COF 3: The Fallen Dynasty

15 | Choice (II)

June drew forward, slamming into the High Queen's torso. He touched his hand into her stomach and summoned a spell. The High Queen shrieked as the earth erupted between them, hardening around her form. June panted as he stepped back from his work. The Heiress sputtered like a leaky faucet. "You will pay!" she shrieked.

June didn't reply. He glanced to where his friends had gone to find Xanthy standing by the arch. He cursed. The Heiress snickered. "How foolish all of you are!"

June ran towards Xanthy as the Heiress howled. He heard his spell erupt behind him but he kept his eyes on her.

"I told you to run!" June raised his voice. "Just go! Save yourself!"

Xanthy's features contorted. "I'm done running," she placed a hand on June's chest. Before he could react, Xanthy extended her magic to him. She pushed him away as a barrier materialized between him and his magic.

"June, thank you for everything you've done for me," Xanthy didn't look back. "I hope you'll forgive me for this."

Xanthy launched herself at the Heiress. No! He should be the one begging for forgiveness. Not Xanthy. June pushed himself up and tried summoning his magic. No luck. He tried speaking maxia spells. Still, his body remained cold. He cursed. Why must Xanthy be so stubborn? He loved her for that before but now, he's just annoyed, worried, and afraid.

Great gods of Calaris, help him.

June charged back into the courtyard. He had lost his knife somewhere in the melee. He looked around, past the fallen chunks of rock, the trampled ivy, and the fallen tree. The floor was in shambles, large pieces of rocky tiles peeling off a fresh layer of earth.

Xanthy and the Heiress circled each other a few feet from the ground. Xanthy lashed out with a spell but the Heiress simply extended her hand and the spell went straight through her body without any effect. June cursed once more.

Xanthy kept throwing spell after spell, edging backwards. The Heiress's trail wrapping around the High Queen only glowed brighter. She's growing more and more powerful with every spell of Xanthy's she absorbed. June swept his eyes on the floor. Weapon. He needed a weapon. He needed to at least buy enough time for Xanthy to escape from Edgerift.

Xanthy whizzed past him, sprawling against the ground. June's blood ran cold. No one does that to Xanthy. He gave up his search and stepped between them. "June," Xanthy called. "She keeps absorbing my magic."

"I know," June said as flatly as he could.

The Heiress stepped through the smoke shifting around them. "Well, I had fun," she examined the High Queen's nails. Her skin remained perfect and unscathed. "But it's time for me to finish this."

June turned back to Xanthy, throwing dignity aside. He begged her. "Run."

The Heiress slammed into him, slamming his back into the ground. A fist sizzled past his sight, meeting his cheek with force. He coughed when stars began dancing in his vision. With a growl, he caught the High Queen's next blow with his hand and twisted. He threw her off him with a kick to the back. June ended on top of the High Queen, his thumbs pressed to her throat, choking her with his own hands. He looked up to see Xanthy standing frozen, looking at him with wide eyes. "For the gods' sake, get out of here!" June yelled.

An arm lashed out and grabbed his neck. He slammed into the ground. He didn't see Xanthy's reaction from afar. He moved to punch the Heiress but she vanished in a flash. Xanthy screamed from somewhere beyond him. Immediately, he was on his feet.

The Heiress had Xanthy pinned against the floor, whispering into her ear. June gritted his teeth and lunged at the Heiress, knocking her off Xanthy. The girl was wise enough to extract herself from underneath as the Heiress summoned a spell. It hit June square in the stomach, driving a gasp out his lips. The Heiress growled and lunged for him, this time her hands wrapping around his throat.

"I won't let the Virtakios slip through my fingers again," the Heiress growled as she sank her thumbs deeper into June's throat. Black spots erupted in his vision, obscuring the High Queen's face. June felt around for anything he might use and his fingers brushed a hilt. A knife.

"I will have her on my side," the Heiress continued as June gasped and floundered like a fish out of the sea. "I will have her legacy in my hand. I will shred every cell in her body until I do! No one, not even your little friends, can stop me!"

"No. But I can delay you long enough," June's hand closed around the knife's hilt. This wouldn't hurt her. With the last of his strength, he rose against the High Queen's grip, flipped her to the ground, and raised the knife up his head. With a yell, he plunged the dagger into his mother's heart.

Something snapped. The knife dug into the High Queen's chest. No.

How...?

The High Queen smiled as she reached up and touched June's cheek, leaving a bloody trail on his skin. "My boy, what did I tell you?" she whispered. Her eyes were void of the Heiress's influence. June stumbled off her form. No. This...this couldn't be happening. He didn't have the dagger. This wasn't—

Fate didn't lie. His hands bore the High Queen's bane. The High Queen smiled at him. "How long?" she rasped. "How long have you known?"

"No, this isn't true," June's voice shook. His chest heaved. "Tell me this isn't true," he shook his head. "I'm not your son."

The High Queen lifted her eyes up to the sky now void of a tree's canopy shielding it. "You are June Sylkrana," she breathed. A hand reached up to a sky she would never again reach. "You are my own blood and soul. How long have I waited to see the sky with you."

Then, his mother, the Imperial High Queen, Nevrin Sylkrana, took her last breath.

The wind blew with a pronounced judgment. A soul for a soul. A life for a life. Blood-kin weren't to be killed by their own. That was the rule. Pain slammed into every part of June, replacing the curse that weighed on his heart for a long time. Darkness swept through his vision as weakness flowed through his limbs. A clatter. A thud. The gem in the dagger's hilt glinted, ushering him into a world of retribution.

Only Pidmena's embrace awaited him now.