Suddenly an Empress

VI: The Birth of a Goddess

The only time I found myself faced to face with a leopard was back at my father's museum, the only difference from that to the leopard I am facing now is that the one back at the museum was only a wax figure while the one here with me at the sandy arena was mighty hungry judging by how much it kept salivating. 

"H-help. . . me." Instead of screaming that, I had only whispered it to myself since I was not entirely sure if I screamed for help then people would come running to save me since they were just cheering from watching a man die and get eaten by this beast.

A shiver went to my spine when I met the leopard's eye, and even though I already know that it was preparing to pounce at me, my feet could not move at all. I was frozen in fear. Possibly because I know that even if I run, this big cat would easily catch me and I would just prolong my suffering by running.

"Elodie. . ."

"My sweet daughter. . ."

"Elodie,"

Ah, is this supposed to be that rumored flashing white light when you know you are about to die? One by one, I kept hearing the voices of the people close to me calling my name like how they would. Barbara, my nerdy cousin. The serene and comforting voice of my mother, as well as my father's emotionless one.

If only I did not try and crave my father's attention by stealing that necklace then I would not have ended up here, ah I regret doing that. I should have lived my life comfortably inside our mansion, it is not like it's the end of the world if I was not loved by my own father or anything.

"Look out!"

The flash of white light in my mind was interrupted by a familiar voice calling out for me. At first, I thought the voice was inside my head, echoing like Barbara and the others' voices but when I came back to my senses, I saw a man, a beautiful man to be specific, dressed in such fancy and grandiose clothes, running to my side while wielding a sword.

He was just in time to strike the leopard down before it got to me, sending the leopard flying across us and whimpering like a little cat. Its blood splashed against my face and chest that caused me to shudder, I could not even make myself scream. What I experienced just now was a near death experience and it was only thanks to this man that I was given another chance in life.

"Are you hurt?" He quickly turned around to face me, he slightly flinched from seeing me covered with blood splatters as if he was panicking that I indeed got hurt. 

"Th-this is not my blood, I am okay," I answer, and my assumptions were proven right when I saw him take a long sigh of relief after knowing that I was fine.

Weird. A while ago, I could not even make a sound yet when speaking to this man I was able to talk normally. 

I took this opportunity to look at him and study his overall appearance since not gonna lie, my eyes kept focusing on him no matter how much I try to pull away. Brown, short and curly hair neatly coiffured over his radiant face. Lidded green eyes set delicately within their sockets, fair skin graciously compliments his chiseled cheekbones and pointy nose. His face and body built were exactly like the statues of Roman Gods I see back at the museum and it felt so overwhelming to be meeting one in person, although I doubt this man is actually a god.

"Prince Lucius!" 

The prince? Him? This man is the prince and took his time and effort to save me, also the man I was planning to avoid and yet here he is, glimmering under the sunlight as if the gods were purposely making him look majestic.

Both our attention was taken by a man running to us so we both turned to look at him, my face immediately became grim to see that it was the commander I met before who ordered for me to get tied down and forced to be in this inhumane form of entertainment.

"Commander Gladius, what is it?" 

I looked up to the prince's face since our height gap is big, to see that his eyebrows were furrowed at the said commander as he approaches us, he also instinctively stood in front of me, lifting his arm in front of me to shield me from that wretched man.

"That leopard has been delivered all the way from the Southern countries and took half a year to get here, you must not carelessly kill it!" Commander Gladius looked very stressed, gesturing his arms in a broad manner.

"A human's life is more valuable than a beast." The prince monotonously answered, it was obvious that he was mad at the commander but refrained from lashing out since a lot of people were still watching us from their seats yet they were all enveloped in silence. They are probably still processing how I have such pink hair, something so impossible in their era.

"That girl is a nobody, she is probably just a slave who ran away from her master. That leopard's life is more valuable than hers-"

"Watch what you say, commander Gladius. You are in the presence of the next emperor of Rome, once I am crowned emperor I might decide to strip you off of your position." The prince took a step forward and loomed over the commander, even though the commander was buff and muscled man, when faced with the beautiful and tall prince, he looked puny and small.

"Tch!" Gladius clicked his tongue and glanced back at me, I internally panicked since I was not expecting us to lock gazes so I looked away but I did see from the corner of my eyes that he just grinned ominously.

"Prince Lucius. I apologize for my incompetence, I value your decision to save the woman but what is more important is to listen to the people's wishes." He turned around to face the crowd who were quietly watching us, murmuring to each other in curiosity and confusion.

"What are you going on about?" Prince Lucius asked in a now angered voice and Gladius turned his head to look over his shoulder and look at us with a menacing expression.

"I have been watching you grow up ever since you were a boy and I know you want what is best for your people, I am sure that the prince also values what his subjects think. So! Let me ask the audience we have now! What do you want to happen to this outlandish woman?! Should we spare her?! Or let the beasts decide her fate!" 

He was yelling and surprisingly enough, his voice was resonating in every direction even though this colosseum was breathtakingly huge.

The people were quiet for a while, whispering to each other but their silence was broken when one of the crowd started a chant, speaking such a dangerous word.

"Kill. . . Kill. . . Kill. . ."

