"Next on trial..." the royal adviser read from her electronic tablet. "The Warren-Earl-Best family."
Several guards pushed and prodded Corinna Warren and twenty-nine of her relatives into the hall. A long chain, connecting them all together, bound their arms and burned with a blue light that sapped away at their strength and, the few that had magic, their mana. Once they had finally shuffled to the centre of the hall they were forced down onto their knees, heads bowed before their queen.
Corinna Warren glanced upwards at the monarch, hoping to find some semblance of mercy and kindness that the queen's father, the late king, had possessed. She found nothing. Perhaps it was due to the mask the queen donned. It was white and porcelain, smooth and flat, void of any features, hiding her face. How she was capable of seeing anything while wearing it, it was unknown. The rest of her clothing was made of a silver material that covered her entire body, not a part of skin showing. It travelled from her legs to her hands, and up to her neck where it fanned out into a tall spiked collar, complimenting the outline of her thin thorn-like crown.
Lowering her head back down, Corinna swallowed, fearing what was going to happen to her family. A lot can change in a year. The very hall they were in proved that. During King Casimir's reign, the hall was draped in red silk. Lines of adoring subjects would wait to greet him while a symphony played all evening. Now, the hall was silent and empty apart from the guards. The red carpet had been removed, revealing the cold stone underneath. The columns were bare of decoration, the chandelier was taken down. Even the throne had been stripped of all of its gold, now just a plain white chair.
"Mrs Rhea Earl," the royal adviser called out, addressing the group and then spotted an old woman lift her head in response. "You worked as Her Majesty's nursemaid and governess, is this correct?"
"Yes, ma'am, that is correct," replied Rhea Earl, Corinna's great-aunt. The energy-sapping chains had taken a significant toll on her frail body. She constantly shivered and panted as if she was about to collapse at any moment.
"And the Warren-Earl-Best family has served the royal family for several generations, is this correct?" the adviser asked.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yet, you and your family have been found guilty of treason against the Crown."
Rhea hesitated. "We are royalists, we still are, ma'am-"
"No royalist would commit treason."
"No, ma'am. We just disagreed with Her Majesty's rule. We were just protesting against her recent movement-"
"Your Majesty." The adviser turned to address the queen, head bowed and on one knee. "We have interrogated the thirty members of the family that were present at the scene. All of them were found guilty of treason. Other remaining relatives have been detained and are still being questioned. However, none of them was aware of the plot against Your Majesty, and therefore they will be released but closely monitored."
Queen Corinna IX did not respond, remaining fixed in one position like a gargoyle. Though the queen wore a mask that covered her face, Corinna Warren felt her steely eyes pierce through her and trembled in the presence of her namesake.
The adviser scrolled through the tablet and read aloud the names of all thirty members of the Warren-Earl-Best family present in the hall, then after a short pause to breathe, continued, "you are all hereby sentenced to death for treason against the Crown."
Death...
Corinna froze, her heart halting to a stop. She gasped, regaining her breath, then looked around at her family. They remained silent, heads bowed.
This couldn't be right...
It shouldn't be...
All we did was a peaceful protest and yet...
This is...
"This is wrong!" She stood up, making sure that she was seen and heard. Her voice echoed throughout the hall, and all eyes were on her.
"Silence." The adviser clicked her fingers, and the blue light on Corinna's chains burned and flared outwards. She screeched and recoiled backwards, pulling those tethered to her along. With another click of the adviser's fingers, the blue flame travelled across the rest of the chain, causing Corinna's family to writhe in pain, yet she still remained defiantly standing.
"No... please," Rhea begged the advisor. "Please have mercy on her, please don't..."
"There is nothing you can do." Corinna gritted her teeth, sucking in small gasps of breath, ignoring the pain. "You have sentenced us to death. No amount of pain will-"
The adviser clicked her fingers once more.
Corinna's back keeled over, her knees almost buckling. "We have done... nothing wrong-" she yelled in between splutters and shrieks. "Nothing!" Then, to everyone's surprise, she stood upright, shoulders straight, head held high, and spoke calmly, "we were peacefully protesting some of Your Majesty's recent orders. We were royalists, loyal subjects. However, it has just been a year since your rule began. Your Majesty has already rendered our beloved country into a state of uproar and ruin. You have brought shame to the Crown."
She then did something no one else had ever dared to do- she looked up directly at the queen.
"You will bow down in front of your queen!" The adviser snapped her fingers again, but the young woman resisted the pain.
"You would kill anyone who thinks bad of you?" Corinna Warren hissed at Queen Corinna. "Your father was a just and benevolent king! You dishonour his death and his legacy-"
Two guards forced the prisoner down, her face to the floor, restraining her.
