[POV: Kara Davis]
“What is it? Is something wrong?” She asked the messenger with a concerned look.
“Well, Um... Ahh... the... Umm...”
Kara Frowned. The messenger was staring at the table and kept shifting his legs. But most of all he was trembling visibly. What could have made the other man so terrified? This can’t be good news.
“Well? Spit it out already.”
Guard stepped back, nearly jumping on his tiptoes. He shifted his eyes to his feet. “Forgive me, my lady, to be the bearer of such sad news, but his imperial majesty is dead and your husband along with him. I was told that both of them were poisoned to death.” His mouth worked and quivered as he passed the horrid news.
For a second, her mind went blank. What was the messenger saying? He must have mistaken. Yes, he was probably too nervous and said the wrong words. But one look at the messenger and realisation hit her like a blow to the head. That wasn’t the look of someone who had just lied about something like this. Kara gasped and sank to the ground. She crawled into a ball, her hand firmly squeezing her shoulder, trying to stop her shaking body. She rocked back and forth. Her heart ran harder and faster, and the light in her eyes became dark as pearly tears rolled down her cheeks.
Why? Not again! Not again! All, everyone!! Why does everyone leave me? Merlin, I don’t know what to do. First, a disease took her firstborn. Then her second-born was murdered. Now, her husband too. Why does this keep happening to people I love? I must be cursed. Her soul screamed a howl that could shame the loudest of sounds.
“My lady, please pull yourself together, I can’t see you like this.”
Kara looked up, her eyes swollen with tears and her dishevelled hair stuck to her cheeks.
The messenger is right. What am I doing? I’m so weak; it’s pathetic. You’ve got a village to run. Get yourself together! She tried to breathe in, again and again, trying to calm herself. It wasn’t time for her to mourn. It would come letter. Right now, she had work to do.
Kara took her time, but at least she settled down and removed her hand from her shoulder while she took a deep breath a few times. And she stood up, wiping her tears out of her cheeks. She swayed for a second, but she managed to compose herself.
“Who gave you this news?”
“It was Sir Jones.”
“Sir Jones? He’s here? Not the king councillors.” Why would Sir Jones and not the king councillors to relay this message?
“Yes, my lady, he is here with an army of two thousand, carrying your husband’s coffin. And he wishes to see you at the village gate.”
An army? Why would Sir Jones bring an army today of all days? She was much more puzzled now. No, that’s not it. It was a suspicion. Today was the summer solstice, not only the longest day of the year but also the darkest day of the Water Village. For it was the day of the sun when the villagers lost their access to grace.
It was the day when villagers were at their weakest. Why would he have brought an army on a day like this?
“Yes, we must see him. I want to know everything.”
Kara cleaned herself before visiting the gate. Her husband may be dead, but she was still a lady. She had to maintain that etiquette.
After walking quite a distance, Kara arrived at the gate. There she met Sir Thomas Davis, who had been waiting for her, standing near to the gate.
“I heard the news, my lady. And I truly am sorry for your loss.” Sir Thomas shared his condolences. His voice, though, was hollow and unreadable. He never really cared for Armin. In fact, he hated him. Armin and Kara were the only ones to have more authority than Thomas. Forget the condolences. He must be screaming with joy in his mind.
“Are you now, Sir Thomas?” She replied. She knew how he felt about her and Armin, and he knew that she knew. How long was she going to play this game? As long as I need to, she thought.
“Yes, my lady.”
“Open the gate,” she ordered the gatekeepers who were at the top of the wall.
“As you command, my lady,” they shouted.
Seconds letter, the gate slid up. Sir Jones and Sir Vlad stood at the front of the army. Among them were four men carrying a red coffin. There were about 50 troops on each of the coffin, and an army of at least two thousand behind them. Each one of them was holding a flower.
“Sir Jones. Sir Vlad,” she greeted both of them.
“My Lady,” both of them replied at the same time, bowing their heads.
Sir Jones looked at lady Kara in the eye. “I am sorry to be the bearer of such news, my lady. Please do forgive me and accept my condolences.” He bowed.
“Sir Jones, what is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of bringing such a large army to my village gate? Especially today of all days. It’s making me feel... Let us say, uneasy.” Her suspicion was to be expected. After all, it was the summer solstice.