And soon, the other people followed, raising their hands in the air as if cheering for their idols who were performing on stage, the only difference is that they were asking for me to be killed by the hands, or rather, claws of another beast, possibly a tiger or something since the leopard before just died from blood loss.

"Kill her!"

"Give us bloodshed!"

"Release the beast!"

My eyes were probably spiraling out of pressure and fear, my knees never stopped trembling but this time, I could not hold out any more and fell down. The prince saw me plop down on the ground and immediately rushed to my side.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, pushing my hair away from my face so he could see it. I probably looked tired or drained out.

I did not answer since Gladius also took a glimpse of my face before turning back to the audience once again to announce what my face looked like. "See for yourself people! This woman is planning something treacherous to us if we did not let her die in this arena, look at how menacing her expression is! And with that peculiar hair, she must be some sort of evil entity!"

With his constant adding of fuel to the people's emotions, he can easily manipulate them and they all seemed to be under his command.

I do not want to die yet, I want to go back home, even if my father never values me, I want to go home, I want to go back. . . I have to do something.

I felt a cold breeze gush from somewhere that grabbed my attention, a type of wind that screams something phenomenal is about to happen and something I recognize. I widened my eyes and immediately looked up at the sky, I was right something was indeed about to happen and I can use it to my advantage.

I breathed in, mentally preparing myself, good thing I enrolled in that drama class when I was in middle school to be able to pull this off seamlessly. 

"I am disappointed." I stood up that surprised the prince and Gladius, even more after hearing me say that I was disappointed. I was speaking in a very full voice, like the one's you hear when a leader spoke up in a class discussion.

"What are you blabbering about-" Gladius tried to interject my performance but I immediately cut him off by raising my hand in front of his face.

"You people are ungrateful. The water flowing in your river, the crops you harvest every month, and the sun that gives everyone life. I gave all of that and this is how you repay your goddess?!" I yelled, of course I timed my yell at the same time I predicted thunder to roar at a distance making it look like I was the one who created that thunder just now and everyone gasped in shock, erupting in another round of discussion and murmurs to themselves.

"Hah?! Goddess?! Do you know that lying in front of me, and especially in front of the royal prince would cost you your tongue or your head? Are you that desperate to live?" Gladius laughed hysterically after hearing my speech but I remained unbothered and kept a disappointed expression.

"Have you ever seen anyone with this kind of hair that only a goddess can have?" I asked and as expected, Gladius, as well as the crowds who were just condemning me to die, could not find a right answer to my question.

Seeing how they were finally on edge, I sneakily glanced at the sky to see that it was almost time for my grand act and without a moment too soon, I raised both my hand to my sides, my palm facing the sky, my elbows bent and to put everything together, I made my face look like I was burning with anger at the people who just decided to let me die.

"I, Alexandria, Goddess of the Sun, bring down a curse to this land to forever suffer in famine, diseases, chaos, and death! Those who wanted me dead will perish in the dark! Those who escape this fate will forever run like a filthy rat, enveloped in my punishment of eternal darkness." 

Along with these lines, it was perfectly timed. The moon that was sneakily moving at the sky, began to cover the sun while I was saying those lines that made everyone scream and panic out of fear, they were finally treating me like a real life goddess and was on their knees, begging and screaming for my forgiveness. Just a while ago, the sun was very bright and almost blinding, but now, it was as if it was suddenly night time and everything was engulfed in an eerie and cold darkness.

"Impossible!" Gladius was especially tough to convince since he was still standing, his gaze fixated on the sun who had disappeared and all was left was a giant black hole in the sky and dimmed light everywhere.

It was very fortunate for me to arrive here when a solar eclipse was happening, and am especially glad that these people still have not discovered that this is a natural thing to happen and not some kind of punishment from a god.

"Commander Gladius, you were especially harsh towards me. I am compelled to repay your actions with something far worse than death."

"No! Please no!" He finally kneeled down, almost burying his face on the bloody and sandy ground, groveling in fear as he begged for my forgiveness. "Forgive me, Goddess Alexandria, I was not aware that a real-life divine entity such as you would come down from the heavens. If only I had known then I would have treated you differently."

"I would only lift this curse if everyone would change their ways and not wish for somebody else's death," I announced at a fast pace since the moon is slowly moving away to bring back the sun's presence so I must forgive them by then.

"Goddess Alexandria," I forgot about the prince who was beside me. He grabbed my shoulder that made me turn to look at him, "Please, for my people, curse me instead."

I widened my eyes in shock after hearing him wanting to sacrifice himself for the sake of these barbaric people since I thought the prince was a cruel ruler according to the books that Barbara kept reciting to me. But nevertheless, the solar eclipse is soon to be over so I had to stop this act sooner or later.

"Your kindness melts my heart, prince Lucius. I can see that you will be a great emperor in the future and will lead your people to victory." I say in a calm way, contrary to my angered voice just a while ago. I put down my hands and at the same time, the sun reappeared again, giving us the warmth and light that we needed for the day.

"For saving me from the beast, I too will also save you from damnation and lift the curse I inflicted on your beloved country," I answer with a thin smile, and with that, I immediately rush to leave the place before anyone would come to stop me.

With my performance finally ending, I must leave this place at once.