"Capture the 5th Consort. Don't let her escape, or the queen will have our head. Hurry up and capture them at all costs."
Night's darkness hid many secrets in this world. For most, it was their shady dealings made with a guilty consciousness. For others, it was affairs they could not talk openly about.
But for a concubine, it was a matter of life and death.
She ran as fast as she could, her feet tangling in the roots of the forest trees as she tried to evade her inevitable capture and flee with her son. Her only goal was to get to the site of sacrifice and start the ancient ritual.
'A blood oath! That is the only way for you and me to survive. So please, make it there in time!'
Sweat covered the concubine's face as she did her best to evade her capture. The once beautiful face was marred with dirt and tears, its shine long lost to the cruelty of the imperial court.
And yet, she kept walking until she could finally see her goal in sight.
"We found the hideout! This must be where the concubine was headed. Hurry up and seal this place. Make sure no one can enter here."
The imperial guard sent here by the queen arrived minutes before the imperial concubine reached the cabin hidden deep in the forest.
A familiar fear haunted the imperial concubine when she looked at the rich blue of the imperial attire these guards wore.
Her son had never been allowed to wear that color due to his condition of being born a cripple, but even a common foot soldier could wear the imperial sigil with pride when they wanted to.
'This is not fair! These lowly people…how dare they…!'
Anger burned the imperial concubine, but there was not much she could do. The real power among all the imperial females belonged to the queen first and the princess second.
She, as the fifth concubine with no family or support, was just a puppet who was there to distract other competition.
That was why she had already fallen out of the emperor's grace and became an easy target to go after.
'I need to find the entrance to this place. I cannot give up now. Not when I have gotten this far already.'
There seemed to be no way to enter this place, but the imperial concubine was not ready to give up.
She had arranged this place with a purpose in her mind. She knew all the ways to enter this place and that included some of the secret entrances as well. Now, she could only hope that one of these entrances was left untouched.
And luckily for her, one of them was not guarded.
It was located under a heavy boulder, which required massive effort to push it open. However, the female did not give up; she pushed the boulder up before slipping inside the small hole.
It was a small and dark path with no light shining inside. The only way forward was a single narrow path that was filled with huge rocks and uneven crevices.
For a fragile concubine who had never done any work, this was a path that was filled with unimaginable hardships.
And yet, the imperial concubine continued to walk this path and make her way across. She did not even use any light source because she wanted to avoid the changes of it contaminating her son's health.
"Don't worry! We are almost there. Just a little more, and we will make it."
The concubine promised before she felt the passage end. Her hand and her arms were numb by this point, but she did not care. She forced the door open with what little strength she had left before she exited the passage.
She entered the back storage, which was easy to overlook while checking, and from there, she made her way slowly to the place she had prepared for the sacrifice to take place.
The concubine was confident that she would be able to make it…but she did not want to risk it. That was why, the concubine put her arms around the child in her arms before she hid him behind the barrels.
For the first time in a while, gentle, motherly eyes looked at the child in front of her.
"I am sorry, Fenrir. If only my mother were a little more powerful, I would have been able to save your life. But you have to understand that it is your fault as well. If only you were not born a cripple, we won't be in this mess."
The concubine looked pained as she spoke. But her words did not reach the kid she had poisoned to get out of the imperial castle.
"Mom will go and secure our life now. Please hold on until I am back. We shall have our revenge soon. Please, keep hanging on until then."
The female spoke softly, but no one heard her pleas.
Disheartened at the lack of any sign of acknowledgment, the concubine decided to leave the unconscious body all alone and head out to fulfill the promise she had made.
Now alone, she made her way to the sacrificial chamber, and the altar shined. A single cut caused her to bleed and activate the circle that would bring the divine being here.
"Hurry! We found her. The concubine is a devil worshipper. She is using forbidden magic. Hurry up and catch her."
The imperial guards hurried toward her room, but it was too late.
Since the sacrifice had been initiated, it could no longer be stopped. The only thing that could be done was to delay the inevitable.
"You all came here on the orders of the queen? How loyal of you. However, it is too late. My son and I are not your tools to be used and discarded."
The concubine spoke, but her voice got softer and more fragile by the second.
