Note - I apologize for the delayed update. I was feeling a little under the weather, but I'm much better now. Thank your patience and support.
The whole room busted into flames. There was fire everywhere. Smoke, thick black one. Belladonna struggled, her throat clogged with smoke as she tried to reach desperately for the door before a certain dizziness would take over her finally. All that and worse would have been the outcome of Belladonna's late night reading, had Colin not walked in just in time to combat the situation. Raquel went around and around her, checking her hands, legs, and everywhere to see if she was alright. "No burns, no burns, no burns." "I'm alright." She yanked her hand away from Raquel, not understanding what was going on. She had only woken up because of Raquel's clumsily, worried and loud inspection. "You left that lantern burning all night, my Lady." Colin said, looking back at her. "It must have had a lot of oil." That reminded her. She had not fallen asleep on the bed. What was she doing here? It was then she noticed the floor. She rushed up to her feet immediately. "Oh goodness, what h
Unlike the last time, when she had been lead to the dungeon for her 'gift', this time around, they walked quite a distance around the castle, down to an open field.While they had been walking, the King had involved Belladonna in small talks and the more he spoke, the more she could relate him with the person she had known from all those comments in the book she was reading and the more she felt even more comfortable with him.Till they finally got to the open field where Belladonna had thought the dragon would be but it wasn't.At that moment, the King pressed on a small red gem, carved into a ring that was around his left middle finger. Only the gem of the ring could be seen, the rest of his ring was buried into his leather black hand glove.It was glowing like one of the gems in the so called forbidden room.A flash of something like lighting went through the ring, not long after that, she felt the floor vibrating for a while before the dragon busted out from a opened place in the
"I profoundly apologize for Pamela's behavior today. She is not always like that." He said for the umpteenth time when they got to the door. Belladonna was feeling much better now and she offered him a smile. "Maybe she is not used to meeting new people." He hummed lightly, and once again because of the mask, she couldn't determined what that meant. Was she the first Bride he was introducing to Pamela or was she the number... How many Brides had he even had in the past? She pushed the question quickly out of her mind, remembering their promise of taking one step at a time. Instead, she thanked him for the day. After what happened with the dragon, the King had taken her somewhere else they had talked about in the book, and that was the palace garden. It was the same garden where the Choosing Ceremony had taken place, just that this time around, it was just them and it was all for a different purpose. That was where they had lunch and spent their time just talking about ra
There were tress behind her and within the dark shadow was the vague structure of a man. Before she could even make out anything he was, immediately the dream started crashing before her eyes. She felt a terrible headache jam into her head and she fell to the floor, but instead of falling on the soft cold sand of the beach, it was like as if she fell right through it, into a dark abyss. She screamed in her dream through the weightless fall. Long penetrating screams from the depth of her throat. Then she jerked up, awake. Her eyes shot open, blinking to adjust to the darkness while her chest rose and fell, as her gown clung to her body, wet with sweat. She could almost feel the lingering pain in her head. Almost. "Just a dream." She mumbled breathlessly to herself. "It's not real. Just a dream." She said over and over again before she laid back in bed but she couldn't fall back asleep immediately. She kept on thinking about what had happened in the dream. The man had s
"Who are you?""I already told you. I'm whoseover you want me to be. That one person you really desire to see."She started thinking about everything. Who was that one person she really wanted to see, that one person that it had been so long since she had laid her eyes on them, causing her to miss them so much that she now dreamt of them.Also why was he hiding his face from her?Could this strange man of her dreams be the King?"Are you his Majesty?" She croaked.Then she heard him chuckle darkly.It was clear, like as if she was hearing it for the first time.How had she not noticed this before?That was exactly how the King sounded. His chuckling, it was exactly the same."That is a first.""So you are him?""I am who you say I am."She tried to turn around again but his firm voice stopped her."No! Have you forgotten the last time this happened? Have you forgotten what happened?""Why are you coming to me in a dream if you are him. Why don't you--?" She spoke, her words fast abd
