I ran back inside the palace.
No.. this can't be happening.
"Maid's?! Guards!?" I shouted, my voice echoing off the marble walls.
"Princess…"
I froze. Jay's voice sounded weak, strained.
"I don't… I don't feel so good."
Her body began trembling, hands pressed against her chest just like the villagers.
"What's going on?!" I rushed to her side. "What's happening to you?"
"I… I don't know. It feels like my insides are twisting my chest-"
She gagged mid sentence, a sharp, strangled sound and something glowed from her mouth.
A faint, floating orb.
"Jay?" I whispered.
Then she collapsed in my arms.
"Jay! Hey, stay with me! Jay!"
No response. Her body was limp. Cold.
My eyes darted to the orb hovering above us. It drifted upward, pulsing softly like it was alive.
"Hey! You, whatever you are! Get back here!"
The orb zipped away.
"Oh no you don't!" I launched after it, my feet lifting from the ground as I flew through the corridor.
"Almost… got you-!"
It passed straight through the wall, and I slammed face first into it.
"Ow!" I hit the floor hard, rubbing my nose as the glowing light vanished. And that's when it hit me.
That wasn't light.
That was Jay's soul.
Her soul… ripped right out of her body.
"Princess! Help me!" another guard cried out, reaching toward me.
Before I could move, the same glow escaped from his mouth. His body went limp, and the soul vanished into the air… gone, just like Jay's.
Where are they going?
Why are their souls disappearing?
I ran to the balcony, heart pounding. The sky was swarming, clouds of glowing orbs floating upward, hundreds no, thousands of souls leaving their bodies behind.
Then I saw it.
Down in the field below, one last villager fell to the ground, lifeless. A dark, shifting shape hovered beside him.
"Finally," a cold, echoing voice called out, "the entire Kingdom is gone."
The shadow turned its glowing red eyes toward me.
"Hello, Lyra."