Three months before the destruction of October
One week had passed since the election of the new queen. Audisélia had attended the vote count and was surprised by the result, but it was a good thing... She had done her best to get to this point.
Now, the outgoing queen was preparing to hand over her beautiful crown, and the mark of her coronation, engraved on her forehead and adorning her hairline, would soon fade away.
Alone in the council room, after dismissing her former advisors to properly carry out the final preparations for the new queen's coronation, she sat lost in thought.
About forty years had passed since she ascended the throne. Forty long years, of which the first fifteen had been the most difficult, during which she barely ruled the kingdom. Forty long years spent resolving internal conflicts and participating in external wars. She had greatly contributed to improving living conditions within her realm. Though many were reluctant to import human technologies, she had demonstrated her determination, courage, and intelligence throughout her reign to obtain what she believed was best for the kingdom—socially and in public health, at least what she was able to do during her rule, which would still be criticized in fairy history. All of this allowed for an era of peace in a cosmopolitan state.
But she already knew what her contemporaries and future generations would remember: her strange, incomprehensible strength.
It was already rare for a fairy to hold her own against any creature of normal strength, even with the aid of magic, as was the case for the battle fairies. But for a fairy to accomplish the feats she had throughout her life was beyond impossible: taking down an entire orc army, razing a kingdom with a mere gesture, or nearly mastering the wrath of the dark heavens—making them roar or calm at will… Added to that were her extraordinary capabilities and exceptional intellect.
There was no doubt—the legend of Audisélia, twenty-sixth ruler of the Kingdom of Sylvania, self-proclaimed High Protectorate of Faeries from all realms.
Yet in the end, what would remain? Would she return to the burrow where Caemgen had found her and her protector? Or worse, to the cocoon from which Torn had pulled her?
What nonsense was she even thinking?
That time had long since passed! In any case… she had a goal in mind for a long time, and the prediction of the oracle Sybille had only accelerated it. The money she had stolen from the state coffers was well hidden in a chest that she and Sawyer would retrieve when they left, to purchase that legendary weapon from the so-called "War Smith" to fulfill the dream she had long hoped to realize since Elena's departure.
Before all that, she had to complete her training in the Dark Protectorate. She was in the final phase, and she couldn't afford to fail. After that, she would have to silence the bad feeling she always got when going there. Something vile lingered in that place...
However, something else had been bothering her ever since the Hero left… That conversation, in the Limbo, with that woman.
On the day of the Hero's departure, former queen Audisélia, as you know, went to the Limbo to visit a mysterious prisoner she had assaulted and called "mother." Twelve fairy wings on her back, eyes sewn shut, chains piercing her body, and a light behind her casting a sinister shadow that made her even more terrifying up close. No benevolence emanated from this silhouette; it looked more like a corpse than the majestic living being a royal-blooded fairy should have been.
Audisélia restrained the electrical surges building up within her, filled with her rage and bitterness, threatening to burst through every inch of the prisoner's body. The fairy's hand, shaking with hatred, grabbed the neck of her "host." Her pastel hair fell before her eyes, glaring darkly at the woman she hated more than anything—even though she had called her "mother."
"I didn't think you'd ever say that to me again..."
"Shut up!" the fairy shouted. "Your desires, hopes, and fantasies have no place in this conversation! Got it?"
"Calm down, young lady," the prisoner chuckled. "You're angry with me as if I had done something wrong…"
Audisélia grabbed her cheeks and squeezed her jaw tightly. Eyes bloodshot, teeth clenched, her limbs burned with rage. If she let go, she could crush her skull—but that would be a huge mistake and closer to fantasy than reality.
"How long were you manipulating Globox?" Audisélia seethed.
The arrogant smirk vanished from the chained woman's face. She flared up:
"Since you were in your mother's womb!"
The queen flinched and stepped back, preparing for battle. The prisoner burst into laughter, her chains rattling as she rocked back and forth.
"At your age, and you're still scared?"
"Don't play games with me."