It was like a surprise when she saw that the King had invited her to breakfast. Raquel was running around as usual, to prepare her for breakfast. Colin was his usual calm and collected self but today, strangely, Lady Kestra hadn't been here yet. Could this be because of what had happened last time?Anyways, she was ushered to the dinning hall where the King as already waiting for her. Now, she was used to seeing him in his mask that it had started to make no difference anymore.To her, that mask was his face.He stood up from his seat by the large dinning table, then walked up to her, complimenting her as usual."You always make the dress look beautiful.""As do you, for your mask."He chuckled and it instantly reminded her of the dream that she had.She had indeed missed him. The dream was reflection of her feelings after all.Strange.She had asked to see his face in her dream too and that was one of the things she really wanted. Could the dream be all her imagination of things
"Open your eyes."She did and she was stunned by what she saw. It was the Seven Skys of Effidel.Once again, another wonder she had read of in books but hadn't believed to be real.Water below, with the tip of the mountains disappearing into the skys of seven different colours above.She wondered where exactly this place was, if it existed within the high Walls of Ignas.So, she asked, "where is this place? In Ignas?""Outside the Great Walls of Ignas."Belladonna's forehead creased in confusion. If it was outside the walls, how then did he know about it? She had never heard of anyone going out of the Kingdom, she had never even thought that the places mentioned in the books to be outside the walls, truly existed. What exactly laid beyond those walls? Beasts, people like her or demons?"How did you know about this place?""When you fly above the high and mighty walls, what wonder won't you see?"She smiled.That explained it.She had always wanted to see the world. Know what was bey
She moved closer to the mirror in a flash, thereby knocking down some bottles that were on the dressing table.Were her eyes playing a trick on her right now?She blinked, running her fingers through her hair over and over again like a crazed woman, also checking her gown in the process.When she opened her eyes again, her gown was the same blue color it was when she slept in it. Her hands slowly stilled, she sniffed in her fingers to realize that the dampness was caused by sweat.Suddenly a wave of dizziness hit her and she had to lean against the top of the dressing chair for support. She blinked a couple of times again, chasing the fogginess in her mind away before looking back at the mirror. It was all normal, everything was normal.Well, that was crazy. A while ago, she had been seeing something completely different.Maybe she just hadn't recovered from her dream yet. There was a knock, making her look sharply away from the mirror and towards the door."Lady Kestra!" A guard an
“Her eyes were blue, Father.” She said back. “The Blood Moon will perfect it. All unnecessary traces of the previous Holder will be washed away. If they are not—”“They’ll have to be. I do miss my eyes but these ones I can bare. They are the same colour as yours. They are perfect, just like yours, Father.”“You see that, Dogori? To my Xinora, I am the perfection she aspires to be.”“Yes, your Majesty,” he replied with a bow.“No one in this Realm or any other realm can be like her.”“Indeed your Majesty.”“We leave, Dorogi. I will speak to you later.”With that, the White King started guarding his daughter out of the Throne room in the direction of her room. She requested for the Blood Dagger, claiming that she wanted to be prepared so that when the time would come, she would be able to kill the Death Gem Bearer. Her father once again said she had to have a bath, change her dress, and eat. “You must rest. You are in such a hurry to impress me. You must rest; you’ve only just retur
“That is too short.” Everyone turned to her immediately. “I should have been here earlier. I am sorry, Father. I arrived late.” “You are here now, Child.” The White King spoke on about how he couldn't wait to crush the hope of the Rebellion and the false prophecy that they were abiding by to trick themselves into believing the Heir was a saviour. “There is only one true prophecy, the one the stones carry. He is their death and only you can save us all. You will save us all from him and from every evil that wants to befall our Realm.” Then he pulled out Jyris's sword and handed it to her as some warriors brought in Xida and forced her to her knees in front of the King’s daughter. “You shall begin with this one.” “No! You cannot do this! Create your warriors and save me, Lady Belladonna!” Xida screamed. There was no familiarity in those blue eyes. “Violence is not—” The King’s daughter began to speak but the White King stopped her. “Do it for Father.” Then she nodded and raised
“Open this cage at once!” Lord Jyris ordered, his gaze hardening as he clicked his claws against the golden rings on his fingers. “The White King—” the warrior began to protest when Lord Jyris silenced him with the following words. “I will take her to him myself.”In no time, he had taken Xinora to the throne room. It was large and tall, adorned with gold and giant menacing statues.“Father!” She rushed out of Jyris’s hold immediately, her bare feet hitting the smooth that glimmered golden as a result of the floating candles above. The White King’s eyes brightened, and in a flash, he was in front of her, pulling her into an embrace. He seemed to have flown there, but it was too quick. His wings had sprouted from behind him as quickly as they had vanished. He acted with perfect precision. He was wearing an open silver flowing robe, his silver crown on his gray-haired head. He was enormous and from the gap between his robes, faint white scales protruding from his skin could be seen.
