"Oh magnificent one,
You who gave life to this land,
You who protects it and showers blessings upon,
May the one worthy to be your mortal instrument,
Bring glory to this land through your divine power,
And may the unworthy,
Be cast down and their names erased,
As they meet their end
In the fires of your divine justice."
It was a prayer every soldier of the Idoryn Empire had uttered before they shed their first blood in the battlefield. It was said to aid those sincere enough when they recited the prayer, finishing it off by invoking Igtar, the Sun God of the Idoryn Empire.
Now looking back at it, she had said it for the first and the last time twelve years ago. It was unusually sunny that day, and the soldiers who had followed her to the western border of the empire had claimed it to be Igtar's way of blessing her actions.
Then why did the sun shine so brightly when the world around her was torn to the point of no return?
"Princess," A man burst through her door, the smell of blood and death clinging close to him as she watched the crimson liquid slide across the coated silver of the sword, dripping down the carpeted floor.
"Noel," She acknowledged her personal bodyguard, the man who had followed her like a shadow since they were children.
"There's no time, princess." He hurried over to her side, sheathing his sword as he approached her bed where she lay. "Please allow me to escort you to safety."
Yulia de Rosin, once the most feared woman of her empire and the entire continent, stared at him, watching his eyes drat around the room in a nervous, hurried energy as the sound of clashing of swords drew closer.
She turned her sapphire blue gaze to the burning sun outside, uncaring of how the rays were turning her vision white.
"No," She heard her voice echo in the stone walled chamber as Noel's green eyes widened.
"Princess!" He exclaimed, opening his mouth to protest before shutting it quickly with a raise of her hand.
"Carry me to my bath, Sir Rowan." She saw him flinch, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the handle of his sword tightly. Seeing him hesitate, she raised an eyebrow.
"Am I to take your unwillingness to carry out my wish as a sign of insubordination towards a member of the Royal Family?"
She heard him let out a frustrated sigh, his reflexive obedience crumbling his resolve as he lifted her from the bed, her paralysed legs dangling loosely as he carried her inside her bath.
He set her down into the water filled bathtub and dropped a ruby coloured magical heating stone, making the water warm in an instant.
Yulia felt her muscles relax as she sunk further into the bathtub till she was chest deep. She closed her eyes and revelled in the sensation.
For a moment, she could forget about what was to come.
"What is going on Noel?" She asked the kneeling man.
"The Alqamar Sultan has invaded with his army, Princess. The Azure and Primavera Palace have fallen to them."
Yulia closed her eyes, this time in disbelief. "Since when did it become this easy to enter the stronghold of the Idoryn Empire and just claim it? What about the Magician Tower and the Temple?"
"There has been no response from their side, not ever since…." He trailed off, not willing to complete the sentence.
"Since my lovely sister decided that they were not worthy of her kindness." She couldn't help but scoff.
"Well what fate has befallen her and her beloved?" She asked. "Did they die by the invader's hand? Or did they decide to throw themselves of the roof, unable to see the consequence of their actions? What of the Dowager Empress?"
"I do not know what happened to Empress Evonne other than that she refused to appear in public since her brother Duke Dietrich's death."
"That I know," Yulia replied. Tobias and Evonne had been as close as twins could be, and when Evonne had visited her last, she had looked defeated, the loss along with the weight of the crown and the curse taking a toll on her.
Yet Evonne had not lost any of her hate or spite towards her. Yulia found it astounding to an extent. It took some real determination to maintain that level of hate.
"As for Emperor Consort, he rode out to battle three weeks ago to meet the Alqamarian army on open ground," Noel continued. "But seeing that the Sultan has managed to breach the borders…"
"He failed. It's not that surprising when even a blind person could see that Zacharias Thornwell was no warrior. Not to mention that he considered wars to be a useless endeavour which devoured money and lives." She sighed deeply.
She still remembered the day he had denounced her in public in the wake of his elder brother Isaac's death… calling her the Blood Star of the Empire and a plague that had to be vanquished.
