Mareeb's feet clasping against his sandals sounded like light slaps and hits from a fed up parent that echoed in the Kingdom's hallway. As Lalzari walked behind him she couldn't help but notice how the white paint on the kingdom walls had turned a distained yellow. The walls are rotting away from the darkness that has infiltrated this Kingdom, Lalzari bespoke to herself as she felt a tight knot in her stomach tie and release between her confliction from the anxiety of what was behind the King's door and the warrior's determined adrenaline pumping in her blood.
Mareeb came to a stand still in front of the king's door and stepped to the side only to ever follow Lalzari's lead. The warrior vixen headed for the door only to be stopped by Mareeb's slender fingers that encapsulated her shoulder like a hair clip tugging at an unkempt strand.
"Omid... Be prepared" he uttered with a tremble in his voice and in that moment, Lalzari knew that what was behind the doors would shake her core. But after the death of Husayrah, it was like Lalzari had seen, and her soul witnessed, one of the most heart wrenching experiences, that now not much would be able to weaken her.
'BANG' The door flew open at Lalzari stood enraged in what she didn't even know was there to be enraged over. She stood tall like a tree trunk unable to be move or swayed by any wind, fire or human. Her curls bounced as she flew her emei piercers out of her bun ready to stabbed them in anything or anyone in her way.
There was a burning fire in the middle of the room with what visibly was some members of The Sirs. Their bodies crackled as if they were the wood making the fire accelerate. "I'm... I'm too late" Lalzari muttered as anger overtook her burning desire to finish off all the evil that roamed the Kingdom. Immediately, Lalzari flashed her illuminances through her veins and cooled down the heat of the golden light before shooting it out of the pores of her skin into the wild fire taming it within seconds.
The fire died quickly and all that was left was burnt flesh and bones of what looked like bodies. "What have you done!" Lalzari boosted as she stomped over to Talbazar that stood grinning.
"Oh the king's precious jewel didn't you know that The Sirs were calling for you as their flesh was burning? You were never on the king's side, you were making your own plans weren't you, dear princess?" Talbazar mocked proudly thinking he had tangled the vixen in her own plans. The king stood silently observing the situation. Could his jewel really have been one to backstab him?
Lalzari flashed her gold lightening and slammed into Talbazar crushing him onto the ground, like a burning star leaving the atmosphere (BOOM). She pierced her emei piercer into his left hand, nailing him to the wooden floor. "ARGHHHHHHHH" Talbazar roared in agony. The emei piercer had perforated the skin on his palm so forcefully, like the teeth of a leech, that if the piercer wasn't taken out he would've been attached to the floor.
Think fast! Think fast! Lalzari told herself as she could slowly see Laham's face becoming more and more convinced of Talbazar's truths.
"Laham! Talbazar is a loser! Ruining our plans! I had been visiting The Sirs to build trust. Talbazar couldn't kill him so I thought with such great hunters their children would be an addition to our soliders after we rid their parents of existence!" Lalzari shrieked as she stood calmly with her foot holding Talbazar down. In the heat of the moment Lalzari had made a mistake. Her words had a tone of weakness and sounded desperate. But was the king smart enough to see through Lalzari's cracks?
"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Laham asked as he still wasn't convinced of the words coming from his precious jewel. Perhaps she wasn't the monster he was hoping to turn her into.
"The job of the Marshal is to think for himself. If I came running to you with every single idea we'd never get anything done" Lalzari boasted unsure if her strategy held any success. The king did love his control and what Lalzari was saying was that she basically didn't need him to succeed. She started spiralling in mistakes like that of a child caught lying.
It's not working! I have to... I have to convince him! Lalzari said, conflicted within herself as she tried thinking of anything that would turn the tables for good. She yanked her emei piercer out of Talbazar's hand shaking as she felt the burning metal against her fragile skin.
"Didn't I ruthlessly murder all The Makhluqat and The Naida's? We need to possess that darkest of powers, oh my king!" Lalzari defended hoping her sweet voice and Laham's weakness for her would be enough to smother him.
Laham lifted his finger to his mouth as he squinted his soulless eyes. A darkness even more sinister than the one before had enveloped the king and things would now be changed forever.
"Come with me Lalzari, this shall be your test" he said as Lalzari's heart dropped to the floor and a sour taste infiltrated her mouth. She knew whatever she had to do now would be a stain of darkness on her soul.
The metal doors that held together the structure like wooden pillars created from the root of death itself. The bars clinging and clanking against the rust and the foul smell of rotting bodies filled the air almost to suffocation. It was the basement.
