25 | The Wrath of Sorrows
FALLEN KINGDOM
Yria's POV
Someone with warm hands held my hand. Turning back, it was Solstice who was trying her best to stay upright.
"We need to go farther away from here. We don't know how destructive that thing is." She sniffed out a cold.
"No! I need to do something!" I pushed her hand away from me.
"Ow!" She fell hard on the snow-covered ground.
"Shit! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to. I underestimated my strength with you." Krian and I quickly went to help her get up and she weakly got up with her legs trembling.
"Sol! Are you alright? Are you cold?" I tried to check her but she dodged my attempt of holding her cheek.
"I'll be fine. It's just the fatigue. I'm making you warm again, no?" She said before she waved at Krian to follow us. The mute girl shook her head and turned her attention back to my pod that was already smoking from the fires made from the battle.
We spotted a convoy of large black military trucks speeding away from my pod. "Where do you think you're going?" I began to trudge through the thick snow to check where the human soldiers were going. A large white ship was waiting for them by the other side of the glacier, near the tarmac where we landed when we arrived here.
"They're trying to escape." I could hear the disappointment coming from Solstice.
"Not on my watch." I tried to reach them with my power, hoping the salty cold water could bend on my will. Nothing happened. "Fuck! I'm too far away from them!"
"Yria! Wait! Don't!" I continued to run for the soldiers' lives, wishing I could avenge my people with one swipe of my hand. The whistling sound came closer now. I looked up to where the missile was and it was free falling down to my pod.
"No!" Taking control of the snow around me, I created sharp spikes. "Krian, I need your help." I called her and she quickly came to me. I gasped at the new feeling of power coming from her as she placed her hand on my back. With all my might, I hauled the spikes across the sky, aiming at the missile coming to a close.
Normally, a human cannot see far from where I am looking but a few of my spikes have hit the missile. "Please please please, blow up there now." I muttered to myself but the missile continued to fall. "Come on!" I flung another round of spikes across, aiming more carefully than ever. A spike hit the missile loudly.
"It's changing direction! You hit it, Yria!" Solstice cheered.
"Krian, can you still help me? I need to stop that ship. Let me go when you feel weak, okay?" I told the girl behind me. She nodded at me with a hum. "Hold me tight. Solstice, brace yourself." They both came to my aid with Krian hugging me tight while Solstice held on to her. With our powers combined, I felt the weight of the water in my hands.
"AAAAAAH!" I began to control the seawater surrounding the pod. Creating whirlpools across the sea, the ship began to groan as it got stuck on the water.
I could hear my people shouting as they began to attack the ship. A couple of the elementals have started to create a small dome above the castle, trying their will to bend the water to protect our pod. My father was riding his own whirlpool, his upper body only visible now as he tried to help freeze the dome above.
BANG! The missile hit the uppermost part of the dome they built before crashing to the back of the castle.
"It didn't hit the center? It didn't hit the center part of the castle?" Solstice tried to ask but I was unable to answer her. I just stood there, rooted to the ground while maintaining the whirlpools I have created to trap the humans trying to leave our waters.
The castle rumbled and shook before one of the towers fell. I could see remnants of the missile falling slowly. Small blinking red lights seemed to pulse from them.
"NO!" I heard my father scream before multiple loud flashes and bangs came in violent attacks.
"No..." My vision began to get blurry as I saw our once beautiful and majestic castle of ice break and fall apart. My vision began to get blurry. With the sound of the castle cracking down, my heart beat with every break of the ice.
I tried to catch my breath but my head began to ache and I felt sick to my stomach. Falling to my knees, I began to try and regain my strength.
"Yria?" I heard Sol speak but her voice was distant as if I was in my own bubble. I could feel someone let me go. My tears began to drown me while my soul began to search for any hope left in my heart.
"How could they do this? Why are they so cruel? Our people did not do anything wrong. Only my family did. They lied about our monarchy but do we deserve this kind of consequence?" The scream of pain and death began to split my heart into two. I tried to control myself as I held snow tightly within my fists.
I felt someone take my hand and brush off the snow from me. I looked up from my tear-covered eyes to see Krian whose sorrow was etched on her pretty young face.
I'm sorry. Her eyes told me so and I held onto her, breaking down in her embrace while my pod continued to fall and my people began to go more quiet as death visited them quickly.
"Yesssss!" My breath got caught and chills ran down my spine. I turned back to where the ship was. The human soldiers were celebrating their victory over the murder of my people; their hands clapping and their mouths whistling with joy. No one from my kingdom was attacking them now that they were busy helping our own.
