Peter Koevari - Prophecies Awakening

The blisteringly cold air howling over the castle walls forced their teeth to chatter and their naked bodies to shiver uncontrollably. Their skin burned as the hemp ropes were fastened around their wrists. Three knights kept their swords drawn and pointed at the prisoners’ chests as they forced them into position, the knights’ shaky grip revealing their nervousness.

“Off with their heads! Heretics!” the crowd chanted, shaking their fists in the air and spitting at the ground in disdain. As the knights tied the ropes around the posts, the horizon slowly began to brighten with the first hint of dawn.

King Grueber raised his hands high in the air and bellowed, "Enough!”

Although the king was best known in Marithia for his love of filling his stomach and his resulting plump stature, he had a reputation for cruelty that was famed across the lands. Grueber Saber was the outcast of the Saber royal family, cut off from their plentiful purse for his crimes on their people and provided with a small castle to rule as his own. Castle Praethorne overlooked the lowlands which separated him from Greenhaven and the Elven Woods. It was a land which he dared not cross, as it was said to be cursed by Shindar.

Separated from his family and living a comparatively poor existence, he had renounced his title as a prince and chosen to ignore the rule of Marithia’s true human king, Robert Saber. Grueber had crowned himself Praethorne’s king and the people obeyed him out of both fear and desperation.

His red garb hung loosely from his gut and jiggled with his speech. “In these times of peace, we must be vigilant in keeping our city free of unwanted visitors. We have lost countless lives to the demons and plagues that have threatened our very way of life.”

The crowd cheered in response, and Grueber bathed in their admiration with a gleeful grin before waving their cheers down to continue his speech. He turned and pointed at the wooden posts. “We have discovered a traitor who has not only lived within our walls, and has been trusted by all of us as our high priestess sorceress, but has had the gall to harbour a descendant of the Vampire King and defy our sacred laws by bearing his child. This act of treason cannot go unpunished!”

The crowd erupted into another chant. “Punish them! Punish them!”

At the base of the nearest castle wall was a young girl, barely in her teens. Her clothes were torn and covered in dried blood; her sweat-drenched skin was revealed in the tears of her dress. She was caged behind the crowd, under heavy guard, and whimpered in fear as her cage was dragged into view and placed by her mother’s side. Kassina’s cage was made from solid wood, save the metal bars clamped into place over the opening.

"She's just a little girl!" cried a woman in the crowd.

“A little girl?” repeated King Grueber incredulously, pointing at the cage. “This abomination, half vampire and half sorceress, cannot be allowed to survive and live among us. In your eyes, she may be nothing more than a little girl, but when she grows, she will become a danger to us all! As your king, I sentence them all to die. The sins of the mother and father shall be punishable to their forbidden offspring. Bring me their heads!”

Kassina cried with a wavering voice, “No! Mummy, save me! You have to do something!”

Niesha looked down at her pleading daughter with tearful eyes, her voice breaking as she spoke. “My darling Kassina, I failed you… I am so sorry. There is nothing I can do! These blasted Rings of Silence-”

"Enough!” The king sliced through her words. “Niesha, to think that the people trusted you to guide them! And you thought you could hide a descendant of the Vampire King? And get away with it? You sentenced your own daughter to death the day that you conceived her. What could you possibly have to say for yourself before you die?”

She looked to the crowd desperately and to her frightened daughter. The realisation that the situation was helpless hit her like a shield to her face. Niesha raised her eyes furiously to meet the king’s and spat her words through quivering lips as if they were weapons laced with venom. “I love Danton! He has never harmed me or our daughter. You brand me a heretic and try to shift the guilt of your sentence, but it is you alone who are about to murder an innocent child. You are nothing but a cold-blooded pig, completely blinded by your hatred of anything you do not understand. You are no different from the demons you claim to be saving us from.”

The crowd gasped and went quiet; only Kassina’s sobs could be heard. They all stared at the king in shock.

Grueber’s face contorted and his voice growled, “You dare accuse your king of being a murderer? I believe my informants, and the creature to whom you bore your child is indeed a vampire. But as your king, I can show mercy. I make you this promise: if, in the next few moments, Danton is not burning from the touch of the sun, then I will let you all go. How is that for a so-called pig?”

Kassina shook her cage so violently that the skin on her fingers broke and blood trickled down the bars. “No! Please, just let us go!”

“Shut your trap, freak!” grunted a guard, smashing his fist hard into her cage. The other guard hit her knuckles with the hilt of his sword. Kassina hunched over and cried out in pain as she gripped her throbbing hand.

“Damn you to the endless fires, Grueber,” spat Danton as the sun began to rise. “You are nothing but a coward with inherited power. I swear to you that our murders will be avenged, and that when the day of your death comes, your last rotten breath will be of this day’s regret.”

Danton gritted his teeth and growled as his skin began to blister and burn. The stench of his decay filled the air and the nearest of the crowd paled as their stomach turned. Once the rays of the sun had breached his skin, he could hold back no longer and let out a blood-curdling scream.

“No! Danton, my love! You fat bastard, Grueber, may your soul burn for all eternity!” cried Niesha.

Kassina broke down at the sight of her father burning in the sun. Her wailing was heard in lands far beyond the confines of the thick, lifeless castle walls. Kassina's eyes widened and she gasped when she suddenly felt invisible arms wrap around her, holding her tightly.

A dark voice filled her mind. Kassina, it is finally time for the prophecy to be fulfilled. There is nothing I can do for your mother or father, as this will come at a great cost. But if you pledge your soul to me, I will give you power. I will make you the most feared sorceress in all the lands. You will be able to make them all pay dearly for what they have done. Not just them, but all Marithians who have forsaken you.

“I don’t understand what you are saying. Who are you? What is a prophecy? Kill them, kill them all,” she sobbed, placing her head in her hands. She rocked back and forth, shaking her head violently.

I am Shindar, the Demon of Darkness. It is said that a girl born of both darkness and light will destroy all living creatures and rule a new world under the Blood Red Moon. The seers have predicted your arrival for thousands of years. If you give yourself to me, I will show you how to embrace the darkness, unleash the powers sleeping within you and make everyone answer for their cruelty. But you need to decide now, as I can only save you if you allow me. And you don’t have long to decide. The window of life is closing.