Nychta - The Bloodrose Kingdom

Chapter 5 - The Light She Loathed

I was inside a wooden crate, treated like an animal, which I probably was at this point. I had nothing to look at, only the small spaces between the wood that made the box. It was small, but it was enough to make me sit while hugging my numb legs.

I could feel the moss forming inside the crate, an obvious sign of neglect.

I was breathing in shallow gasps, panic still evident.

I knocked the wood heavily in despair.

“Where are you going to take me?” I shouted, my new-found cold but sharp voice ringing through my tiny cage.

“Shut up!” the guards answered in reply, just like how they would reprimand a noisy child who has eaten too much sugarfrolls.

The sound of the stomping horses masked my breaths as they ran faster, the whips hitting them harder.

Our town, Silverfang, was the town where the forefathers retired and the jobless went to. We were the sleeping place, the town where the people woke up and worked and then slept again in a mundane cycle. It was as peaceful as it sounded, but it was also dull. For the forest was the only sign of attraction from the crumbling silver walls of th town, but it was not one that the nychtas can easily just walk in to. After all, we were the cursed lands, and whatever beauty we had left was also filled with danger. Much like the black gem that I had acquired just now. If a hidden river contained a hidden stone in the middle of an uncharted forest, I only wondered at what mysteries were still left to be solved in the town.

One can be quite familiar with that place in just a week of living, and even be accustomed to most of the people in it. We were considered the safest in all of Bloodrose, meaning that the Illuminae, the queen’s advisors, always recommended her to visit this place in order to give an illusion of a proper ruling. It was enough to fool her to hide the fact the guards forced order only when they wanted to show their superiority over us and only to make us make an image to fool the Monarch that they were doing a good job. It was all corruption and filth, much as what made us united in this part of the world.

As I sat silently in the crate, I wondered about what may happen to me. There were only two options in my mind, none of them being positive in any angle.

One, which is the most possible, is that they will take me to the Rust Prison. It was a dreaded place for the pettiest of thieves to the grandest of criminals. Just a whisper of threat from the guards to imprison someone in this place was enough to send shivers down our spine.

It was a place where the worst of the worst came, where the evils of the evil came together to form an unholy place.

I heard rumors of the place being a heavily fortified place where the inmates were treated like animals, none of them coming out alive from it. No one came back to tell the tale of what happened there, but a few who claimed to do so said that it was a place where not a single light of the moon entered, and where the darkness was enough to make someone insane. Even the brightest and the smartest of the thieves became as dull as babies when they discovered the immense amount of insanity one can receive from such a dark place, where even the absence of light itself was not the worst someone can experience.

The second option was to become a lab rat of the Red Palace.

The Red Palace was the home of the queen, but it was also an institution for the large body that works for the monarch, the Illuminae.

They had a system.

The queen worked at the top, where she lavished the queendom’s treasury for parties and food, barely making any effort to help her ruled lands at all. There were some queens who particularly stood out for their skill in ruling, but their numbers were countable by hand. Queen Diana of the Ice showed promise, even with her iron fist. She was reportedly rumored to be making the town of Magentivy and Cyandorian to be the new capital of the city for unknown reasons, and is reportedly bringing the religion of the Creator back in the queendom’s power.

The religion of The Creator was Illumia, which was where the Illuminae thrive. It was definitely in the Illuminae’s favor for the queen to be doing that, but it was all left in vain when she died. At the same bedroom, in the same way the others died.

But when the queen most often failed at her job, the Illuminae ruled over the lands silently, ruled by Faeric of the Gems to run the system properly. The queen held power, but most of the time, it was only limited to her physical skill.

I had also heard rumors of the Illuminae experimenting on the different gems, and the black gem was certainly a matter of interest.

I wonder what The Divination for this year would bear result to, at what type of ruled that it might give birth to this year. Would she also succumb to the same death as the former queens? Will she be as powerful as them?

I had also heard rumors of the Illuminae experimenting on the different gems, and the black gem was certainly a matter of interest.

The thoughts entered my slowly dizzying head, and I took a heavy slumber as the crate continuously trembled from the horses’ moving.

I was awakened by the opening of the box’s cover. In an instant, the cool moonlight struck from above, a whole and round moon for tonight.

I was grabbed by the arm, with me being barely back to my sense. The numbness was gone now, replaced by a warm sensation of a healthy limb. It was enough for me to fight them, but I was not that foolish to take on a whole pack of guards.

I stood and discovered that we were now in by the Red Palace.

I gasped in awe as I marveled at the sight in front of me.

This was the castle of the queen, the residence that held both fear and superiority. This was the one place where our lives depended, where the darkness thrives in a single woman capable of leading a pack of the nychtas.

The Red Castle stood still in its mighty rocky chunk gray and sharp rocks, a bridge made of the oldest bricks of brown and blue leading you to the enormous wooden door that opened only for the people of the castle. The large chunk of rock that it stood on was on top of a sea.

There was a part of the sea in front of it, the sea that washed the blood of those foolish enough to attempt to cross it without the queen’s command. It swished quietly in the night, a subtle calm that can be broken with any sign of violence in the area. The Queen’s sea.

The building itself had pointed roofs that encapped pillars of stones of an age and story untold to everyone. It was thrumming with power and command, a majestic crown to the evil lands of Bloodrose.

“Why are you taking me here?” I told the guards, only for them to ignore me. They were not holding me anymore, for resistance is futile, and even I knew that in my current situation.

