Escape!

"Hear, Hear.. people of light!" Zerith shouts to the growing crowd. "The King... along with General Tigreal has killed the Prime Minister!"

There was a murmur on the crowd. Zerith had planted some men among them to spread lies and deceit among the people.

"I heard that the King had Moskov killed because of his idea to save the Kingdom..."

"Well, I heard that the Queen, who was a kind woman, was struck dead by that traitorous Tigreal, ordered by the King himself."

"The King has led his people to destruction!"

The people nodded and believed these men, and were of anger of sorrow.

"We must not allow this to happen anymore!" Zerith shouts and raises his sword up to the air. "I say we exile the King!"

There was complete silence over the crowd until the deceivers concealed within them chanted. "Down with the King! Down with the King!"

The crowd followed them soon after that.

"He has killed the Prime Minister, who has cared for all of us all through these years... and the Queen, who has been preventing his wrath from reaching us all!" Zerith convinces them. "He will soon raise the taxes... he will take all your wives and your children! Your cattle... your sheep... everything!"

"Down with the King!"

"I say we separate from this tyranny and establish the TRUE kingdom of light, destined to us by the Almighty and given to us by our ancestors!"

"Down with the King!"

"We will lead the land of dawn to a new era! Where light and darkness, good and bad... human, orc, elf... everyone shall be united under one cause and one banner!" Zerith proclaims. "To be the kingdom that we were destined to be... and may the Great King be proud of us and not of his son, who has foolishly done these wicked deeds!"

"Down with the King!"

"Down with the King!"

The crowd got even wilder and louder when they saw the King's Royal Guard approaching.

"DOWN WITH THE KING!"

_______________________________________

Yun Zhao's POV

What is going on? Was this really true? The General would never do such a thing! And the King... did he really unjustly kill the Prime Minister? His own wife even?

I watched as Lord Zerith, one of the soldiers of the Royal Guard, convinced the crowd unto his side. I was a little bit skeptical at first, however I couldn't help but think that he was getting a point across one way or another.

The Royal Guards got to the scene soon and after beating Zerith off the place he was to the ground, dragged him off with them to be judged.

"My people, my people... don't be blinded by.. by these men!" Zerith manages to say before a soldier covers his head with a sack.

The crowd was convinced now.

The Royal Spokesperson of the King went and tried to explain everything to the crowd. "Citizens, have no fear. The King of Light, the one chosen by the Almighty, has put a stop to the fires of rebellion, and always know that-"

He didn't finish his speech yet before one person in the crowd threw a small rock at him, hitting him in the eye. The Royal Guard took a notice of this and got in the middle, separating the crowd and the Spokesman.

"Down with the King..." one can be heard saying..

"Down with the King." The crowd followed.

"Down with the King!"

The Royal Guard raised their spears and pointed it towards the crowd, but that did not stop them from chanting.

A little more and they would be causing a riot.

The Royal Guard escorted the spokesman to the Palace, and one by one they retreated inside.

"See?" One of the men from the crowd cried out. "If we just unite, we will put a stop to this mess!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Another one replied.

One by one they agreed and spoke many things before going away one by one. I wouldn't think that they won't be back anytime soon.

I managed to take a glimpse at the back of the Palace, where I saw the General and one of the Captains of the local guard talking. And so I went to speak to him. I have to get some truth.

"Find the traitor's accomplice, Vexana." Tigreal instructs him. "And bring her to the throne room for interrogation."

"I've heard that she resembles the Necromancer, sorcerer of the dead." The Captain told him.

"Bring the priests then." Tigreal tells him. "Do not let her escape."

The Captain nods and proceeds to carry out his mission.

The General was about to go back inside the heavily guarded palace, but luckily this time I was on time.

"General!" I shouted at him, grabbing his attention. "What's going on?"

"You..." General Tigreal says, facing me. "It's not safe here... go back home."

"But they said ridiculous things about you and the King!" I said. "And I wouldn't believe them until I hear it from your mouth..."

"Look, there's been a coup." Tigreal tells me, signalling a guard behind him. "That's all I can tell you."

He then turns toward the guard and says, "Take 4 other men and get him to his house. No man or woman that is unauthorized may see him until I or the King says so."

"Understood, General." The soldier says, before going back to the palace.

Tigreal sighs and faces towards me. "Don't let anyone see you. We're preparing to evacuate..."

"Evacuate?" I said. "Why?"

"Zerith, with the help of the deceiver, has convinced the people to take Moskov's side." Tigreal says. "It would only be a matter of time before the people overruns us all here. It's best that we escape to the second Palace, somewhere on the South."

I was speechless. All of this was happening at the same day. But I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass.

"Let me go with you."

"What?" The General asks.

"Let me be your disciple, and let me train with you to become a member of the Royal Guard." I told him.

The General thought about it for a while, reaching to a conclusion. "I shall come to a decision when we get out of here. For now, head on home."

I nodded as the soldiers assigned to me by the General were present. And so they escorted me back home.

_______________________________________

The Captain kicks the door of Vexana's supposed hideout, and the soldiers, along with the priests, followed.

They followed the hallway into a very large room filled with experiments and dead bodies.

"Dear Lord." The Captain says as he saw everything unfold.

There was, however, something that caught his eye.

A woman crying in the corner, in front of a corpse.

One of the Captain's soldiers came unto him and whispered, "Maybe it's a relative of the deceased."

The Captain nodded and proceeded to walk slowly towards the woman, gripping his sword very tightly.

"Hello?" He says, approaching her. "It's okay, we have come to put the beast to justice."

The woman stops crying. The Captain was relieved and places his hand on her shoulder, until, to the men's horror, she twisted her own neck and faced the Captain with a stare that petrified him. She then cut off the Captain's arms before pushing him out of the way. 

The priests began reciting holy scripture while the soldiers points there swords, spears and bows towards the unholy creature.

The ancient creature, Vexana of the darkness, flies over towards one of the men and rips off his head, killing him almost instantly.

The soldiers,one by one, approached Vexana and tried to strike her, but it was useless. She was immune to their swords.

She kills them one by one, feeding on their life force... and once they were all dead, she turned her attention towards the Priests.

"-Almighty spirit, hear our prayers! Strike this unholy creature with your flames of wrath, that she may know justice and holiness!"

Vexana approaches one priest and breaks his spinal cord, which got the others startled, however they were determined.

"With the power that was given to us by the Almighty spirit, begone... unholy creature!"

And just then, holy fire came from among their hands and struck Vexana, paralyzing her.

She screams for a little while before her head was covered by a sack.