WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS RATED 18 SCENE!
The humid sun hits my skin. My sweat slowly drips from my skin as I walk in the middle of the hot desert. I have been walking for about three weeks now and so far I haven't seen any civilization yet. The Giants were kind enough to give me supplies that would last for two months. But knowing myself, it can last for a year. I only eat a little. I don't eat that much. It is better to keep your body healthy and fit at all times, especially when it comes to fighting.
The training which King Gia has given to me almost made me die. I wanted to give up at first, but I kept going. Throughout my training, my mind was always reminding me of my mother's strong will and determination. She is my idol. She is the best mother and bestfriend that I could ask for. I remember when I was a little kid, my mother faced so many challenges and difficulties in her life, yet she stood like an iron wall. She never faltered. Instead, she let her actions speak rather than her words, shutting up the nobles who tried to take her down.
She is powerful. If my mother can finish the training under King Gia, so can I. The only challenge I found throughout my training was controlling the monster inside me…
"You think you can control me?" The shadow figured inside me asked, slowly circling me like a hunter.
"I need your power." I said, my eyes flaring in golden flames. After training under harsh conditions where my life is in the line, I am able to use tiny bits of the monster's power.
The shadow figure laughed. "Don't overestimate yourself, princess. I am born from you. All your hatred….Your vengeance… created who I am." The shadow figure became a mist. Then, it revealed a small child that resembles me when I was a child.
"That is why I am taking control of you, lunatic." I said.
"Why?" A child version of me asked. "But we are one."
"You're wrong. I am me. You are a different entity." I clenched my fist. "I don't need another being's help for my vengeance. I would rather do it on my own than receive help." In the end, we both fought. It was an intense fight. I won though. After defeating her, I finally have control of the monster inside me. Then the rest of the training became an easy task. Except when I have to face King Gia in the end to see the results of my training. But that's a different story… I don't want to remember that memory.
As I am walking silently in the hot desert, more desert beasts appear around me. They are huge, probably 30 feet tall. However, I wasn't fazed by their appearance. The desert beasts come rushing at me at the same time. I admit they were fast, but I was faster.
Before their fangs could hit me, I jumped above them. Dark circles with inscriptions appeared on the sky and black arrows made of magic fell above the beasts, killing them on the spot. More beasts appeared, trying to kill me with their huge fangs. But dark magic did its thing. Magic blasted from my hands, flying through the air like a bullet until it hit its target. Within a blink of an eye, they were all dead.
I continued walking until I was far from the scene of dead bodies. The sun slowly set, and then the moon appeared in the sky. I was getting tired, so I decided to stop and rest for a while. After resting, I resumed my journey. I kept heading to the north, hoping that I could find civilization to reside. After another week of travel, I began to walk past a ruined village made of sandstone. They were all broken and old. I tried to scavenge whatever I found, but I found none. So I continued my way to the north. It was good news though. The fact I found a ruined village means a city is probably nearby.
Then suddenly, from a distance, I found a city. A huge city with huge walls surrounding it, protecting it from the monsters outside. The Kingdom of Mineva.
From what I saw in the history books, Mineva is the biggest city that has existed in the north. The reason why they are big is because of their richness. They have the biggest export when it comes to weapons and other materials, making them the richest country in the north. I don't know who the ruler is, but I bet they are also rich too.
I was about to enter the city, when a group of mages suddenly attacked me.
"Who are you?" I asked after dodging their surprise attack. That was a close one. If I was hit, I would've died. "Reveal yourself."
"That is our question." A man replied. "Are you an ally? Or an enemy?"
I was confused by his question, but did not answer. I let my actions speak instead. They revealed themselves, but their faces and bodies were concealed by a robe that almost resembled the surrounding sands around us. The group of mages begins their attack. Their attacks were synchronized, as if they have been practicing it a lot. It was easy to dodge some of them, but each dodge of one attack, two more came, hitting me at the back. I was getting irritated already, so I jumped high enough to dodge their synchronized attacks and quickly blast magic from above. They were all hit, or so I thought until a shield appeared after the smoke cleared. From a mile, there was another mage supporting them far. How smart. But that won't work against me.
My body burns hot. My eyes flared with golden flames and I was surrounded by black circles with gold texts everywhere. They began to retreat, running far from me. However, I don't need to chase them. I launched a series of attacks that began to chase my enemies as soon as I released them. They were shaped like a snake, with shadow appearance and they were faster than a bullet when shot. But my attacks were getting blocked by the mage's shield.
"That guy is annoying. Do your thing, my serpentine." Then, an emerald serpent with golden eyes flaring like mine came out from my body. It began to move towards the mage that was supporting his group from a distance. It attacked the mage, causing him to bleed to death. Then the shield stopped working. My attacks reached their flesh, blood squirting from their wounds. When a voice suddenly echoed through the massacre.
