It was a cold evening, everything appeared like it was covered in impenetrable darkness. My sixth sense was telling me that something bad was going to happen, and it was right as always. Something was looming in the darkness, something evil.
I looked at my faithful falcon, Celeste, and we went for a tour around the castle. It was quiet, too quiet for my liking until…we heard a scream so piercing that it cut the night.
That voice was familiar to me. This scream came from my mother's chambers, the queen of the Moon kingdom. Something was happening to her. I began running towards her chambers and shouted "Mother, where are you?"
As I approached, I began to hear her screams more clearly. With each scream of my mother, I felt like I was being pierced in the heart. When I arrived, it was already too late. The sight that unfolded before my eyes can be described in only one word and that is grotesque.
My mother was placed in a circle with strange symbols. Blood was flowing from all sides and forming a strange figure. Men in black surrounded her. Their faces were not visible. The eyes of these men were strange. As I focused more, I noticed that they were glowing in the dark. Something was wrong with them.
Their presence was strange. I felt an aura of evil coming from them. The word that formed in my mind was demons. Yes, demons, creatures that are made from pure darkness. I still couldn't believe what I was seeing, but as far as I knew, those creatures could be summoned only by a magician with enormous powers.
If I was right, I needed a plan and a very good one, and in the meantime, I had to hide and wait for the right moment…
They were killing her little by little; bloody tears were streaming down her face as they were tearing her body limb by limb. First, it was her hand, then her legs. They started ripping her stomach out and eating her part by part. I froze just for a moment, not trusting my eyes.
After a while, there was my moment. While they were not looking, I attempted to get to her. Foolishly, I was caught by one of them. Without nowhere to run, I yelled, "Leave my mother alone you freaking monsters."
The one holding me just laughed. He turned to the person next to him. I assumed he was their commander. They spoke a language I did not understand. I guess he was asking him what to do with me. Afterwards, they looked at somebody. I assumed it was the person who summoned them into this realm.
After some time, it seemed they agreed on what to do with me…The man holding me spoke while laughing, "Little missy, you don’t have any luck. I have permission to do whatever I want with you before I kill you. We are going to have the same fun…"
I looked at him and spat in his face. The demon got angry and his grip tightened causing me to lose consciousness...The last thing I saw was darkness.
When I woke, they were still torturing my mother. I tried to fight, to get away, but I was tied up to something. Two demons kept me from escaping. Unexpectedly, while thinking about how to get free, I heard the sound of a falcon. That was Celeste.
Feeling abruptly happy about this fact, I asked Celeste to free me through our mind link. She got behind my back and started cutting the ropes with her claws. Time passed as my fateful falcon was attempting to free me... My mother's eyes met mine. She tried to tell me something...
Her last words before her heart was torn out from her chest were "Run, Lucille, I love you."
Celeste managed to cut the ropes. I was free but something in me had changed. I broke down in tears from anger and sorrow. I was drowning in them. My heart was shattered to pieces. Suddenly, I heard a voice," You can do it; you are a warrior.
After those words, the next thing I knew was the smell of burning flesh. The demons beside me started to burn … as I ran with all my mind towards the exit. As I ran, I heard a familiar voice shouting "Catch her. She must die tonight." To my astonishment, it was...my aunt’s voice.
I looked behind my back. A figure in black was standing looking at me, and something on her wrist was glittering. Yep confirmed that it was my aunt. My mother's sister and the person I had known all my life standing in the hallway, her eyes glittering in red colour, red as the blood flowing in my veins …
The next day
I hid in a secret tunnel under the castle, crying my heart out until the guards found me. My mother's death was announced to everyone as a death due to illness. This happened ten years ago. To this day, the things that happened on that fateful night are still hunting me, not leaving me alone.
A lot has happened in ten years, and I have changed...I'm not that little girl anymore, and I have a fateful companion. As it turns out, the voice that faithful night belonged to my phoenix, my other half named Elisora, which resides in my mind and since then has always been beside me... teaching me all sorts of things.
In those ten years, I learned that within me flows the blood of the moon princess and that of a phoenix. A perfect reason for everyone to hate me…, and call me an abomination of nature. O and last but not least, my mother was the previous queen. My father is unknown..., and I'm a hybrid, the first of my kind.
.........
After a little monologue with my other half, Elisora, and mental preparation, I decided to go down for breakfast. All my cousins and aunt, or let's say the queen, were sitting around the table.
One of my cousins, Caleb, decided to insult me. "Hello, hybrid cat got your tongue, or are you so stupid and can’t say good morning like a normal person? Oh, wait, you are not a normal person, you are just a piece of …"
Everyone started laughing. I just decided to brush it off almost. "Ops sorry dear cousin excuse me for accidentally stepping on you, ”His face was ridiculous, the strawberry juice was all over him, he became red like a tomato and my inner self was celebrating and dancing in my head. After glaring at me with eyes full of hate, he left the table.
However, not before telling me something. "You are going to pay and wish you had never been born and have been killed with that excuse of queen your mother." I just smiled and decided to sit.
Breakfast was always unpleasant…but after that was the start of the real hell. I was called by my aunt Lisandra …" Lucille, after you change those ragged clothes, come to my office."
She never talked to me. What the hell would she want from me now...?
......
My phoenix tried to reassure me but I had a bad feeling.
