Cold rattling chains, blackness, scurrying rats licking clean the bones around me. A battle, blood, screams piercing the hollow night air. They stab at my ears like spikes one after another. A giant rises above the rooftops, a woman bandaged from head to toe. All to be seen on her is a pair of ancient yellow eyes standing above me. The giant looms close behind, a great sword clutched in his hands. The woman’s words rattle my bones and repeatedly twist at my nerves like little hot pokers.

“Emelia, you’re a stain upon this world. A mistake.” The woman pauses.

“No, you are the greatest mistake this world has ever known. Due to the will of the Phoenix, you shall die.” Her voice clings to the air around us; it rattles me to the core.

“Be thankful. Your blood will be the paint for the new world’s canvas.”

Her words are ice; no, they’re fire! They threaten to burn what’s left of me!

“Now die, Emelia Shroud.” She draws her rapier, the hilt a golden phoenix, its tiny jewel eyes glittering from the fire dancing around us.

That’s when my memory goes black. My thoughts pick up here in this darkened reality, this cell with chains firmly shackled around my wrists and ankles. The cold floor sends a chill up my bare legs. Why am I in prison? No, it’s probably a holding cell. Observing the rest of myself, I notice that I’m in this. Bag? Honestly, I can’t find another way to describe whatever I’m wearing.

Fates, it’s so itchy against my skin, I wish I had my armor. I feel so naked without it. Suddenly, a scraping of something large against grainy stone sends me against the far wall. Fear begins to grip my body; it shakes uncontrollably at the idea of being attacked again. Light pours into the cell and I cover my eyes from the unwelcome guest. Around the corner appear two guards in full plate armor carrying a spear each. This thudding in my chest causes my breathing to become erratic.

My heart slows allowing me to catch the breath I didn’t realize I was holding in. When I see the diamond flag of the Four Fated Cities etched onto their breastplates. Behind the guards, a tall woman cuts through with black hair, her bangs dyed the color of a freshly lit flame.

Her black cloak flows down her back to sit just above her feet, the Four Cities Emblem stitched in golden thread. An elegant-looking blade curves down her back, and she tapes the hilt to the sheath with an intricate symbol painted on. Lastly, there is a simple short sword strapped to her hip.

I come back from my thoughts when a maid with pink hair appears behind her, contrasting the cell’s dull grey walls. Her maid outfit gives the illusion that she is weak. Except her aura radiates off her in waves, making the room suffocating like the walls are pressing in on me. Her silver eyes poke at mine, making me push my back harder against the wall. It’s like she can see my sins. She feels like the executioner with that stare. Her aura would make you feel like she’s the strongest in the room.

However, the woman with the black hair scares me more, especially with those eyes painted with blood. They stare at me, and I feel myself freeze like a helpless animal caught in the gaze of a predator. Then, in walks a man, not a large man, but his presence dominates the room. His footsteps are heavy and precise as they walk around the corner. I have to remind myself to breathe as I see their face. It’s King Ezekiel. His smile eases my worries. He lets loose a bit of his aura, and the room’s chill vanishes, and my shivering stops and the weight of the aura in the room lightens.

The king grabs a chair from the corner of the room and drags it across the floor. It echoes through the cell. The chair’s resting place is in front of my cell. Then he turns it around and takes a seat. He stares at me with his solid, royal yellow eyes. He has a greying beard that complements the ferocity behind them. You could never guess that the king was forty-seven at first glance. He has a few wrinkles around the eyes, that’s it.

The scraping happens again as the light from outside disappears, throwing us back into the dim glow of the torchlight. The cold and oppressive feeling I got from the two women’s magic crawls slowly back into the room. It’s heavy, like the world is pressing down on my slim shoulders. Then, my heart is off to the races again as I begin to feel the panic setting back in. The king is no different from these girls. His kind face doesn’t fool me. The intense, warm aura this man puts off can make any flames cold to the touch. There is an endless fiery anger in his aura that he tries to hide behind that genuine smile.

“Hello, Miss Shroud.” He says in a low but commanding voice. He looks at me intensely.

“I’m sorry for the state we have left you in, but at this point in time, we consider you a traitor to the kingdom.” His eyes cut through me like they already knew my answers.

“A Traitor!?” Again I can feel my hands become clammy as I clench them tightly to hide my fear. They seem like they could smell it a mile away.

“Yes, as of now, we charge you with the crime of destroying the city of Bladesfall,” he says, locking his glowing eyes with mine, shining as bright as the torchlight in the darkness of the cell.

Vigorously, I shake my head." It wasn’t me!"

I try to speak, but the words catch in this web of fear my mind has weaved. Looking into his eyes is like staring directly at the Starlight; you can take a glimpse, but staring for too long will blind you.

Fates, this man, is just as scary as the stories say.

“Oh? Then let me ask a few questions to see if this is true.” He continues to make eye contact, making my nerves taut and ready to snap.

