Queen vs. Her Pet
image [https://i.ibb.co/9gP5RS6/toppng-com-line-dividers-png-1000x200.png]
A crisp autumn wind whipped around Eydis's ankles, sending fallen leaves skittering across her path. The only sounds at this time of the day were the dry rustle of the leaves and the occasional snap of a twig under her boot as she crunched towards the academy's cricket ground.
'The coast is clear, Your Majesty,' Envy’s voice slithered into her mind, its formless presence a cold caress against her aura.
A quirk of her lips was her only response. Spotting a bloodstained uniform crumpled on a bench, Eydis's eyes narrowed.
“Swallowing a whole student, Envy? That's Gluttony, even by your standards. Leave some for the crows, they appreciate a good leftover soul now and then."
Envy's aura pulsed with a distinctly offended wobble. ‘Your Majesty, I—‘
"Dispose of this, now!" Eydis growled, the leash on her power straining under the surge of anger. Now that she held Envy's hunger, its rampaging recklessness became her burden to bear.
With a ripple of darkness, Envy materialised, its obsidian scales shimmering with violet sheen. It gaped its maw wide, revealing a cavernous interior that could swallow a calf whole. The bloody uniform disappeared with a muffled plop that echoed unappetisingly.
Envy recoiled, its shiny scales visibly dimming by revulsion.
‘The textures!’
Eydis raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Develop a taste for itchy blazer, Envy, because that's all you're getting until you learn some manners. Defy me," she warned, "and trust me, these bloody clothes will be the least of your dietary concerns."
Envy shuddered dramatically. ‘I'd rather have your iron grip permanently latched onto my neck, Your Majesty.’
"Now that," Eydis conceded with a smirk, "wouldn't be punishment at all."
She raised a hand, her fingers whispering a silent spell. Inky tendrils danced around her. In a graceful arc, she directed the energy towards the falling maple leaf. A violet streak lanced through its crimson veins, disintegrating it mid-air.
‘Message received, loud and clear,’ Envy rasped, its forked tongue flicking nervously. 'But your mana…’
Eydis sighed, “Negligible. But it’s a start."
Unlike Tiffany, a gullible buffet of insecurities, Eydis refused to be Envy's personal feeding trough. That resistance came at a crippling cost — a leash on Envy's true potential.
Petty jealousy was beneath her. Envy wouldn't find sustenance in her, bound or not. Her ambition was singular: to secure fertile lands for her kingdom. It wasn't envy, it was an unyielding conviction.
No wonder her familiar had latched onto Tiffany the moment it was free. Like a fly to a honeydew-covered simpleton.
‘I hear you, Your Majesty,’ Envy grumbled. ‘But my loyalty lies with you. Once my memories returned, the path became clear.'
"Bound to this body, you're about as free as a puppy on a retractable leash. Now, quiet down before I yank the cord."
Envy coiled around her arms in a disgruntled slither. If snake standards allowed for crossed arms, it would have done that too.
Silence descended. Eydis settled onto the familiar sigil etched weeks ago. Murmuring an arcane chant, she allowed the intricate purple circle to envelop her. It syphoned ambient dark energy, a slow but steady trickle to replenish her reserves.
The irony was fascinating. This academy, with its cruel ranking system, unknowingly nurtured the very energy that fuelled her dark magic. Not to mention all that delicious angst from hormonal teens who thought life ended with an unliked selfie.
Violet runes and cryptic geometric equations swirled mesmerisingly around her. Sensing her need, Envy coiled its body, channelling the darkness into her very core.
Yet, even with this stolen power, Eydis felt a deep resistance from within. Reclaiming her full strength was a maddeningly slow process, a constant tug-of-war. But at least, a sliver — a pitiful sliver — of magic had returned.
She sat within the sigil until pre-dawn light caressed her skin, casting a purple hue glinting on her glasses. Taking a deep breath, she shut off the dark flow. The violet glow sputtered and died, leaving just a harmless-looking mark on the damp earth, hidden by the grass.
She felt stronger, yes, day by day. But it was a far cry from the raw athleticism her body was once capable of, a mere whisper compared to the true power hidden within this world.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
To survive, she needed her familiars back. All of them.
"Envy, explain your Tiffany detour.” The Queen commanded, rising with a flourish. “Was it just the endless buffet of teenage angst, or did you have a more... gourmet selection in mind?"
Envy coiled around her sinuously, its golden eyes darting away, like a cornered animal plotting its escape. It couldn't meet Eydis's eyes, which were slowly cooling down from molten gold to a simmering amber shade.
‘Besides her… unique personality, she carried faint, but incredibly potent traces of mana,’ Envy stammered. ‘Not inherent mana, Your Majesty, but... a lingering essence from those she associated with. A potential… a future harvest, shall we say? With Tiffany as a convenient conduit.’
Eydis's voice dropped to a glacial whisper. "So, the Gifted students were the true feast you craved all along. That explains your... eagerness with Natalia."
Fear flared brightly in Envy's orbs, momentarily eclipsing the hunger that simmered beneath. ‘Your Majesty,’ it hissed, the title laced with respect, ‘your deductions are, as always, impeccable. Tiffany was merely an appetiser. This academy, it seems, is a veritable breeding ground for our... kindred spirits.’
"Find them, then," Eydis commanded. "Locate Pride first.”
‘I haven't sensed anyone around here, Your Majesty,’ it murmured shakily. ‘Sensing familiar auras is more your... domain than mine.’
