Sophia, ever the genius, ever the planner, does make her way to the throne.
The journey is perhaps not as hard, yet at the same time not as easy, as you would expect. The king has known she could be a potential threat since the day he found out about her sorcery. While he never would've suspected she could personally aim for the throne, he had contingency plans in place for the possibility.
It turns out, the royal family has a lot of access to old texts and gadgets from the age of sorcerers too, and quite a few of those weapons were used when Sophia attempted to kill the king. While they delayed her to getting him, in the end it couldn't stop her entirely, and she took the crown before long.
Selene, in the mean time, dealt with all the knights. All of them. She fought some, enchanted others, until in the end she was the only left standing on top.
Cassius' conflicting feelings had been swaying for a while, but after the unexpected coup from Sophia and Selene, he had decidedly cut off all his feelings for her as they fought one another.
He was, of course, no challenge for Selene, and died by her blade.
Anastasia saw this and knew she stood no chance, and so she fled, to the neighbouring kingdom, Solis. She begged and pleaded for an audience with the king, only to instead be met with a surprisingly young and handsome man.
He agreed to help, having been intrigued by her beauty, and having felt sympathy when he saw her crying face.
Astrum itself was thrown into chaos. The news of the take over had reached the rest of the kingdom, and the people were at a loss, confused at the hostile take over and what would happen to them now that they had a woman for a king.
For a while there was rioting, there was unrest, and then Selene descended upon them like the grim reaper, in her black hooded robe and her bloodstained boots. She quelled any rebels, any people who thought of fighting against her and their new reign.
The people of Astrum learned after that, and became docile and obeyed every word. It wasn't hard to, despite how violent Selene could be, Sophia was not an entirely unreasonable ruler. She didn't change any laws, make any ridiculous new rules, in fact, she seemed entirely okay with letting things continue the way they'd always been.
The people were beginning to relax, thinking that Sophia was merely attracted to the crown for its power, not for the fact that she actually wanted to change anything, but then they started drafting recruits. Anybody over the age of seventeen who wasn't impaired in some way had to join their knights, or more accurately, their army.
They were put through rigorous training under Selene, who the people of Astrum had dubbed the Reaper. Sophia then did something unimaginable, she killed half of the noblemen and women in one fell swoop, setting free all the slaves in the process.
Anybody who took part in slave auctions, or owned slaves, were killed. None of the guilty nobility were spared. Thus, the nobility went down by half, and Astrum found themselves struggling to reintegrate the former slaves back into their everyday lives.
Seeing that the slaves were struggling to re-assimilate themselves into society, she offered them another option, to work for the kingdom as spies. And so, without an option, as people refused to house them and hire them, the slaves became spies, and were sent into Solis the minute they were deemed ready.
And so, when the first stirrings of a possible war reached the ears of the Astrum people, they were prepared.
The Solis knights found themselves losing a significant amount of men as they suddenly dropped like flies, having been poisoned. The Astrum spies were doing their job properly, sowing discord and getting rid of Solis knights when they could.
By the time the fight was brought to them, the Solis faction had already been decimated into practically nothing, and it was pathetically easy for Astrum to win the 'war'. The prince of Solis was enraged, and he had no where to direct his anger other than towards Anastasia, despite the fact that she hadn't done anything. So, she was punished and exiled out of Solis, and she was certainly not going to be allowed back into Astrum.
With nowhere to go, she made herself a home in the woods just in-between the kingdom of Solis and the kingdom of Astrum, hoping that nobody would disturb her here.
For a few months she was safe, living off the natural produce found in the woods, when suddenly she heard the sound of marching in the distance. Over the hill she could see hundreds of men and women, Astrum knights, all marching towards Solis.
After that failure of a battle, Sophia had decided it was time to take Solis for herself. And leading the charge was none other than Selene, the Reaper, sitting tall on her horse as she led the knights towards the borders of Solis.
Anastasia tried hiding, but in the end she was found out, and by Selene herself. For a moment when she looked at Anastasia it seemed as if she'd forgotten who she was, but then recognition filled her eyes and she beamed brilliantly. Anastasia couldn't help but take a step back in fear.
Selene pronounced Anastasia a traitor to the kingdom then and there, and the soldiers that followed her tied Anastasia up and dragged her along for the ride. Anastasia cried, and cried, and cried, but there was nothing to be done about her situation. She could do nothing but watch as Selene fought and conquered, and then she was being brought up to meet the king.
Anastasia couldn't look at him, and only heard the sound of his head being removed from his shoulders. Until the head rolled all the way across the floor, and to her feet. Her guilt, her horror, she felt them all, and as she collapsed to her feet, wailing, she felt her last dregs of sanity leave her.
Selene and Sophia promised ruin, promised chaos, and that was what they delivered.
In the end, when there was nowhere left to go, when everything had been burned and killed and tainted, they once again died beside one another, closing their eyes to welcome death with smiles on their faces.
If the universe was to force them to awaken once more, then, well, they'd continue to do what they did best, and bring the world to its knees.