Yulia couldn't help but wonder how things would have been different if she had run her sword through him when he was spouting all that nonsense. Perhaps Alqamar would have never invaded, perhaps she would have sat the Sun Throne as Igtar's chosen one, and the Idoryn Empire would have not fallen.
She was jolted out of her thoughts by a loud crash outside the bath, followed by raised voices as she and Noel turned their heads to the door.
"Princess," Noel sprang to his feet, drawing out his sword. "I will clear a path outside for you to escape. We should be-"
"And then what?" Yulia snapped, watching him flinch. "Look around you carefully, Sir Rowan. I am a paralysed woman and you are one man. In any moment, numerous Alqamarians' are going to pour through the door."
"But…but…" Noel sputtered. "I am supposed to protect you, to guard you with my life…" Tears spilled from his eyes as he hastily wiped them away, leaving blood stains on his face.
"And you have done your duty admirably so far." Yulia replied soothingly, feeling sympathy for the man, her best friend. "You have never failed me and were always there for me. But understand that this is the end…end of the Idoryn Empire and the Rosin Empire…"
"However," She reached out, clasping his gauntlet covered hand. "It's not too late for you. Flee Idoryia and start anew…find someone you can spend your life with and have lots of children," she let out a breathy laugh, "Looks like I won't be able to see them though…such a shame."
Noel looked like he was about to breakdown, his expression pained before he went blank. A light entered his defeated eyes as he met her gaze with a stubbornness that she had only seen on her days in the battlefield.
"Princess….no Yulie," her lips quirked up at the use of her childhood nickname, briefly reminding her of a time when everything was right. He knelt, placing a kiss on the back of her hand before unstrapping a dagger from his waist.
He held out the sheathed dagger to her. "I shall hold back the soldiers Yulie. I am a knight of the Idoryn Empire. We do not flee, even if Igtar himself were to fight us." He smiled, though it was a grim one, full of pain.
"It was an honour knowing and serving you…my princess, my friend….my Empress."
With that he left, his blue cape with the symbol of the Idoryn empire stitched upon it swaying behind him as he swung the door shut behind him.
"You too, Noel, you too." She mumbled, only for silence to echo back. She unsheathed the dagger, the surface of the silver blade so polished that she herself reflected upon it.
The reflection had captured the shine of her spun gold hair as the dying sun sunk into the sea of horizon. It managed to capture the crystalline shade of the burning sapphire blue, a living testament that not only she had the Sun God's blood running in her veins, but that she was the chosen one. The one worthy of the Sun Throne.
This was why she had liked Noel the most out of all the people she had met in her life. For only he had understood her the most.
Clenching her teeth, she dragged the blade all the way across her right arm, hissing as the pain blossomed and crimson blood erupted along the deep cut.
Her head dropped as dizziness clouded her senses, the dagger almost slipping out of her grasp. With a jolt, she shook her head, raising the dagger up in the air before plunging it into her abdomen.
The pain made her scream out aloud, her vision going black for a long moment, then white before the familiar cream ceiling reappeared.
She felt the pain ebb away as calm washed over her. She was dying. She could feel the life seep out of her with the blood which had turned the water in the tub a tainted red.
The door of her bath burst open followed by hurried footsteps. Rough hands shook her, as voices surrounded her.
Everything faded to nothing as Yulia closed her eyes.
Then she opened them, and everything seemed clear.
"What…" She mumbled. She was supposed to die. She had died…. So what was this?
She looked down, only to see her limp body being held to a man's chest…whom she soon recognized as Khalil, the second prince of the Alqamar Empire. The one whom she had waged three wars against. Her sworn enemy.
"Sultan," She heard one of the soldiers address him with a deep bow. "With all due respect she is dead. Please let the embalmers take care of her."
Yulia clasped her mouth as she looked on with disbelief and shock. Just how was she able to witness all this? She had always thought that she would cease to exist after she died. Not to mention that the cheeky second prince of Alqamar was the Sultan. Since when?
