The world was never kind to me. But that was okay. I never expected it to be.

I hadn't thought it was kind when I was taken from the arms of my mother and forced to live the predestined life of royalty.

I hadn't thought it was kind when I was forced to kill the other princess candidates to survive.

I hadn’t thought it was kind when neighboring kingdoms went to war over my ascension to the throne.

But I had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that the world would be fair. If I tried my hardest and fought to survive, I thought that, in the end, everything would work out. But I was wrong. Life wasn’t kind, and it certainly wasn’t fair. No matter how hard I struggled, killed, and climbed the ladders of power, the world simply refused to let me live in peace.

Now, betrayed and abandoned by everyone, I walked before the crowd. The entire city held its breath, enthralled in silence, as I stepped toward the noose. Not a single soul dared to speak up in my defense. I wasn’t surprised. No one had defended me since the Duke’s men framed me for treason.

The reason for my execution mattered little to the sheep dressed as men and women staring up at me. They, like everyone else in this godsforsaken empire, only wanted blood. The thrill of seeing a ruler—a queen—heading for a cruel death. Oh, what a tale they could pass on to their children’s children for generations to come.

I kept my chin high. They might have sealed my diamond core, and they might yet kill me. But they would not break me. No one ever would. My bare feet thumped against the wooden planks as the executioner motioned me forward. With spears at my back, I halted behind the noose. The loosened boards beneath me creaked, eager to let the executioner pull the lever and condemn me to my agonizing end.

“Queen Lilith of Aedronir,” a scrawny man beside me bellowed at the crowd, “by order of Emperor Draxis of Aexion, you are hereby condemned to death by noose for”—he paused dramatically—“the crimes of mass murder of imperial citizens, treason against the crown, and incitement of war!” The crowd roared in response, fists punching the air in waves of false righteousness.

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It was all lies. Lies crafted by the Duke and the Emperor to seize my kingdom. Lies designed to take what was mine. To steal it.

“You may speak your final words, Queen of Rot,” the scrawny man decreed, clutching the parchment with the imperial mandate before his slight frame. The guard slipped the noose around my neck, tightened it, and then removed my gag. “May your last words be of repentance.”

I spat toward the citizens of what had been my kingdom, and then toward the imperials looking down on me from my own balcony. “Each and every one of you will burn, consumed by the fires of your traitorous hearts,” I cursed, each word laced with hate and venom. If I’d learned more close combat skills and physical enhancement techniques, I might have broken the chains binding me and killed them all where they stood. I cursed myself for relying so blindly on long-distance skills. “May Ashwash curse your homes and families with death and despair.” The executioner’s hand was already on the lever. My heart hammered so loudly in my ears that I had to shout to hear my own voice. “I will return! I will return to burn this empire—this world—to ashes, where it bel—”

The executioner pulled the lever. The loose planks dropped, and the warded rope tightened around my neck. I heard a snap, felt a burst of searing pain, and then everything went dark.

But as the last fragments of my life slipped away, something happened that shouldn’t have been possible.

My heart core imploded.

The explosion of a diamond-level core was rare, capable of destroying the entire capital. But mine didn’t explode. No, it imploded, collapsing inward. Somehow, the last remnants of my life—everything that made me who I was—were pulled into that implosion.

For what could have been days, months, or even years, I drifted in Nothingness. I had no control, no thoughts, only a sensation of floating. The void’s pull began to tear at what was left of me. And, as theory said, all that remained in Nothingness would eventually fade.

But then I sensed the faintest thrum. A tiny beat, like a flickering flame, calling out to me, pleading with me to follow it. With all that remained of my existence, I followed the call—the call of the little voice. Of that dying soul.

I'm going to die, the small soul whimpered. Please, don’t let them kill me.