"You monsters!" I cried both in grief and in anger.
"Yria!" That's all I could hear before my vision turned dark.
One second, I was with Solstice on top of a hill, fighting for my pod; the next, my consciousness returned and I was now standing on a small spot of ice, facing the ship, with Krian holding my hand tight.
I looked at her and she was full of anger, her lilac-colored eyes had turned completely black and a dark aura loomed over her. She was angry just as I was but mine was a thousandfold stronger; craving for revenge. She slowly turned her gaze at me and nodded at me. The once innocent girl, scared of holding a small dagger was nowhere to be found and was replaced by an entity that made me feel stronger than ever.
"You, humans," I spat the words like venom while pointing at the cheerful soldiers at the ship. Their celebration was interrupted abruptly followed by a few of them pointing their guns at me. Without a thought, I raised my free hand upwards and a gigantic wave rose from the sea and hovered over the men who began to run for their lives within the ship.
"You are not going anywhere." I smiled devilishly watching some have begun to dive to the cold water only to be sucked by the whirlpools I have created. A flick of my hand was all it took before the gigantic wave came crashing down on them, toppling the ship. It groaned and moaned from the wave I made and without giving them a break, I summoned another one and brought it down again.
"You like this, don't you?! You like to bring pain to the innocent people in my pod?!" I taunted them as wave after wave came crashing down on them. The ship began to sink and the surviving soldiers began to swim to my pod in fright.
I could taste the bitterness of my anger from my tears and I could feel my heart race from the thrill of watching people suffer as a result of their atrocities. Wave after wave, I didn't stop creating them. Every plunge of the water made me scream my pain, anguish and retribution.
"Don't. Ever. Touch. A. Land. That's. Not. Yours!" Every word I spoke, I made sure to point it out and make them remember with the rise and fall of the tidal waves. My tears began to overwhelm me, making my vision blurry. My breaths began to get labored, choking me the way the soldiers were trying to stay afloat from my tidal attacks.
A squeeze in my hand from Krian gave me another pulse of courage and strength. Her entire face has become dark now with dark clouds swirling around her body. Her hand that was holding mine has also turned black, growing upwards to my own hand. For a strange reason, I didn't feel any fear for her. Instead, I felt at peace; like she was here to reassure me that everything is going to be better.
Suddenly, piercing pain shot through my upper left arm causing me to lose my balance and lose my grip on Krian.
"Krian!" I screamed before I fell down to the cold water. The pain grew excruciatingly.
Something is wrong. Normally, I would not feel this weak with only a shot of a human bullet. This time, my whole body began to numb.
Did the bullet have poison in it? I started to slowly sink down and I watched the trail of my blood in the water.
Was I going to die? I asked myself, just watching the surface go farther and farther away from me. Did I do my best to protect my people? My senses began to dull, leaving only the faint splashes of water and the screams of people from above. Would my parents be proud of me? Will my people remember me as someone other than a selfish princess of their pod?
I was about to close my eyes and let the water take my body and soul when a grip in my hand brought me back. The silver-haired girl I have begun to grow fond of began to tug me upwards, her feet kicking the water upwards trying to pull us up.
Oh Krian... How can you sacrifice yourself for me when I have been mean to you?
Trying to ignore the pain in my shoulder, I swam with her up to the surface. The moonlight has shown itself, reflecting on the water and there, we both began to swim faster. We were about to reach the surface when bullets began to rain down the water.
"No!" My scream bubbled up as I watched Krian take a hit in the stomach.
"Krian! Oh my Goddess! Krian? Wake up!" I took her to a small glacier near where the humans were. Dragging her to safety, blood followed us. Drops of my blood also began to trickle heavily from my shoulder but I shook the nausea away, trying to focus on my friend who now had her eyes closed while clutching her stomach.
"Krian? Come on! Open your eyes!" I began to tap her cheek, trying to wake her up. "Please don't die." I began to tear a fabric of my clothing and pressed it on her stomach to stop the bleeding.
"HELP!" I screamed, looking for someone to come to our aid. The humans just stared at us, looking at me dead in the eyes as if they wished nothing more than our death.
"Yria?!" Andros ran towards us in his incredible vampiric speed.
"Ggghhh...." Krian whined, causing the ground to shake again but weakly.
"She's hit? She's hit! Caius! Taylor!" Andros screamed before he began to check her. I looked around us and there the two men were barging through the army of humans, pushing them away while coming towards us at full speed. Caius was flying now with his wings crashing against humans leaving them unconscious while Taylor continued to ram against them like a train at full speed.
