“Fornax?” Lillian grabbed Lia’s shoulder and turned her around. “What are you talking about?”

Lia didn’t look up from her hands, the image of the snake still in her mind. “It was in her magic,” she whispered. “A black smoke, a black snake …” She had seen it all the time in her dreams.

“That’s not possible!”

“It is …” The thought made her feel cold and her magic reacted to it. The light of her own magic vanished and was replaced by something dark. “Think about it. The eleventh element is supposed to be magic itself, and Fornax tried to reach it. He failed, yes, but what if he also succeeded somewhat?”

Her theory was met with silence. When she looked up, she saw into pale faces. Only Ludwig narrowed his eyes. He saw first at her, then at the others. Miss Joy just seemed confused. The pirate captains all knew of Fornax, and the principal knew, too, apparently. Only Ludwig, Miss Joy, and her fellow students were out of the loop.

“I’ve seen that thing,” the fall captain finally said. “There’s no way we can win against that!”

“We don’t need to defeat it,” Lillian finally said. She was rubbing her chin, squinted slightly and stared at a point they couldn’t see. “At least not in the classical sense. We have to disrupt its access to the affected donar.”

“And how do we do that?” The winter captain had an icy cold look, but her voice was laced with curiosity.

Lillian turned to Ludwig. “You said, this is because of that vaccine, correct?” Lia’s teacher nodded. “Then we need to develop a counter-vaccine.”

“Creating a vaccine takes months,” Miss Joy interjected. “Do we have enough time for that?”

“Depends. First we need to scout what the affected donar are doing now. Summer, Winter, could you check?”

The two captains nodded and left.

“We should also get one of the scientists that created the original vaccine. They should be able to help us reverse its effects.”

“I’ve put some research into it,” Miss Joy answered and finally stood. Amir was still laying there, staring blankly upwards. “A Doctor Robert Deimos is credited with having done the groundwork.”

“Orphelia’s uncle?” Lia stared at the medical impera. “He was here.”

“I think he still hasn’t left the station.” The principal looked grim.

The former queen – or was she now the real queen again? – turned to Mister Rose. “Then we need to talk to him. Can you lead us to him?” The man gave only a nod as an answer.

Lia didn’t know what to think. Was Orphelia’s uncle really involved in all of this? She looked back to Amir, as if he could give her an answer. A shiver ran down her spine. What had she done? What had she done … ?

“Those donar are still affected.” She heard Omor’s voice while staring at the king. Or the former king. She had been angry at him. But she hadn’t wanted to … to … The rate of her breathing increased. Amir was still breathing, but … had she destroyed his mind?

“They seem a bit more disorganized now, but still attack everything on sight.” The winter captain sighed. “I guess it is only a matter of time before they’re back to patrolling once more … And we have no idea what the next stage is …”

“Especially if Fornax is involved.” Omor finished the sentence.

Lia didn’t understand why they were this calm. She had somehow killed the former king …

“Then we don’t have any time to lose,” the queen said. “Please lead the way.”

Someone touched her shoulders, and when she turned, she looked at Eclaire. The girl shook slightly, but nodded at her and followed the others out of the starcedral. Lia needed all her strength to not collapse at that moment. She had killed two people in one day!

She didn’t even notice how they moved through the outside area and back into the corridors of the station itself. She simply functioned, and from what she could tell, Eclaire wasn’t that much better.

After some time, they arrived at a door, and after pressing a button, knocking and then opening it with some kind of code, they stepped into the room Orphelia’s uncle had been given.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She saw the man floating in the room, unresponsive. His fingers and lips were unnaturally blue, and when miss Joy floated toward him, and shook her head a moment later, Lia knew what happened. Seeing the third death on one day overwhelmed her and the world around her faded to black.

* * *

When she came to, she was wrapped in a blanket. Eclaire floated next to her, sleeping soundly. Robert was wasn’t there anymore. Other than that, she couldn’t see much, as it was dark around her.

She sighed and closed her eyes, only to see red spots in front of her eyes. And then the blank stare of Amir. Immediately she felt cold again. She just couldn’t shake the image. Why had she access to that vile magic? It was heavily regulated for a reason. Maybe it had been better, if she had no magic at all, not even mana. But she had it, and now she had everything.

“Why?” she whispered to herself. “Orphelia, why?” she asked again, but never got an answer.

Again she started to cry. “I miss you,” she whispered. “Please, come back.” How was she supposed to manage all of this on her own? When the pirates had taken them, Orphelia had been there with her, making it all bearable. But now … now she was … all alone.

“It’s getting worse.” The words floated toward her from a doorway. A moment later, light shone into the room. “And we have no idea how much longer the reactor or the life support systems last.”

