Her days passed in a daze; she could not remember much, nor did she want to. Perhaps her days were too similar, too identical, so much so that they blurred into one and she walked the same steps on autopilot.
Even the faces of the toys she played daily seemed to be identical.
Just like one, long large day.
Or like days that flew by so fast one couldn’t count the days or nights.
However, this sober yet blurred, slow yet rapid pace of passing time was abruptly interrupted by a messenger who said, “The rebels are on their way to the castle, Your Majesty.” Hurriedly dropping into a bow, the sweating young man didn’t dare look up, waiting in place for the ruler’s permission to straighten.
He was, pitifully, utterly ignored by said ruler.
‘They’re coming,’ she thought vaguely. Then she wondered, ‘Why am I always at the dining table?’
It was true.
Even though she was dressed in great red finery, satin and rubies, fit for a grand ball, all she attended was her meals and the dungeons.
Was there really a need for me to dress up like this?
Ava didn’t react, only swirling the red wine in her glass with the languidness of an exhausted predator.
“...” The messenger continued to sweat. Was Her Majesty angry? Was she happy? Was she generous today? AAHHH he really didn’t know, the stress was getting too much!
Perhaps finally feeling his burning, anxious gaze, Ava mumbled, “Oh. That’s nice.”
Your Majesty! Admit it, you didn’t even hear what I said, right?!
Still stuck holding a bow, the messenger was utterly confused.
What? Why does it seem that I’m more worried than you? You’re the one they’re trying to kill, alright?!
His master must have lost what little marbles she already had, right?!!
Ava simply said, “They took long enough.”
And just like that, under the messenger’s shocked eyes, she went to sleep, right at the dining table.
The messenger felt like crying.
He wasn’t allowed to get up, wasn’t he?
Each day, the reports of the rebels approaching filled the halls, a tension and fear yet an approaching relief saturating the air. Everyone except Her Majesty seemed to be worried; on the contrary, Her Great Majesty’s mood seemed to improve day by day, even if only the most perceptive of close servants could tell.
This led to the servants and maids questioning whether they had gone crazy from stress, or their Majesty had.
Until finally…
They arrived at the castle.
Accompanied by gallant songs and battle cries, chaos erupted, and each of the hidden assassins and planted moles around the Queen made their move.
It was then that Ava heard the system’s alert.
Ding!
[Ending Task: Survive to Die. Description: Leave the castle alive, open the gates, and fight the Protagonist before being defeated. The countdown is 24 hours. Punishment upon failure is: PAIN LEVEL 500 and +90 to DIFFICULTY.]
Ava looked up, pleasantly surprised.
Ending Tasks were generally the last tasks of each world, and were the precursors to her death.
Ava smiled.
Still seated at her dining table, she lifted her chopsticks to pick up a piece of braised chicken.
Ssshhhllcckk —
With a flick of her wrist, the lump of chicken was flung into the air, before suddenly dropping to the ground with a splat.
Amidst the brown juices dripping onto the red carpet, one could see the fine, thin needle sticking out.
Ava didn’t say anything, only continuing to eat.
With the silent approach of someone behind her, she kept her still until the other made their move, only for her left hand to seize the other’s head. Fist tightening, the head of the black-clad man spasmed and twisted under her palm, blood pouring from all his orifices. With a successive popping, crunching and squelching, his head exploded like that of a watermelon, splattering blood over the table and the slender young woman.
The man had stayed silent during the whole ordeal, for the rebels, who’d recruited him, had cut out his voicebox and rerouted his lungs.
Ava’s appetite was lost along with the other’s life. She stood up, letting the body drop to the floor with a wet, sickening thud.
Wiping the bone fragments and hair off her hand with the tablecloth, Ava listened to the roars and screams from out her walls.
The sounds of battle echoed; pulling out her sword, Ava killed all those that approached her, slowly moving to the castle entrance.
The usually gloomy and dark castle walls were suddenly trembling with a strange, nearly lively energy, anticipation and adrenaline saturating the air. It was as though the world was warping with excitement and expectation, a morbid sort of joy.
She could feel it.
The world was celebrating the close of a short story.
Of a Dead Secondary World.
Ava wondered, not for the first time, if she and Rayna would ever see their original world.
Pushing open the doors to the castle, Ava strode out into her courtyard, setting her eyes on the mighty stone walls encircling the garden.
Tall, monstrous and much resembling that of a fortress, stone, steel and mortar held off the bloodthirsty army right outside. The massive, towering gates were shuddering amidst loud bangs and cries — the opposition had evidently taken along a battering ram. Arrows, gunshots, swords and shields all flashed along the tops of the walls, accompanied by the monstrous bellows and roars of trained monsters.
Even now, as Ava looked up, a huge, strange beast, soared over the castle walls. Its body was massive, as large as an elephant, appearing much like a cougar with three pairs of great, feathered wings. Face contorted, the air shaking with its roars, it leapt down into the courtyard, claws unsheathed, ready to kill. It managed to take down quite the number of soldiers before being dragged into the jaws of death.
Ava blinked.
No wonder this world had both advanced guns and the simpler sword and bow; different beasts were weak to different weapons, and different beasts could be tamed and trained in warfare.
