Nychta - The Bloodrose Kingdom

Chapter 1 - The Raven Dances

Little Raven who danced through the night

Finding solace in the lack of light

Hunting through the dark in hope of delight

Waiting for the prey to feast on without a fight

The pale light of the moon shined through Silverfang. It spread around every dark corner, each twist and turn that made it a labyrinth of silver pillars with carvings of exquisite snakes refined through the years. The moonlight gave clarity to the towns and shops busy for today.

The town was a part of Bloodrose, the queendom where the sun never rose and where the evils of the world dwelled. The sun was something we will never see, for only the moon existed here.

It was now past twelfth hour. I positioned myself strategically above an emerald roof. It was a recurrent motif of the town, carvings and the hues of green. It was a rural town, thriving on simple trade and lifestyle.

I was crouching, a stance preparing me for the job for tonight. It was simple: steal for a living. I looked like a female raven in the night, hunting, lurking for a prey. A proper prey that would fill my stomach just for this day. It hadn’t been much of a job anyways, for I had been doing this since I was eight.

Nychta was what we call ourselves, creatures of this world. Gems of varying colors were present in our foreheads, right in the middle of the eyebrows. They represented powers and abilities. It was my greatest shame that I didn’t have it myself, when it was what defined us in the first place.

Different scents and aromas lingered around the air in the market of the town. By the left side was a shack from where the meat came from, pigs and beef of a violet color lined up in a delectable manner. It was even designed with tomatoes to raise the appetite. I licked my quavering lips, for I haven’t had a meal for one day already.

I looked below me. The town was unusually restless for today. There was no other reason but the announcement of Queen Diana of the Ice’s death.

Bloodrose was a queendom, and the death of the monarch shocked everyone. It had been a recurrent theme throughout five years already, when the ruling queen was found dead at the same day of the year at the same night. They all died at the anniversary of the crowning. It was despicable. It was horrible. It was the Queen’s Curse.

We were desperate for a queen, and the instability that came from her death was slowly killing us all. Judging from the uneasy mood of the people below, the effect was quite obvious.

But I took advantage of it instead.

As the cool light of the moon struck from above, I noiselessly shuffled my feet, finding footing in the midst of the steep roofs that the town’s buildings had. A dark shade of red and an earthlike color of brown painted the houses here, blended with the shiny metallic color of iron.

As I jumped from roof to roof, I surveyed my options. I steadied my balance at every jump, my worn boots barely being able to give me footing. My experienced legs carried me through the night, the cold sway of the wind wooshing by me.

I decided to steal bread for today, a usual choice for me, given its easein getting. Bread for the mind and the body.

I was preparing myself to climb down, a shiny dagger, which I named Slicer, in my left hand and my rucksack behind my back when I spotted something below me, swarming the town's market.

Suddenly, the talking died down when a group of soldiers that guarded our towns came from the east side. They were the source of the heavy voice.

It was as if flame was instantly dampened, by the sudden hushed conversations. No one trusted anyone, in this state of the queendom.

The guards, wearing a red and silver armor that enclosed each and every part of the body, save for the head, stopped in front of the gathering crowd. They had not worn their headgears for today, for it was not a time of battle. A hulking one stepped out from the pack.

“Citizens of Silverfang, I call your attention. The palace of the Queen, the Red Palace from our capital Bloodrose, has decreed a curfew for the days to come, with indefinite span. Under the temporary supervision of the Illuminae, the Queen’s wise advisers, a curfew will be imposed for everyone. No one out after the sixth of the half day. We expect full compliance.”

Cries of annoyance and disagreement came from the crowd. The Illuminae, the queen’s advisers who also resides in her palace are now becoming more and more busy once again as they take on the position of leading Bloodrose, before the end of The Divination, the games which will determine the next monarch. Gods forsake the next queen.

I took the distraction as my chance, as the people were too distracted while shouting their complaints.

As I grabbed on the pipe of the building I came from, which turned out to be a stinky brothel that reeked of booze and human filth, a blonde woman carrying a baby was mercilessly yanked by one of the queen’s guards. It turned out that she voiced her complaints too loudly, and with the guard’s temper, managed to enrage them.

“Please, don’t! I promise not to complain again! Please!” she says in a desperate tone. The guards took the baby from her arms, their armors clinking from the brash action. One of them, a thick eye-browed one in particular held the baby by its thin hair. The baby was now struggling, its high-pitched and loud cries being heard all around the town.

The crowd was now silent, each of them watching at the scene now taking place. The horror was evident in their faces. I crouched on the ground, trying to blend in with the crowd. My clothes were a tattered set of brown leather and black boots, which was not easy to spot with a town mostly with poor people too. Some had homes of their own, but had worse clothes than mine. It was a painting of misery.

I walked slowly, but it was hard not to watch the commotion.

