The Unwanted Bride

Chapter 2: Reflection

Rayne POV

Rayne snapped back to the present; her thoughts having been left again upon the human that she now loathed. She couldn’t seem to escape that human that infuriated her so, and she needed to fix these documents in order to have them posted as royal decree. She stood and paced a few feet in front her desk, her hands clasped at her back. She would have to bring a swift reasoning upon those who will not accept her new bride. She knew that her subjects were not those to follow in blind faith, every once and a while she had to show why her rule was absolute. Rayne wished for the times at the beginning, when her first reaping of humans had brought her the most loyal of imp kind she had experienced. Her first visit to the human world had been her most noted and most reckless of her long years.

The Queen was the last of the imps within this land, and she was searching for a way to prevent her kind’s extinction. She had searched within her realm, and no other creature was willing to become one of the imps. Desperate, she traveled from her realm through the magic portal that was held within the lake at the outskirts of the kingdom. She traveled for many days, until finally finding the realm of the humans. Emerging she found a small colony full of settlers within reach of her. She heard the humans, speaking a different language than the impish that she had known her whole life, but the humans were hurrying themselves as they gathered their provisions to move inland for the change of season.

The Queen watched them move around, a simple creature with narrowed values. She had decided that the easiest way to restore her kind was to steal another’s, and in the soft light of the early morning, she quietly stole each human from their small homes and brought them to her land. Unknown to the Queen, a small group of gathering native women had happened upon the site as she was spirited away the last human. Afraid, the carved a word upon the tree as a warning to their people, that it was unsafe within this portion of land. The first year the queen took these humans was the year 1590 AD, the word that was carved into a tree was “Croatoan”, and the first of the new Imps were being changed.

Her reaping had caused such a historical phenomenon that it was still talked about to this very day. Images of her likeness were spread throughout the native tribes, and soon she was regarded almost as a boogeyman or a common demon. She discovered how dangerous her choice has been when she returned back. She did not know how much time had passed, but upon being sighted she was met with fire and the holy subjects of man who tried to condemn her to their hell fire. She quickly escaped, only managing to convince a few wayward souls to leave with her. When she returned, she closed the portal for a short time to gather her thoughts. It was far too dangerous to return and gather people herself. If she were to be killed, her kind would surely die out. Upon her next return she caused the portal to connect to a new location and was able to convince a human to bring her beings without family, homes, or a will to live. She had, in turn, discovered her current practice of spiriting being away to become imps.

This practice of selecting humans to help her kept her, and her kingdom, safe from invaders. When she was weary of the loyalty of humans, she would simply take her helper home to be changed or close the portal and allow their magically obtained luck to turn sour. Over the years she culminated enough imps to make her kind flourish once more within their lands. Each reaping was detailed within a small book hidden within the shelves of this office and is damning evidence for her demise if anyone should find it. Rayne traced her fingers along the spines of each book along the middle shelves, and up to the books on the shelves above them. Her fingers barely touched as earth classic that’s binding was weathered almost to pieces when a knock came to the door.

___________________________________________

Aurora POV

Aurora remained by the fire; her throat now hoarse from shouting for the queen to listen. She had finally stopped shouting as the door opened, and a strange creature entered, pushing a large marble tub with gold trim around the lip and claw feet. The creature regarded her for a moment with curiosity. It stood at no more than four feet tall and looked like the forest sprites that Aurora remembered reading about with her mother as a small child. Its skin was an inky black, with lines of faded gold veining over its form. The creature’s feet seemed to blend in with the stone floors, the only proof that they existed at all being when the imp shifted its feet. The swift movement of each foot lifting from the floor, causing the skin of its foot to return to its original black and gold. Sharp yellow eyes regarded her for just a moment before turning back to its task of pushing the tub. Its hands seem to disappear as it touched the surface of the tub as well.

“You have a natural camouflage.” She breathed softly to herself, the imp ignoring her.

She watched the imp continue its struggle to slowly push the tub towards her and she stood. The imp faltered and watched aurora as she had slowly walked over to the opposite side of the tub. She placed her hand upon the free end of the tub, opposite the imp, and began to pull to help the creature move it. The tub budged slightly from the imp’s hands as it watched her. She wondered if she had made a mistake in helping the creature, until it moved forward to resume its pushing. After a few moments the tub was in place in front of the fire near where Aurora had once sat. The imp let go of the tub and gazed at her once more, tilting its head for a brief moment. Aurora let go as well and stepped back to fire and sat where she had. As she sat the imp turned and exited the room, the door closing behind it.