The gates of the castle were struggling to pull shut; with a confident, proud voice, she ordered, “Open the gates.”
The soldiers shivered, and opened them…
To reveal Rayna, in all her glory, standing at the gates.
Rayna smiled in her gold and silver armours, beautiful and strong.
“Your Majesty, I’m back.”
They fought a crazed, maddened dance.
The two leaders refused to let any outsiders meddle in their battle, striking out at each other in a reckless, utterly crazed fight.
Rayna and Ava had been restricted for so long; often, the only times the two could communicate was in times of conflict, especially in fights to the death.
It made them crave their battles, their ripping of flesh and wild snarls.
Because it was the place they could best express themselves and have physical contact.
Swords clashed and clang, both advancing yet pushed back, their battle so full of skill and vigour that it was breathtaking — these two unstoppable, powerful women had finally found their match.
They smiled brightly, as glorious as a dying sun.
But eventually, their battle came to an end.
Her Majesty Ava was defeated.
Rayna reached out, perhaps to pull her up, but paused, her hand still outstretched, before quickly moving to motion over some guards.
Damn systems.
The rebels were high on the ecstasy of victory; they wanted to drag the tyrant through the mud and put her through the most shameful and torturous things, some so terrible that it mustn’t ever be spoken once again; it was only at Rayna’s skillful and rather desperate persuasions that Ava was simply imprisoned.
Inside the prison, they talked.
Over the course of the week, Ava and Rayna talked everyday, Rayna using the pretence of ‘interrogation’ to sit with her and make idle talk.
But, she could only procrastinate for so long.
Ava’s execution was scheduled. Luckily, Rayna was the one to do the deed — that way, Ava would have the least suffering.
Ava was even allowed a last wish.
Taken from the dark dungeons to the bright lights of the sky and the hissing, vengeful crowd, Ava was blinded by the beautiful lights.
The wooden stage was, surprisingly, the one from the castle, stained with the blood of ‘felons’ and ‘evils’. It was entirely empty, except for the dazzling blonde woman on top, walking on the bloodstains.
The rebels probably wanted Ava to shed blood on the place she slaughtered so many of their people.
So, a world with Rayna in her eyes could be so beautiful.
On the stage, Rayna asked her, “What is your last desire in this world? If I may be in the mood, perhaps I shall grant it.”
Everyone standing around thought, ‘Boss is so happy. This Tyrant’s wishes can just rot!’
Ava smiled, “It’s a small matter.”
‘BAH!’
“What might it be?” Rayna had a similar smile on her face.
“I’d like…” Ava began, the expression on her face rather gleeful and silly, much like a little child planning their April Fool’s prank, “I’d like to play the hand game ‘Apple On A Stick’ with you, Grand Ruler.”
Everyone: “...”
Everyone: “WHAT THE HECK?!”
Perhaps this was the most ridiculous moment in history.
With rather incredulous gazes, they watched the two grown women slap their hands together while singing, “Apple on a stick, makes me sick, it makes my heart beat two forty-six…”
Gaping mouths and bulging eyes burned into the two cheerfully clapping hands without a care in the world.
“Not because you’re dirty, not because you’re sick; not because you kissed a boy behind the magazine…”
“Girls, boys, having fun, here comes the lady with the big fat bum, she can wibble, she can wobble, she can do the splits…”
“I betcha, I betcha, she can’t do this; close your eyes and count to ten, if you muck it up you’re not my friend. One, two, three, four, five…”
“...Ten! You didn’t muck it up so you’re still my friend; and that’s the end of chapter ten AMEN!”
With a loud clap, they finished their little game, whilst the entire execution stage was silent.
A vein in the Duke’s temple throbbed. He vowed to make this moment vanish from this Dead Secondary World’s history books.
Rayna stood up and asked rather dryly, “Ava, are you ready to leave now?” Stretching out her hand, she pulled Ava up.
Ava watched her, her gaze constantly pinned to the other, as though a starving pauper had been given a bowl of hearty, meat-filled stew; she was too hungry to look away, yet too afraid to eat, lest it be an illusion.
Ava smiled rather dully.
“I suppose I am.”
The Duke came over and enveloped Rayna in a back hug. Positioning his hand over hers, he placed a knife in their shared grip, and gently placed it on Ava’s neck, as though savouring the moment. He said, “Wretch, die.”
Ava ignored him.
“...Rayna, I’ll see you in the next life.”
The blade flew down.
Shhhhkk.
Her head rolled on the ground. As it hit the earth, amid the cheers and screams, unfamiliar pings suddenly erupted in three people’s ears.
[AVA, New System Alert: Opened new side mission, ‘STAIN MY NAME’.]
[IAN, New System Alert: Opened new side mission, ‘WIN HER HEART’.]
[RAYNA, New System Alert: Opened new side mission, ‘CLEAR HER NAME’.]
[To the HOST and CHARACTERS: The Secondary World, ‘DAWN OF HOPE’, will now reset. HOST IAN’s character is ‘DUKE OF THE NORTH’; CHARACTER AVA’s character is ‘HER MAJESTY, THE VILLAIN’; CHARACTER RAYNA’s character is ‘RUBY, THE PROTAGONIST’.]
[Please prepare for resetting.]
