The afternoon sun bathed Rashakn in a melancholy blue. Calxochitli, the exiled Queen, watched the city approach, a knot of apprehension tightening her heart. Behind her, her children, small warriors with eyes full of fear, followed in silence. The faithful troops, reduced to a handful of soldiers, formed a fragile shield around the queen.
"Your Majesty," said Xochitl, her faithful Vizier, approaching cautiously, "Crixus guarantees safe passage to the city. He promises to welcome you as queen and his future wife."
Calxochitli gave the Vizier an icy look. "And do you believe his words, Xochitl?"
"I fear there is no other option, Your Majesty. The nobles have turned against us and have already changed their allegiance. Without their support, we cannot resist Lord Crixus."
"But he is a monster, according to what you told me! He wants to destroy me, Xochitl. I do not trust his promises!"
"I understand your distrust, Your Majesty. But the situation is desperate. If we do not surrender, he will hunt us to the end. And I have seen his magic, his dragons, he would easily find us, Your Majesty."
Calxochitli clenched his jaws tightly, venom dripping from his fangs. "So, are we going to surrender ourselves like lambs to the slaughter?"
"No, Your Majesty! We can use this situation to our advantage. Crixus wants to marry Your Majesty, clearly to legitimize his power more easily and quickly. As his Queen, even if it is only a facade, we can infiltrate and learn about his plans and find a way out of this alley."
"What if he does not fulfill his promise? What if he kills us, or my children?"
"Then, Your Majesty, we will have to fight. But at least we will have time to plan our escape. But I think that is not the case, the preparations for the wedding are already being made." Calxochitli pondered the vizier's words. The idea of surrendering herself to Crixus filled her with repulsion, even more so with the description of the monster that the vizier had reported, but Xochitl was right. It was a risk, but perhaps it was the only chance to save her children and her people. "Very well, Xochitl. But do not trust Lord Crixus. Keep your eyes open and your ears alert. If he tries anything, prepare to flee, here is a teleportation ring, my queen." Using Mage Hand she places the ring on one of the spikes on her head. "How many can I take with this ring?" "Your Majesty +3." He says in a whisper. "Choose between my children..." The queen says with deep regret. Xochitl nodded, a gleam of hope in her eyes. "Yes, Your Majesty." Calxochitli stared at her city, its imposing walls, the fortress of her former palace, now taken by the usurper, Crixus. It was a trap, but she was willing to risk it. She would not surrender. She would fight.
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For an hour she waited for the wretch to call her, for her eggs to crack and break.
The throne room, once a testament to the glory of Calxochitli's kingdom, now resembled a tomb. The royal dais, once carved of jade and adorned with gold, was cracked, cracked, and covered in a fine, dark dust. The queen herself, Calxochitli, standing atop the remains of her power, was a shadow of her former magnificence. Her eyes, once bright and full of life, were now dull, filled with a silent terror that consumed her from within. Her sons, young warriors, stood by her side, their faces contorted in a mixture of fear and anger.
The creature that hovered before them was an aberration, a nightmare born from the darkest dreams. Its body was a tangle of tentacles and appendages, writhing and pulsing as if in constant agony. Its skin, if you could call it that, was a leather armor with several segments, from which several small tentacles with eyes at the ends protruded, eyes of elves, reptiles and other things that she had no idea about. The creature had a mouth at the end of three of its tentacles, long poisonous fangs followed by rows of razor-sharp teeth, shining with a sickly light. It was as if an Otyugh had had a night of orgy with the Beholder and the second generation had spawned.
Xochitl, the Vizier had prepared me, but seeing the creature with my own eyes was a scene that really made me run away, run away. But I
I am a Queen, I would not make a scene like that. After all, it would be useless.
Her eyes, if you could call them that, were dark abysses, without pupils, that seemed to suck the light from the room, making the room even darker. They did not blink, several of them fixed on Calxochitli and her children, as if they were observing them, analyzing them, before devouring them.
A nauseating odor permeated the air, a smell of rancid things, sulfur and something even more terrible, a fragrance that hinted at the presence of something ancient, primordial, something that was beyond human comprehension.
Standing beside her were her wives, a fire giant and 2 Draconian servants, watching the scene without showing anything.
On the sides of the hall were the nobles who betrayed me. Aaahhh...they would pay, with their own skins, for that.
The herald announced us and we entered, our guards right behind, all tense, I felt naked and defenseless in a place that was once my home and by the Gods, would be again.
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“Welcome, Queen Calxochitli, I hope your trip has been good.” The monster says with 3 voices, which sound like disgusting insects, crawling on my feathers. Crixus looks at the creatures before him, slender, elegant, with shiny scales that change color in the sunlight. Their bodies snake, agile and sinuous, like a snake slithering through the grass. With a reptilian head, with delicate features, piercing eyes and thin fangs protruding from its mouth. Vibrant feathers flutter from its head, in shades of emerald green, gold and ruby red, forming a majestic crown. The feathers move gracefully, as if dancing to the rhythm of the wind, creating a striking contrast with the scaly skin and agile body. A feathered serpent, a mythical creature that evokes mystery and beauty. But here, in this world, in this life, they are beings of the purest, evil, depravity, debauchery and corruption, all of them. But they have purified them. Yes, they will fit into the image he has in his head, for better or for worse.