Too late. Ny'ka got there too late. The battle had happened. Belladonna and Xida, among others, had been captive. They had been dealt another defeat, one that was too close to the previous one. They had been ambushed, but for Ny’ka, that wasn't the most painful thing. What hurt the most was her father’s corpse, which was placed at her feet. She fell to her knees and wept; she grieved. Then her grief turned to rage and she sought for something or someone to be dealt the violence of her rage. “Everyone that believes in you dies.” The midnight wind felt harsh and the beings that stood before her seemed like what they were: her enemies.“Ny'ka,” the Priest called her sharply. “Come with me to bury him to grant his soul safe—”“My mother died and now my father?” She snapped, not listening to the Priest at all. She continued, angry tears streaming down her cheeks, her hand tightening around the hilt of her sword. “You are no saviour!” She was closing up the distance between them. “Yo
“What is this?” Ny'ka asked, racing up to her feet.“The Stones of Prophecy. I already told you,” Ka'el replied, rising to his feet too. He groaned a little, his ribs hurting from the force that had tossed him aside.The stones had suddenly fallen to the ground, scattered; they were still glowing though. “I mean, what do they do?“I don't know!” There was a bit of panic in his voice, then he started to mumble to himself as he fell on his knees and started trying to collect the stones. “The King believes his daughter is in the Rebellion, and there are rumors of the Heir; he thinks they are working together.” He stopped and stared up at Ny'ka who watched him with a frown on her face. “That is why the Moon and the Sun came up in the sky because she is really here? But you said it didn't happen here, that it was from another Realm. It is from another realm, right? It isn’t true, Is it?”Ny'ka tried to grab one of the stones from Ka'el but it held it away from her. “Is his daughter truly
Then she felt like she was drowning and her words vanished from her lips. It felt like she was right in the lake and above it at the same time, hovering over the water and looking at the drowning child, while the drowning child looked back at her, struggling. Then she was finally in the baby and she could see Xinora floating over her as she felt herself dying in the baby — felt the baby dying. She saw Xinora stare right at her mother, who froze immediately like she had seen a ghost - it was what she looked like anyway, what she seemed to be. Then Belladonna felt the presence slam right into her immediately. Xinora had vanished and was now inside her as one being, the moment of her almost death creating the perfect space for Xinora to fit in. But just as Xinora had merged into her, she dissolved into the back of her mind like a mere pest fighting against a strong host. Her mother pulled her out of the water, her gaze blank and cold. Without a word, she wrapped her in a piece of clo
Trigger warning: Dealing with rape aftermath (from victim’s perspective) on page, and baby drowning on page. _________Belladonna paced the room. Two nights have passed since Alaris and her had discussed about Xinora. The Rebellion was healing, and she had sought out Ny'ka to help her with creating portals; although she knew that it might not work, just as it hadn't been working, but that was just how unpromising Channeling had been, and it had worked eventually. That wasn't the problem though. The thing was that Ny'ka was nowhere to be found. It didn't take long for her to figure out where she was.She was with Ka'el, most likely inquiring about their recent failure.Alaris had confirmed her suspicion, and here she was, in the room, trying not to drive herself mad with every single possibility that was crossing her mind.The Priest had drawn a tattoo on the top part of her chest, a little distance from her neck. He had smeared it with the blood of an animal, chanted some things th
Ny'ka went to Ka'el that night as the Heir had ordered, only to find out that he was with someone. Tsiri?What?What was she doing here? Why was she here? How long has she known about Ka'el? How did she get here?Why was she here?By Ina, what had she told him?!The White glow of the crescent moon above glimmered down on them through the shadows of the scanty leaves of the tall trees around them. The smile on Tsiri’s face was plain for Ny'ka to see, just as obvious as the doubt that dotted Ka’el’s eyes. What had she told him?!“Is it true?” Ka'el asked, his fist tightening around the small bag he had in his hand. She wondered what was in that bag but his next words made her aware of the greater problem she had before her. “Are you just fooling me?” He asked as his free hand anchored around Tsiri’s waist, making her smile widen. Disappointment flashed in Ny'ka's eyes and she frowned, blatantly ignoring Tsiri. “Fooling you? What nonsense are you talking about? And why are you with o
“Nightshade, do you have any memories of Jyris?”He was crouching in front of her. This room suddenly felt too small. Where was the air of ease?“No, except that he healed my ankle, gave me that gold ring that you tossed away and he was at the table with the King. Nothing else. I’m trying to but I don't remember anything else.” She wouldn't tell him about the strange feeling of familiarity she had when she had first seen him. That would be too dangerous. “You were in her dreams even when you weren't in captivity. So can you just go into people's dreams? Can you still do that?”“No. Her dream was the only one I could get into without being in captivity. But My freedom does come at a price. It was hard to lure the brides with my soul, and certainly, I prefer this freedom to that.”“Did killing her hurt you? Since the gems are supposed to be a pair.”“I struck her stomach.”“Why didn't you strike her in the heart or behead?”“I wanted to behead her and take her heart as my own; a litt