Looking at the black-haired girl, she is leaning back against the far cell wall. Then, back to the maid, she stands beside the king, her fist clenched on the corner of the chair. Seriously, how can anyone not succumb to the pressure of the auras emanating from these three? The pressure their magic puts off in this small room is too much.

Fates, what a way to break a person.

“Emelia, please give me a short explanation of what happened at Bladesfall.” The king says, crossing his arms in front of the chair’s head.

It’s time for me to give my side of the story then. Despite the pit in my stomach, I take a few deep breaths and force the words out.

“My memory is scattered, but to get straight to the point, an army appeared out of nowhere.” I gesture with my hands.

“Poof! Then the city was burning.” The black-haired girl shifts slightly, moving closer to my cell door.

“It started with the giant dropping from the mountaintop. His descent to the city caused such a massive explosion he took the most out without even lifting a finger.” I stop as my eyes become wet. I can still hear their cries for help. I take a deep breath and continue.

“Following the giant came the woman in her blue robe. She wore bandages that covered her from head to toe. She came from a beam of light that shot down from what seemed like heaven. It fried a vast section of the city, killing thousands.”

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The king’s eyes look away as he hears about the woman. But corrects himself by looking back at me.

“Lastly, were these twins? One was a sizeable man, and the other was a woman both with gigantic swords. They came last with an army of three thousand or more.

The king nods and whispers something to the girl with the curved blade. I see her eyes widen, then she walks over to the cage and speaks for the first time.

“What did the sword users look like?” She grabs at the cage aggressively, making it rattle slightly.

“They had, I think, umm, the girl had fishnet under wolf's skin armor. The guy was tall, had very dark skin, and like the girl, had a massive sword. He wore wyvern scale armor.” What I say makes her look almost panicked.

She looks at the king, and they both nod.

“That’s how it started,” I tell them, hoping to save my skin.

The three seemed content, then the king resumed his interrogation.

“Can you explain why they would attack?” The king asks me.

“I remember hearing through the rumor mills, and hearsay was that the council knew about the attack weeks before it happened. But blew it off as bluster from a start-up group of no good bandits.” The king looks upset as his mouth curls down.

“Why would they not send that report through the proper channels? He asks me.

“I don’t know that.” The council at Bladesfall was super tight-lipped about their decision-making.

“The Council always ignored danger if it wouldn’t cut into their profits,” I say.

The king nods and says, “On a fresh note, I know you were affiliated with Lucy Smite.”

“Intel said she was there during the attack. Please tell me what happened to her?” His eyes are not as locked in as before. They’re more sympathetic.

My mind drags me, screaming back to that dreadful moment when Lucy, my best friend, stood before me. Her Aqua blue eyes shone in the light from the brutal, unwavering fire dancing around us. Her long ocean-green hair scattered around her head. Her lips move, but all I can hear is the crackling of the raging void of flames, mixed ever so eloquently with the screams of the now deceased. Lucy faces down the woman in blue, who is so unbelievably powerful a god amongst ants. Lucy’s lips move as her beautiful sea green aura dances around her. My mind can’t recall the words she said.

Whatever they were, they were now buried under a wall of water, smoke, and eternal darkness. Then I answer the king’s question with that memory painting the inside of my head with endless red fury.

“Dead, sir.” He sighs and leans his head back to glance at the ceiling.

“I see.” He pauses, then looks back at me.

“If Lucy has fallen even with her power, this group is more serious than I anticipated.” A brief pause from the king as he looks at the maid and then at me.

“Also, I am sorry for your loss. I know you two were close friends and grew up together.” His hard yellow eyes soften.

Anger rushes over me, swallowing up my anxiety and fear, and anger like a broken dam, desperately struggling to hold back the flowing river, unable to be slowed.

“Save your pity. You don’t know my relationships. Plus, shouldn’t you be glad she’s dead!? She did serve a kingdom outside your damn King’s Coalition!” The world is beginning to fade, like my mind is being dragged away.

“You made her life a living hell!” The anger won’t let me go. All I want is to see this man bleed.

His eyes break from mine for a short moment, a hint of fear. But with a quick blink, they zone back.

“You banished her from the kingdom! Made her never have a home! Guess what?”

I ask the king and glare into his eyes, waiting for anything.

“I know the answer.” He says, his eyes cast to the floor. Finally breaking his hard exterior.

“You still need to hear it!” I scream.

“She died protecting your kingdom!” I feel tears welling up.

“A kingdom that abandoned her, yet she still died for it! You worthless excuse of a Ki.” Before I can finish my rant, the maid kicks the cage, bending the thick steel bars and causing the entire building to rattle. The red reality that just took hold of me cracks, bringing back the real world.

“You will show respect to your king!” Her voice makes my ears scream in agony.

Quickly, I clamp down on my aura senses. I do not want to feel her aura anymore. From the glimpse I just got, this woman could topple Fort Mountainia herself. I can’t even open my mouth to protest.