"Wait! Please have mercy!" A woman said, making me halt my attack. "We will leave you alone… So please, don't kill us!"
"Why did you attack me out of nowhere?" I asked.
"Because we thought you were an ally of the corrupt queen. We have a spy in the castle, and from what we heard from him the queen made allies outside the kingdom." She said amidst her rasped breathing.
"Corrupt queen? I don't even know your ruler and I was just passing by." I said. When I saw them genuinely asked for truce, I stopped my attacks. My serpentine is coming back to my body. "Tell me, who are you?"
"Wait, are you not an ally of the corrupt queen?" A man asked.
I shook my head. "No I am not. Like I said, I was just passing by."
They didn't answer. Silence filled the air first. Then they huddled up, discussing among themselves what to do next. After five minutes of discussion, they decided to speak.
"Come with us. We will discuss this matter in our camp." So I followed them. After a few minutes of walking, we finally reached their so-called camp. It wasn't far from the city, but it was hidden so well that no one could see it and would just walk past it. They led me inside a double door, revealing another city in the underground. It looks like a city, but when I took a closer look at it, it is more like a military camp. Except, they don't wear military uniforms, but they wore something that made them look like military soldiers.
"An underground camp?" I asked, breaking the silence around us.
"Yes." One of them replied. "This is where we hide all our forces from the corrupt queen."
"Who is this corrupt queen?" I finally asked to break this curiosity of mine. Ever since I met them, all I hear from them is the corrupt queen.
"Our leader will tell you the story." A woman who was just beside me spoke. "He will tell you the truth."
After walking under the bridge, we reached the center of the underground city, or the military camp. It is a tent but a big one that almost looked like a building. We went inside the tent's door, revealing more tents inside. But we walked past them, walking in the long hallways of tents until we reached the end which was another tent. So many damn tents.
"Sir, we have arrived." The man announced.
"Come in." A man spoke from behind the tent.
We all went inside, revealing a desk filled with paperworks, a huge map that depicts the detailed city of Mineva, and chess pieces that acted as allies and enemies in the field. Behind the desk, stands a man with gray hair and sunken eyes, indicating that he is tired and has not yet slept whenever this battle started.
"Who is she?" Their leader asked, looking at me.
"We found her on the way from our recon. We thought she was an enemy at first, but after we fought, she was just a passerby. She doesn't even know who the queen is." A man replied to his leader.
"So why is she here?" The leader asked.
"Sir, she is strong. Stronger than us all. And she uses dark magic. We discussed this and we came to a conclusion that she can be our ally to fight against the corrupt queen." The man said.
"Wait, what the fuck? I didn't consent to this. I didn't want to join your war or whatever is going on between you and your corrupt queen." I crossed my arms on my chest, revealing how annoyed I am after hearing what he just said. I didn't come here to fight someone's war.
They looked at each other with worried expressions clearly showing in their faces. Then their leader sighed and finally spoke. "Young lad, if you are here for a vacation, this city is not the best place for you to stop by."
"Why is that? I didn't come here for a vacation just letting you know. I came here to just rest for one night and get out. I have important matters to do." I snapped.
"Would you like to hear our story first?" The elderly man asked.
I wanted to say something, but their eyes made me stop whatever I was about to say. Finally, I gave up and just nodded my head. "Fine."
"After the kingdom of Borne was destroyed, half of the population of Borne came to Mineva." The elderly started. My eyes widened. I didn't expect my mother's kingdom… My kingdom would also be a part of this story. "At first it was hard for us to get along with them because of the language barrier. And not only that, our cultures are far different from one another. But there was a person who stood up and suggested a lot of amazing and wonderful ideas that helped us get along with each other. For nine years, the people of Borne and Mineva got along with each other. We didn't care about our cultures, but what we did is we combined our culture with theirs. We learned a lot from them and they learned a lot from us. However, the tenth year of our friendship between Mineva and Borne came. The very same person who suggested that the two should combine their cultures… Tricked her people and us. We didn't know that for a long time she had been lurking in the shadows, doing dirty jobs and making connections with powerful foes of Mineva so that she could become a queen. Because of her corruption, the entire government fell under her schemes." The elder stopped, his hands clenched into a fist. He was shaking in anger, but his eyes betrayed him. Tears fell from his cheeks, dripping on his table. "Few of us who worked in the government or the military knew what was happening. We tried to warn our brethren but they thought we were crazy. The queen heard us and considered us traitors for trying to persuade our brethren to coup against her. They attacked us… We were forced to retreat with our families into the wild. For months, we have been trying to gather as many allies as possible, while sending spies to watch the queen and her corrupt office's movements. Today marks the last day of peace for the corrupt queen's ruling. Tomorrow…" The elderly stopped talking to take a deep breath.