She was unable to contemplate further as she suddenly found herself in a room, which she recognized as the interior of one of the largest rooms in the Azure Palace.
A woman lay haphazardly on the floor, dull blonde locks scattered around her, a mess of blood and flesh as there was nothing but a scratched mess in her eyes sockets.
Cold realization hit her like a ton of bricks as she recognized the woman from the blood stained signet ring on the floor. Only one person could wear that ring.
"Evonne…" Yulia gasped. Her elder half-sister, the one who had crippled her and made her life hell. Who had seized the Sun Throne upon their father's death with cheers of the Nobility and the disapproval of the Temple…was dead.
She had chopped her hair and scratched out her own eyes.
Did the curse of madness get the best of her? Yulia thought to herself silently. She had equally hated back Evonne, and often regretted the times she didn't take the chance to plunge her sword into her heart, damn all consequences but this…this was not what she had wished to see.
She felt nothing, the emptiness growing deeper at the sight.
She then found herself outside the Azure Palace, watching the Alqamarian soldiers swarm the place in droves, as one part of the palace, which she recognized as the quarters of the Dowager Empress, was smoking.
She found herself on an open field which stretched on for miles ahead with vultures circling over head.
Bodies were piled sky high in the four cardinal directions, the stench of dried blood and rotting flesh rolling off them in nauseating waves as a lone stick bearing a head stood in the centre. She recognized it from the first glance due to the ruby red hair upon it.
Kissed by the fire of the Sun God, Zacharias Thornwell, the man who crowned and married Evonne was nothing more than a skull upon a spear.
And on and on, she was dragged to sights, she saw Johannes, her younger brother and the brightest mage of the century, in his study, his head in his hands. She saw the Temple of the Sun God, one of the grandest monuments of the continent torn down brick by brick by the Alqamarian soldiers as they smashed the statue of Igtar into pieces.
She saw the grave of her father, a figure whose heart resembled a cold wasteland, the one who had sat back and watched his children claw at each others throat, reasoning that she would be invincible if she emerged victorious from the conflict, who had died at her foot filled with regret and grief as he had mumbled the name of the only woman whom he had loved.
She saw the grave of her younger brother Cassius, who was once so full of life, who could light up a party with his smile, who had perished in the war beside her. Whom she had failed to protect.
She saw the village bordering the forests of Salom, which was burned to ashes in the wake of her rage two years ago, along with the marbled ruins of one of the small temples she had destroyed, pulling it brick by brick and salted the ground on which it had stood, to ensure life would never thrive on it.
She saw Noel, her faithful friend, slumped against the wall of her room, a gaping wound on the side of his head and a sword buried in his chest.
She saw the people, who had denounced her for her foreign blood and her traitorous mother, who had called her the blood star of the empire, a blood thirsty war monger, scream and hide as the invaders ravaged their homes, destroying everything they held dear.
She saw the Empire which she shed blood for, which she killed for, torn apart and destroyed. Igtar had turned away, all for what?
"I should have sat the Sun Throne," Yulia reflected. "I should have been more forceful; I should have not allowed Evonne and the others to usurp it."
Yulia wept bitterly at the sight of the miserable death of her empire. If only…. If only she had not let her failure make her fall so low, if only she had made better choices, if only, if only…..
She turned towards the sky, watching the blue dissolved into a deep pink orange as the sun set.
'When the sun sets' A long forgotten voice whispered from her memory. She felt the ghost of the warm touch of her mother, who had betrayed her so very long ago. 'And there is a green light at the end, it means that your deepest wish will come true.'
"Oh Igtar," She prayed, desperation, regret and sorrow filling her. "Please…give me a chance to set things right. I will not be weak and run away from my troubles, but I will face them head on and claim the Sun Throne. I will become the Empress and make sure that no one ever challenges the authority of the Idoryn Empire. Please…I beg you."
The sun set and a beam of green light shot through the pink horizon as Yulia closed her eyes, her vision going black.