//------------------------------// // The Wheels of Fate // Story: The Queen of Shadows // by megabyte97 //------------------------------// … Stone is hard. A simple observation, but an accurate one. I’ve lost track of how long I have been in here, chained and stripped of magic, but I can’t bring myself to care. ‘My mentor condemned me…’ I cracked a small smile, tears rolling down my cheeks once again. ‘He condemned me, for listening to him.’ “Heh,” my smile grows a little. ‘He condemned me, for saving countless lives.’ “Heh, ha ha,” I start chuckling. ‘It’s not like they didn’t deserve it! They slaughtered Lady Bow, they killed everyone in Gusty Gulch!’ “Hahaha, hahahahaha.” My smile morphs into a grin. I lean back, but the chains stop me from falling to the floor. ‘They deserved it! they wouldn’t stop until every crumb was taken and we were left to die!’ “Hahaha, HahahaHAhahaHAHAHA,” my voice echoes throughout my lightless prison. ‘They wanted to kill us all… I simply proved that I was better at it than they were!’ “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-” I choked on the musky air of the pit they threw me in. I could feel bile rising in my throat, but I force it down, never losing the grin on my face. ‘My “friends” and “mentor” think I’m a monster?’ I start to shake a little, the chains holding me upright rattling against the wall and floor. “Then I’ll give them a monster,” I whisper in a cracking voice to the stale air of my soon to be tomb. ‘...They deserve it…’ A wizard stares into his crystal ball, watching with sightless eyes as his former pupil rests in the temporary shelter of her new ward. He couldn’t believe it, after so long, Fate might actually keep its word and raise his former student to glory. “It has been so long,” the ancient mage whispers, tilting his head slightly and gazing upon the tools of her destruction, and salvation. Seven stars crafted from precious materials lay upon the table he sits at. Even now, after so many ages have passed, they hum with untold magic that is still as strong as the day his pupil crafted them. The air seems to vibrate as the wizard sends his magic through the artifacts. The stars shake before lifting into the air, resisting his probing of their uses just as the countless times before. “Dangerous, yet tempting. Curious, but content.” The mage mutters to himself. “...” The mage sighs before returning his attention to the crystal ball and waving his hand. The forms of his benefactors cloud the orb’s surface to his unseeing eyes, seven shifting shapes gliding back and forth as the wizard speaks. “...And this is what will save my star from the darkness that consumes her?” he asks in a tired voice, the question he has broached ever since she fell to her emotions. “The answer has not changed,” a feminine voice replies, almost as if expecting the question. “Darkness cannot live without the light, and without darkness the light loses its purpose,” an elderly voice continues. “You must have faith that the stars will light the way of the one dear to you,” a gruff voice explains. “When the final trial is complete-” a young sleepy voice starts before yawning and continuing, “-her mind will be restored.” “We have stated before that we would grant your wish,” an impatient voice chimes in, “now you must give her the means to complete it.” “See it through,” a refined voice states, “we have all come too far to back down now.” “Don’t tell us that you doubt your student’s ability to overcome these final trials?” a voice filled with joy asks. The wizard looks back to the star shaped gems in his magic, pondering their words before coming to a shocking realization. He didn’t have faith that his student would survive the coming trials. The mage’s magic wavers for a moment before increasing in strength by tenfold. Clenching his right hand into a fist, he forces a tunnel of magic to manifest behind the artifacts before hurtling them in with a fury few have ever seen from the esteemed magic user. Merlon grabs the table by the edge, realizing that he is shaking, and takes several calming breathes. ‘...Please,’ the wizard thinks. ‘Please, prove me wrong one last time, my student.’ With one last steadying breath Merlon lets go of the table and once more stares into the crystal ball, the image of his student’s host resting upon a dusty floor filling the mystic orb once again. ‘...Please…’ I find myself in the back of a wagon, clothed in the purple dress I arrived in this world wearing, but still chained and being driven somewhere. Both of my teachers are in front of me watching my every move. My Sensei’s eyes are glowing yellow and I can feel the power he is willing to use in his tense body in order to keep me from doing anything. Merlon, on the other hand, seems almost relaxed, but that doesn’t fool me, his hands are lost in the folds of his clothing and I am willing to bet every coin I have ever made that he has something up one of his sleeves just waiting for me to make a move. Faces appear and disappear in the streets, the entire town pausing and staring as the wagon passes them, and every single one of them staring at me in anger, fear, or disappointment and shame. I can’t see Bonetail, Gloomtail, or Hooktail among the crowd, but it is likely for the best. My plan is probably going to turn this entire city into ground zero in several minutes, and I don’t remember teaching them how to swim. The wagon slows to a crawl and the crowd trailing behind us closes off any escape route as we arrive at our destination. Two bipedal turtles carrying spears walk into the wagon and release my chains from the wagon boards. My teachers take the chains in their hands and walk me off the wagon, almost like a dog… Looking around, I find myself relieved that I had made the preparations beforehand. There isn’t going to be a trial for my supposed crimes, my fate is already decided, considering the wooden structure in the middle of the town square sporting a thick rope noose... I feel like this town should have been called Salem instead of Ville Riche. My teachers and I approach the scaffold as another bipedal turtle unravels a scroll off to the side. My executioners pull me up by the chains and attach them to the floorboards of the scaffold over the trapdoor before Merlon widens the noose slightly and fits my head through it. The turtle opens its mouth, “_____, you have been charged with the crimes of theft, torture, maiming, live experimentation on sapient beings-” The list goes on for a while, the gathering crowd looking at me in disgust as the koopa keeps adding to the list, “-and genocide…” The turtle finally finishes, “What say you in your defense?” I say nothing. I don’t trust myself to keep my plan a secret, opting to look at my mentor as he walks towards the lever keeping the floor under me. ‘If they do not wish to thank me in life...’ I think as the floor drops out from under me, a sharp pain shoots through my body before slowly drifting away as my vision darkens. ‘Then they shall join me in death,’ I think as the pain rushes back with a vengeance I had not known possible before then. I scream as my mind is ripped apart, an unearthly shriek tearing from my throat as I throw my spirit to the wolves and hope to prove myself a predator instead of prey. Our eyes snap open as pain erupts from our skull. I clutch our head, mentally swearing as I hear something drop to the floor. Cracking open our eyes, I look down at the objects that assaulted us and pause. There is a green emerald on the floor emitting a small amount of chaos magic, but it’s completely ignored in favor of the larger gem that I see. A five pointed star, seemingly made of some sort of orange gem, is sitting upon the dusty floor. I remember this star, I made it a long time ago. I stare at the gem for a moment before slowly reaching forward and touching it. The response is immediate, magic I had long thought lost to me reaches out of the star and embraces me like an old friend. I smirk as I feel my magic grow, ‘Looks like things are finally going my way.’ Focusing on the connection between myself and the star, I can feel other gems similar to the one in our hands in distant locations, calling to me. Tearing my eyes away from the star, I look at the small green gem and cautiously pick it up. The gem turns black as a small amount of chaos magic fills me and a voice calls out from the void. “My name is Echo, I am the entity of water, and former god of destruction, if you seek my aid, hold this emerald to your chest, speak this prayer, and I shall be there. The servers are the 7 Chaos. Chaos is power... Power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.” I blink, the smirk never leaving my face, ‘Well aren’t you interesting? A former god of destruction? You just might be useful.’ One thing is certain, things are looking up.