“Forgive me, my lady, for my incompetence, but these are not my men. They are all lord Armin’s men and they begged me to bring them with me. They wanted to bid their last farewell at his funeral,” Sir Jones responded with uncanny respect. It was almost unnerving. It was a tradition among the people of Sizen to have the funeral in their home village.
Kara sighed inwardly after hearing those words, and her suspicions left her. “There is nothing to forgive, Sir Jones. So, these are all my husband’s men. I am very pleased to see their loyalty,” tears rolled down her eyes. “May I see my husband, please?”
“I beg your pardon, my lady. But I advise you not to see your husband’s body. You may not be able to handle yourself to see the state he is in,” Sir Vlad said.
“I want to see his body,” she ordered furiously. “Drop the barrier.” She shouted at gatekeepers.
So the golden-coloured barrier that surrounded the village disintegrated into glittering dust and vanished. Firestone was a magic item offered to the Sizen by an alchemist many years ago when the nation was first created. So that it might protect them during the summer solstice. It could produce an impregnable barrier of the element; fire. They could activate it by throwing it into the fire. And they could deactivate it by extracting it from the flames.
“Yes, my lady. But please don’t touch his body. The poison spreads like a plague, even with touch. Three of our men died because of it. Luckily, we stopped it before it spread further. It was all thanks to your husband. He managed to write the formula for antidote just before he died,” he warned her, and then told his men to bring the coffin to her and open it.
Those men cautiously approached Kara and opened the casket. There he was with his eyes open. His skin had melted and turned black. There was a smell of rotting rats mixed with rotting cabbages. He was almost unrecognisable and yet she knew it was truly him. There was a black star-shaped birthmark above his left eye.
Kara gasped at the sight of her husband. She almost collapsed to the ground and broke into tears. But she pulled herself together. She was a lady, and she had to be strong. Kara didn’t want to show her vulnerability to them. She had no choice but to conceal her emotions.
“My love, what have they done to you?” she asked, gazing into his eyes. “Who did this to him? Tell me you have found the culprit?” She asked. No matter how hard she tried to conceal her emotions, her stubborn tears just wouldn’t stop.
“I’m sorry, my lady, but we haven’t,” Sir Vlad said, staring at his knees.
“W-what do you mean you haven’t found them yet? For Undine’s shake, they killed both my husband and the King.” Her voice shook like a rumbling thunderstorm.
“We don’t know who the culprit is yet. But we are following the leads. We will find them sooner rather than later.”
“When you find them, I don’t want them dead. I want that luxury for myself,” Kara said, her eyes hollow and hateful.
“We beg your pardon, My Lady. Death is far too easy for what they have done to our King. I have far too worse in store for them than death. You may do as you please after we are done with them.”
“Fair enough,” she replied.
******* Disclaimer ********** This is a fictional work. Any names, places, events, organisations, characters, religious beliefs, cultures, and philosophy are either made up by the author or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.This work contains mature themes such as violence, torture, and abuse. The author does not promote or condoneany of the actions depicted in the work. Please read at your own risk! *************************** Abbreviations: MIDD: Magic Items Development Department WARG: World Allied Ria's Government. Members of WARG: 1. Republic of Fortuna 2. Speir - 3. Pretas - 4. Fallen Lake - 5. The Sky Kingdom - 6. Naraka - 7. Tiryak - Other Kingdoms: Sizen Everlasting Kingdom Andruss
“Sir Jones, Sir Vlad. Please, sir, we welcome you to our village.” Sir Thomas urged them through the village gate. Vlad, being Vlad, walked into the village as if he owned the place. “You invitation warms my heart, Sir Thomas.” Kara had a hard time stifling her scoff. “It is but my pleasure,” Thomas said. Why were these two acting so formally? Something is going on here. Or am I just reading too much into things? “Where are the councillors? Are they really not here?” Kara inspected the mass of the army in front of the village. There were no luxurious wagons or palanquins that indicated the presence of the councillors. “They are on their way. We just left early to help prepare,” Sir Jones Said. Kara nodded. After walking through the street paved with cobblestones, they finally reached the magnificent castle of the water village. They entered the castle through th
[POV: Kara Davis] Echoing screams still hung in the air. Why did at times like this, everything seem to slow down? It made everything that was happening even worse. Two hulks of the man climbed up to Kara and grabbed her from either side, forcing her on her knees. Her hands pulled behind her back. Kara felt the weight of a leg pushing on her back. She tried to struggle, of course, but these men were bloody strong. Her body didn’t even twitch. Ria’s forsaken bastards. The vampires pulled their head back, mouth open wide, their fangs sleek with drooping poison. The ever-present screams in the air increased. Some wailed, some collapsed, children clinging to their parents, eyes clamped shut. “No, not them. They have done nothing wrong. Just kill me and be done with it. But please, have mercy on them. Kill me instead. Please, I’m begging you... NO... Please, don’t hurt them. NO.” Despite her wails for mercy, nobody heard, even she barely heard it.
