The Emperor's Black Swan

Ep 2: The Black Swan

Sania's POV

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All I can remember is that everything burns. Fire engulfs me. It burns my black wings and back. But I grit my teeth as I keep my wings open. I need to block as many hell fires as possible from my people. I need to hold on just a little longer to give them a chance to flee.

The last thing I see is Scarlett, my sister's retreating figure. I trust she will keep the innocent people safe. But she and Nakia, my other stepsister, need time to move that many people.

So I need to hold on a little longer. At least another minute... another second... another...

I can't hold on any longer. The pain is too immense. My body slumps to the scorching earth. For the first time, tears spring up in my eyes. 

I have failed.

I... 

A heavy foot crushes my head. I groan at the ongoing pain. The foot owner, Gavar, laughs bitterly at me. "My queen," he says in his deep tone, "If only you submit to me since the beginning. If only you have not played this ridiculous game of hide and seek."

There is no longer warmth in his voice. 

"Why?" he asks. I can hear his voice breaking slightly at the end. That is so unlike him. 

I don't even try to take off his foot. Or even try to move in that matter. 

"I...," but I painstakingly say, "am... Not... Your... Queen!" 

He doesn't respond. 

"Never am," I force a smile at him.

I blink, and darkness surrounds me.

I have died.

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At least I thought so.

I don't expect to open my eyes after what happened. But they do.

It is so bright outside that I have to shut my eyes and adjust to the light slowly.

Funny.

The first thing I see is a duck staring at me with such stillness. The duck is not alone. There are two other ducks behind it, three frogs on top of a lotus leaf, and several fishes.

Am I drowning? Wait... Didn't I die?

I look to my left and see that various animals are crowding the edge of a pond. There are two deers, rabbits, squirrels, and even birds. All of them are looking at me curiously.

I know seeing a woman floating in water must be weird, even for animals, but... isn't it weirder to see all those animals crowd like that? They behave like humans...

Then I look down at the pond.

Oh...

Yeah, I definitely died.

Because staring at me through the pond is a black swan.

I blink. That couldn't be me, right?

And I blink again.

Looking at the first duck, I begin to think, if this is hell? If it is, it is so weird. But, I've seen hell before. I've lived with hell for years before I die. It is a bleak place full of fire, burning everything and everyone. Some of the fire even burnt me.

Out of reflex, I open my wings–

I still have my wings.

That can't be true.

I was so sure that my wings were completely burned off by Gavar's hellfire. I remember the simmering agony that dawned upon me as the flames danced mockingly on my black feathers and then covered my whole back. The fire singed my skin until I could feel the heat in my bones.

Surprisingly, I can expand my supposedly burnt wings when I try to stretch my arms...

Looking at the pond reflection again, I see that my wings have become an extension of my body, which is a... black swan.

Shit.

I am the black swan.

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(A/N: Our female lead becomes frozen, hence the ellipsis).

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What the hell??

I am never one to feel panic or scared easily. Even when the fire is wrapping around my body, I can think calmly and make a clear judgment.

But this is beyond weird.

Immediately, I think of those reincarnation theories that Scarlett used to tell me. That some humans reincarnate as animals or even trees. And vice versa. But if this is my next life... how can I still remember my past life?

Now what I need to concentrate on is... why am I a black swan when I should have died?

I find myself being able to turn my neck almost three hundred and sixty degrees... Maybe I broke my neck?

I look at the pond again. The black swan blinks when I blink.

"What the hell?" At least my voice still works.

"It talks!" the duck suddenly cries out, "I knew it!

Wait, what? Did the duck just... talk?

"I called for it!" the duck cheers excitedly. "I win! She is a human, like us!"

I see that some of the other animals groan as if they have just lost a bet.

"s**t," the deer curses. "You look so picturesque to be a cursed animal that I thought you were probably a rare gift from one of the vessel kingdoms."

"Vessel kingdoms?" Somehow, with those two words, I can guess where I am. "Is this Aluthia?" Only Aluthia has a vast territory that can be called an empire. It rules over five vessel kingdoms. 

This must be a cruel joke by that Goddess.

The animals quiet down. They all look at me like I am the weird one.

"That's your first question?" asks a squirrel. "Most would panic seeing we, animals, talking. We usually scream and then ask questions like 'Who are you?' 'Why am I an animal?' and so on."

"Or 'Why you can talk?'" the duck adds, followed by a frog, "Don't forget 'Am I dreaming?'"

The animals chime with a melodious 'Ahh' after the frog's words.

I take all of their words and think. That's what I do best. Think, deduct, and plan.

According to how they talk, this is a recurring event. Something that they have gotten used to. Someone turning into an animal. Then I remember the duck called me human. Which meant... they all most likely are human.

Is this some sort of curse?

While my mind churns, I paddle my swan feet to the edge of the pond. The animals part slightly to give me access to the land. The duck and frogs follow me, watching closely my every move.

Once I get one foot on the land, I hoist my weight to that foot. And I guess because the balance between a full person's body differs from that of a bird's, my feet wobble and I fall face-first to the ground.

"Oohh.." the animals make a sound effect of my falling.

They are a lively bunch alright.

I pull myself up without care. And manage to stand tall and graceful as a... swan. Since I can't really raise my chin like I usually do when I am about to take control of an entire army, I raise my long neck.

After gazing at each of the animals, I ask, "Were you all dead?"

The animals are silent. A second later, they all burst into laughter. The deer even has tears in his eyes.

"No. No. No," a frog–another frog than before, says, "We are cursed dear. Somehow, one day, each of us turns into animals in this pond garden."

Ah, so it is a curse.

I count that there are about a dozen animals around the pond. Who is this powerful person to be able to curse so many humans?

