A Heart so Dark and Hollow

The hollow heart

Before.

In Ssenkrad, a kingdom full of magic, lived ancient Fae creatures in a land carefully separated from the world of the meddlesome humans. This kingdom was divided into two; the Night Palace, and the Day Palace. The Night Palace presided over the darker elements of nature, like rot, death, cold, and darkness. On the other hand, the Day Palace ruled over the opposite: birth,  growth, warmth, and light.

But these two factions were not in total harmony, because control of the entire kingdom lay in the hands of the Night Palace and its ruler. Of course, the Day Palace had never been happy with the choice, but they could not revoke the sacred agreement made by their ancestors to never raise swords against each other again.

In the eyes of the rest of the kingdom's inhabitants, they seemed to be peaceful and content, but the truth was far from it. The founding elders of the Day Palace continued to foster resentment in their hearts, and as the centuries flew by, royal members of the Night Palace began to mysteriously disappear, or pass away.

This went on, until the Night Palace's royal family had significantly dwindled. The Day Palace however, managed to not draw any suspicions, and the mysterious deaths were believed to be just the result of plain, awful luck.

More harrowing years passed for the Night Palace, and seeing a clear way to gain possession of the entire kingdom, the Day Palace made one final move it believed would ultimately bring power into its hands. They sent their young, beautiful princess into the Night Palace.

This princess successfully infiltrated the Night palace, fooling them all with her beauty and pretence, and immediately becoming close friends with the last surviving heir to the throne. Her plan was to get close enough to the family, and completely wipe them out, which would in turn, transfer power over to the other court, as there would no longer be any royal blood left in the Night Palace.

But there came a temporary hitch to this plan, because this princess soon fell in love with the warm-hearted prince of the Night Palace, and as time went on, he too, grew to harbour affections for her that surpassed friendship.

Heavy with love, she chose to not harm him. After all, if he married her and made her his queen when the time came, she would gain access to the throne.

And it seemed her dream would come true, because soon after, the prince's father passed away, and the Crown of Ssenkrad fell to him. His mother also was not spared, as she somehow consumed poison after the loss of her husband, and joined him in death. They said it was likely because of the pain of losing her husband, but doubt gnawed the new king’s heart.

This new king, like his late father, suspected that foul play was afoot and in his grief, withdrew from his Day Palace lover.

The princess, who had been dreaming of the day that she would be crowned queen, and would rule the kingdom by her love’s side was met with a big, unpleasant surprise when her lover pulled away from her, and began to probe the deaths of his family members. She had to act quickly, for this king was far brighter than the kings that had come before him.

She doubled her advances, and tried to get him to marry her, employing the use of her voice and body. But he was having none of it, as she had also fallen under his suspicion. She soon began to feel trapped, because even if she cared for him, she could never allow him to find out that all the deaths in his family had been orchestrated by hers. She needed him to make her his queen, and to put aside his investigations.

Yet, she pushed him too far, and the grieving king completely severed all romantic ties with her.

It was at this point that the princess knew that she would have to change her approach. Heartbroken at being pushed aside so quickly by the man she loved, she reckoned that maybe he was not worth keeping alive after all. She should have listened to her parents; someone who broke her heart like it was worthless, should not be allowed to ever experience happiness. She would be queen without him.