outer look.
Wazir dragged a seat out from across the table and sat down.
"We begin our plan tonight."
*****
Elena had never felt fear as much as she did just then.
Elion and Forest were by her side, trying to calm her down. She had told them
everything. As they were her closest friends she could trust with her life, she told them
everything concerning Firoza. Her strange powers, what her goal may be.
They were shocked and downright grave. They had been hearing tales of war outside the
blood kingdom. To think that another one might start in the powerful blood kingdom was
something they didn't take very lightly. After all, Calhoun was not only their friend; he was their
friend's lover.
"I have been trying to reach him for days. Firoza is going to start a rebellion." Elena said,
pacing around her room. Forest and Elion sat on the bed, their expression frigid.
"Just right when I need to tell him something, he goes out and disappears."
"Calm down, Elena." Forest said, his voice soothing despite the lack of calm on his face.
"She might not attack tomorrow. She may have not even given them a drop of her blood.
Maybe she was just fishing for information, using her supposed status as the bride of the king to
get what she wants."
Elena shook her head furiously, even as she continued to pace the room, with both her
arms crossed over her chest while one was raised so she could touch her chin.
"I saw them, Forest. They all came out of the room, looking so smug. They were
practically drooling after her. If all she has done was just to get information, then she must have
promised them something. Something great to make them that happy."
She turned to face them.
"You both know them. They are the toughest faction in the whole kingdom. Tough and
strong enough to go against even the blood king. They have goals, agendas, and they would do
anything, absolutely anything to meet it." She looked at them intensely, her eyes grave.
"And Firoza just has the right thing to tempt them with."
Forest dragged his hands across his face.
"What are we going to do? They haven't made any move so far. I don't even know if it's
proper for us to meet the royal mother and her husband with this news."
Elena's eyes brightened. "That's it Forest! That's exactly what I would do."
"Are you sure they would believe you?" Elion asked.
"I would try. They might know where Calhoun is. I would have them take me to him so
they can verify my words."
She started towards the door, Elion, and Forest right behind her in an attempt to stop her,
when they heard a commotion down the servants' hall.
They walked towards it to see several servants huddled over. Elena walked closer and
was shocked to the core as she took in the bleeding bodies of two maids and two male servants.
One looked like he was barely alive, though he was being tended to along with his colleague who
sat against the wall. The two maids were huddled against each other, their eyes red and face
streaked with tears and blood.
"What is going on?" Elena asked, her voice strong even though her knees felt shaky.
The person standing next to her turned and faced her with such heavy intensity centered
in his eyes. Elena didn't think she would ever be able to forget the eyes that looked at her, eyes
filled with horrid fear like there was nothing so terrifying than the action that had caused their
gathering.
"Don't you know?" his voice was barely a whisper. "The king's supporters, all the
advisers on his side, they are being killed one by one. In horrid, horrid ways." He said, his body
shaking.
Elena felt her heart drop.
"By who?" she asked, even though she could barely hear her voice. The male servant,
though, had heard her well.
"By their adversaries."
*****
Wazir, Svetlana, and her partner wove their way into the castle's lower level. Svetlana
believed that would be the best place to pick up bits of news and how they could use it to their
advantage.
The lower level of the kingdom of Pres was where the servants, just a level higher than
enslaved people, were being kept. They were in charge of cleaning the castle, both inside and
outside. Tending to the horses and seeing that the castle's kitchen was well stocked. Ever since
the arrival of queen Navina, they were no different from enslaved people. But then, they didn't
have it in mind to complain, as all they had for the queen was awe and reverence, totally under
her wicked spell. Now, they weren't so sure of their previous beliefs anymore.
Wazir and his partners quickly slipped into the castle. It was agreed that the person who
would speak with their target would be Wazir, as he had a way with words. The other two would
help him scout out potential targets they could use.
It seemed that luck was on their side as they made their way past a room just down the
servants' hall and heard the voices coming from the empty space once allocated to Svetlana.
"You keep having them too?" one of the voices whispered, having no fear of being
overheard.
"Yeah, I thought I was the only one." The second voice said.
"I feel like I have lost a huge part of my memory, but whenever I scan through my
thoughts, I feel like everything is just alright. I had started to believe that it was just a dream.
That I was overthinking it, till you both said you keep experiencing the same thing too."
"I wonder what is going on. Our town is surrounded by men wearing white attire, and
though my instincts warn me to be wary of them, I still feel like their presence should be here."
A new voice, which Wazir concluded to be the third person, said.
"And the queen." The second voice chipped in again. "I suddenly do not trust her. Why is
that? She has been our queen for years, her daughter our lovely princess."
"Even I, feel like there is something wrong with her. I do not know what it is."
Wazir looked at his counterparts and nodded his head. Svetlana and the short spy waited
for him in the empty room while Wazir was left standing in front of the door. Taking a huge
breath, he knocked.
*****
Elena walked through the chaos happening within the blood castle. With her friends
flanking her sides, they studied the mayhem in its absolute glory.
And the blood king still hadn't shown up.
"Where the damn hell is Calhoun?" Elena said, pushing through the bodies of running
servants to reach his study. The politicians who stood with Firoza decided that severely
mutilating and decapitating their opposing colleagues was too simple a job for the excess power.
So they started destroying everything in their path, forcing the king to come out from wherever
he was.
The warriors of the blood kingdom ran and surrounded the castle, trying to contain the
problem. Elena ran inside Calhoun's study, her friends' right behind her. His study was empty, so
she walked to his adjoining room, finding it empty also. Annoyed, she began the hurried dance
towards the castle's throne room.
It was a bloodied mess.
Several decapitated limbs of warriors lay scattered over the marble floors of the throne
room, just as their owners lay in their pool of blood. Elena could feel her face pale, the blood
rushing out of her face. She had been preparing herself for war, for a fight. But nothing had
prepared her for the horrible scene that lay before her. The remaining alive warriors stood on one
side of the room, their faces strung with anger. The rouge politicians stood directly opposite
them, their faces smug and proud of their accomplishments.
Just as Elena was trying to understand what was happening, her eyes spotted Aaron,
standing in front of his colleagues. He was an angry leader and greatly mourned the death of his
friends who were so unjustly killed. She barely registered the scream Elion released. She
watched slowly, Aaron running towards his opponent, his sword drawn out as he released a war
cry, only for his tenacity to be met with the raging strength, strength possessed by his opponent.
His sword was cast aside, and his neck held in a chokehold. His opponent smiled madly, his eyes
red with bloody hunger.
Elena watched, her face stricken with terror, as Aaron was raised above the floor, his
neck still clasped in the tight, choking hold.
Then she heard the eerie crack of what could only be Aaron's neck.