The thick eye-browed guard’s forehead gem was now shining brightly. It was of an orange light. He was one of the brutes, whose power was to be extremely physically strong when they wanted to. It was one of the weakest ones, but it was dangerous in large groups. He was now summoning his power.

In an instant, his arms became a sculpture of a thousand lines. His muscles became ripped and wide as he held the baby by the hair. He was about to do something very wicked. His fingers grasped every weak strand of the baby’s head forcefully, his eyes widening in mad pleasure. I could only watch the events without doing something to help it.

“Let the baby go!” the weak audience said, doing nothing for they feared of what might happen to them if they tried. We were all part of a weak crowd, a weak population dominated by the Queen, the Illuminae, and the guards.

The guard held the middle of the baby’s head.

He had almost split the baby in two before a yellow sparkle of lightning struck from the crowd. Dust flew from the center of the attack, which hit the ground, only inches away from the guard’s body. A tall man with a brown beard stepped out from the crowd.

The guard released the baby, with the mother barely having time to catch it. It cried louder this time, unaware of the events unfolding before it.

“You do not tell us of what happened to the queen and you expect to us to follow your rules? It’s been five years and yet you imbeciles still have no idea of what happened, and neither do we,” the man said, spit flying from his mouth. There was a hurt tone to it, a hurt that was the result of countless decades of abuse.

The crowd nodded their heads in agreement. It was true, for the so-called, “Queen’s Curse” was happening for five years in a row now. All that the Illuminae announced was that the queen was dead, with no particular details aside from the fact that they all died in their own rooms.

A guard, their captain in particular, wearing a red armor mixed with a golden raven symbol engraved on his chest plate stepped down from his horse. He slowly made his way towards the man. The man took one step behind, terrified of what might happen. For all the man’s bravado earlier, it seemed that the guard still had a control over the people.

“Stopping us from doing our jobs will do you no good,” he said, his light but sharp voice being heard around the area. His hair was golden, the moonlight giving it a mysterious light. He had sharp features, with his eyebrows now crossing in between out of annoyance.

“The queen. Well, we are citizens of Bloodrose, aren’t we?” the guard said, slowly inching towards the man. I was now dashing fast across the streets, taking the scene as an opportunity. I was nearing to the bread shop.

“Now, if someone tells us that we need to have a curfew, then we announce it”

The crowd slowly backed away too. They were a crowd of various people, but they all had a similar instinct to avoid the guard’s rage.

“You, come here,” the guard told the man. He shook his head in rejection, his neck now shaking slightly. I could hear the pleas in his mind right now, regretting what he had said earlier.

The gold gem on the guard’s forehead lightened, signifying the use of his power. In an instant he touched the man by his hand and sent a rumbling thunder. His veins lit up as his eyes became golden. The man was now shaking uncontrollably, his head angling in a horrifying position. His body was slowly being burnt with electricity. This was his power too, but the guard was of a much stronger variety.

The crowd cowardly turned their heads against the scene, afraid of looking at what might happen to them if they crossed the line.

When white fumes came from the body, the guard let go of it. A loud thud of a heavy, dead body came as it hit the rough pavement of the road. There were black smears all over his body. His hands and legs were spread across the ground, a pathetic display of a dead man.

The mother of the child, having only a white gem in her forehead, signifying a lower and weaker ability only cried, wallowing in her own inability to protect her child. I was shocked too, but it was not the time for empathy.

“Those who wish to cross us will suffer the same fate,” the guard said.

I made my way into the bakery. The shop-owner was part of the watching crowd too, which made my job easier. He was a big, round man with pink cheeks. His eyes were wet in sorrow. I had always saw him whenever I stole from his shop, but it was only today when I saw him cry for the first time. Truly, there was nothing more to ache a person’s heart than the cries of an infant and the sorrow of a troubled mother.

I scouted the stall.

I was greeted by a wide array of bread, having different sizes but having a prominent quality of a brown color and chunky figure. In a quick motion, I jumped behind the glass that showcased the offerings, and went to the other side of it. The stall was crumbling now, its evident age being obvious to whoever saw it, with its brown and dusty linens having holes and dirt.

I took my rucksack and stole three of the bread. They were still hot and powdery, making me shiver in delight. I took another one in delight.

“To anyone who doesn’t want to suffer the same consequence, follow the rules of Bloodrose or be killed!” the guard said.

“Long live Bloodrose!” he said.

The crowd repeated it silently, shock and pain still evident in their voices.

I went to the side of the shop silently, crouching as a cat would before lunging for its prey. Silent shuffles, silent footsteps.

It was when the fat man turned his body that I lost all effort for being subtle and ran instead.

“There she is! The dark-haired raven!” he screams loudly for the guards to hear. Instantly, the guards turned from their point of view and chased for me.

I ran with every ounce of courage I had, the cold wind slapping against me.