Silver woke up to a throbbing pain in his forehead. Why was everything so dark? Silver groaned. Ria Above! The pain was killing him. He tried to rub his throbbing forehead, but he immediately pulled his hands back, wincing at the pain, motes of dried blood sticking to his fingertips. What the hell happened to me. Where am I? Silver pulled on his grace and held and held that torrent of power within him; the power that allowed him to create and manipulate water constructs. Of course, the fact that he could pull on his grace surprised him. It could only mean that the summer solstice was over. With the power of grace within him,, he could finally see his surroundings. When one pulled on grace, they would be surrounded by blue ethereal light that could illuminate the surroundings to some extent. He was greeted by walls of earth surrounding him. All the herbs he had picked were scattered around him. There was a stone with dry b
[POV: Silver Davis] The vampire hesitated for a second but quickly spoke. “You have to understand. I had no choice. We are by the order of…” The vampire made a choking noise as if he was trying to form a word, but it was stuck in his throat. Silver thought it was just an act to distract him, but then he felt something brewing in the other man’s neck. Something that chilled his spine. His primal instinct took over and Silver jumped back, pulling on as much as Grace as could. Silver was not sure what was going on, but the energy was building up in the vampire’s throat. Is this some kind of attack the vampires have? The vampire’s neck exploded in the torrent of red energy, his head spinning high-high into the air. Silver put up a wall of water in front of him in the nick of time. The force of the explosion was strong. His wall of water barely protected him. Just as the wall of water dropped, something round crashed into th
[POV: Vlad Davis] “Give me the report,” Jones Davis said. Vlad Davis inspected the parchment in his hand for a few moments. “The total death count is 26,324. We have raided 5,000 gold beads worth of accessories and other utensils from the houses. We have yet to raid the castle treasury. This will be a huge boost to our funds.” Vlad said those last words proudly as if he was the one who was spewing all that money. Jones nodded absently as if all that money meant nothing to him.“ Did you find anyone else around the houses?” “Yes 400 or so peasants.” Jones arched an eyebrow at the comment. “And were there any children?” “Children? Yes, most of them were children. Some of them grandpas and grandmas too old to get out of bed. Few adults.” “And where are they?” “The vampires sucked them dry.” Vlad puffed up his chest proud to have taken care of the nuisances. He waited for the complement he deserved. Jones backh
[POV: Colin Smith] Colin sprinted forward weaving around the trees, instinctively avoiding the undergrowth and bumps. After four long years, he was used to running around in the forest. The blasted animal was faster than he had thought. He had been following a thunder-rabbit for a few minutes now. They were a magical beast that looked similar to rabbits, only as big as a dog and their furs stood on ends with shades of purple. It was one of the few D tier beasts that also had a blood sack. Not only were their meat a delicacy, but a blood sack from a D tier beast could also be sold for three silver coins. Which was a lot of money for someone like Colin. The name may be a silver coin but it was just a copper coin with a silver coating. It was the same for the gold coin. A silver coin was worth 5 copper, and a gold coin was worth 5 silver. Gold beads had the highest value which was worth 10 gold coins. Colin had seen a gold bead
[POV: Silver Davis] Silver groaned and shifted to his side. Why was his bed so hard and uncomfortable today? And why was it shaking and rattling? Was this an earthquake? This was bad, he needed to get out of here. Silver tried to bolt upright and dash out of the room but something went wrong, his body just would not listen to him. Every fibre, every bone in his body felt limp. Silver opened his eyes, and as soon as he did his head began to throb furiously. It felt as heavy as iron. Silver groaned. Everything was dark and blurry. When he tried to lift his hand up to his face, he could not. They were strapped together behind his back. Even with how limp his entire body felt, he somehow managed to heave himself upright. The rattling and shaking had not stopped. His vision was slowly returning.His bed jolted and Silver bumped the back of his head into something hard.“Argh! Why the hell is everything moving?” Silver growled under his breath.