The Other Queen

Chapter 5

Demetrius

I found myself running and looking for Elizabeth into the woods. I followed her scent into the deepest part of the forest. I ran and ran until I reached the heart of the place.

The surrounding was not cold. No drops of snow came into this place. All I could see were the green leaves, thick vines, and dead grass beneath me. When I lifted my head, I saw an extravagant formation before my eyes.

There was a stone arc that I found.

I creased my forehead due to its familiarity. I just couldn't remember when I did encounter the arc. Probably it was from one of the fragments of my lost memories thousands of years ago. There was something with the formation that made me wince, trying to recall everything but I failed to do so.

The place had an eerie feeling as soon as I walked towards the arc. I felt a sudden surge of energy coming from the other side of it. I kept on walking towards it again, even surrounded it while examining the substance and design of the formation.

It is a perfectly shaped arc made out of mammoth's ivory horns. It was shaped as a semi-oval arc installed deep within the ground. It is also covered in moss and thick vine plants. The diameter is about the size of the prince's door, 2 yards in width and 15 feet in height. It's something a royal would want to build in his kingdom.

I tried to recall who made the arc from the past royal bloodsuckers aside from the Sixth, but I couldn't remember a thing.

Suddenly, a whistle was heard. The whistle is low and flowing. Until I could feel that the dried leaves beneath my feet were starting to dance and brush against the land. After some seconds, the whistle became louder and louder, until a strong wind came.

I instantly looked at the arc and saw that the wind was blowing from it. From mild to the intense blowing of the wind, it made me dig my claws to the ground just to prevent myself from being blown away. I shouted out of desperation to maintain my posture and my distance from the arc, but the wind was too strong. Sooner, it eventually pushed me away until I lost my control. I was blown away by the strong wind and floated in mid-air.

Like in slow motion, I saw how a woman slowly walked in, moving closer to the arc without even worrying she might be blown away like I was. She wore her black outfit. It was Elizabeth.

She slowly walked in a trance; her eyes glued to the arc. Her set of hazelnut eyes were like enchanted pearls, dead and without any strong expression. They changed into bright gold. Suddenly, her body released a dark aura in a form of lightning. Then, the sound of the thunder came in. It instantly covered her while approaching the arc.

It all happened in one moment. I almost forgot that I was about to fall to the ground. Luckily, I used my hand to land on it. It made a semi-huge collision as dust particles surrounded me. As it all faded, I eyed Elizabeth's direction and started to bolt towards her.

"Elizabeth, stop!" I shouted. I was about to touch Elizabeth's arm when suddenly, I was electrified by the dark aura that's surrounding her body. I grunted in pain and was instantly thrashed violently a few yards away from where she stood. I protested in pain. I looked at my leg and saw that my blood was already gushing out. I returned my gaze at her again.

I saw how Elizabeth stopped in front of the arc, close enough to look into something my eyes couldn't seem to see. The winds were still strong as earlier but mysteriously, her body wasn't thrashed at all, as if her weight is stronger than the wind itself. Suddenly, her body bent backwards, and saw a strong black current attacking her. That current came from the arc.

"No!" I shouted vehemently, but Elizabeth couldn't seem to hear me. I wanted to stop her, even protect her from the phenomenon.

The sound of the wind and the strong dark current flooded my ears and the whole place.

The whole place seemed to mute all the sounds surrounding me. I couldn't feel a thing. I just felt blank and pleading Elizabeth would be okay. If only I have the ability to protect her.

I saw Elizabeth's eyes change their colors again. This time, there were all white as though her life was taken away from her, seeping out everything that's left from her. Drenching her powers and her immortality from her vessel.

That was when I tightly balled my fist. My face became red and veins from my neck started to appear. Anger flowed all over me. "Elizabeth!" I continued to shout. My body started to tremble. I never saw anything this frightful before. Never did I imagine such an occurrence would change the way I treat her. All my anger from my past suddenly subsided. After all, she's my sister.

The thought of losing another family would mean I'm going to live another miserable life in Derevia. All was taken away from me. My mother, my siblings, and my father.

The memories of Elizabeth's youth came inside me all of a sudden...

She was a young maiden, a favorite child in the family. My mother loved her very much. She was always silent and played the piano all by herself.

The memory of her life as an immortal came to me as well. Her wavy jet-black hair was swaying to her moves. She gracefully fought with her sword while mischievously smiled at me in a duel.

Back then, I was always the ‘unwanted’.

The eye of the Sixth always looked at us in a duel. Letting us know that we need to fight for our rightful place inside the Santerri Kingdom.