“Yes, Crixus.” When he says his name without honorifics, his wives tense up, but don’t make a sound. Well-trained sluts, they would make great slaves. Crazy, I feel something trying to penetrate my mind.
“Stop. That is very rude.” With a hard voice I look at the creature. My guards put their hands without their swords. What is very strange, the monster did not stop them from carrying weapons in his presence. A sign of great confidence or arrogance. With my guards assuming a more aggressive position, no one showed any reaction to the change in posture.
That scared me even more. With a snap of his fingers, the atmosphere in the room changed and the monster cast a spell. It was a spell that I had only heard of, Mass Paralyze. I realized that my children and my guards had been hit by the powerful spell. I began to cast Summon Monster III, but before I could finish, the giant also used the same spell on me, and this time I was hit. Panic took over me, all I could think about was running away, leaving everything and everyone behind and running as far away as possible.
The monster floated slowly, its immense form taking up my entire field of vision.
Lord Crixus, with an aura of cold fury, raised his voice, each word echoing in the silent chamber.
"Listen, everyone! The royal family has fed on pain, our misery and suffering for too long! Their crimes pile up like mountains of bones, their cruel and heinous acts have stained the earth with innocent blood! THIS ENDS TODAY, NOW!"
Crixus's dozens of eyes swept the assembly, searching each face for any sign of revolt or confrontation. "Their luxuries, banquets and power games were bathed in blood and the pleasure of seeing lives destroyed!" Crixus paused, his voices filled with contempt. "Their cruelty was not limited to oppression and slavery. They delighted in torturing, in mutilating, in extinguishing lives with the same coldness as extinguishing candles! Their acts, acts of monsters, echoed through the centuries, haunting the nights of the peoples and races they persecuted!" The silent room was now a pit of fear, palpable, with a sweet and sickening smell. "Therefore, the royal family ceases to exist today. Their lineage ends today! There is no place for them in this kingdom, nor for those who are like them, there is no forgiveness for their crimes! They will be exterminated, their names erased from history! May this be the end of tyranny, the beginning of a new era of justice and peace!"
Crixus finished his speech, his body now serene, determination shining in his eyes. The room, taken by a wave of tension, awaited the events.
She tried everything, but nothing worked.
The monster approached and one of its disgusting tentacles pulled her close, dragging her body across the floor of the hall in a dignified manner. Then it turned her defenseless body towards the place where her children, guards and most faithful servants were still paralyzed.
One of the tentacles with a mouth began to vomit a dense mist towards them, when it touched the floor a crackling began to rise from the floor, when the mist touched the first of the guards the mist began to dissolve him, and so it continued dissolving everything in its path, I could not look away, nor close my eyes. My children...
Then everything went dark.
Xochitl, the Vizier watches everything with the panic being controlled with all their strength, other nobles could not, some vomited, 2 fainted. As soon as our Beloved Lord Conqueror Crixus, yes he knew that the monster could read minds, but never if all the time, when or with whom, but it was better to train the mind. While the bodies were still being dissolved by the terrible magic, one of the mouths of the Beloved Lord Conqueror Crixus, stuck its venomous fangs into the queen's skull, who showed no reaction, it was possible to see the muscles of the mouth pumping poison into the brain of the deceased queen. A few seconds later the mouth began to swallow the queen. More people in the audience vomited and some fainted. Discreetly he looks at the royal platform and sees the Sacred Wives, all watching with crazy smiles, the scene before them, except for the dark elf, who looks at the engravings on the ceiling of the hall. In a few minutes there is not even a feather of the queen.
The fog has already dissipated. The Sacred Wives went to meet our Beloved Lord Conqueror Crixus. Then he began to shake his immense body, as if he were having convulsions. In a jet he spits out the queen's entire body, now covered in a fluorescent blue slime that smelled of cinnamon. The body began to move, the nobles were now in panic, many fled through the doors. Only 2 remained, excluding those who had fainted. The Queen stood up and looked at our Beloved Lord Conqueror Crixus. She prostrated herself on the floor and turned her belly up. The ultimate sign of submission. Our Beloved Lord Conqueror Crixus touched the queen's head with one of his tentacles, who stood up. "Welcome, 5th wife!" He said in a complete change of attitude. The few who were still in the Great Royal Hall looked at the scene and then at each other without understanding anything.
Crixus begins to laugh, a cacophonous laugh, made of many voices and tones. Soon his family laughs with him, a laugh full of madness fills the hall.
“Welcome to the New Empire.” Crixus says, cutting off his laughter and each of his eyes fixes on those still present.
Everyone prostrates themselves in respect, fear, terror and obedience.