"Here. I'll help her up and you can wrap this around her." He tore the sleeves of Krian's top and gave it to me.
"I-i-iiih-" Krian tried to speak, causing some of the humans to double over in pain. Her hands were still black, from her fingers up to her elbow. She was about to reach my cheek when a bullet pierced her shoulder.
Her eyes widened as she gasped in pain.
"No! No!" I wailed as she collapsed in our arms. "Krian? Krian? Krian! Wake up! I'm sorry, Krian. I-I'm so sorry!" I broke down, hugging her tight while her blood continued to spill on the purely white snow.
"Yria, it's not your fault." Andros still pressed on her wounds. "She needs to live... She has to..." His eyes were glazed. I nodded at him.
"Yes... It's not my fault. It's them..." I took a deep breath as hatred began to make my breathing difficult. "You! Fuck you!" With a deadly screech, I stood up and searched for the gunman. A black helicopter hovered near a mountain. With the moonlight, I saw the glint of the sniper's gun.
Gathering my strength, I lashed out my hands across the land making the ice crash against each other into violent quakes until the ice broke to the mountain and split the mountain in half. The entire mountain groaned and shook from the destruction as I continued to hit our enemy. The ice finally hit them and I watched the helicopter crash to the slope of the mountain. A large avalanche began and the humans who swam to the shore near the mountain began to dive back to the water.
Pain in my heart made things easier for me to move as if the anger in my heart was being the fuel to my power as an elemental. Without giving the invaders a chance, I dove into the water and cursed them.
"You have spilled blood in my own pod. For this, you shall never leave alive. Die, you worms!" I screamed in fury. Glaciers broke and the water began to foam and become turbulent. "Die!" I poured my hatred into my words and touched the water.
"Oh my Goddess! What the fuck?!" Someone screamed before the sea began to sizzle and humans began to scream in pain.
"Yria! Stop! No! Stop it now!" I heard someone beg but I ignored them. My vision continued to go dark and I craved their death. The sensation I felt was soothing; coolness wrapping around my hands in the water, my feet in a numbing frozen state while my vision became completely dark with abhorrence.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Someone mewled before I heard people vomiting. I was too far out of it. I began to laugh maniacally while listening to the music of men howling in pain. I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks, feeling the overwhelming sorrow and anger I had for the people I lost and for my home that has fallen. While avenging for everyone I cared for, I was glued in my place, in the water of Ice Desertum Pod and I continued to torture the men who invaded my pod, killed my people and destroyed my home.
"Die! Die! Die! All of you! Die!"
As the sounds of men crying for help became lesser and lesser by the minute and pain started to fade, so did the cold feeling I had in my hands and feet. My vision turned back to normal and I felt myself getting picked up from where I was. Water began to drip from my clothes and made the shirt of the man who held me get wet in the process.
"It's going to be alright, Yria. Hush now." My vision became hazy and my eyes were too swollen to fully open my eyes. But I felt safe in the arms of the man who picked me up from the water.
"Make it stop. Please them stop." I sobbed, burying my face in his chest.
"Go to sleep, Yria. We... we won." His voice was clipped like he was holding himself back from talking. Before I could respond, I felt myself go into a deep slumber.
***
My body felt heavy and sore. I slowly tried to open my eyes but groaned at the shooting pain in my head.
"Yria?" Someone spoke my name and felt her soft hand on my cheek. My eyes fluttered open to see Solstice smiling widely with happiness. My room was dark with only the bedside lamp providing me light but Solstice seemed to glow with excitement.
"Sol?" I winced, trying to get up.
"Hey hey. Move slowly. You've been through hell and back." She helped me up, putting another pillow behind me so I can sit more comfortably.
"Where is everyone?" I searched for my friends only to see empty couches and seats in my suite.
"I'll let them know you're awake. They're in their rooms."
"Rooms? You're still in those awful beds? Ugh!" I groaned, massaging my temples. She chuckled at me while she shook her head.
"No no. Your father brought us to your floor and we each have our own rooms now." Her information felt contradictory to me for a moment but I couldn't pinpoint the reason why.
"Wait... you said rooms. Is the castle alright now?"
"Absolutely! Your people are hardworking and very fast in rebuilding things!" She confirmed with a smile.
"How is everyone?" I asked and her smile turned into a frown.
"Uhm..."
"Solstice, tell me." I demanded and she sighed.
"Everyone is spent after the battle. We won, by the way. As for our friends, Caius is being Caius but Andros and Taylor took a day to rest." She avoided my gaze as if she was hiding something from me.