Elizabeth would always laugh at me. She would always scare me away with her sudden change. The moment I realized it, I've grown to loathe her more and more as the centuries pass us by...

I saw how the dark current full-blasted its power unto Elizabeth. Her body became darker with veins starting to show up from her skin. Her lips were distorted while her lips parted and were hung open.

A white ball of light suddenly was released from her mouth. It glowed brighter and floated in the air. For a second, I couldn't bring myself to believe in what I was witnessing, but it's no use in arguing with what is happening right now.

This has shattered every single despair I cried every time I was replaced with nothing back anger in me. The fact that I wanted this all to happen to her, made me loathe myself.

I vanished everything I was prepared for as soon as I saw this happening.

Elizabeth is being murdered by the arc's mechanism which I am not familiar with. It's like Hades came to Derevia to drench out of her, her immortality.

This is the first time I've encountered such aura from the arc; like it was connected somewhere outside the realm of Derevia. Was it really from Hades or from somewhere in the universe?

What is really happening?

The white ball of light stopped in mid-air and suddenly was sucked into the arc where I saw a weird-looking image. A moving dark circle. It swirled and swirled until it became faster than expected. It consumed the light's energy, seeping out the life from it. When it's done consuming the ball of light, all of the violent winds are put into a stop, fully consumed by the force coming from the arc. The trees refrained themselves from swaying, the dust from the dry ground stopped swirling around in mid-air, and Elizabeth's dead body slowly collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly, a huge collision came from underneath the ground. The land made a huge crack and was cut in half. I saw the deep dark cliff that was forming as if seeing the depths of Hades' kingdom.

I suddenly moved faster while wincing in pain. I quickly ran away to evade the cracks. My head is spinning due to the constant quakes coming from underneath. I tried my best to run away, but the cracks seemed to be faster than expected.

The ground opened up from beneath me. I fell. I shouted and reached out my hand until I luckily grabbed a hold of the edge of the cliff.

I winced again in pain, grunted, and mustered all my strength to climb back up. Suddenly, the edge broke into a piece of rock. My eyes widened in fear. I waggled both of my hands but it's already too late.

My whole body is now descending into the darkness. My whole system was invaded by silence and hell.

****

I quickly opened my eyes. The clear sky was all I could see.

The sound was grand and peaceful; chirping birds, brushing of the deer's feet to the ground, the rumbling horses, the hoot of other big birds such as owls and eagles. The silent and peaceful wind came in, greeting me with a smile. The clouds above seemed to hide the sun for a moment. They're all scattered like a field of cotton and pillows. I could see the birds flying and hovering over the whole land. The dancing leaves of the trees in its branches bowed down under the peaceful sky. The world of Derevia seemed to be a peaceful place for the bloodsuckers. A haven of eternity.

I tried to move my head from side to side to observe my surroundings. I realized that I was in a wide grass field. The grass that surrounded me is colored in gold and green, touched by the grandiose sunlight and prosperity. They've grown with colorful flowers.

I held out my hand towards the sky and pretended to touch the clouds. Seeing them by far makes me want to sleep more.

At my left side, my ivory-white horse is rumbling and brushing its horseshoe to the ground. It was like talking to me, demanding me to stand up and saddle on him.

I smiled. "Did I make you wait, Selena?" I asked the horse. I got up and sat on the grass. My other knee moved to my chest as I rested my arm on it. "What is this place? Where are the others?" I asked nonchalantly. My voice was a bit hoarse and dry.

The horse made a sound again and pointed its nose in a direction.

When I stood up and looked at the horizon where Selena pointed, I saw the familiar castle just about 7 kilometers from my position. With that, I already knew that I'm inside Santerri's perimeter. The clearing where I'm at is a field for royals.

I turned to look at Selena but she was already crawling in the direction she pointed. I followed her until I saw her wet nose touching something on the ground.

My eyes widened when I saw what it was. I quickly ran towards Selena and knelt in front of a body that collapsed to the ground. It was the body of a female bloodsucker. It was facing the ground that I couldn't see her face.

She wore a long, elegant, thick, and flowery dress colored in violet. The dress is made out of expensive silk. Her hair is jet-black and wavy up to her elbows.

My heartbeats raised and slowly held her shoulders. I turned her body around to see her face. For a moment, I stopped breathing.

Her closed eyes, her nose, her red lips, and the shape of her face... it all belonged to someone I loathe to eternity.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes. She creased her forehead, slightly closed her eyelids as she adjusted to the sunlight.

A jolt of pain came quickly into my head. I trembled and remembered everything that had happened before I woke up in this field.

-to-be-continued-