“Do you think she will come?” Greg asked.

He should have stayed with his friends preparing the magical circle but had gotten restless. That’s why he was meeting up with them and that’s why he was casting glances towards the castle.

“She will come”, Elias said as they walked towards the graveyard. The knights of Aaliyah had insisted on having the final battle at their home turf. With the grace of the ghosts putting the king to sleep had been easy enough. The only obstacle now was the magic prison cell for keeping the king. “Are you finished?”

Greg smiled proudly, the octagon between the gravestones lighting up the area in a spectacular arc.

“We have been finished since long. I was afraid someone would come running looking at what we were doing.”

“Let them come”, Isaak chuckled. “More to feed the arc with.”

He and his men were carrying the unconscious king. “Maybe we should not save this one, just give the pig to the arc.”

“It’s my father you are talking about”, Elias said coldly.

“Precisely”, Isaak countered.

“I promise you he will not be harmed”, Sasha said patting Elias's arm. “Remember we are serving the death queen. She is not known for injustice.”

Elias grunted, but he gave her a short nod, although his eyes never left the king.

The arc was filled with fresh leaves and when they put down the king, spreading him out on the ground, he looked like a sacrifice ready to be eaten. The arc got darker, the light from it pulsating in green.

“Will you do the favor”, Sasha asked, bowing towards the ghosts that emerged from the ground.

The ghosts encircled the sleeping king, entering his nose and getting his body to convulse in silent nightmares.

“It’s done”, the ghost said “We will stay for the show.”

Sasha nodded. She didn’t like lying to Elias, therefore she concentrated on the pile of dead pigs fueling the octagon. The magic was strong.

They waited in the shadows, looking at the unconscious king in his prison. She would come. The life force of the king lit up the sky, the arc demonstrating that rare dark magic was taking place. Anyone seeing what was going on left the area, closed their doors, and shut the windows. Only in the castle, the light was still burning. A sleek figure was running down the stairs of the tower. The witch was coming. Her mother's feet were running so fast it looked like she was floating above the grass. She probably was.

“She is here”, Sasha whispered. “Are you ready?”

“Yes”, Elias confirmed. “I will do my part.”

Sasha squeezed his hand, trying once again to reassure him.

“I will not let you die”, she leaned closer, stealing a brief kiss on the cheek. “It's time.”

She went first. The queen was inside the arc, sitting next to the king. Sasha moved forward, stopping just inches before the arc, closing her eyes as she let out her hands. She let calmness fill her mind before she let out a content sigh. Strikes of pure electricity stroke out from the arc and attach her to the magical prison. She felt how it was draining energy from her. One nod to Isaak and he gave orders of delivering the pigs.

Elias took his place on the other side of the arc, and just as she had become a part of the magic, so was he. The electricity went crazy, the light standing up in the sky like a laser pointing at them.

As Elias chanted, earth, wind, fire, and water was answering him, and a circle was etched around the couple in the cage.

“What are you doing?”

Now the queen lifted her head from the king. “What have you done?”

“We are draining him”, Sasha said her voice empty of feelings and her green dress floating out in the grass beside her. “And this time we will succeed.”

The queen lifted her hand, a bolt of energy surging forward, but it repelled, hitting the king in the chest. A fallen king, with smoke from his royal blue clothes. It was poetic.

“I want everything you have ever taken”, Sasha said not even acknowledging the queen's attack. Sasha started to tear at the queen's magic. A small string of grey smoke leaped from the queen to Sasha. It accompanied the smoke the queen had wiped out with a hint of her hand. “You used Aaliyah's magic and I will cancel it, mother. Give me his heart.”

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Sasha glanced at Elias, his eyes were blank. Maybe it was the queen's magic still working, or it was just the effort of keeping up the cage, holding the queen. He hadn’t heard her.

“So you figured it out”, the queen chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. You will not have it.”

The tattoo on Sashas face lit up with arcing. Her eyes were pure silver.

“I didn’t ask mother.” With purpose she let her voice be filled with the accent of the dead queen. “I am just the messenger.”

“You have a death mark daughter.”

The queen lowered her hand, looking from the king to Sasha. Then she glanced at Elias.

“You have convinced my son to play your game.”

“He will die as well if you don’t make the sacrifice. I will take all your magic, and I will take the king's heart. I have promised my creator to deliver.”

The queen wetted her lips, some panic starting to creep into her eyes.

“I want something in return.”

Sasha didn’t answer the queen, she started to stretch her magic, gripping inside of her mother, searching for the heart.

“Give me your magic”, the queen hissed. “I am a taker. Give me a fair deal.”

