Emily was currently standing in front of the Night Queen with her jaw on the floor, she was filled with both shock and curiosity. After she noticed Emily's apparent confusion, she broke the silence.
"You look like you have a lot of questions huh, I will explain the situation to you later but first let's get out of here."
She said, leading the way out of the building, Emily was still curious but understood that her priority at the moment should be escaping the warehouse, so she quickly followed her making sure to keep close.
As Emily walked down the hallway, she saw a scene of bloody massacre. Red dyed the hallway red and viscera stained the walls, severed heads and limbs where strewn across the floor and incomplete torso's where slumped on the sides.
The crimson scenery shook her to the core, having killed herself, Emily was familiar with a bit of blood and gore but this was on a completely different scale. It was like all the enemies had been chucked into a meat grinder, losing all resemblance to the people they once were. Emily bit her lip and quickly got over it, choosing not to think too deeply and instead, focus on leaving the area.
As they left the warehouse, Emily came across the severed head of the vault guard she had run into, his eyes were still open, the fear in his bloodshot eyes was frozen on his face, next to the exit there was a corpse with a massive, gaping hole on its chest, wearing a black cloak with gold designs. Emily assumed this to be the Rank 3 breaker that was in charge of this building.
"looks like we are out of the arrays range now, I hope the journey wasn't too scary."
The night queen spoke, she grabbed onto Emily without waiting for her reply before muttering something. All Emily saw was a purple flash before her surroundings blurred and changed into a simple white room with a wooden table and chairs and a single bed. She sat down on one of the chairs before gesturing for Emily to do the same.
"I know you have a lot of questions you want to ask me, but first listen to my story."
***
Williams day had got worse and worse. He was severely injured in that fight and was forced to overuse his vitality, before he had years to live but now, he had only a few months. However, this was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to his problems, Ren was still alive, Emily his heir apparent was still missing, and to top it all off, he had just received word that the Night Queen had lied to him about searching for Ren.
The study was littered with bits of broken furniture and glass, the result of him venting his rage. William was fuming, he rarely got angry but the fact that the Night queen was ignoring a huge threat to the kingdom was getting on his nerves.
"I should have known that the only person who can protect the kingdom, was myself"
William thought to himself, his gaze quickly turning cold.
He untucked a gold locket that was normally hidden in his shirt and opened it, taking what appeared to be a small vial of blackish blood out of the locket. He played with the vial, spinning it between his fingers.
"The only option I have left is to reject both the night queen and whatever's left of my humanity. I wonder, was there anything I could have done to avoid this outcome."
As he thought this, William started to reminisce about the times when things were not as complicated.
After hesitating for a while, William placed the vial to his lips and emptied the contents down his throat, a fierce burning sensation welled up from within his body, an intense pain washed over him making his mind go blank as he collapsed on the floor and curled himself up into a ball, spasming occasionally.
William had never been in so much pain in his entire life. It felt like his body was slowly being destroyed bit by bit, like he was disintegrating, at the same time he felt his blood turn hot as mysterious power seemed to spread throughout his blood vessels, at this point he lost consciousness, awakening a day later.
***
Five years ago.
The Linheart family was a fallen noble family. William the family head works hard for his family and due to the high taxes, he struggled on the fields to make ends meet. His family consists of the two-year-old Ren, the eleven-year-old Emily and William's beautiful wife Irene. The family of four, took residence in a small but homely two-story wooden cabin surrounded by acres of farmland where they cultivate wheat and breed cattle.
Currently they were seated in the dining room, eating a hearty meal of beef stew and stale pieces of bread, Ren was being carried by Irene who was gently hitting his back to burp him, Emily who finished with her meal ran into her bedroom. No matter how hard one looked they would only see a caring mother and a loving father, blessed with two adorable children.
"Will, how was work today, it was hot so make sure you don't overwork yourself."
Irene said in a tender voice, she was quite pretty and looked the picture of kindness, she had long light brown hair and kind brown eyes.
"It wasn't bad honey, I had plenty of water to drink from the stream, so the heat didn't get to me, they increased the taxes again last month, so I have to work at least this hard."
William replied, somewhat tiredly. Although the work was exhausting, it was rather fulfilling. Williams father was a traitor to the kingdom that had sided with the kingdom of light during a skirmish that happened twenty years ago, His father managed to escape successfully but the royal family retaliated by stripping the Linheart family of their noble status and banishing them from the capital.
