At the end of this story, the Wisteria city of Querencia will be in Ruins...
The city that had once been the crown jewel of the empire would long be reduced to ashes as the last survivors would pick their way through toppled columns of marble and broken statues, looking for any sign of life between endless corpses sprawled around. Soon anyone lucky enough to have survived will realise that the only thing left standing is the statue depicting the kingdom's crown prince and my fiancé, Jonquil Querencia.
However, whether history would prove to repeat itself the same as in my previous life, all depends on who ends up with the grimoire of Callisto- the most cursed book of all time.
Now let me explain, once upon a time, war broke out between monsters and humankind and many lives of both parties were lost in battle. Amidst the war, an oracle with great astronomical knowledge and power found himself capable of rearranging and changing the constellations of all space continuum, allowing him to rewrite the destiny of both humans and monsters and set back time when humans and monsters lived in separate realms--this owning the oracle the name, Callisto.
It didn't take him long to realise that such capabilities could create unbalance in the universe and possibly lead to the extinction of all life as you know it--not to mention what such power could do to an oracle being alone. So he stored everything in a spell book and the grimoire of Callisto was born in hopes thereof that monsters and humans could reunite through it one day.
The grimoire can be gravely dangerous
when it ends up in the wrong hands...
The hands of Ruthven Fortis especially, since it was his actions in the previous life as the light of the flame bounced off of his aide's sword and the crowns of the Querencia royal family brought to their knees before him.
"This would have never happened had you remained mine and only mine," he told me on that very same day, taking off his bloodshed gloves and dropping them on the floor I was kneeling on.
"No worries my sweet scarecrow," he continued as his raging red locks danced in the cold wind, his dark eyes resting on mine, "With the kingdom in shambles, we'll finally have what we wanted, and you'll be free from the shackles that's kept you captive all your life."
"This is not what I wanted, " I shuddered, collecting all the memories I had before with Ruthven as my childhood friend. I never intended to get him hurt, but as a wise man once said:
"If you don't heal the wounds inflicted on you in the past, you'll bleed on the people who didn't hurt you."
"Ruthven, please," I pleaded, tears streaking down from my eyes, "Stop with what you're doing while you still can, this wasn't part of the plan."
The plan was always for Ruthven and me to run away together but in the end, my trust in the only person that I gave my loyalty, got me betrayed and killed by the hands of my fiance, the man I had no choice but to be betrothed to and the man that fell in love with another woman I could never be like.
What's worse is, that all my life as a Princess I kept myself steady by the chains and expectations my people had on me. In my previous life, I was afraid of disappointing others to the point where my fear suffocated me, wishing that if I could redo my life over again, I'd rather play the role of a cold and cruel villainous so I would have no reason to become ruler and have to deal with pleasing others all the time.
"Yes, a villainess, that's what I would become. "
How dire it must be, you should be careful of what you wish for, because only a few hours after Ruthven had everyone in the Querencia family massacred with the help of his aide and the grimoire, it seemed to be that Prince Jonquil rose against him, taking a stand against his cruelty.
After all my life of pleasing others, in all irony, it came clear at the very end that I was a monster after all.
"You foul vampire," Prince Jonquil shouted at me, as he had his men, hold me down on the rubble outside of what the palace used to be. Because I was an accomplice of Ruthven, my fiance made sure that I'd be punished for the slaughter of his family members and for what I was even if I hadn't been aware of it my whole life. For I was born a dhampir, half-human and half-vampire, the illegitimate product of a human empress.
Not until the moment of my death was I told that the father that ran away before my birth was a vampire and so, the betrayal I felt was endless from my mother, childhood friend and fiancé.
"I didn't do anything, please believe me, my sweet Jonquil," I cried to him. The ground was harsh on my knees as his men held me still by my arms. To my dismay, my fiance had no sympathy for me as he glared down at me as if I were nothing but scum.
"You'll burn in hell, just like the rest of your kind," he grunted, "You should've never existed in the first place."
And then...
Without a warning, a sword struck my back from behind, penetrating through my chest as blood spat everywhere. I was left laying on the ground, spending my last moments of life in agonising pain. Prince Jonquil and his men walked away and I could hear them talking.
A familiar voice, his aide Zelim, called, "My liege, we have just captured Marques Ruthven Fortis and are currently holding him in the prison chambers!"
"Good, we'll execute him next," the dark-haired prince spoke as my eyelids became heavy. "While you're at it bring me the grimoire!"
At that, my last breath drew and the air around me turned black. I have met my end, I thought, before a hand reached out to me and grabbed me by the wrist...
TO BE CONTINUED...