The throne room was silent.
Torchlight flickered against the stone walls, but the shadows refused to retreat. The air was thick, humid with sweat, soured by fear.
The Queen's Guard stood in formation, unmoving. No one spoke. No one breathed.
She waited with fear, waited for the inevitable. Her hands curled on the armrest. Nails digging into the old wood.
Then-
"Queen Sinephilim!"
A voice, hoarse and panicked, tore through the tension.
"They've breached the inner hall, they're here!"
The horned Demon Queen Sinephilim rose from her throne. Her red skin glistened in the torchlight, long obsidian hair cascading down her shoulders like a shadow. Her black eyes burned, not with fear, but with the weight of too many corpses. Too many losses.
The castle was evacuated a few days ago. Only her and the Queen's Guard remained.
"So… it's finally time." Her voice was quiet. "Leave. All of you. Now."
Silence.
"With all due respect, my Queen," said Glunch, stepping forward in weather-worn armor. His beard was streaked with silver. "We do not fear death. We will never leave your side."
Her oldest guards, her family in all but name.
"Then prepare yourselves." A sad, proud smile touched her lips. "We welcome death together."
"HAAAAH!!!" Their answering cry echoed like thunder.
The throne room doors groaned open.
And the Five Heroes stepped through. Aucteros, Rashka, Willow, Zerva and Rhenvar.
She glared at them thinking:
These damn 'heroes' would not stop until I was dead. I had sacrificed so much just to save so few; I had even watched my brothers die. Pathetic executioners draped in their filthy righteousness.
"Ah… the so-called heroes." She stepped from her throne, voice cut like a blade. "I trust your bloodless stroll through my empty halls was satisfying."
Her hand lifted, black lightning crackling at her fingertips.
"I am Demon Queen Sinephilim. And this ends here." It was a fool's bluff but she would die with her pride as a leader intact.
The high priestess stepped forward. Her gold-trimmed robes shimmered with divine fury; her staff pulsed with holy light.
"Your filth will be purged from this world," Priestess Zerva spat.
Sinephilim dismissed her without a word.
"Our Kingdom's had a truce, and you killed her!" shouted the next.
Sinephilim tensed at his words. Her hands curled into fists.
Prince Willow Soluna. His anger was known but it was his eyes that made her flinch. Ruby, raw and filled with grief that spoke volumes.
"The accusation for her assassination was baseless." She glared into Willow's eyes.
Even the Elven King did not declare war. Only this fool answered with fury.
"The curse your father birthed into our soil will be repaid with your corpse," growled Rashka. His scaled jaw clenched.
I tried to fix it, you stubborn lizard.
Then came the man who had orchestrated it all.
Aucteros the book mage.
His tan, almost sun-kissed hand flipped a page from the black tome that floated beside him. His deep burnished orange eyes fixated on reading.
"Your end is already written," Aucteros said flipping his black scholar's ponytail to the side.
She noticed his white and gold linen robes.
It gave him a dignified, almost divine presence. He looked too thin to be dangerous, until she noticed the way the air bent around him.
Fitting for the man who called himself the master of fate.
"Fate is the paper, people my quills." Aucteros smiled as his black book closed with a snap. "For I am the savior."
She flinched at his words but his smile, it was cunning. Her stomach twisted. Yet her true fear was not the mastermind, but his dog.
Her fearful eyes drifted to him.
Rhenvar.
The cursed knight of the Shadow Fortress. The legendary hero of the elves.
Princess Sylvia praised this man for his valor.
Sinephilim had met the cursed knight before during the war; he was a monster who slaughtered relentlessly.
She remembered Sylvia's face would light up talking about him; her claims that he was an immortal. Sinephilim assumed she was lying; no human lives for that long. She doubted he was even a human.
Rhenvar said nothing. Shadow magic pulsing at his feet, primordial, cursed, divine. His head turned toward Aucteros. Like a dog waiting for a command.
Sinephilim's breath caught looking at Rhenvar's cursed crimson sword.
Souleater.
That blade had killed my brothers, turned them to dust.
She trembled at the memory of it. She couldn't even bury them. If anyone was meant to take her head, it was him.
"If it's my life you want," She snarled. "Come take it!"
Magic crackled at her fingertips as she launched forward.
Aucteros struck first. His hand rose, and a guard's head exploded into a red mist. The floating book at his side flared with power.
Sinephilim had felt its power.
What type of magic was- no. Don't think. Move.
Sinephilim lunged for Rhenvar.
Kill this creature.
He didn't draw his blade, only blocked, grunting under the force. Breath ragged. She drew blood.
So… It seems he can bleed. Good, it means he can die.
"You will pay for everyone you killed monster!" Her strikes rained against him. He fought only to defend himself. Magic raked across his black armor, forcing him back until she tackled him, slamming him to the floor.
His helmet rolled away.
A regular human stared back, pale skin, light blue soulless eyes, long dirty blond hair spilling across his face.
He really was just… a man.
Not a devil. Not a monster.
Somehow, that made it worse.
This is war.
She thrashed her claws down, sinking them into his neck.
Rhenvar coughed, choking on his blood.
"I've heard you and Sylvia were engaged," She spat coldly as she stood up. "Join her for eternity, bastard."
She left the cursed knight choking on his blood and threw herself back in the fight.
But all around her, the last of her guard was being slaughtered. Tetser, who had read her bedtime stories. Exisil, who had taught her magic. Beckuul, who once stole the last apple in the kitchen.
Her family. Fighting into their last breath.
Glunch charged Aucteros.
