Ruthless

↠ Bees ↞

"I fell in love with you the way rain falls on the first day of summer : recklessly and unexpectedly."
F.E Marie

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THE last thing that the queen could remember was the blurring of colours, the distorted laughs and threats, her falling on the cold, harsh ground with a loud thud and then everything going dark. But her last position on the ragged ground completely contradicted the silk bed-sheet that she was currently resting upon, with light all around.

Feeling the gentle sway of wind from nearby, Akira struggled to open her eyes, which felt as if they were glued shut by somebody. After a bit of a struggle, she managed to open her eyes and her blurry gaze focused on the similar carved ceiling of her room.

Her gaze lingered at the window from where she could see the faint streaks of dawn. Sunrise was just on brink, bringing another day to life.

Feeling as if her muscles were on fire and every bone in her body was breaking and re-joining again and again, she groaned and looked around. Through a quick inspection, she gathered that she was currently alone in her room.

Propping on her elbows, she tried to sit up but was met with an ache in her lower abdomen to the left side. She raised her head and looked down to see the wound bandaged up. It felt strange for her to actually see the wound on her abdomen because up until now she was sure that the entire night that had taken place before was just a very vivid nightmare and nothing real.

'What happened that night?' She questioned herself.

Seeing the wound, the memories came flooding to her head – the bloodshed, fighting, bodies, bloodied corridors, screams in the night, Zara's dead body, Veer's confession and finally, Kartik. She felt as if her brain was going to implode. A slight ache built-up in her temples, making her nauseous to her stomach as the sudden flow of information seeped in her mind.

Keeping a light hand over the bandage she got off the bed, her bare feet meeting the cool marble floor and she just sat there for a moment, gathering enough energy to stand up.

Navigating through her room, she found herself walking past the mirror in her room and caught her own glance. At a first glace it would have been hard for anyone to recognize the queen. Even she herself had to stop and look at her reflection twice before realizing that it was indeed her. Dark bags rested under her eyes, her hair in a messed tangle of pins and hair, braid and knots. Lots of half-healed gashes were scattered on her skin, presenting themselves as immortal civilizations standing still, bending the flow of time to tell their story. Her face was sunken and energy-deficient, she looked seriously ill. Finally, she spotted a huge bandage on her abdomen and one on her right arm.

She looked sick, she felt sick.

Shaking her head ever so slightly, she moved past the doorway and out in the hallways. The hallways looked just as demolished and hellish as the queen could remember. The marble pillars were broken and cracked, their base crumbling down on the marble floors like ashes. The stone-carved balconies were doused in red, breaking and falling apart at various places standing still in the wake of destruction. There were dried up splashes of blood around - although it was much less than what she could remember and she vaguely wondered if someone had cleaned the palace – and there were no sign of bodies whatsoever around her.

Dragging herself through the nightmarish memories that the hallways had to offer, the sovereign walked mindlessly to the place that she could last remember her to be at.

Walking solemnly, she reached the terrace which was washed by the subtle luminescence of the rising sun. There were no signs of anyone else on the terrace other than her. Flinching slightly, she stopped in her tracks and looked at the place in the middle of the terrace where she had sat on her knees – bleeding and helpless as her "brother" stood ready to send her into the oblivion.