"The formal tone… For a moment, you remembered who I am, didn't you?" grinned the twelve-winged fairy. "You fool... You're supposed to be a superior version of Rosalyne, and yet you can't even match me?"
"You… You're twisting things. That was never the point!"
Audisélia's interlocutor raised her head, intrigued.
"Really?" the prisoner mused. "You might be right. It's been so long since I've seen any light from any source, since I left this anti-magic stone prison, since I felt the world our gods created, the noise of elemental spirits frolicking in nature, balancing this land..."
"And that's never going to happen. Not while I'm alive. If your followers were a dragon, we've tied their legs and chopped off their heads."
"Nice analogy. But in common tongue, what does that mean? That you killed that fat pig Globox? Of course not. When it comes to real action, acting firmly and like an adult, you always run away, leaving others to handle your messes... Look at the girl you've condemned!" she cackled. "And on top of that, you thought you could be a parent..."
"I don't recall asking for advice from you," Audisélia snapped back. "Especially after what happened with your daughter."
"Yet here you are, standing before me, Rosalielienélia," she said, singing her name.
"Whatever... This conversation is going nowhere, I might as well leave."
The fairy queen turned on her heel and walked away when her host called her, stopping her in place.
"Young lady... I'm not on your side, but I will warn you: if you haven't figured out who your enemies are within your kingdom, don't expect your project to succeed. Because to see it through, it's not just about strength—even though you're still too weak to face him, or even me for that matter—but about sacrifice. Tell that to the boy you call your substitute son. He might find it useful."
Audisélia stood still, stunned, her gaze fixed on the woman from whom no kindness radiated. The aura around her could make even the greatest warrior of the kingdom shudder—and to assume the queen was unaffected would be a terrible lie.
"I'll take note," she finally said. "And I'll speak to Torn's son as well."
"Since I've done you a favor, he'll probably take someth—Wait..."
The prisoner stopped mid-sentence, mouth agape.
"The son of who?"
"Torn. You..."
Suddenly, Audisélia's voice faltered. Her steely gaze melted away as the anomaly before her made her forget all the malevolence she had been feeling toward the prisoner. Though her eyelids were sewn shut like a shrunken head, though she wore a sinister smile, though her twelve wings darkened the room and her threatening claws flexed, ready to tear her throat out—Audisélia saw the corners of the fairy's lips tremble, and a tear roll down her right cheek.
"Who is he?"
Snapping out of her trance, Audisélia's fury returned, and she turned on her heel for good.
"I don't have time to comfort you like I did when I was fourteen."
"Rosalie!" the prisoner called. "Rosalie! ROSALIE!"
Audisélia exited the high-security cell and ordered the guards to put the prisoner to sleep and to muffle any sound from the cell, then ascended to the upper floors.
What's wrong with me? she wondered. Am I losing my memory?
She had no time to dwell on it because, with a sudden slam, the doors to the council room burst open, pulling the former queen out of her thoughts. A crowd of guards approached her.
"What is this?" Audisélia asked, bewildered and slightly irritated.
The chief of the military police and the head of the royal guard stepped forward. The latter, a fairy with light green wings named Lord Kalavel, unrolled a scroll that was clearly a royal decree, causing the former regent to raise an eyebrow. The guards pointed their weapons at her—she didn't understand what was happening.
"Former monarch of the Faerie Protectorate, twenty-sixth queen of the Kingdom of Sylvania, Audisélia II Vanguard, also known by the unofficial name Rosalielienélia Grave, you are under arrest."
Oh? Huh?
"Huh? On what charges?"
It was the head of the military police—a fairy with a black scar across her forehead—who spoke.
"You are under arrest for corruption, theft, crimes against the Faerie-kind, and above all, for complicity in murder, allegiance to a faction seeking to overthrow the state, election fraud, attempted regicide, and more importantly, kinship with the Great Felon."
In the end, the queen had been far too optimistic about how her people would remember her.
Not everyone can be a seer.
And some sayings are true after all: 'Under the heavens, no secret is eternal.'