The man only grinned as he exploded Glunch's head with magic. His axe skittered across the floor, stopping at the book mage's feet.
"You're dead…" she whispered, charging him.
A fireball slammed into her side, knocking the breath from her lungs as she was flung into the wall. Willow's flames burned divine and righteous.
She screamed, getting to her feet and bolted to the fire mage, only to crash into Zerva's holy barrier.
She heard a snort.
Rashka came from behind with his axe, his green scales gleamed as she dodged his strike.
She gained distance.
The last of her Queen's Guard fell. As she stood alone.
"WHY?!" Her voice cracked. "All we wanted was peace! You foolish monsters! I'll kill you all!"
Magic erupted from her in a shockwave, shattering Zerva's barrier.
Willow's flames licked her skin but no longer burned.
Rashka rushed her, swinging his enchanted axe. It shattered against her skin.
She grabbed the lizard King's arm and lightly pulled. Ripping his arm off.
"Gah!" Rashka screamed in pain.
She felt drunk with power as she tossed his arm back to him.
Was this my true power?
It felt like sunlight under her skin, burning but painless. Holy magic surged through her veins, pure, unstoppable.
Her new form was a mixture of divinity and damnation. Wings like a bat's, but feathered. Her veins glowed white under her bright red skin.
This is divine magic. Impossible.
"There it is!" Aucteros laughed. "That is what I was waiting for! Just as I predicted!"
For the first time since this war started, I might survive this. I have a chance!
She dashed toward Aucteros. But she was too slow.
The prophet dodged easily, holding a glowing divine crystal.
That's the same crystal Karn used-
"Impossible… how did you- "
"Let's take all that power from you, shall we?" Aucteros cut her off.
The crystal pulsed-
-and her newfound power swirled away from her. She felt herself getting weaker. The light that was getting ripped off her skin felt like the peeling of flesh.
Sinephilim screamed in pain.
Her knees hit the stone. Her hands faded to a warm tan. Her obsidian hair turned silver. Horns vanished. Her magic felt hollow. Even her eyes changed, from void-black to violet, shimmering yet furious.
She wasn't a demon queen anymore.
She was something else.
"A cursed fallen exposed!" Aucteros mocked. "Behold the false sovereign!"
The other heroes hesitated.
Zerva stared in shock.
Rashka snarled.
Willow's gaze wasn't on her, it was behind her.
She turned and watched Rhenvar walk toward her. The blood on his armor wasn't dripping, it was climbing. Crawling back up the gash in his neck, sealing it shut like the wound never existed.
So, the rumors were true.
She laughed to herself.
Aucteros knelt beside her, whispering, "Just know, I don't take joy in this. This was the only way."
She didn't care for his words. Or about power, or the throne. Only her family, her friends, and the people she saved.
Her hand closed around the nearest weapon, Glunch's axe. "I'll take one of you with me!"
She grabbed Aucteros by his arm. Fury shivered in her chest.
She swung.
"Rhenvar! Shadow-lock her! NOW!" He yelled.
The once-dead knight stepped forward, whispering, "For my master."
Shadows wrapped tight around her.
"Finish her!" Aucteros screamed.
Rhenvar appeared behind her, crimson blade raised-
Sinephilim's veins glowed a faint white light and she wrenched free through sheer force of will. The axe came down, cleaving through Aucteros's arm in one furious strike.
The man screamed as he held his bleeding arm.
Cold magic bit into her fingertips as she gripped the severed limb with fear.
She spun, expecting Rhenvar's cursed blade-
Instead, he was kneeling.
"Your orders, my master." His voice hollow.
"RHEN!?" Willow shouted, eyes wide. "What are you doing!?"
She blinked.
"Orders? Kill them all." The words left her lips before she could think.
"As you wish."
Rhenvar vanished, reappearing beside Rashka. Souleater cut through the lizardman as if he were air; his body turned to dust.
Then Rhenvar charged Willow. Crimson blade raised.
The fire mage erupted, flames coiling around him like a living shield.
"Please stop!" Willow pleaded. "Rhen!"
And Rhenvar did. His blade hung mid-swing, trembling. His body locked like something inside him was pulling against her command. She saw his eyes. His pupils flashing a crimson light.
"Dammit I cant beat him," Aucteros roared as his book snapped open. "Dimension door, NOW!"
"Cursed Knight," Sinephilim shouted, pointing at Aucteros. "Kill him!"
The book's power flared a divine light. "Leave Rhenvar and bring us to the Holy City!"
Just before the magic consumed them, Rhenvar appeared behind Aucteros, blade inches from his neck-
Too late. They vanished.
Silence fell.
Sinephilim looked at Rhenvar. His stare was empty.
"Why did you help me?" She asked.
He pointed to the severed arm she still held.
"You have my ring."
She looked down. A black ring, dark engravings pulsing like a heartbeat.
"This ring… with it, you will obey my every command?"
"Yes."
He stood motionless.
So this ring controlled him.
She stared at the ring. It looked like a shadow in her palm.
My brothers, my army. The innocents he slaughtered…
Guilt twisted in her chest.
Their blood is on Aucteros's hands.
She could have kept him, used him. Made him her weapon. Her chance for vengeance against the true villain was in the palm of her hand.
"I don't keep slaves, Rhenvar."
She tossed him the ring.
"Do as you please, great hero."
She walked up and sat on her throne, surrounded by corpses. Tears welled in her eyes as her eyes scanned the bloodstained room.
Rhenvar picked up the ring and slipped it onto his finger. For the first time, he moved like a man, not a monster. He took his helmet and disappeared into the shadows.
Sinephilim sat alone weeping.