As the metal bars rattled close behind Lalzari, her eyes grew use to the dim light of her new test. Slowly they revealed themselves to Lalzari, the ghosts who had remained to greet the inductee. Carved and penned, the walls were filled with ravings at the unfairness of this world. The dingy cement reeked of loss, tattooed with life stolen by steel.
Not much had changed since Lalzari last went down there but the smell had worsen. Lalzari tried her best to not show how the smell was making her want to puke and gag uncontrollably.
"Go choose one of the outcasts" Laham spoke in a sinister calm tone sending shivers down Lalzari's spine. She thought it all through. Who would she pick? The first one she saw, yes, that seemed like the most unbaised thing to do. Lalzari walked down the hall of prisoners until her eyes fell upon the girl who had formerly devoured her own mother. If she was ever freed... She would be harmful yes? Lalzari argued in her mind as she deep down knew that nothing could justify what she was about to do. Yet Lalzari pointed at the girl next to her who still had dry blood stained around her face from months ago.
The guards came and dragged her out shoving her to the ground without mercy like an untamed animal. Laham kneeled down yanking her head back with her hair. He has no remorse in his eyes... Lalzari told herself as she watched the king's sinister lust for darkness. Laham pulled out a syringe from his coat and jammed it into the girl. She didn't even have enough reaction time to speak or scream she just shut her eyes tightly and fell limbless to the ground.
"Now my jewel... Rip out her heart!" Laham boasted as he stood up towering over the sudden terrified vixen. He-he... He's overpowering me! Lalzari said worrying about her position but fearful of the monster next to her. Talbazar had made his way down to the basement, seemed like it was a show even he didn't want to miss.
If I deny doing this then... My plan will be destroyed and I'll be worse than these outcasted prisoners. But if I do then... I'll be just like him. I've done it before... Ripped out the heart but this time I-I
The pressure was starting to build up as every passing second that went by. Why wasn't Lalzari immediately slaughtering this girl? The longer she waited the weaker she became in the eyes of Laham. She had to act fast, she had to obey.
Lalzari shot her illuminances through her veins as it powered through her arm traveling to her hands causing steam to escape from them. Lalzari closed her eyes and whispered "oh my lord, forgive me for my sins, make me a way out, give me strength" and without hesitation she shot her hand through the girl grabbing her beating heart. The pumping made Lalzari's hand expand and deflate as she tightened her grip around it and yanked it out of her body.
(DRIP DRIP DRIP) The heart leaked it's owners blood all over the concrete as Lalzari stood with it still like a statue made of stone. The brutal assassin let go of her grip watching the heart splatter to the ground (THUD). I... I'm a disgrace, Lalzari told herself.
Lalzari turned around facing the cowardess Talbazar. She held strong eye contact as she walked vengefully over to him grabbing him by his collar with her blood-covered hands.
"You will pay for your misdeeds just like I will. I would start checking the clock for your time is ticking Talbazar!" Lalzari quietly roared as she contuined "the lives you have ended will only fill your grave with their blood until it suffocates you all over again"
"Lalzari my jewel is back! HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE MERCILESS! We're going to cleanse this world of every outcast together!" The fooled king laughed but Lalzari didn't pay him no heed as she officially had become what she feared the most. For every "test" the warrior completed she became like the water percolating through the soil leaching out minerals. She was in a constant state of filtering gradually through a porous substance.
As Lalzari walked out of the basement her curls swayed and her eyes had become darker, almost jet black. Her dress moved with her movements following her every step like delicate waves moving for the first time gently kissing the boats that travel on them. I cannot let this darkness consume me! I must arise! Lalzari chanted to herself rejecting the percolating darkness that was trying to stain her soul.
"It's about time I regain myself and not let myself be controlled by the creation! I need to be strong and fierce! I need to be unstoppable and ten steps ahead! I'm going to become a warrior. The warrior of this Kingdom. I need to win and take over and erase every peck of dust of darkness and corruption. I don't need company and I don't feel sadness. Me and this warrior are meant to be alone but succeed and we will! I don't desire people and I don't feel emotions any longer. I shall not shed a tear no more as they have frozen and become a reflection of weakness.
They're counting on me... Rehamal...Ahmali... Mareeb... Tini...The Naida's... I can't let them down! I can't let her down. Mama spoke a language I never learned but a word I remember is Len which meant bravery. And Jamshar would point at the sun and call me his cia... His light. And B... Just feels right.
So I have chosen, in appreciation of Husayrah the weeping willow whom will never be forgotten with me. I name myself,
Balencia."