"And Krian?" My heart raced at the memory of her lying in the snow, pale and unconscious. She looked dead before my vision went dark. "She's... she's not dead, is she?" I asked with hope and Solstice's eyes snapped into mine with worry before she shook her head.
"Oh no no. She's in a stable condition now. She has not woken up yet but she's still recovering in her room and is in a round the clock watch with the best healers in the pod."
"Oh thank goodness!" I breathed a sigh of relief. Solstice just smiled at me but her eyes hid a different story. I started to wonder if she was keeping a secret from me.
"Welp! I better go inform everyone that you're awake. Everyone is waiting for the goodness on their Lady Yria." She giggled.
"I'm sorry. Did you just call me Lady?" I think my brain just short-circuited for a second while I watch her sport a huge grin.
"Your father will explain things for you." She only replied before she excused herself and left my room. I took a large deep breath and felt at ease. At least now there would be no expected war or invasion...
I was enjoying the peace and silence in my room when a number of footsteps came rushing through the hallways. Then, the door slammed open and in came my father who was in his sleeping garments and his hair tousled. My mother came behind him with her sleeping gown ruffled and her hair a mess. It was unusual to see my parents in this state. Normally, they would come out of their rooms all dressed and perfect.
"Finally! You're awake, my child!" My parents rushed to my bed. I gasped as my father fell to his knees beside my bed, his large hands grabbing mine and held them tight while his head rests upon them. My mother, on the other hand, burst into tears, hugging me tight.
"We thought we lost you."
"I'm fine, mama. I'm here, aren't I?" I reassured them while I stayed in an awkward position.
"How are you feeling? Tell us. The doctor is coming here." They both released me. My father grabbed two chairs for them to seat. I watched as the guards were peeking by the open door. I smiled and waved at them and they all turned red before they came inside the room with a salute.
"We're glad you're awake, madame." Three came in and the one on the right spoke with a firm voice.
"Thank you."
"We're here to guard you, ma'am!"
"Ready to protect you from anyone daring to hurt you, madame!" The others spoke in turns. I couldn't help but giggle. They looked adorable in their wintry warrior uniform against my pink-covered drapes and walls.
"Thank you."
Another wave of footsteps came and judging by the heavy stomps, I knew it was my friends who never really cared about the rules of behaving inside the pod's castle.
"Oh good! You're awake!" Andros clapped his hands and I rolled my eyes at him. Great. His annoying ass is here.
"I'm not in the mood, Andros." He raised his hands in surrender acting innocently while my parents watched us.
"Hey! I'm not saying anything. I'm a good boy." He spoke in his charming usual self whenever he was around people and Solstice scoffed in protest.
"Yeah sure. You've been calling her Sleeping Beauty for days."
"Solstice, I thought we were friends." He began acting hurt.
"Enough of your jokes! Have some respect for the royal family present." Caius began to scold us.
"Yeah! Don't give our ladyship stress!" A guard agreed. The word ladyship hung in the air again heavily.
"Can someone please tell me why you are calling me lady all of a sudden?" I inquired. In a flash, Andros pointed at my parents.
"Well, you see... after the Empire Elder came to visit and revealed to our people about our... errr... titles... we were stripped away." Papa started to explain with shame laced in his voice. "There is no point keeping our royal titles now that the consequences of our decision bore into our people losing their trust and faith for us. I'm so sorry, child. I could not keep my promise to you on becoming the future queen of our pod." He looked down on the floor, completely dejected and ashamed for the turn of events.
"So now, we have honored the Empire's order. We will remain as rulers of the pod as long as our people agree to be led by our family's bloodline. Your father and I have become the Duke and Duchess of the Ice Desertum Pod and you, Yria, are the Lady of the Pod." My mother introduced our new titles.
"So... do our people still want us?" I feared for the worst. I couldn't blame them. My parents deceived them into thinking they were King and Queen of the pod and I was an accessory to the crime. I looked down on my fidgeting fingers and waited for their reply.
"They did-"
"Really?!" I interrupted my father with a cheer.
"Yes, but, they don't want change and now, they want you." My father finished and my stomach dropped.
"What do you mean by that?"
"They want you as their ruler, Yria. They..." He sighed. "They don't want your mother and I to rule anymore." I could feel the disappointment in his voice and he didn't hide it. Of course, he was disappointed. He was king to the pod for so many years it has become his nature to look after everyone and lead them.
"I'm sorry, papa. I didn't want it to be this way."