"Tomorrow?" I asked, eager for him to finish.
"Tomorrow, we will start our coup against the corrupt government." The elderly sighed. Looking at his eyes, it is filled with determination to fight and willing to die for the peace of Mineva. Just looking at someone's eyes, you can see whether they are lying or not. And this elderly warrior, and everyone here inside the tent not just inside this tent but in this entire underground camp, their eyes all say the same thing: Determination and vengeance.
"Who is this corrupt queen?" I asked, breaking the silence that was about to overtake the air around us.
"The corrupt queen… Queen Alexis of Borne."
My heart stopped. The world around me stopped. Everything stopped moving for a while. Even the particles that are around us seemed to froze as well.
"Alexis…?"
"Yes. She used to be one of the top officers of Queen Ashe, the queen of Borne. But after the defeat of Queen Ashe and the fall of Borne, she came here and inflicted her corruption at us." The elderly warrior spoke.
Memories of my mother's death, and her murderers which includes Alexis, appeared. Last thing I saw before disappearing was that they were all smiling at my mother's demise. Alexis's smile was the biggest of all. There was no regret behind her eyes. No mercy.
After taking consideration, I finally said, "Let me join you." Everyone inside the tent turned their heads at me with a surprised expression on their faces. "You heard me. Let me join your coup."
"May I ask why the sudden change of heart?" The elderly warrior asked, his mouth agape from the sudden answer.
"I would like to see for myself whether this Alexis you are talking about is the same Alexis that I have been looking for. You see, I have a debt to settle with Alexis." I said, my hatred towards her is clearly visible.
The elderly warrior sighed and looked at me with hope. "I heard you are a strong, young lad. I believe my brethren who had fought you. Welcome to the team."
"Glad that I came here. It is a pleasure." I shook his hands, sealing the deal.
The whole day, they discussed to me the plans of the coup, filling me in for this coming battle tomorrow. When night came, we all rested. I couldn't sleep because of the nightmares… Images of my mother's death resurfacing in my sleep, making me struggle to rest. After fighting against my nightmare, I finally slept.
Then the sun rose. The day of the coup.
Thousands of resistance soldiers in formation, weapons and shields ready to be swung. The citizens of Mineva doesn't know what is about to happen. Oh well… Like I care. We didn't expect a war the day when I was about to become a queen. I hope someone's daughter or son that is about to get married doesn't expect a sword to fall on their necks either. Let alone watch their loved ones die in front of them.
Will I help this resistance group? Kind of. My only goal is to kill Alexis. I don't care about the others. I know that she is inside that castle. Sleeping in peace or being a hoe with her knights. Either way, I am glad that she is here. I'll kill her with my own hands and make sure she sees hell forever. I am lucky though. I don't have to spend my time searching for them. Through her, I can just find them.
My eyes flared in golden fire and black circles with golden inscriptions written on them appeared around me. The air became violent around us due to my magic. There was no need to hold back my power and anger. I can go all out here since I am up against Alexis. She was one of the top officers under my mother before she betrayed her. She was powerful. That is why there was no need to hold back.
I began the war. Millions of dark magic flew towards the walls of Mineva, breaking them apart. From miles away I hear screams of help and shouts of soldiers. When the wall broke, the resistance began to push forward, screaming their battle cries that echoed throughout the air.
"My men! Let us move! Defeat the corrupt queen and her government! Free Mineva from her corruption!" The elderly warrior roared as he pushed forward. He was at the very front leading his forces.
Me breaking the wall was not part of the plan, but I suggested it so that they can save their strength for the battle. It is obvious that Alexis also has powerful and top officers under her, so it is wise to save their strength so they can fight them.
And while they are busy fighting the small ones, I will go straight to Alexis.
I also began to move forward. But I was not in a rush. I took my time, enjoying the pleasure of finally using my powers to its fullest. But I don't plan to strain myself either. Every step I took, I kept unleashing more and more dark magic with the strength of a missile towards Mineva, not caring whether I was killing citizens or not. I was enjoying it. Imagine being a queen only for a few months, just to be killed by my hands. I would laugh at her grave. More screams echoed, and swords began to clash with each other. Soon, the walls of Mineva have been broken to dust and debris, leaving their city exposed on all sides.
I stepped foot inside the city. The roads were broken, dead soldiers from both sides were already displayed on the ground. Blood splattered the walls and roads everywhere. I unleashed more attacks, destroying everything in my path. For a brief moment, I felt like a monster. Every person, whether citizen or soldier, I kill them. I don't care who they are, but blame Alexis for existing.
Ah… Are you watching this, mother? I hope you are proud of me. After all, you are also a monster like me. Just like mother and daughter. I will avenge you, my mother. I will bring Alexis's head to you.
Watch me avenge you, mother.