-Lady Elie-

 

“Please, don't let it be too late!”

My frightened voice shrieked as I rushed to the third floor of the Celo Castle. The maddening noble's dress dragged along the carpet as I fumbled to the floor. 

“Please be okay! Please…”

I shook my long red hair away from my eyes. With all my will, I stood up and placed my hands on the door to her study and shoved it open, revealing a horrible sight.

 

 

“Who the hell are you?!”

I cried as I witnessed a woman clothed in a black dress with long dark hair. At her hip, a two-handed blade reached down to the floor where the pool of blood lied. Her dark shoes rubbed deeply in the gore, smearing it up to her heels.

“What have you done?!”

My heart shredded to pieces, causing me to vomit at the entrance. The victim’s murky blood crippled across the red carpet. It spewed on her library nearby. Her head rolled to the side. A demonic aura lied underneath her as if she was just a prop of this horrid scene. That dear woman we once dared to call our…princess.

My dearest sister, Alfena...

The dark figure didn’t move though, despite the screaming and fits I suffered from. Countless footsteps of other royal soldiers approaching from behind echoed into my ear. When they finally arrived, a soldier grabbed my stomach and ripped me out of the room.  I could still see her figure looming over my sister’s body. But suddenly the room darkened…

 

And then it happened…

She…melted into a haunting shadow of black flames.

…That's when I knew it was too late for the Celo Kingdom.

 

The soldiers’ face shields wasted like ice in a fire as their bodies turned to ash. From where I stood, blazing heat mirroring that of a volcano’s magma came blasting through the doorway. My skin seared as the heatwave assaulted me.

“Ahhh!”

The searing heat engulfed my hands as I cried in pain. The fear bled into my bones as the unreal sight of having my body fried warped into my mind.

“Lady Elie, run!”

More soldiers approached as I raised to my feet and ran opposite to them. As I passed the army of Celo Royal Men, that unholy shriek raddled my skin. That horrible wail of anguish would bury itself into my memories to this day. That…Of the Forbidden Bird…As it ravaged the Celo Kingdom.

The strongest soldiers and magicians of the Royal Celo Kingdom all charged passed me as I coward from the scorching heat. The cries of a wailing bird resounded in the direction of that long black-haired woman. But that wasn’t all, I could smell the charred bodies piling up behind me as I made my way to the emergency stairwell.

“Haaa...haaa….”

I held the pain as I raced down the corridor. Countless soldiers passed me but all I could do was cry in fear. My tears flowed down endlessly so much that I could barely see.

“Lady Elie! Get to safety!”

The Royal Celo Guards would cry before I hear those same voices wail in pain seconds later. The castle shook like an earthquake causing me to stumble occasionally.

Finally, I made it to the ground level of the castle only to my horrid surprise.

“Raptured Demons?”

Infiltrating the halls, a swarm of unholy demons. They had tall, unrealistic human-like bodies that bulged like mushrooms. Standing nearly 13 feet high, pure onyx bodies that mirrored a real night sky infected the once royal palace. The walls that used to be a warm, bright clay bled with dreadful black luster goo. Creatures pummeled their irregular heads against the palace walls.

“Ahhh....”

I couldn't catch my breath. With no eyes or ears, just blank faces, they attempted to bring about the end of the kingdom. They groaned as they mercilessly beat the walls in sync. Sharp cries of pain mirroring human infants echoed from them. This made my body nearly fall limp as my eyes began to swing behind my head.

Not only that, but I could also still clearly hear the unholy cries of that demon bird destroying the upper floor. The echoes caused insanity to filter into my mind.

“I…I need to…stay strong...”

But what could I do? The exit was on fire. But not burning natural red flames, but the murky dark ones like the woman from above held around her. These flames were terrorizing with horrid purple. I was trapped in a room full of unholy judgment. I was trapped in hell.

That’s when the Raptured Demons halted their assault on the infrastructure and turned to me. They cried a low-pitched shriek as large bloody blades the size of three great swords in one melted out of thin air into their human-like hands. Sluggishly, the innumerable amount of beings began to drag their horrid weapons towards me, cutting into the royal red carpet as they approached.

“Lady Elie!”

A soldier shouted as he took me from behind and dodged one inhuman blade aimed our way. With quick reflexes, he slashed his holy blade, bringing about a shockwave that cut through the door like butter.

“Ah…“

But before I could thank him, he pushed me out. I tripped and toppled down the stone steps. As my body flung like a rag doll endlessly, I could hear him, the man who risked his life to save me, cry in pain as the raptured monsters took his soul.

“Arggg….”

I hit the bottom of the steps and rolled about as my body quivered in pain. I looked at the sky…It wasn’t twilight anymore. The sky used to be a constant twilight but now it bled a pure dark red. 

“Elie, you can’t fear!”

I cried as I limped away from the castle. The terror of the chaos behind me lingered about as I feared what I might find in Celo’s Kingdom City.

“Oh…no…”

When I stepped outside the gates, I covered my mouth. But the vomit pushed out again, emptying on the ground. The devastation came to fruition. There lied bodies of the citizens sprawled out on the street. But their blood wasn’t red. No, it was pure black. It had been boiled and seared by the black flames that engulfed the city now.

“Oh Ave…Oh great Ave, how could you let this happen to your humans?”

The blood sky cried the echoes of that bird as I ran about the bodies. Each of the decapitated heads stared at me with their mouths open as if crying for help. All of them lifeless, even women and children.

“Ah…Ahh…”

My breathing became labored. Strange ritualistic symbols sprawled about the city were the same as the one placed under my sister. A slight chuckle invaded my mind as I stumbled over body after body.

"Why are you running? Isn't this what you wanted, Elie?"

The voice taunted. But I didn't respond, I couldn't respond. I was too busy crying as I ran.

The scent of death lingered long after I raced away from the once-powerful Kingdom City of Celo. The human’s stronghold…had been overcome by demons.

I ran and ran…for an undetermined amount of time…unable to speak. All I could do was cry and cry. My vision waned as I felt my legs finally gave out….

 

Suddenly, I woke up in a field. The ever twilight sky now stared back at me as humans, likely from nearing farms, gathered around me.

“Is that a noble from Celo? Ma’am, what happened? You’re covered in blood…”

Women and children gathered around my tired body. They shrieked at me. I wasn’t able to see myself but the look on their faces brought about one word to my mind, pity.

I wished to tell them the truth of what happened that night...but my voice was stolen from me. Like a spell was placed on me to not tell a soul of the horrors that overtook my kingdom.

I was a mute from that day forward. 

That was 6 months ago.

When the Forbidden Bird exacted its fury on Celo.

Just as it did the previous two kingdoms only years apart.

But this time was different.

The Forbidden Bird only left one survivor...