Cravings

Awakening the dead

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!•! Prologue !•!

A ghastly pale, frosty body laid supinely atop a stone casket. The lurid corpse was of the reigning vampire queen's mother; queen Thiana. The deceased queen had met her untimely demise after ingesting poison administered by a scorned ex-lover and by a stroke of bad luck, getting staked in the heart by a group of insurgents while she battled with her deteriorating health.

Queen Acqueline's mother had been laid to rest over a hundred and twenty years ago, but the old vampire did not rest peacefully. She did not deserve that luxury as long as her daughter saw her death fitting of an appalling injustice.

Over the century, queen Acqueline had sought the help of countless witches and sorcerers and out of the masses, only one infamous witch from a reputable kingdom inhabited by wielders of magic in their majority, showed interest in helping her perform the miracle she so desperately desired, and proved to be the most adept and capable of producing the needed results.

Arkyva, the seasoned veteran witch worked tirelessly on the rival spell for more than seven decades. Progress was stagnant most times and the process frustrating and antagonizing at times, but at the most unexpected time, the tenacious witch made a breakthrough. Queen Acqueline was getting increasingly impatient and ardent to see her mother alive again, just when her faith was beginning to dwindle, she was summoned to Arkyva's residence to receive some good news.

"Are you certain that the ritual is going to work?" Queen Acqueline remained skeptical as her eyes skimmed over her late mother's pallid corpse. To preserve her vital organs and skin and to prevent her body from decaying, the deceased queen was kept under a freeze spell since her death and her body had remained the same, with no signs of decomposing any time soon. When she finally awakens from the should be eternal slumber, she will be able to carry on with her life without a lacerated heart and a gaping wound on her chest.

"I am not a hundred percent certain, your highness, but I have worked on this ritual for over seven decades, there are very, very little chances of anything going wrong." The witch's assertive tone gave her enough affirmation to incite a wry smile from her. Now she was excited, she was one ritual away from proving her husband; king Raidon, wrong.

The fascinated vampire queen intently watched the witch gather her supplies and assemble the alter while mumbling an invocation under her breath. Arkyva then proceeded to encompass queen Thiana's lifeless body with red candles, fresh stems and herbs, the blood she withdrew from her earlier and medium sized, round mirrors.

"Tonight, queen Thiana's soul shall return to her body." Arkyva uttered the intention in an austere tone, before wording an incomprehensible incantation and sprinkling the concoction she had prepared three decades prior to the ritual, around the large casket and around the perimeter of the safe circle she had constructed. Her voice gained more firmness and queen Acqueline only eyed her with intrigue as she lashed the air with the bundled grass and painted the floor with the strongly scented, muddy solution.

Darkness engulfed the opposite side of the room and a heavy shadow was cast on the walls. Her eyes fell on the curtain-less window and she gazed at the glary full moon, which was soon shrouded by a thick blanket of gloomy clouds. Darkness reigned and only the mounted flame touches and burning candles remained as the sources of light.

Arkyva's voice became louder and louder and she suddenly felt unsettled. Nervousness was an emotion she seldom experienced and in the rare times that tinge of anxiety was unearthed from her, it expired in a very short span of time, but now she could not purge that feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach, because she wanted her mother to be given back life more than anything. As a pureblood, purebred vampire, there was not a lot of things that frightened her, but knowing that there was a possibility, that it was not improbable that all her century worth of hard work could have all been to no avail, made her fearful. As much as Arkyva seemed to know what she was doing, she was still a bit pessimistic.