This resulted in William working long hours in the fields to make enough money for him and his family to survive but William had long gotten used to the simple life and was content as long as his family was happy.
Their chat was interrupted by a loud knock on the door, William got up and opened the door, revealing a stunningly beautiful woman with raven black hair, seeing her William immediately knelt on one leg, placing his right hand over his heart.
"Greetings Marquess, to what do I owe the pleasure"
William said, making sure to be respectful as possible, Normally the title of marquess was not something that could be earned, but was inherited. The women in front of him was the sole exception to this rule, her numerous exploits on the front lines against the demonic beasts made her a household name, her contribution to the kingdom was simply too large, so the royal family could only give her this title as compensation. She came from a commoner background and was also the sister of Williams wife, Irene.
"No need for formalities, you are my brother in law after all, I came here strictly for business, do you have a place we can chat… alone"
She said glancing at Irene
"Long time no see sis, seeing that you're busy I will take my leave now, we can catch up some other time"
Irene responded, she was very understanding and took Ren upstairs, leaving William and the marquess alone.
���Right this way, Marquess, take a seat and I will fetch some tea."
William said rather nervously, although this woman was a hero and his sister-in-law, there were a bunch of rumours that she had used especially cruel methods to get what she wanted.
"No need, this should only take a few moments"
The marquess took a seat at the dining table. William also took a seat at the opposite side of the table.
"Ill cut to the chase, I know of your family's former trade and am in need of someone with that skillset, if you join me, I can promise you that your family's former glory will be reinstated and the Linheart's will re-join the ranks of nobility."
The marquess said in a soul stealing voice. William took a moment to process what she was saying before replying.
"Only Royalty can reinstate nobility, y-you're not planning to overthrow the throne, are you."
William who had come to this conclusion was shocked. Just conspiracy of rebellion was enough to get you executed.
"I like smart people, it means I have less explaining to do. I have already gathered enough forces, but someone of your skillset will reduce the amount of lives lost in the war effort. You should know of the tyranny of the royals and what they do to abuse those weaker than them. Will you join us."
The marquess asked, William took a moment to consider all the options before coming to his decision.
"I will have to refuse marquess. It may be tough but my life here is happy and filled with warmth. I also don't want to kill anymore, those days are behind me."
William said resolutely. The marquess looked mildly disappointed, and got up from her seat.
"I see, well I guess there is nothing more to discuss. I'll be on my way, no need to see me out"
She said coldly, before exiting the cabin. After leaving the marquess got into the carriage that had brought her to the Linheart family home.
"Tell the royal family that I have some interesting information on the Linheart family."
The Marquess said in a cruel voice, though she was seemingly alone, an elderly male voice answered her.
"As you wish, my Queen"
***
The next morning William woke up early and began his daily routine, after he washed up, he saw his wife making breakfast while Emily was helping. Ren was seated in his high chair trying to lift himself out and escape, he outstretched his hands towards William, trying to request aid for his escape.
William simply ignored Ren, who had proven to be quite mischievous since he learned to crawl and walked over to Emily and Irene in the kitchen.
"Looks great you two, I'll have to eat it later though, it will be harder to work under the midday sun, so ill get everything out of the way while it's still cool."
He said to the girls while putting on his jacket, When Emily heard this, her face dropped and she started pouting.
"But mom usually never lets me help with the cooking so when she agreed today, I wanted to get everyone to taste it, I even made your favourite."
Emily sulked, she had got up earlier than usual so she could help out today, their father didn't let her help out in the fields, saying it was no work for a little kid, so helping with the cooking was the only way she felt useful. Her protest was somewhat successful and William started to feel a bit guilty, so he reassured her.
"I'm sorry sweetie but I need to get this work done, and once I've worked up an appetite, I'm sure the food will taste even nicer."
Emily hearing this stopped sulking, she noticed her father was feeling guilty and a wide grin was plastered on her face.
"If you want to make it up to me, let me help in the fields today."
William who witnessed his daughters attitude take a U-turn, started to realise that he had been tricked.
"Why you little-, I told you that you're too young to work in the fields, wait till you're older."
William berated her harshly but Irene who was washing the dishes chimed in.
"Will, it should be fine if she just watches, take Ren as well, you've been spending so much time on the fields it's only natural the kids want to be around you more."
