Nights in Alcazar were silent and cold, not event the sound of crickets or owls could be heard. At first the silence unnerved her on her first days in the castle, but now she welcomed the peace and quiet. She wasn't sure why she was awake staring at the moon, maybe it was the anxiety that she would be meeting the King tomorrow evening. At the moment, Gwen was having her own dinner with the King, perhaps the fear of Victoria sitting close to the him and forming whatever conversation kept her awake.
The King was said to be perceptive, would he see through her lies?
Suddenly, a bright, ghostlike figure appeared in the center of her bedroom. She recognized that figure instantly to the point she didn't even feel the need to be on guard.
"Father Ambrose." Victoria whispered, as the glowing yet blurry figure became more pronounced. Why was he here? How is here? What if someone found out about this… visitation? Father Ambrose looked just the same as he did when Victoria had departed from the Light Temple. He was still that tall man with blue eyes and grey hair with wrinkled skin who wore nothing but white and golden robes.
The man who had raised her only regarded her with a disapproving look then he focused his attention to the large and luxuriously furnished room where she had been staying. "This is a nice room, better than any I've ever seen. Isn't that right, Victoria?"
Victoria glanced at the door to see if it was locked and when she confirmed that it was, she replied with her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes on her bare feet. The walls of this room and every other bedroom in the castle had been enchanted to be sound proof, Victoria had only realized that after three weeks of living here so it was safe to speak with people hearing. "Yes, Father Ambrose."
"A rather expensive life you're living here, fancy dresses, fancy meals and wine, multiple servants at your beck and call and beauty on whatever you laid your eyes on. It almost makes me understand why you've been… " he trailed off walking around the room until he stopped at the large window to gaze at the crescent moon and the stars above. "... neglecting your true mission."
Victoria's breath hitched as she stood still, "neglecting my mission? I haven't been neglecting anything, I–"
"Silence!" Father Ambrose commanded, making Victoria go quiet immediately, his voice almost echoing throughout the vast room. "I don't have much time to spend here in this form so, no excuses! You've been here for over a month and still no progress! What have you been doing here exactly? Because when I check on you, all I see is you doing nothing but fraternize with the enemy and act as though you are a child of the Shadow Realm yourself! One would think that by now the Light Realm would finally be free of the Shadow's clutches, but no! Do you think this is a joke? Do you not know how vital this quest is to our land? Do you not know of how many people depend on you?"
"I do, Father Ambrose." Victoria whispered as she wrung her fingers. Compared to Father Ambrose's loud and intimidating voice, hers sounded a lot like a sad child. "I haven't forgotten."
"Then why the wait?!"
"I'm plotting to kill someone ten times stronger than I am, I need more time to gather information–"
"Once again, spare me the excuses! You are the vessel of a celestial being! There is hardly anything stronger than you are." Father Ambrose interrupted.
Victoria frowned and looked away, "Except for Kas." She muttered, with a bitter tone.
"Who on earth is Kas?"
"The Demon King." Victoria replied. "I am vessel of a goddess, right? So that makes me stronger than most. But what about a fellow vessel with an unimaginable amount of dark magic? Would I win a fight with him?"
She wasn't expecting the Priest to gasp in shock at her reveal, but she wasn't expecting the man to look unshocked either. She gave him a sidelong glance, "D–did you know that he's a vessel?"
Father Ambrose released a sigh. "I suspected that he might be, but I wasn't entirely sure."
Victoria's eyes widened as she stumbled back, "You knew?"
"As I said, I wasn't entirely sure–"
The table had turned, at first it was Father Ambrose's losing his temper, now it was Victoria doing so.
"You sent me on a suicide quest!" Victoria yelled, pointing a finger at him. "to kill a man strong enough to be a god? How I have been so stupid to think I would be able to pull it off?! You knew I was putting myself in danger and yet you sent me with no warning!"
"Don't be foolish,Victoria! There is a reason why I provided you with the Serpent's Kiss. You wouldn't have to engage in any form of battle, so do what you came to do here!"
"What if it fails? What if I fail? I could be jailed and killed, Mallory who knows nothing will die as well simply because she's my handmaid!" Victoria countered. Her heart breaking at the thought of Mallory dying because of her stupidity.
"I did not save your life and train you at elemental magic so you can doubt yourself, Victoria. You will kill the Demon King and ended his bloodline and that's final!" Father Ambrose yelled. "It is your destiny!"
". . ." Victoria was stunned to silence, her destiny. That's right, her destiny.
"Have you really forgotten?" Father Ambrose took a step towards her. "You destiny, the reason why you where born is to liberate our people after three hundred years of agony and bloodshed caused by the shadows, you are our salvation."
Victoria remembered the long hours of religious teachings she endured while growing up at the Light Temple, endless words of her being born for the protection the people of the Light and how she would fulfill her destiny to creating peace after years of nothing but war.
You are a special child, Victoria… They would say.
A goddess sent to us from the heavens…
The answers to our endless prayers
The bringer of justice…
…fulfill your destiny…
Tears fell down her cheeks as she remember her fate had been sealed from the very start, she would have to kill the king, whether or not she was successful…she would simply return again in another body if she was killed after a hundred or so years, But…Mallory would never come back.
She just realized that her destiny, her fate, her reason for existing… it was to die in vain for her people. It was never to free them. She couldn't run away from it, the Oracle had proclaimed it since her unfortunate birth.
"Will you free our people, Victoria? Or will you continue to watch them suffer?" Father Ambrose pressed.
Victoria wasn't mourning her death, but the death of thousands of people if her attempt to murder the King resurrected his thirst for blood.