Izroulia: Hunt for the Lost Pod

Chapter 32 | Agnemetra's mistake

The whole kingdom knew of the break in, gossip and rumours spread fast. All the water people were on edge, fearing this would cause another war. The other citizens were all anxiously awaiting answers to what exactly went down that night. The guard on duty that night were swiftly fired for letting intruders steal such a prized possession. Not only fired but banished from the mainland, Agnemetra was always ruthless with her punishments.

And now, using the information she has from the night of the break in she knew that a group of four, most likely water people with air and fire powers were behind it. Thanks to the cloaks, no one knew who exactly they were, but Agnemetra was determined to find out.

"I want EVERY water person in the realm questioned. Torture them if you have to, I need to know exactly who did this" she announced, the room full of guards dead silent as they listened.

"Two of them are of fire and air element, pay close attention to those who are a water person and of those elements. They could be our culprits. And when they're found, I want to personally set them ablaze..." the queen seethed.

The tension in the room was high, each guard both scared of the queen but still loyal to her thanks to her cult like brainwashing. Although now half the force was banished, she failed to realise she'd just tossed away half of her defence team. That's what happens when you act upon rage, you don't think rationally and end up screwing yourself over. And Agnemetra was a person of rage, all she did was rage.

"I want this mess sorted, and that god damned book back in its place. To work, NOW!" She demanded.

Immediately the room of guards burst into chatter as they began to organise the queens request. She walked out, down the halls and into her office where she leaned on the desk and sighed in anger, her rage making her hands spark and the desk singe slightly.

"Vermin, all of them. Of course it's water people, Merfolk are the scum of the earth and apparently their brethren are not too far behind. Unless... no, I took care of all the Merfolk long ago" she muttered to herself.

She looked up, catching her reflection in the window. Staring herself down, she turned to look at the scars on her back where her wings once were.

"Bastard fish..." she spat.

She may be a queen, but she was just an angry child in a woman's body. Everyone knows that one persons bad action doesn't immediately make the people they're connected to bad as well. That's something you learn as a child in primary school, when the teacher tells you that bullying is bad.

But to her childish mind, she thought that just because she was wronged by one particularly bad mer person, that all mer people and their water based brethren were the same. That everyone who could breathe underwater would tear the wings off a young phenix. Never mind the many Merfolk that had fallen in love with and started families with her kind in the past, never mind that Merfolk were just like anyone else but had a tail. Never mind that hating an entire group of people based on one person is blatant discrimination.

She was too naive to understand the simple concept, and when you give an unstable, stupid person power... things get bloody.

She approached her reflection in the window, adjusting the crown on her head.

"I promised myself every last one would be gone for what they did to me. And if their brethren want to act like them, I'll squash them like a bug too" she monologued to herself.

The water people in the kingdom were restless and anxious about the situation, but thanks to how close knit the Naiads were, they weren't that alarmed. As soon as Styxx heard about the break in, he knew who it was and exactly what happened. And without revealing anything, anytime a fellow Naiad told him their worries about it, he assured them everything would be ok. His only concern was if anyone got hurt, but he knew that the group made it out alive.