thief of fate-Chapter 59: Close to arrival

Queen Elyria walked through the halls of her palace. Her sharp, piercing eyes moved from place to place, as if searching for something that might escape her. She was thinking about everything that had happened, about the war that was approaching her kingdom’s borders, and the message that was delayed far too long.

"Where is it?" she whispered to herself as she stopped in front of a large window overlooking the lands below. The view of the burned and destroyed villages before her was unbearable. The land was scattered with remains of human corpses, but they weren’t human corpses only bones, scattered everywhere. Blood had frozen on the ground, leaving behind dark red stains, but what she looked at was more than just ruin. There were corpses of the Arkanis, those creatures that had not been seen for centuries.

She thought to herself, while her hand moved instinctively toward the edge of the coat she was wearing, trying to still her rage: "I never thought I’d live to see this day. The Arkanis... returning." She looked once more at the barren land below her. There were their corpses Arkanis with small horns. They were of the lower ranks in Arkanis society, living among animals, savage in their most basic forms. This infuriated her. She had always thought these creatures had gone extinct forever.

"How could these beings return?" she thought to herself, recalling all the ancient battles her people had fought against the Arkanis. In those distant times, the wars had sealed their fate. And now, they appeared again. This was an unbearable challenge.

She turned, her heartbeat quickening. She had been waiting for that message from King Yaram. But the message was unusually delayed, as if something was not right with this silence. Was it a threat?

As she stood there, she was startled by a soft sound coming from the door. As if she had been expecting it, the Queen silently opened the door to find her personal advisor, Hayden, entering cautiously.

"Your Majesty, there is still no news regarding the message. But there is something else that may concern you," Hayden said as he approached her, picking up on the obvious signs of anger on her face.

"What is it?" Her question was sharp, and her eyes turned once again to the ground in front of her, where the corpses of the Arkanis still lay.

"We’ve received word from the Kingdom of Mirasca," Hayden said in a calm tone, watching her reaction closely.

"Mirasca?" Elyria asked with an unhopeful tone. "Their king, Taril, what was their response?"

"It is still vague, Your Majesty. But they indicated that they will need time to consider their position. They are unsure of how to handle the current situation," Hayden replied, trying to soften the blow.

"Do they expect me to be patient while my kingdom is being destroyed?" the Queen said in a low voice, yet filled with enough fury to make every word felt. "I will not allow them to stall. We need a firmer stance from Mirasca. We need strong alliances, and I won’t accept ignorance of this situation."

She closed her eyes, feeling a pang of pain in her chest, as if she bore the burden of her kingdom and everything happening around her. How could King Yaram delay sending this message?

Still, there was one thing she wanted to know: what was Yaram really thinking? Did he think Ozria would fight alone? Did he know that the threat of the Arkanis’ return was inevitable?

"Hayden, I want you to send a message to Mirasca now. Send them a strongly worded warning. They must understand we need them now more than ever," Elyria said, her tone sharp and decisive.

Hayden nodded as he left the room, but that wasn’t everything. The Queen was still staring at the terrible scene in front of her, and the blood that could not be washed away. A deep concern settled within her. The problem wasn’t only the Arkanis it was everything around her. It was a never-ending war, and it all felt like everything would soon fall apart.

She closed her eyes again, and wondered within herself how could a Queen ignore such massacres?

Her thoughts spun rapidly, like unrelenting storms. Then she turned once more to face the window. The horizon was dark, and the sky was covered with a heavy cloud, as if it foretold a grim future.

"I cannot be weak at this time," the Queen whispered to herself. "I must be strong, even if their corpses fill the land."

Another day passed, and the message did not arrive... She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to suppress the suffocating feeling of betrayal that began to creep toward her. Yaram, if you have chosen to ignore me, then you are declaring our end.

But in that moment, with the sudden sound of the hall door opening quickly, Hayden entered, breathless, his face pale from running, and in his hand was a scroll sealed with the golden seal of the King of Iphis.

