The Fall Of An Empire

Rama immediately sprang up on her feet, she didn't want to look helpless in the eyes of the night creatures, she'd use her final breath to defend her dignity and her pride even though it was over.

As quickly as she sprang up her feet, she felt a hard kick driven into the back of her knees and her knees came colliding onto the blood covered floor.

She felt a painful burn on them as she knelt on the floor and she hissed silently in pain before glaring at the night creature that had inflicted it on her.

She hadn't even realized he was behind her until he veered around and came into her view, a wicked grin spread on his daunting beautiful face but she realized there was a gaping disparity between the vampire king and the other night creatures, the darkness he exuded and his beauty couldn't be compared to theirs.

But then her eyes narrowed down to another night creature standing close beside him, his red eyes were darker than the others but a shade lighter than the king's, he had a serene expression on his face, his reddish brown hair and red hazel like eyes gave him a tinge of normalcy, but there was nothing normal about him.

She could see a brewing storm of darkness encircled around the rings of his red eyes, a menacing cloak of terror laid silently beneath the serene look he percolated, silent but ominous, like the calm of the waves before the guttural storm.

Her observations were abruptly interrupted immediately she felt the helmet being ripped off viciously from her head, releasing her long black hair that danced with the wind behind her as she knelt on the bloody ground in front of her rival, something she never visualized herself doing and the thought of it made her jaws clench in unsettled rage.

The harsh stench of blood crammed the air, making its way into her nostrils which she bitterly smelt.

It was emanating from the corpses of her thousands of men who were brutally decapitated by her rival's men, they used no sword but their bare hands, only because they were night creatures and they possessed immense strength, a strength that made her shudder.

She looked up to see the crimson red eyes of her exceptional rival, the vampire king of Voltaire Empire and she felt her stomach link itself in an unbearable knot when she did, those crimson red eyes of his boring through her with malicious intent, made her eyes blaze up in anger and her fists curled into a tight ball.

He had let her live so that he could end her life with his own hands, after all, he had heard of the fierce warrior queen that vowed to produce his head on a stake to her people, how she scorned his name in a blasphemous way.

Rama knew she was facing her gruesome end but she didn't shrink in fear, she wouldn't break in front of the vampire king, after all, she was the warrior queen of the Saba Empire.

"Any last words princess?" He drawled mockingly, every word that reverberated out of his lips held a menacing tone to it as he glowered down at her, making her blood curdle but her hard expression didn't falter as she retained her gaze on the forbidding creature.

"I'm no princess, I'm a Queen!" She hissed in fury as she shot lethal glares at him, the words rolling out of her mouth made the corner of his lips curve up into a daunting smile and his red eyes darken with dreary excitement.

"Queen? You have no Empire, no people, no throne, you're nothing but a girl at the mercy of the vampire king." He uttered, every word emanated malice from within, destruction and death, nothing about him conveyed a bit of warmth or light, every inch of him had a thick darkness resolving in it.

She waited with gritted teeth for her gruesome end to come, but only heavy silence ensued.

"You already won, kill me!" She didn't want to die early in the past when she still had something to live for, an Empire to preside over, people to defend and a future to look forward to, but not anymore, the night creatures had won and no doubt her Empire would be going up in flames soon, her people would be slaughtered, there was no future for her or a valid reason to live so she accepted death without waiting for it to choose her.

Death was the only alternative she had, it was a quick escape from everything, she would evade the brutality of the world and leave behind the haunted memories of her failure and downfall of her Empire which would be stuck in her memory for as long as she lived and the only way to be released from the tormenting heaviness of guilt, despair and hatred that resided in her heart, was to end her existence, then her memories and her feelings would go extinct.

Rama closed her eyes awaiting her death, for her to finally be disentangled from the misery and anguish that spread throughout her entire body, the weight of her failure, guilt and anguish was too heavy for her to carry and she wanted nothing more than to be released from the hell she was in.

"I'll be too merciful if I grant you what you desire, a quick death is too merciful for a creature like me."

Rama's head shot up to stare into his crimson red eyes which held a sadistic glint in it, no doubt he was enjoying her misery and now he wanted to elongate it more by letting her live in her own nightmare.

Everything she lived for was gone, she didn't want to spend another second with the disgusting night creatures, it would be nothing less than hell, he would make sure to torture her in the most aggravated way he could.

"I have no use alive, just kill me now. I don't perceive death to be merciful." She stated, holding her gaze with his until she saw a dreary grin tear through his lips.

"Seeing you alive and pleading for death gives me the satisfaction I desire, I'll take pleasure in your nightmare of a life and I'll only decide on when to end it whenever I grow bored with you."

Rama's blood ran cold at his words, what did he mean by when he grew bored? Was she like a toy in his eyes? A toy he would play with and discard whenever he got bored.

Her life would be worse than a nightmare and adrenaline flowed through her veins as she thought of how gory her torment would be if her everyday life would be in the mercy of the night creatures.

Rama had no other choice, if he wouldn't kill her, then she would set herself free from this burden that weighed heavily on her shoulders.

She swiftly drew out her dagger from her boot and as quick as she could, lunged it toward her chest, ready to plunge her heart where guilt and misery resided, to finally escape the bitter feeling.

Yet again, she failed.

She felt the vampire king's harsh grip on her arm making her release her grasp on the dagger and letting it fall to the ground.

She immediately felt his strong arm switch from gripping her arm to grab the back of her neck, his fingers digging into her skin and she hissed in pain as she felt him shove her unto the ground.

She clenched her teeth against each other in rage as she shot him glares, how dare he?

But even with her rage, there was nothing she could do, she was powerless compared to him and she wouldn't last a minute if she decided to pick a fight with him, it'd be a death mission and the thought crossed her mind but she knew he wouldn't kill her like he had said, but instead torture her for her defiance.

"Your Empire is going up in flames right now and I wanted you to watch it's end but as your punishment for being a defiant princess, you won't get a final glance at the debris and you won't get to say goodbyes." He said with a low dark growl as he peered his daunting red eyes through her and she could feel her body tremble with fear of the unknown fate that awaited her.

Again, he had made her speechless, no words were able to construct from her lips, it felt like her brain had gone numb with fear and she abhorred the feeling of fear, she hated how he made her feel, how he made her body react with adrenaline flowing through her veins.

His intimidating gaze averted from her and halted at his men.

"Bound her, we're leaving." She heard him order them with an air of authority and her body reacted instinctively.

He was holding her captive as a prisoner or worse!

She shook her head vigorously as the night creatures with a lighter shade of eyes approached her with a thick rope.

She tried to fight them off even though she couldn't but she wouldn't give in and let them tie her like a prisoner, she found it hard to accept that her, a queen was degraded to nothing but a prisoner and taken hostage by the night creatures.

They effortlessly held her down and bound her hands with the rope which tightened around her wrist but she didn't wince in pain as she felt his eyes watching her, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her weak and vulnerable, come what may but she would never cower in fear to him.

She felt like it had all been prepared, the vampire king had no doubt he would win and he had come prepared to kill her men, destroy her Empire and take her as his prisoner, just to make her suffer and torment her for as long as he wished, the vampire king had played his most sinister game yet.

Her Empire was obliterated, her people were massacred and her title as the queen stripped from her in front of her eyes, in just as split second she was degraded from the warrior queen to the mere prisoner of her rival, the vampire king.