Lia unwrapped and pushed herself toward the doorway. Her mind needed to be busy, or she’d see all those deaths again.

Lillian and the other pirate captains were floating in the room, with Ludwig and the principal next to them.

“Ah, M… Princess Eo.” The Principal had sweat glistening on his forehead.

“What happened?” Lia asked and pushed herself closer to them, stopping at the table.

“Doctor Robert Deimos is dead,” Lillian answered. “And he was indeed responsible for the vaccine.”

“He left a note.” Ludwig sighed and tapped at his forehead. “The reason why Orphelia was affected was because she got the vaccine first. Or rather the retrovirus. Amir had gone to Doctor Deimos years ago, and convinced him to craft a bridge between him and Orphelia, which he managed to do. He introduced some of Amir’s cells into her body, and had the retrovirus suppress her immune response to them. That made it like she was always touching him, but over the years, she also got his powers to control magic herself.”

“Are you sure we should tell her?” Lillian asked and looked between Lia and Ludwig.

“She, out of all people, has the right to know.” Ludwig shook his head. “Anyways, when Amir finally ascended to the throne, he demanded more of the ‘vaccine’ from Robert, and, still hoping that their family, their whole moon would be treated better, he obliged.”

“But when nothing happened and he saw, how his work changed Orphelia, he couldn’t live with his conscience anymore, and took his life,” finished Omor the story.

“Miss Joy is trying to create an anti-vaccine, but since she doesn’t have any experience in this field, and we have no gravity, the chances are rather slim.” Lillian shook her head.

“We managed to evacuate some of the station’s personnel. Robert has left with one of the ships. Eclaire demanded to stay with you.”

Lia nodded slightly and shut her eyes right for a moment, holding back her tears. Neither Orphelia nor her uncle had deserved any of this. The blame was Amir’s. “What do we do now?” she asked with a shaking voice.

Ludwig, the principal and the four captains all shook their head. “We have no idea. But we noticed that the affected donar started to patrol again. We fear that Fornax is establishing control of them.”

“We could wait a few days and try to negotiate,” Lillian suggested, then quickly held a hand up. “But I fear all Fornax seeks is to dominate everything. Our second option is to exterminate all affected donar.”

Lia stared with wide eyes at them. “You can’t be serious.”

Lillian shook her head. “There is one more thing I want to try. But … I need your help.” The queen looked at her.

“What …” Lia gulped. “What do you have in mind?”

“I want to use soul magic to free the donar. Which in and of itself won’t be easy and will probably take a lot of mana.” Lillian took a deep breath and waited for an answer.

“But we’d also need to find a lone donar, or we’d have to overwhelm a group, in order to get one. It’s all immensely dangerous,” Omor cautioned.

“There is a possibility to heal them?” Lia felt slightly better at that.

“It’s at least something we can try before we take … more drastic measures.” Lillian sighed and shook her head. “My own soul mana pool isn’t large enough. I tried before and didn’t have enough power. Winter could help me,” she looked at the white-haired woman, “but her mana pool is smaller than mine, and I’d need more than double. Your … records show that you have a lot of mana to spare, probably even more than I. Which means you’re the only one I can ask.”

Lia grabbed her other arm and bored her fingers into it. She still wasn’t sure whether she could trust Lillian, but, “as long we can save them, we should try.” She bit her lower lip and looked to the side. “I should also learn how to control my magic … I … don’t want to keep killing people accidentally.” Tears streamed down her face, and she saw Amir’s expressionless face again. So much for keeping her mind busy to chase those images away.

When Lillian of all people embraced her and held her close to her body, her thoughts halted for a moment. What was happening here?

“You’ve somehow been dragged into all of this,” she whispered. “I struggled when I was suddenly supposed to be queen. I had to make so many decisions where my heart wanted to do something else, but where my mind knew that I had to do something different. As a queen you’re supposed to sacrifice the few for the greater good of the empire.” She lowered her voice even further. “It never sat right with me.”

“I … I don’t want to sacrifice anyone,” she answered, sobbing. “I don’t want to lose anyone.”

“I know,” Lillian answered and stroked over her hair as if she’d suddenly become her mother. “I know. But you are a princess now. You have the right to take the throne.”

“I don’t want it. I don’t even want my magic anymore. I … I want … Orphelia back.” Her voice got smaller the further she got.

“If we can, we’ll make Fornax pay,” the queen whispered. “I’m sure that we can do it. Together!”

Somehow, Lillian had made her nod for the third time. Was she just this persuasive? Or was she using magic on her? Honestly, Lia didn’t care right now, because Lillian had managed to soothe the pain of her heavily injured heart.