I looked around the area. There was series of buildings with the same material as the castle but of smaller sizes in the front of The Red Palace. They housed the different sectors of The Illuminae. The queendom council, the infirmary, the library, and other buildings that reeked of diplomacy and a sense of cold. This place was the elites of the queendom, and I was definitely not one of them. People were packed in the area, doing whatever it was that kept the queendom running.

I was about to be a lab rat, I guessed. I bit my lip hard as I tried to imagine what they’re going to do to me.

I panicked at the thought of every gruesome legend that I heard back in the town. They told me stories where those who were chosen came back either severely disfigured, lacking their gem, or even returning only as a corpse, none of which became positive.

It was of course the black gem and its rarity that gave me the interest.

I was starting my walk to the castle in heavy steps, a sign of defeat that I shamelessly showed when a sudden streak of light came from the crowd that was gathered in the buildings of The Illuminae.

It was a blast of light like the sun that only showed its color to me earlier. It was the light that shouldn’t have existed in our place. It was the light that gave me shivers as I looked at it.

In the middle of the road was a gray-haired girl wearing a white, ruffled dress with a green ribbon on the chest. She had her eyes closed as her arms were raised straight to the skies, summoning whatever power she contained. It was calling light directly from the above, pouring it into her in a display of ability.

Her white colored gem flashed from the distance.

What could this mean? And why would such a person exist here?

“This could not be!” A member from the Illuminae said from the distance. They were all wearing black robes that only exposed their heads, the flowy cloths reaching the bottom. It looked like the girl was showcasing her powers for the man to see.

Even I could not believe it.

She continued her display, her arms shaking in an obvious struggle with her power. It was as if she was charging before doing something explosive, the struggle before the final display.

Her body was of a thin and delicate frame. Her face was of an innocent and a gentle winter rabbit. She looked like an angel in the midst of the darkness, a waning soul in the middle of echoes. I breathed hard as I barely took in her form.

She was definitely not one of us.

As if on cue, she opened her eyes, exposing irises of ocean blue, and opened her earlier fisted palms, releasing her powers for everyone to see. In an instant, an ocean of white covered the area, as if the sunrise came from her, except for the fact that her sunlight was of a white and blinding type.

It lasted for about five seconds before the inky color of the night embraced the surrounding again. It left tiny pieces of sparkling light that imitated traces of diamond, a leftover from her power.

Although it came quick and fast, the tension from all the other nychtas and the Illuminae was still obvious. The power of light being present in the land of the dark is definitely a game-changer.

But from everything that happened since yesterday, it seemed that the balance of nature had really been distorted in ways unspeakable. Everything that has happened will be considered a fragment of legend if the nychtas themselves weren’t able to see it personally. What was happening? What was Bloodrose turning into?

“Do you believe me now?” the girls, says her soft voice echoing around the silent crowd.

The Illuminae man looked at her for a long time, scanning each and every part of her. He was crossing his arms in disbelief, for whatever it was that the girl was trying to prove.

“You said that you came from the land of Catquoise, but you haven’t showed us anything believable to convince me that you are really from the lands of Bloodrose.” The man said as a conclusion.

The girl was on the verge of tears.

“The Divination will not accept such a candidate, with a mysterious background and the lack of credibility.” The man says as a final word.

The crowd lost interest now, for they have seen and heard what they needed.

This changed when a woman in red stepped out from the crowd. She walked slowly, and with a grace that only came from someone experienced. She was wearing a red shade in her lips and cheek, her tiger-like eyes scanning the crowd. They parted, giving way to the mysterious enigma.

The girl in white’s eyes became wide in surprise. It looked like she knew the woman.

“You will let this girl, Lucia of the Light, enter the Divination.” She says, her voice authoritative and heavy. Whoever she was, she definitely held some kind of power over the lands.

A red faced, a sultry vibe, and a powerful opinion. She was the Chief of Catquoise, where fabrics and powders were made. It was the town that most of the queens took favor on, for their vanity took the best of them. And as such, they have received tremendous amount of attention from the monarch.

If the lands we were in today felt royal but old and gray, Catquoise was definitely red and colorful and rich.

But who was she as to advertise Lucia?

The Illuminae looked at the woman hard. He breathed deeply, showing a sign of defeat.

“Bran Uric of The Illuminae,” the woman said lightly. “I wouldn’t want our first encounter after some years be this stressful. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The man fixed his ropes. He tilted his head.

“You’re quite the cocky one, aren’t you Lana?” he says. “Being chief of Catquoise certainly did took some age out of you, might I say.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lana replies with an edge in her voice.

Lucia taps Lana’s shoulders.

“Uhmm…” she says.

Lana raises her eyebrows as if only remembering that the girl existed too.

“Did Uric give you a hard time?”

Lucia lips twitched, unsure if she should say it out loud. Lana eyes Uric.

“There’s only two contestants left, right?”

“Out of eleven, yes,” Uric replies. “I’ll register Lucia, but make sure she keeps her grounds worthy for the monarchy.”

The curly-haired man turned his back in an instant, dismissing the crowd that played the role of the audience. The shuffles of their feet against the aged pavements put me back to my senses. I remembered the fact that I was going to be an experiment for today, and that today started a chain of doom and agony. I breathed hard, despair running through my veins.

Lucia must’ve noticed me from the distance because of the huge swarm of guards around me. From afar, her blue eyes lingered to my spot, a shock suddenly forming in her eyes. She focused on the gem on my forehead. Truly, it gave quite an effect to the other nychtas that saw it.

She tapped Lana’s shoulder again and whispered in her ear.

I took one last look at her before facing the castle of death.