"Then use your wretched eyes for something besides ogling teenage misery," Eydis snapped, her patience wearing thin. "Find the anomaly. Now!"
With a hiss of displaced air, Envy dissolved into a wisp of purple smoke. A final, slithering whisper echoing in her mind, ‘As you command, Your Majesty!’ before vanishing into the dawn sky.
Envy was right. These spirits, fuelled by human sins, operated in solitude, their domains rarely overlapping. They wouldn't advertise their presence to each other. And worse, Envy's range was limited to a leash around Eydis's ankle. It could only sniff out anomalies within the academy walls.
But this place was brimming with potential. Mana, to be precise. Like Envy, the other familiars wouldn't be able to resist the potent magical energy pulsing through the academy. Sooner or later, they all would be drawn here.
And Eydis, well, Eydis was in the mood for a good hunt.
Instead of returning to the dorm, the Queen headed straight for the library. Pushing the door to the staff's resting room, a haven of peace compared to her dorm, she closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
Being a librarian, she discovered, offered more than just the quiet companionship of dusty tomes. A private bedroom and shower? Now that was a superpower of its own.
Skipping class today wasn't a rebellion, it was a logical bid for sanity. The previous night, spent locked in a battle of wits with a deranged teenager whose vocabulary peaked at "ME," had left Eydis frayed at the edges.
Frankly, the teen’s incessant "lies, lies, lies" mantra was enough to induce a sonnet of its own — a masterpiece titled "Ode to a Particularly Irritating Banshee."
One needn't be a genius to deduce her current state: dishevelled and sporting a charming accessory —Tiffany's grubby handprint —wrapped around her throat.
Ah, memories.
Unlike Tiffany's ill-advised blood oath with Envy (seriously, that girl needed a therapist), Eydis's more sophisticated approach kept the entity's ravenous appetite (and the telltale dark signature) discreetly concealed. Those dark spirits were like emotional vultures, forever sniffing around for a good dose of existential angst.
If retrieving each fragment of her power was this much of a hassle, her return to her own world was about as likely as finding a decent Foie Gras in this backwards dimension. Where her crumbling kingdom probably awaited, she scoffed.
And Damien, if her intuition was on the point, had probably crash-landed in this world alongside her.
But hey, the glorious absence of his pompous pronouncements opened the door to two equally amusing possibilities: either Damien was currently wandering this strange world like a puppy lost in a pet store, sniffing every corner with wide-eyed confusion. Or, even better, he was undergoing some form of "research" involving lab coats, needles, and the kind of bewildered expression usually reserved for children facing a dentist wielding a drill the size of a javelin.
Either way, a delightful window of "ME" time had opened (the irony had not been lost on Eydis), a chance to level up before the inevitable showdown.
Fascinating uncertainty, wouldn't you say? After all, a good villain needed a little suspense to keep things interesting.
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In a plush hotel room, two figures sat across a mahogany table, a tense silence stretched thin between them.
Damien, a knight so dedicated to his "knightly image" that he refused to sully it with anything as pedestrian as… jeans. Today's ensemble: a pristine white suit with a disturbingly reflective silver sheen. He sat perched on the edge of the chair, his knuckles white as they death-gripped the armrests.
"Damien," Indigo began.
"Sir Damien," the knight corrected through gritted teeth, his face a mask of tightly controlled terror.
"Look," Indigo sighed, "it's just—"
“That, good sir, is not a needle. Aurora slept for a century from it. It's a torture device disguised as a sewing implement straight from the ninth circle of—“
"Hell," Indigo finished deadpan, trying (and failing) to stifle a smile. "Seems the fear of needles transcends dimensions."
“Fear?” Damien sputtered, his face contorting between outrage and something suspiciously like embarrassment. "It's...a barbaric practice! A violation of—“
"Alright, alright," Indigo soothed, "it's a tiny prick, just to check your blood. Barely a mosquito bite, really."
Damien scoffed. "How will that help catch the Queen of Shadows anyway?"
Indigo sighed internally. Technically, it wouldn't. But the uptight Council wouldn't cough up resources for free. It was a trade: the elusive Queen of Shadows in exchange for a peek into Damien's peculiar powers (and by extension, a glimpse into his world).
Indigo tapped the table with a file. "Look, sir, tracking down this queen with this description is proving… challenging." He gestured to a picture on the paper. It was a crude drawing of a woman in a black dress with razor-sharp teeth, looking like a villain ripped straight out of a child's fairytale.
"The Queen is no fairy tale villain. She's a harbinger of pure darkness. One wrong move, and your world will be consumed by the same shadows that devoured mine." Damien’s silver eyes burnt a hole through Indigo.
"If her threat is so imminent," Indigo countered, pushing back against the intensity, "why hasn't she acted yet? Perhaps she's not even here. Which is why a bio-signature tracker, using a sample of your unique biology, is crucial. It could be the key to pinpointing her location.”
Damien's scowl deepened, but the certainty in his stance wavered. Just as Indigo caught a glimpse of surrender, a chirpy bird song, like a sugar-fueled canary, filled the air—his ringtone.
The phone’s holographic display flared to life, showing Adrian's name. "Hold that thought, Damien," Indigo said, mustering a smile. "Duty calls."
He strode towards a study. "Indigo speaking.”
"Professor," came a crackly voice, "we have a situation. Chief Advisor Romanov… he…”
Indigo groaned. "And by duty, I mean another trip to the chaos factory." He slammed the door shut, leaving Damien alone with his needle-phobia and a very bad sketch.
"Tell me what he did, Adrian."