She was bleeding out on the circle, but she no longer cared. The more her life slipped away, the calmer she felt.
Even if her life ended, she would have no regrets.
"The 5th concubine is trying her life. Hurry up and stop her. We need her to tell us where the 11th prince is. Hold her down, and don't let her go."
One of the guards yelled loudly as he pushed the door open. The others followed behind quickly, not realizing that they were just being led to their doom by their leader.
The concubine had dark lines on her face. They covered her body and made her look more demonic than rather than human.
"5th Concubine, stop this! If you continue, the god will not forgive you. We found the 11th prince already, and he's dead. There is no point in you continuing to sacrifice your life."
The leader of these guards spoke loudly, but his words did not reach the concubine.
What did reach her was the point that the prince was dead. Those words made her heart ache, and the concubine lost control of her spell.
The divine magic turned black in a second and it exploded out of the queen. Her blood oath had been completed and the resulting explosion ended up taking out all the life in the surrounding area.
Around 500 bodies disappeared once that explosion occurred, and it was said that no one was left behind once the other section of imperial guards went to check that place…
Of course, this is a myth and no one had proof of this happening. But no other explanation could be given for the sudden hole that appeared in the middle of the forest where the concubine had made her escape.
By the time this news reached the imperial palace, the name of the 5th concubine, and the shame of the royal family, the crippled 11th prince had been erased from the registry already.
All that was left behind were a few words, as well as the eyewitnesses of her existence. But it won't take long before those are gone as well.
Somewhere during night time, when the emperor returned to his chambers, he dismissed his queen and his concubine.
His face showed grief after losing the love of his life, and no one had the heart to tell him what he should do now.
After all, our of all his wife's, the 5th concubine was someone the king had loved and married because he wanted to. She was the only one he wanted to spend his life with.
But this was what destiny had chosen for him.
Once he was alone, he called forth the head of the investigation team, the cardinal.
"Is it true? Did the 5th concubine really use the forbidden arts and damn her soul? Is there no way I can meet her again?"
The emperor asked in a low voice. He sounded sad, frustrated, and angry. He blamed the world and that cripple for being born.
But most of all, he blamed himself for not ending that cripple when he had a chance to do so. If he did, then his lover would have been alive and in his arms by now.
"I am afraid that we did not find any traces of Her Majesty of the 11th imperial prince. We can only conclude that they perished during the incident. However, it was for the best. Those who defy the heavens are-"
The cardinal dodged the sword that headed his way. He knew he had angered the emperor, but the cardinal was not afraid. He had the god and people on his side. As long as he had those two, did it matter if the emperor was against him or not?
"I see! I shall leave you alone for now. You are not in a state to hear my words right now. But if…no, when you need me, please call for me. I shall help Her Majesty out until now."
The emperor did not pay attention to the cardinal leaving. He was too engulfed in his grief to notice anything but his own self.
In the end, that was the last anyone knew of the 5th imperial concubine. Her name was never mentioned again, and the general public did not know about her existence.
For a royal, being forgotten was a fate worse than death. But that was not the case for everyone.
In a hidden village somewhere at the borders of the empire, there was young child who got adopted by a lonely widow.
Anyone who saw that child could only have sympathy, for the child was a cripple who could not use his legs. Even the doctors could not tell what was wrong with his legs, and magic did not work on the child.
That blond-haired child was a lovely existence but oh so pitiful at the same time. He was pitied by the females, and got picked on by males.
That child was Fenrir, the 11th illegitimate child of the emperor.
No, rather, the child was no longer the son of the emperor, for that pitiful soul had been long devoured by the creature that wore its skin and took its name.
This Fenrir was a bastard of hell, the first demon king, and the first sinner of heaven.
Due to the 5th concubine's mistake, she ended up making a pact with him and not heaven. And this mistake gave Fenrir his chance to roam this earth once more and have his revenge against heaven.
He, who had once been shunned due to his nature, had another chance at ruling this earth with his powers.
But before that, he needed to fulfill the contents of the contract he signed with the one who called his existence here.
He needed to make sure this crippled and sick body became the emperor of this nation. Once that was done, he would be able to break his seal and his real powers would become unsealed for eternity.