Chapter 11.

Neriah.

I sit in the middle of the ball room. The candles poorly placed on the hanging chandeliers, have no semblance to the once stately chandeliers that graced this same ball room when the former queen was around. The invited guests are dressed in their finery. Feasting on the foods served. Dark beings like me that are under my control have been invited to the ball tonight.

A pang of guilt threatens to dampen my mood at that thought. But I push it back.

I'm the Queen now and nothing stops me from enjoying my reign.

My eyes turn to the king as he sits lifelessly beside me. He's a king, dressed in all his regal finery. But his eyes hold emptiness. I smirk as I recall how I have kept his soul with me since I took over his life, years ago.

A soul that now feeds me. The anguish of the poor soul, filling me with imaginable power, because it cries for redemption. Cries for a love once had.

"My King, how are you enjoying this ball set in our honor?" I ask him. He gives this incoherent sound as response. I smile, contentedly. He no longer speaks. He's completely under my manipulation.

I turn my gaze to the middle of the ballroom just in time to see Dalkino arriving with a man. Silence falls across the room. The guests path way for them to walk in. The man looks frightened as he approaches.

No doubt he's frightened by the looks of the beings that surround him. Minotaurs, werewolves, vampires, dragons. I smirk contentedly.

"My Queen, this is the leader of the rebels. Feliz." Dalkino answers. My gaze shifts to this Feliz. He trembles before me. I can smell his fear. "I have Invited him to the ball as you've ordered."

"Thank you, Dalkino." I shift a hard gaze to Feliz. A fake smile on my lips. "You have been rebelling against my reign with the villagers. Why?" My tone is cold. He looks at me, shifts his eyes to the king and then something changes in his face.

He grows bold.

I frown, shocked at his sudden boldness.

"Your majesty, you are not the rightful Queen. You reign has brought fear, starvation and insecurities for the people..."

The room falls into further silence, while I watch with horror.

"You bring suffering on the people...The old Queen wasn't like that. And now you have made us weep..."

"How dare you?!!!" I flare up. My tone is filled with anger and my voice echoes throughout the whole room. The air stirs with tension. My venom stirs within me.

I glide down the stairs, walking in the direction of Feliz. I draw closer until I'm in his face. He shrinks back in fear.

"You dare confront me, mortal? No mortal man has ever confronted me and lived." I snarl. He opens his eyes wide in alarm.

"I had wanted to make you my prisoner. But not anymore." My tone comes out dark. Spirals of my dark powers, emanate from me. My fingers tingle as energy travels through me.

"I will show you what I do with mortals that defy me." I coldly declare. I inch push my hands through his chest, my fingers digging into his skin. He looks at me, fear and pain in his eyes. The last looks on his face before I push in further.

The sound of sinews snapping as I sink my hand further in, squeezing his heart, fills the room.

In a flash, the man falls limp to the ground. Blood pooling around him. Everyone stares in fear at the scene before them. The warning is loud as they all grasp the picture. No one defies me! Not even mortals.

"This is a warning to everyone of you! Both mortals and creatures of darkness. No one challenges me! No one!"

I turn around and walk in the direction of my seat. Regally I climb back to my seat. Sitting down as a queen that I am. I signal for the party to continue. The music drowns the initial air of trepidation that fell upon the room, moments ago.

***

Liam.

I stand in my strategy room and look at the map of all the surrounding kingdoms. Meadowland stands in the middle of all the other kingdoms. Flanked my other powerful kingdoms. The most powerful of which is Elywoods kingdom.

One stood in splendor, Elywoods was a well sort after kingdom. Every king wanted to form an alliance with the kingdom. But now all that stands in Elywoods is darkness and gloom. The Kingdom has become a lair of fear and terror.

The king has become a Shadow of it's former glory. And my good friend, Edmund is completely unrecognizable. All his officials, imprisoned by his new wife. Most of them unlawfully executed. And his friends have abandoned him for fear of being targeted by his new queen.

But I do not fear her. I'm currently weighing how we can attack the kingdom and bring the queen's tyranny to an end. But each time I try to get my men across to fight, something stops them. An invisible force field that barricades my soldiers from penetrating the Elywoods' borders.

"Father, the servants said you haven't eaten tonight." My son's voice filters into my concentration.

I inhale steadily. He steps up to stand beside me. His stately form reminiscent of how I once was.

"How can I when Elywoods' darkness seems to be encroaching into our domain. Reports from the outskirts have reached us that the trolls are attacking our people." I worriedly acknowledge.

My son's sigh reaches me and I know he is equally as worried as I am.

"Father we have tried to take them down for years now. Yet we haven't succeeded. And even the kingdom of fairies seem to ignore our request for their help." My son's tone is grave. I recall when we met the fairy kingdom and implored them for their help. The had turned us down.

"We must find a way to end the Queen's reign of tyranny."

"How father? We have tried." My son declares.

"We will find a way. Somehow something will come up."