Elsewhere out at sea while the moon hangs high in the air. A young man stands on the deck of a ship watching as explosions go off in front of him from a nearby island. Pillars of flames erupt from the island as a gigantic shadow appears in the air, blocking out the moon as it flies forward. A young woman flies down from above on scaley wings, landing on the boat next to the young man.

“It’s no luck Isacc. She’s taken the island.”

“What about the others?” The young man asks.

“The Pawns sacrificed themselves to help us get away, and the others were captured. We have no idea what she’s planning to do with them, but it can’t be good.”

He slams his fist against the ship’s railing. “Damn it! How did she get the drop on us!?”

“There’s nothing we could’ve done. No one could’ve expected that weapon of hers.”

The young man shakes his head. “Everyone. They all….”

“Isaac!” She shouts at the top of her lungs. “You are our hope and the hope of everyone back home. This situation is dire, but we can turn it around and make a comeback.”

“Xia.”

“We can do this. You’re the one who’ll sit on the throne. I just know it.”

Isacc stands and nods. “Your right. I’ll turn this around and take the throne, and I know just how to do it.”

“How?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Information. Thanks to this, we know where some of the other candidates are. If we can get some of them to fight each other, then we’ll be able to take out several enemies at once.”

“Are you sure we can do this?”

“I know it. All we have to do is just wait for the right moment and spread the news as far as we can.”

“That’s my Isacc,” Xia says with a grin on her face.

The shadow blocks out the moon as the duo stare up at the starless sky.

“We may have lost our island, but we haven’t lost the war yet,” Isaac says.

Inside the flying fortress, a young woman sits on her throne, looking down at the destruction below her. She smiles as a well-dressed man approaches her, bowing at a specific angle to please her as she turns away from her destruction.

“Tell me about our progress?”

“We’ll be taking in the last of his pieces soon. But it appears that the King and Queen Pieces are nowhere to be found.”

She laughs. “The coward fled. Not that I blame him. Few in these islands can stand up to our fortress.”

“Of course, Madam. Now, what shall we do next?”

“First, we’ll eliminate this island and then return to our base to resupply. We also have a handful of new sacrifices to deal with, so we should unload them. It’s rude to keep our guest waiting after all.”

He bows. “Of course, Madam Morgan.”

“Be sure to take any captives you can from the island’s populace. We could use more people for various tasks.”

“Would that be wise? The food stores for the public are low of late.”

“Oh, that’s fine. If we have too many people, we can feed the swine to their fellow swine. A perfect system, is it not?”

He smiles and nods. “It is indeed elegant.”

“Then let my will be so!” She proclaims as her voice echoes throughout the fortress as she laughs excitedly.

She smiles as more blasts shoot down from her flying fortress, burning away the island and reducing all of it to cinders. Isaac watches in the distance, clenching his fist in anger as he drifts away from the carnage. He burns the image and suffering into his eyes and makes one solemn prayer.

“Please, whoever may be listening. Don’t let someone like her take the throne. Even if it’s not me, a monster like her should never be allowed on the throne.”