"It's okay, my child. It is not your fault. If we had stayed truthful to our people, the invasion would not have been this deadly. Many would still be alive today if I kept the virtues of a good leader but I hid the truth from them that we are not Kings and Queens of the realm but mere leaders that were trusted to oversee a part of the realm of the merfolk." He came near me again and held my hand.
"The dome would still have stood and made us invincible and our home would still have stood proudly now if I told them everything." Then, he patted my head softly.
"You did well for our kingdom, Yria. You gained our people's trust and you have made the faith for pod come back to life. You told me before that you did not want to be a princess being coddled in the castle and you were right. You are not the princess of the pod. You are the protector and guardian of our pod." He rested his forehead against mine and we closed our eyes together.
"I'm proud of you, my child. Because of you, only a number of humans survived and have fled our land. They will have to think hard again before they attack us."
After my parents told me the progress in the pod, they left me alone with my friends who gave us privacy by quietly leaving the room when my father started talking about my new role in the pod.
"Well, I'm glad you patched things up with your parents. They are proud of you for singlehandedly chasing the humans away and probably left them trauma to last their lifetime." Andros spoke first, lounging on the huge chair beside me.
"I can't believe I have been unconscious for more than a month. What I did out there.... Did I drain my energy? I remember Krian was shot so I couldn't enhance my powers anymore." I looked at my hands, checking if something didn't seem right but found nothing.
"I suppose your parents left the horrors of the wicked lady on the pod for us to tell? Caius stepped into our conversation and stood near the foot of my bed.
"They just told me that a few made it out alive and will not attempt to attack us again without thinking what happened in the invasion." I replied back. Solstice quietly sat on small chair to my right and nodded at Caius.
"You can tell her, Caius." She encouraged him.
"Tell me what? Did I hurt my people? Oh Goddess! I-I never would intentionally hurt them. My vision went literally dark and felt an overwhelming power and I could identify who the enemies were in the waters so I did what I could do to make them stop hurting people." I began to rap out my defense.
"Yria, calm down. You didn't hurt any of your people or any of us. We can assure you that." Taylor butted in.
"So what happened, then? Judging by how my parents kept their lips shut on the details and you trying to tell me now, it's making me fear for the worst scenario to happen!"
"Yria, when you felt that overwhelming power, a rope of water broke from the sea and wrapped itself around Krian's hand. We tried to break the water because we thought you were sucking the little life the girl had but for reasons we still cannot explain, Krian's wounds began to get frozen in ice while you were bound by the other end of the rope that turned black around your ankle." Caius pointed at my right ankle.
"You dove into the waters and then you came out with ten tentacles made out of water coming from your frozen feet. Your mark in your thigh also began to glow and your eyes were pure black. We couldn't wake you up from your dark state despite screaming at you and even I tried to lift you up and out of the water but you made a tentacle go after me and just smacked me as if I was a damn fly." My heart began to sink, feeling like Caius was far from ending the story.
"You cracked and split a mountain without breaking a sweat. We thought you were done with your revenge because you already took out the helicopter and everyone in it. Then, the nightmare began." Caius took a seat next to Andros. "I have never seen anything like it and I have lived centuries in this Earth. Yria, perhaps your demoncalling is not only the blessing you have from the Moon Goddess." His words were careful and I could sense the tension in the air in the room. Everyone was quiet and patiently waited for Caius to continue.
"Whatever it was, you have performed one of the deadliest attacks a creature has made towards an enemy without even moving in your frozen spot."
"Please tell me what happened already." I begged.
"Acid..." Caius said and my breath was caught. "You turned the waters of your pod into a sea of acid and no human who was in the water has survived. Not even a bone was left after you were done. The remaining humans who were not in the water began to get burned by the snowfall as if the snow were tiny specks of acid in the air. They ran to the helicopter that was trying to rescue them while you continued your attacks on them. Once they were gone, the sea returned to normal and you fell unconscious." My stomach turned and I began to feel nauseous.
How? How did I do that?
"Your pod's allies came around an hour after the deadly sea attack you made and they came to take your people to the great glacier up to the east of the pod. We camped out there for two weeks while your allies, the elementals and everyone capable of helping came here to clean up the mess and start fixing what was broken." Caius ended his story and the room fell silent.
"You should have smelled the awful scent from the waters, Yria, and adding to the fire around the pod.... Ugh! I gotta say, you did great in scaring humans off. They might never come back here." Andros remarked which earned him a smack on the head from Taylor.
"Ow!"
"Shut the fuck up, man!"
My hands trembled in horror. I stared at my hands, imagining the scenario painted in my mind.
"What curse did the Moon Goddess give me?!"
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