William sighed out of exasperation. He knew once his wife got involved there was nothing more he could do.
"Fine, Emily you can watch, no working. Also make sure Ren doesn't crawl anywhere and get lost."
William said picking up Ren from his chair and carrying him over his shoulder before leaving. Emily jumped around in joy after hearing that her plan had worked, she quickly ran after her father. Irene waved goodbye before continuing with the housework.
When William arrived at the fields, he handed control of Ren to Emily and began tending to the crops, it was a long tedious task and took him the whole morning, making him work up a good sweat. Ren had tried to escape a few times but Emily was a good warden and had thwarted his attempts every time.
William found that it was actually quite nice to have the company of his children while working, he was able to catch up with Emily, who he hadn't really talked to alone in a while.
"This was surprisingly nice, maybe I'll let them join me more often."
He thought to himself. Just as he was finishing up, William noticed billowing clouds of black smoke coming from the direction of his home, confused by this William shouted to Emily who had also noticed the smoke
"Stay here and take care of Ren. I'll go check it out."
William said quickly, he began sprinting towards the cabin where he was greeted with the sight of the wooden cabin where he lived, covered in tongues of orange and red flames. Thick black smoke surrounded the cabin, making his eyes sting and his throat dry.
William ran towards the cabin where he caught site of a squad of royal soldiers through the smoke, they wearing light iron armour and wear carrying shields that proudly displayed the royal crest of the bull.
As he got closer, William noticed that two of the soldiers were carrying wooden torches that were still lit, the smoke made it difficult to see but then he heard the screams of a woman. His eyes turned bloodshot, he could recognise those screams anywhere, it was his wife Irene.
He immediately charged towards the soldiers. They were dragging a highly distressed Irene out of the doorway she was screaming at the top of her lungs, struggling her hardest to resist the powerful soldiers.
The soldiers finally took notice of him and where shouting at William but their words fell on deaf ears. William was in shock, he had no idea why this was happening and started seething with rage, he was trained to keep his cool in these situations by his father but the sight before him was too much to handle and he was filled to the brim with anger. For the first time in his life William saw red.
William charged at the soldiers with hate in his eyes, he sent out shadow pulses that blasted holes through two of men that where holding down his wife, their bodies flopped over as they died without even knowing what hit them, he blinked in front of one of the remaining soldiers and grabbed the sword out of his hand, decapitating him with it in one smooth motion, he then threw the sword which followed a straight path into another soldiers neck, making blood spurt out as the man desperately clutched at his neck to stop the bleeding.
Blood splashed everywhere as the thud of bodies hitting the ground was the only sound that could be heard over the hiss of the flames. Not waiting around to see the result of his one-sided massacre, William rushed to the side of his wife, failing to realise that one of the soldiers was still alive, the captain.
The captain who had recovered from the surprise attack, wildly charged towards the oblivious William who was kneeling by Irene' s side, the captain struck him with the edge of his shield, knocking William to the ground, The captain stood over him raising his sword above his head ready to administer the fatal blow, The blade began to fall down onto William making him close his eyes, but the blade never came, looking up, he saw his wife standing in front of him, drops of blood hit the ground as she fell backwards with a red line across her stomach.
By the time William got back up to his feet it was too late, Irene had already collapsed on the floor laying in a pool of her own blood. He quickly used a shadow blast to finish of the captain who was still distracted by Irene jumping in the way of his blade, and rushed back to her side.
He cradled his bloodied wife in his arms feeling the life force drain out of her. Tears started to stream down his cheeks, the loud crackling and hissing of the flames engulfing his home made it impossible to gather his thoughts, he only felt a deep sadness rising up from within him.
"Don't cry, Will… y-you are great man and a great father… I believe in you, make our home, no our kingdom into a great place for our ch-"
Irene said weakly, her words getting more and more incoherent, before finally stopping.
William, who was holding onto Irene's lifeless corpse had heard only the first part of what she had to say. After hugging her one last time, he placed her down and closed her eyelids. Her blood still drenching his hands.
Williams emotions where in turmoil, and he lost strength in his legs falling face first into the dirt, shedding more tears then he had in his entire life. After some time had passed William had finally become calm again.
"Don't worry, my love, I will turn this kingdom into a place that you can be proud off"
William said resolutely, before his gaze turned cold.
"No matter the cost."
As he said this, the wooden cabin behind him began to collapse as it was devoured by the orange flames.