"What is the nature of this curse?" I ask.

"You are a peculiar one, aren't you?" the duck asks again. The duck's sound is like that of a female. So I refer to the duck as a she. "We all panicked when we found out that we were cursed. The one question everyone has asked is 'Why? Why it happens to us?' And yet you immediately ask the nature of the curse."

I consider her question.

Knowing that they have only seen me in my swan form, and minutes before they were betting if I was a real animal or not... I know they have no clue who I am.

They don't know that they are talking to the very person they have been calling a cold-blooded murderer. They only saw me from the outside. None knew what I was truly planning except for my stepsisters and trusted knights. And then he found out... then he killed me with fire. 

I can't blame them. I made myself look like that on purpose to gain Gavar's trust.

It doesn't matter now, does it? It doesn't matter if the world knows our actual intention.

"I don't like to dawdle on circumstances," I told them, "It's wasting time and annoying. I adapt fast and I fix things."

A bird laughs at me. "Are you trying to fix this curse?" It has a baritone voice so I identify the bird as a he. "Dream on! We have been trying for over a year and nada! There is no way out!"

The bird thinks I am being unrealistic. But that is because he doesn't know who I am.

"Where is this pond exactly?" I ask again, totally disregarding the rude bird. "And who is the first to be cursed in this garden?"

The animals look at each other in confusion. While the bird scoffs, obviously not liking me for ignoring him.

Such a child.

"This is the royal pond garden in the East Castle of Aluthia Royal Palace," says the squirrel which I identify as a she.

I blink at the words.

The royal garden of Aluthia Empire? The enemy empire of my original kingdom, Tollyria? Out of all places!

Who the hell cursed me into a swan in enemy territory?

"Okay... a weird place to put cursed people," I continue, "And the first cursed person is? I noticed you said you have been trying for over a year. I see a dozen of you. Am I right to deduct that this happens monthly?"

The animals don't answer me quickly. I wonder what is so hard to tell me about the curse. Shouldn't they help me help them?

"Uhh...," the deer which I identify as a he, says, "Not quite. It used to be as rare as once in a few years. But it's been happening much more frequently in the past years."

I frown. "That wouldn't add up to the number of animals here."

"No...," the deer gets reluctant in answering. "Because..."

I try to look up at the deer, but he won't meet my eyes. So do the other animals. They all look uncomfortable in answering me.

I sense something is utterly wrong.

"In total, there were hundreds of us," suddenly the rude bird says, "The first person is Maggie. She was the only cursed person in this pond for almost a decade. She died thinking she was crazy."

Huh? A decade?

The bird flies to a nearby large stone. There were sculptures on it. Made by claws or twigs.

The bird perches itself on the top of the scripture where the first sentence lies. "This is Maggie's."

I move closer to the stone. The animals stand surrounding me, the stone, and the rude bird.

"She made this stone her diary. She was cursed into a fox."

"Did you say a decade?"

"Yes," the bird points out to another line on the stone, "It says here that Maggie lives 80 years ago."

I don't know what to respond to that. This is the first I have heard of such a curse. Moreover, it is happening in the royal garden.

"There is no record for the second or third or other numbers in between," the bird continues, "But the next record we found belonged to Chris."

The bird flaps his blue little wings to another stone. I follow, and the other animals walk behind me.

"Chris was not alone, and he has been in this garden for three decades," the bird continues to explain. I take in all the information he gives me. But the logical yarns in my brain are convoluted.

"There were several other cursed people in the garden. And we started making it a habit to scribble on the stones or trees to leave proof of our existence."

I look at all the animals gathering around me. The bird said there were hundreds of them. Where are the rest?

"Where are the rest of you?" I ask.

Tension stretches between them. Long and taut. None would look at me in the eye. Their eyes are glued to the ground. I can even see some of them shaking. At the same time, I notice the sun is setting rather fast.

"Twenty-five years ago, the whole garden was rampaged. All people cursed into animals in this garden died," the bird carries his words with somber. A timbre of pain is evident in his voice.

"I am the only survivor of that attack," he says bitterly, "Until Sheila comes in the pond. I thought I was going to turn a madman."

I know how it feels to be the one surviving alone. When everyone you know turns out dead, you wonder why the Goddess spares your life instead. What is so special about you? Or... if you were me, you'd wonder why the Goddess put the curse of living to me.

The duck steps forward. She is shorter than my swan form, but she holds my gaze. "If it is not for Frederick, I don't think I can survive knowing I have been cursed," she says, "We are the two longest cursed here. I have been here for twenty–five years while Frederick has been here longer."

Frederick is the bird. He looks pale, defeated when Sheila talks about how long they have been in the royal garden.

"Who is the attacker?" I ask again. This puzzle still has a lot of blank spaces.. I don't like it when I don't have all the answers or clues at hand. "Also, the fact that no one knows of this outside of the castle means the Emperor is involved, isn't he?"

Right at that moment, we hear the sound of something passing through the bushes. The animals flinch in terror. All of them are shaking badly. But Frederick, the bird, has the worst reaction. It caws madly in the air and flies to a nearby tree, hiding behind the branches.

We look in the sound's direction. A few steps away from the pond and near the gazebo, a big, dark wolf emerges. Its dark eyes are bleak and empty. It growls at the animals, yet at the same time, it is smiling. As if it has just found its prey.

It doesn't look like an ordinary wolf. It is too big. It doesn't look like a werewolf either. Its fur seems rough, almost pointy. And there are faint tendrils of smoke coming from its mouth and claws.

I know a demon when I see one.

That is a demonic wolf. And it has just found its prey. 

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Copyright @ Karasmara / Dreame / Stary. Any illegal reproduction of this content will result in immediate legal action.