Her Kingdom

Was that My End?

Chapter 5 - Present - Anwyn

"Anwyn..." In shock, her old friend called her name, not believing that it was really the former Queen who stood before him.

He had been summoned there because of a run away from the dungeon, but no one had mentioned to him who was the person that had been detained in the ends of the capital by the second Helias, and who they were going to help him with.  

... And that moment of distraction from Anwyn was everything that Brion needed...

No thinking twice about it, the Eos man took a powder from his pocket and used it to stop his former lover, throwing the toxic mixture into her eyes. Making Anwyn blind immediately by it as a cruel smile appeared on his face when he saw that she had difficulties to stay in the air.  

... The powder from Anthee's roots was extremely dangerous and just allowed to be used by the royal guards, who used a small amount of its mixture in the mouth or nose of an opponent in combat to paralyze them...

So it wasn't strange that Anwyn's eyes burned with the toxin that had been thrown at her, making it hard for her to see anything while she continued to try to defend herself against Brion.

Fairness was something that he didn't care at all, so he didn't waste a second to continue the fight against her, happy with his advantage, even if it was an act of cowardice from him.  

... While that was something that Zanth couldn't forgive...

Pretending that he was helping the other Helias, he also aimed his sword at Anwyn, even if it broke his heart as she was yet his dearest friend, despite all the accusations Arabella had made against her when she became the new Queen.

He could see the pain in her eyes when she recognized that she was fighting again him as they always used to train together in the mornings after he joined her at court, so it was so hard for him not to stop himself from doing that.

However, he knew that it wouldn't be any good for him or her, so that was the only way that he could think to help her.

... Using Brion's own trick against him to buy time for the former Queen...

The poisonous powder was yet in the air as dark clouds while they fought against Anwyn, who flew ever lower now, amind her desperate movements to protect herself while she tried to escape. 

So carefully, Zanth used his wings to throw the toxin in the direction on the other Helias, who didn't notice that he was being poisoned.  

... However, his good deed hadn't been in time.

Brion was almost managing to capture the former Queen when his arm stopped, causing him to cut off her other wing by mistake, making her fall directly into the strong river before he or Zanth was able to hold her.

So now, if she would survive or not, it would depend only on the will of the young Queen...

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I no longer knew which pain was more painful as my body was thrown against the rocks by the stream, and I couldn't do anything about it while my eyes were yet blind as the darkest nights, making everything worse.

And maybe the only feeling that could compete with everything that I was dealing with was the endless breathlessness that I felt every time the water entered my mouth and nose.

The liquid seemed to burn more than the Anthee's powder that had been thrown at me as I tried to fight for my life as if the last few years hadn't been enough to the Deities, who wanted to keep testing me.

... Why couldn't everything just end in a simple way?

I could no longer see the meaning in everything that I did if that would be my end... If that would be the end of my miserable life after everything that I went through.

What would be the point of all the years of training with my father and brothers? Of all the days and nights that I spent focused on just one thing to become the Queen of Aura-ladus?

... What would be the meaning of everything that I did?

There was no one there who could answer me, as I just wanted to surrender myself, let it all end despite all the attempts of my body to keep us alive, regardless of all the pain and suffering it was feeling.

And I didn't know anymore if escaping had been my best option or if slowly rot in a cage would have been a better choice...

... I mean...

Even though they were caged, birds kept living for years beside humans, so maybe... Maybe that was the life that I should have chosen.

To have chosen to remain obediently in the castle, hidden in the shadows until my last breath would bring all the farce of Arabella and Brion to the surface if they hadn't ended the kingdom already in their senseless wars when that day arrived.

But, now who knows which one would have been the better choice... The decisions had already been made, and the consequences followed their course without mind what I thought about them as they took me away from the place that I once called mine.  

... I didn't know what my final destination would be or if I would still alive when I arrived there as the pain started to disappear, and the water no longer bothered me anymore...

Maybe it was how death was like... 

Peacefully as if there was nothing else around you as your body slowly started to shut down.

Silencing each of your senses, one by one, as you felt the end coming and your destiny ending like a miserable leaf that fell from a tree, and no one else would remember it in the next spring.  

... Yeah, maybe that really was my end...

That was the end of the youngest Queen of Aura-ladus, betrayed by her loved ones, marked as an unethical criminal while her own kingdom fell into the hands of disgrace due to her own naiveness...

So I could only pray for a better future for the Aurae, that someone could save them since I could no longer be their heroine in the land of the dead... That was my only wish as my eyes weighed with the weight of life, and I didn't know if there would be another day to call today.