The king clears his throat and sets a gentle hand on the maid’s shoulder, which makes the maid back down.

“Sakura, please, no violence. She just lost her home and family. The most I can do is allow her to be angry and vent her frustrations.” He stares at the maid for a minute, then looks back at me.

“Two more questions. Question One.”What happened to Janet Smite?" My heart drops again, the raw fury seeping its fangs back into reality. The memory is faint but still a scar on my mind. With a quick choice, I decide to not tell him the whole story. So, I give him a simple but direct answer.

“Also dead, sir. Died fighting the giant.”

The king leans back in the chair, lifting the legs off the ground.

“Very well, tell me then. How did you escape?” He crooks an eyebrow.

“I escaped because of Janet.” That is all I will tell him until I can trust him.

The king nods. “Is Lucy the reason the city was flooded?” My eyes bite into the kings.

“Yes, that was Lucy, Janet was why half the city’s other half was a smoldering ruin,” I say dejectedly.

The anger quickly throws sadness away. “Those bastards forced the hand of a good woman to make such a decision! She should be known as a hero, but that won’t happen because of a forced decision!” My emotions break, and I can’t hold back the rushing wave of tears.

“She will now be known as a murderer for what she did. She killed thousands of innocent people and won’t be remembered for the merits of the good she did for this goddamn kingdom!” My anger begins to flare again, causing my aura to leak. The building starts to shake. That calming aura of the king wraps around me, causing the pressure of my aura to cease.

He smiles at me. “As the King, I will ensure her legacy will not be tarnished.”

“I know she was loyal to this kingdom.” He smiles his natural smile at me.

“She wasn’t the general of my father’s army for nothing.” He smiles brightly.

“You may not know this, but Janet taught me a lot about leading people. I respected Janet; she was a good, loyal woman.”

The king is a bright man. He is saying everything that should be said. He is so good at making you feel calm and not bothered. But something irks me about him. Sure, he seems like a good man; many scrolls in the archives said that. Except, if you look deep enough into his aura, there is this unfathomable anger in there that terrifies me.

I continue my story now, calm again.

“Then I think I must have passed out because that’s when it all goes black.” Shrugging is all I can do at this point.

The king nods and looks at Alva, then at Sakura. “The Intel we believe the giant Janet fought was Giant King Oto.” His name doesn’t ring a bell for me.

“I have a hard time believing the reports since Oto was killed thousands of years ago. But with your story and all the evidence, it seems to prove me wrong.” He says, then leans forward, setting the chair legs back on the floor.

The woman with her curved sword speaks up. “She died a warrior’s death. There is no better way to go.”

Tears threaten to well up again, but I suppress the emotion.

“Thanks, I guess. Now, what’s the last question?” I ask.

A crooked grin forms across his lips. “Do you want revenge?”

His words curl my bare toes.

“What?” With four words, the king scrambles my mind.

“If you’re being truthful, which I believe you are. This group is called the Phoenix Embers. They started small five years ago, maybe four or so rouges, but have grown in power over the years. This sadly was their third attack.” Ezekiel says.

“Bladesfall was the biggest attack and the worst we...no.” He shakes his head.

“I should have smothered them in their cradle before this tragedy happened. For that, I apologize, Emelia. As your king, the sin of those who died is my burden.”

His words bring my blood to a boil, even if the apology is genuine. “If you knew about them, why didn’t you stop them?”

My anger swells and takes over my mind. I lunge at the king with rage, moving me like it’s my puppeteer. One of my cuffs rips out from the wall. My hand shoots for the king’s neck. I’m stopped by the tip of the black-haired girl’s short sword at my throat.

My hand is just centimeters away from the king’s neck.

“Make your next move carefully.” Her smoldering red eyes are calculated. A small trickle of blood flows down my neck. It’s doubtful that even the cell bars would even hinder her from cutting my throat.

Backing away sober now, I sit back down.

“Alva, please, like I just told Sakura, her anger is justified; please, no more threats.” I smack myself mentally at realizing who the black-haired girl is.

“You’re Alva Copper, the Reaper of Esterpine.”

She slams her sword back into its sheath.

Ezekiel speaks up.

“Last thing, is there anything else you wish to tell me? Anything at all?” His eyes don’t move from me, his smile stays locked in place. But I’m sure his question is loaded, like he wants me to say something he already knows.

“No, not that I can think of?” I tell him.

He smirks." Tell me, who drove out the rest of the Army?" He asks me. Then he stands up, pushes the chair back, and leans against the bars.

“Not sure, sir. I passed out.” I tell him.

He stares at me for a long moment and smiles again.

“Emelia, do you want revenge on the Embers?” The king asks me again.

Revenge against the woman in blue, the giant king, the two sword users who decimated my entire world, no my life. To be allowed to rip apart those who tore my life in two.

I find myself laughing out loud.

His eyebrow raises.

“Absolutely,” I say.

He smiles.

So do I.