The queen tried to close the wound Sashas magic had created in her chest. The slit of her eyes shooting daggers at Sasha.

“Stop fighting me, mother. I will take it.”

Sasha had searched inside her mother and now she had found a soft spot, this was it. A small light dancing in the center of her mother's stomach. It was a beautiful light. She latched onto it with her magic. Starting to pull at it. This, this she did for Elias. The rest, the deal she had stricken, that would be pure pleasure.

“You are not giving me anything in return. I will not tolerate this daughter!”

The queen was still holding back, maybe somewhere she still believed Sasha had a soft spot for her, that she was her daughter. Sasha would never be. She shouldn’t enjoy this, but she did.

“You will get his life”, Sasha hissed between gritted teeth. She would not play games with her. They both deserved to die. “That is more than you have earned.”

The queen spitted at the ground. She started to pull away, but Sasha wouldn’t have anything of it. With one hand she was draining the king of his life, letting it slowly sip into her body, with the other, she forced his heart the same path.

“I am stronger than you”, the queen said.

Sasha just smiled. Of course, the queen was stronger. That was her mistake. That was the only reason she had let it come this far. Both of them were arrogant in their neglect of others. That was their pitfall.

That and the most powerful weapon anyone had ever seen.

As Greg and his colleagues fuelled the magic circle that encapsulated them Sashas chest lit up with dark light and smoke. When the smoke cleared, Sashas body was transformed, arcs were now traveling between her and Elias at lightning speed. Where her heart was sitting an orb of death and destruction took place instead. Sasha could feel it pulsating inside her, like a living beast, a gift from the dead queen that she had not known but now instinctively understood. She had called upon it, she had shown herself worthy when in her hearts of heart, the dead queen had seen proof o the sacrifice she was willing to make. Together with the dragon hearth that was pounding inside of her, she would win. Off the pure reason that she refused to fail. She was willing to give her all, her life, her passion, and her soul.

And she would.

“Come on mother. Let's show some motherly compassion. Shall we?”

From that moment on the battle shifted. Her mother let out a shrill cry. She couldn’t fathom why, but she was losing. Sasha smiled, the sweetness of revenge fuelled her. It didn’t matter that her mother’s magic tore at the cage, that chunks of her flesh were torn away when Elias couldn’t keep all of it at bay. Sasha felt the king's heart loosen. She reached out for it with her magic, the queen throwing herself against the arc at the same time. But before anyone of them caught it, the ghosts had it. They laughed as maniacs as they threw it between each other, eventually dropping it at the unconscious king's body.

“No!” The queen threw herself on top of the king, trying to tear the heart out of him, her fingers clutching to his clothes, but it was too late. The heart had already merged into the king's flesh. Sinking inside the hole the queen herself had created in the royal blue coat.

“Now mother, for the rest”, Sasha smiled.

The queen turned around when she heard her voice, all of her magic in an attack directed directly at Sasha. Elias did his best to counter it, but the arc bent, almost cracking completely. Sasha couldn’t care less. The more the queen threw at her, the more of her magic left her. Sasha could feel the power inside her, her body having problems containing all of the queen's raw witchcraft. Her mother tore at her flesh from the outside, and her black magic hurled like acid inside her. Still, she continued to pull. Her lips twisted in a sinister smile.

“Hurry up with the pigs”, Isaak shouted. “Faster.”

The arc was barely holding together, and both Elias and Sasha were on their limits. Sasha much more than anyone else, since she did not only give her life force to hold the arc, she was being under attack as well.

“The king is looking pretty bleak”, Sasha said as she intensified her magic, sucking the last remnants out of the queen. It was like putting a stick in a wasp nest.

Her mother glanced back, her foot shifting back and forth as if she couldn’t decide what she wanted the most. Save the king or kill her daughter. Sasha tore harder at the string between them, gripping more of the magic. She could feel she was close, the percentage of pure magic being higher, and the percentage of black stolen magic-less. Still, she could not stop. She would not stop until she had taken every single droplet of divinity.

“Must feel awful, to lose him after all these years, when you never truly had him”, Sasha said, throwing the last stone at her mother's sanity.

Elias was covered in sweat, the effort of holding the arc pressing him down on his knees. Sasha wetted her lips, panic searing through her. She had tried to roar the best. The queen had to lose it, she was so close. They were all on their limits.

With a roar the queen turned towards her again, a mix of all of the elements hit Sasha at the same time as she saw Elias falling towards the ground. Finally.

The arc was cracking, and the doom was here. With her last coherent thoughts, Sasha slashed the roots of magic from the very soul of the queen before the wave hit her.

Then everything went black.