What once was the young woman, who was a wife and mother became nothing. Sephera stepped outside the small hut to catch a glimpse of the sun beginning to jut out between the grey clouds, whether she saw right, she couldn't tell but flyingtowards the sun’s rays was a dove. The sun shines for her Dove, so she will continue to shine for her even if death did them apart.
“I will shine for her, I will kill for her. And. I. Will. Bring. Carnage, forhim,"Sephera vowed to herself.
"Apollo will be brought down to its knees. The Queen of Bloodshed has awakened."
Chapter 8
Blood stained glass
“The rebels are out there. Those who rebel against the King of Light, The High King Solaire Gideon and his rule. Those who still follow the old Queen of Duvessa, the Queen of Darkness, still roam Terran; however, their numbers are dropping and soon will seize to exist.”
The following text has been transcribed in an oath of truth by Volda Keely Darkblood of the Darkblood Witch Coven.
The original text has been destroyed upon command from the High King of Apollo, Solaire Gideon.
Morana
There was no place other than Merlanis that could be cold at night and yet blazing hot during the day. The cloak I had worn when leaving for the Oakenhold Forest had been torn off my body and discarded. My body had an ache that made me want to drop onto the soft mossy floor. The reason I had made it this far at all was that I was subconsciously telling myself that the ache was just a dull pain that would eventually lead to light bruises scattered across my body.
I scowled, as I felt the gruff man behind me pull onto the rope that was wrapped around the horse’s satchel. I kept a firm hand on the rough rope, leading the horse through the dirt road path that would take us in direct contact to Lord Dritan's estate. I turned to look at the adjacent ropes that were held by both Ezra and myself.
Four.
Therewerefive of them.
The bandits we had captured were four.
The fifth...
I shook my head trying to rid those repetitive thoughts. To say that I had felt this hunt was a success would be a lie but Dritan would be pleased to know that his special visitors would have no casualties to deal.
"We're near the gates, I'll take them to him. You should see a healer and get cleaned up," Ezra spoke up, the face of his skinlooked ashen and almost swollen. His movements tense, as if not trying to show his state of exhaustion.
"No, it's just a little closer. I can make it," I immediately answered and walked forward a bit more determinedly. My legs roared in protest, my calves burning. I did not usually go to the healers; by the morning I’d be fine except for the ghost ache of memories that lingered.
"Mor,please, you're in worse shape. I can do it. Now go." He untangled the rope from my hand and began to walk on before I could disagree.
Without the weight of responsibility from the ropes I held, my shoulders sagged and I instantly thought of how it was me, who obeyed Fala, and took this mission to please her. I remembered how Ezra had said that if it weren't for me, he would have never agreed. And now, I can't help but see why. The mission we had completed tonight was unlike all the other missions we had experienced. It used to be about the adrenaline and raw ego that would have us conquering mission after mission due to our teamwork and gifted skills. Things were different now, we were no longer kids. We had nearly died in Oakenhold. It was a different setting than the usual anxiousness of being in the arena.
In the forest, it was dark. Lonely. And horrific. It was not for my life I had feared, it had been Ezra's. If anything had happened to him, it would have been all my doing. I bowed my head down to look at my blood-crusted nails. Sunrise came near, I could hear the birds begin to sing, waiting to take flight when the sun had fully risen. The night sky was still upon many tents as I made way to my own.
The bandits we had tried to capture were different. They had a purpose. Not just to steal from the "special visitors." They were hunters—bounty hunters. They intended to kill whomever wasvisiting and they all wore an odd emblem. The emblem of stars woven into the leaves of a branch.
"The rebellion,"the fifth had called it.
The fifth man whom we did not capture. The fifth man whom I looked in the eyes and struck my fire blade into his neck. The fifth man who was nothing but charred bone and ash. Today, I had taken a man's life. A man who was fighting for his own people. Ezra would give the information we had found to Dritan, and the lord himself would take it as his responsibility to interrogate the rest. My body trembled, remembering the man clutching onto my fist tightly, as I saw the life draw from his eyes. I could still feel the pressure of his hand as I had pushed my blade all the way into his body.
My head pounded as I rushed towards my tent. Pushing open the flap and colliding to the ground. I couldn’t help but let out a soft whimper, but not from the impact of the floor beneath my body. But from the overwhelming panic I had in my chest. I scrambled towards the small wooden chest that had a glass set upon it. My vision had begun to get blurry with tears as my hand roughly knocked over the glass that shattered onto the ground.
"No... no... please, not again," I whispered out in pain.
I shakily thrust my fist into the glass, hoping the pain would subdue the voices in my mind. My thoughts travelled to the fight. The man's gaze was determined and yet his body knew he had been outmatched.
"Yield. Just yield. Don't give me a reason to end your life."I grit out as my unlit fire-blade made its way to his neck.
"There is no such thing as yielding where I'm from.Here is where it ends. Here is where I die."
Those words rang in my mind. A choked sob escaped me.