"Maybe she had a change of heart or something presumed Elisora"
Change of heart my ass. She hates me and wants me dead because I have the blood of the previous queen. In her eyes, I'm just a shitty hybrid that was never supposed to be born.
"Do you remember what she did to us when we were little? "I asked her.
Elisora sighed sadly, ''Yes, I do, we were locked in those dungeons for months without a way out...and the worst of it was that she clipped our wings, leaving us to bleed.".
" Yes, and we still have the bruises from the tortures she committed towards us…"
All the memories of that night began to return. Everything appeared so real. It was as if I was experiencing that nightmare again. I sighed and came to the answer that time can’t erase everything. I ‘will not be capable of forgiving her, ever, or my cousins for the cruelty towards me. One day, everything will come to light and then they will pay for their sins.
Walking toward her office, I thought about why, after all this time, she decided to talk to me. What could she possibly want from me after all these years, I asked myself, not noticing I was already in front of her office on the brink of running away when the door opened.
" Come in, sit down," she said and pointed to a chair in front of her desk.
When I looked into her eyes, there was something there deeper than hatred... I can’t describe it exactly.
I sat down, and after a few moments of heavy silence, I decided to ask her the question lurking in my mind for some time.
"Your Majesty excuse me for the rudeness, but what did you want to talk about,” I asked with slight worry.
"Straight to the point as always," she said as she glared at me with aversion."
She continued talking without averting her eyes.
"Let's get to the point, dear niece, it is going to be your coming-of-age ceremony and there you will have to follow our traditions, so I decided to get you, tutors, to not disgrace us in front of all the royalty and the citizens of this nation."
Is that all she wanted to say ...before I asked her, ....she dropped the bomb.
"You will have to get a spouse soon. Because of that, I found you the perfect candidate. Dear niece, your engagement party is two weeks from now."
Is she crazy? She can’t do that to us. We have someone there for us, our soulmate is waiting for us somewhere?
" What are you kidding?" I shouted in anger.
Elisora got uneasy inside of me. I felt my anger taking me over, ... my power threatened to go on a rampage every second now. My aunt looked at me with disgust in her eyes and said,'' This is the end of our discussion. You can leave now."
After hearing her last words, everything went black. My power got out, both my eyes became golden and my hair changed to its shape and looked like a golden flame. Elisora had come to light, and O boy, she was angry as hell as she said, "You pitiful human, who are you to decide our fate? I’m a phoenix, the golden phoenix, the queen of all…"
Afterwards, everything began to burn. My aunt shouted and called the guards. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was her eyes full of hatred and sharp pain in my head.
The next thing I knew, I was in the dungeons chained, and without any strength to stay awake, I fainted again…After that, I don’t know how many days, I woke up. Elisora was uneasy.
"Finally, you are awake. I have been trying for days to heal you. Maybe it is because you truly have not awakened yet to a full-fledged phoenix and your lunar power of a moon princess is still unstable," said Elisora, with worry in her voice.
"How many days have passed?" I asked in response to her monologue.
" Seven days, you have one week until your coming-of-age ceremony and five until your engagement," she said, annoyed by the situation.
"What that soon that can’t be happening to me we need to think of something soon we don’t have time Elisora …."
Before she answered me, a sound that almost nearly knocked me out disturbed our conversation. In front of me were my stupid cousins: Caleb, Jakob, and Vitorio.
" What do you want" I shouted at them, but they just looked at me and smiled creepily.
Caleb checked me out. He looked me in the eyes and spoke," It is time for payback cousin."
"What are you going to do," I asked him.
He just smiled and stepped into my dungeon and the hell started. First, they decided to beat the crap out of me, then tore my clothes and raped me...I shouted and screamed while trying to free myself, but the chains were silver and I think they had given me some drug. I struggled, fought back, and shouted for someone to help me, but no one came…
After hours or something that looked like days, the guards came to take me to the ceremony before the engagement or the first meeting. The guards left me in one of the rooms. Maids were waiting to get me prepared.
I took a glance at myself in the mirror. The person in the mirror can’t possibly be me, I shouted. My state was terrible. There were bruises all over my body, my eyes were like the ones of a dead person.
Maybe the reason was that a part of me was already dead and my hope was nowhere to be found. The maids prepared me all that while avoiding eye contact like I was some sort of plague or something. After hours that seemed like ages, I was done. My dress was blue, my hair was curled, I had makeup and silver shoes, and a moon-shaped tiara.
The guards came and told me that it was time, and I followed them. While walking behind them, I heard a whisper, " Princess, come, there is something I need to give to you, something of great importance". A middle-aged lady was standing around the corner of the corridor, whispering," It is my pleasure to meet you, we need to talk."
"Who are you?" I whispered back, worried that we would get caught by the guards.
" I was your mother's best friend and your father's sister”. I was stunned,.. suddenly we heard a sound.
"We don’t have time, so my name is Alice and this is for you. This will guide you, find your father and you will have all the answers."
I looked down and, in my hand, I had a moon-shaped brooch with a phoenix leaning over the moon, and to me, it looked like it guarded her...While exploring the brooch, one of the guards approached me and said, 'It is time for the first meeting, dear princess of the freaks." Giving him not even a glance, I just followed him...
Gala Georgieva