"Your Majesty!" he said, his voice nearly breaking between eagerness and tension. "It has arrived... King Yaram’s message."

Elyria took just one step forward, but it carried all the weight that had accumulated in her soul. She reached out her hand and, with majestic calm, took the message from Hayden and opened it with confident fingers.

The writing was in Yaram’s familiar hand: sharp, elegant, concise. She began to read aloud, softly, while Hayden’s eyes watched her face.

To Her Majesty Elyria, Queen of Ozria,

I realized too late the magnitude of the rising threat. I have received the reports, and I have seen what one of the Arkanis has done in the mountains, and now what they have done to your border region.

I will not allow this to be written in our history as a mark of division or betrayal.

The forces of Iphis are moving, led by the general himself, and we will arrive within days. I have discussed the matter with the council, and they understand that this enemy does not threaten Ozria alone, but the entire world.

We shall meet soon.

Yaram.

Elyria finished reading slowly, her eyes still lingering on the final words. She remained silent for a few moments, then slowly raised her gaze to Hayden.

"He is coming..." she said in a low voice, quieter than it should’ve been. Then, in a rare moment, a small, tense yet genuine smile appeared on her lips. "At last..."

Hayden visibly breathed a sigh of relief, but Elyria did not fully share it. It was the kind of relief that comes with oaths. What’s coming was not yet a victory. What’s coming is the beginning of war.

She turned away from the window, walking steadily toward her throne. She sat upon it like one returning to the heart of battle, and gestured with her hand.

"Gather the commanders. Tonight we plan. We will not wait for the door to be knocked we will knock on hell itself this time."

Then she added after a pause, as she looked at a dim flame on the wall:

"Did you tell them this land knows how to burn its enemies?"

Hayden didn’t answer. But in his eyes, the answer was clear: There is no need for words... the rage in her eyes will speak enough.

Silently, she exited through the eastern gate, unaccompanied by guards.

She was tired of waiting.

Hundreds of meters away, amidst the ruins of a small village, she spotted a movement quick, almost crawling, hunched like beasts. Three Arkanis.

Elyria did not hesitate.

She raised her right hand, and a blazing blue glow surged from it.

"Echo of Obedience."

Her special skill, a mental ability that forces weaker beings into temporary paralysis, drawing forced obedience from their consciousness.

Two of them froze immediately, their feet halted mid-run, their bodies trembling slowly as if being dragged into themselves. But the third escaped and began to sprint toward the nearby forest.

She didn’t give him the chance.

She drew her short dagger from her waist and hurled it with precise force, piercing the back of his head he dropped without a sound.

She advanced toward the remaining two, slowly, while their bodies trembled under the skill’s effect. One of them had eyes empty of any meaning, a mouth agape, tongue dangling, nothing that suggested intelligence or awareness.

The other had started regaining consciousness slowly, groaning softly, small fangs bared, but he made no attempt to resist.

She knelt before him, looked into his eyes nothing.

"Do you understand me?" she whispered.

He blinked slowly. No reply.

She reached out, placed her fingers on his forehead, and closed her eyes.

"Flash of Memory."

Another skill. A power to summon brief images from the creature’s mind, to see glimpses of what it had seen, heard, felt... but in this creature’s mind? Nothing useful.

Screams, hunger, chasing, killing, eating, sleeping, then another scream. No language, no names, no purpose. Only survival. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

She opened her eyes slowly, lifted her head, and exhaled coldly.

"Such a waste of time."

Then, with stunning simplicity, she pulled her dagger from the first corpse and stabbed it into this one’s neck without anger, without regret.

She whispered as she wiped the blade on the cuff of her armor:

"I can’t bear to wait any longer."

She stood, looked eastward where the sun had begun to rise slowly, and a cold pulse rose in her chest... these were not the true enemy... just cannon fodder.

Then she walked back toward the palace, leaving behind three more corpses.