"Send them to the execution chambers-" The adviser froze, unable to speak, to move, to breathe.
Corinna gazed up, seeing the adviser frozen like a statue. Her eyes travelled to the other side of the room.
Queen Corinna had her hand held out, then she closed her palm, and the adviser regained control.
After recovering her composure, inhaling short breaths, the adviser turned and addressed the queen. "Your Majesty?" The adviser bowed. "Your orders?"
Signalling to her personal assistant, who stood by the throne, Queen Corinna whispered in her ear. Corinna, along with everyone else in the room, didn't even notice the assistant's presence before this. Everything about her was ordinary, too ordinary in fact as if every feature she possessed was too plain to gain any attention.
After the queen had finished her instructions, her assistant nodded, then addressed the hall. "Her Majesty, the queen, has changed the sentence." The assistant's voice was flat and monotonous, almost robotic with random inflections. "The accused shall not be executed so long as one volunteer survives for fifteen years in The Eternal Abyss. Six months for each convict. The others will be free to leave. However, if the volunteer dies or escapes, everyone will be executed."
The Warren-Earl-Best family were once again silent. Corinna looked around at her relatives, seeing them all share quick glances at each other in silence. None of them wanted to volunteer.
"I will." Once again, Corinna stood up, her voice wavered and croaked as her throat closed up. A tremendous force attempted to drag her back down as if her body was telling her to take it back. But it was too late now. The words had slipped out of her mouth without her thinking. No one else was going to do it, and she couldn't sit by and do nothing as her family is executed. She swallowed then repeated louder, "I will-"
"No! Please! I will do it!" Rhea Earl struggled to stand, having to rely on her son's shoulder for support. "Please, take me instead. She's still so young. Please, she's still just a child-"
"How old are you?" the adviser barked at the prisoner.
"Twenty-two," Corinna replied.
"She is not a child," the adviser sneered at Rhea, then turned and bowed before the queen. "Your Majesty, we have two volunteers."
Queen Corinna whispered instructions once again to her assistant.
"Her Majesty has decided..." the assistant called out. "That the young woman will be imprisoned."
"No!" Rhea pleaded, lowering her head to the ground. "Please, Your Majesty, please reconsider-"
"Her Majesty's decision is final," said the assistant. "She fears that someone of your age in The Eternal Abyss will not be entertaining to watch, nor will you survive for long enough." She paused. "Her Majesty has also requested that she should be left alone with the volunteer."
"No... please..." Rhea whimpered, glancing back at her great-niece.
The adviser outstretched her arm then closed her fist, and the chain snapped, disconnecting the volunteer from the others who were then hauled away.
Her hands still bound in chains that flickered with blue light, the volunteer was guided closer to the throne by two guards.
Queen Corinna leaned forward on her throne, examining the volunteer, then leaned back and whispered into her assistant's ear.
"Her Majesty wishes for the volunteer to be freed," the assistant called out to the royal advisor. "Your spell is wasted on her. She cannot use magic, nor does it appear that pain has any effect on her. You are just draining your own mana."
"Yes, Your Majesty, as you say." With a turn of the adviser's wrist, the chains binding the volunteer dissipated.
"Leave us."
The adviser bowed low and left the hall.
Queen Corinna shuffled in her throne to find a more comfortable position. She signalled to her assistant who handed her a tablet and scrolled through it. Afterwards, she once again whispered into her assistant's ear.
"Her Majesty wishes to know your name," declared the assistant.
The young woman hesitated. "Corinna Warren." She bowed her head, biting her lip. "I was named after Your Majesty. My mother was your wet-nurse. I was born a few hours after."
"Her Majesty also wishes to know why you volunteered."
Corinna paused, her eyebrows frowning as if in confusion. "To... save my family. Your Majesty sentenced us to death. I am very grateful that you changed our sentence. My family can now live-" She stopped herself, remembering that if they were to live ,she had to survive fifteen years in The Eternal Abyss. Their lives were still at risk. "I would do anything for my family-"
"Why?" asked a voice.
Corinna paused. That wasn't the assistant who had just spoken. It was the queen. Even though it was only one word, the volunteer could hear something in her voice crackle and croak as if it was almost painful for her to talk. The monarch rested her elbow on her throne, waiting for an answer.
"Because they are my family. I love them," the young woman eventually answered, believing that it was obvious.
"Do they love you back?"
"Of course!" Corinna Warren stopped herself from raising her voice. "Of course, Your Majesty. They're my family. Family always-"
"You volunteered and saved your family because you love them. Your family, who love you, did not volunteer and save you."
Corinna hesitated, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, trying to find the right words to reply with. "Because it would have been futile. After my great-aunt volunteered, Your Majesty had already claimed that you wanted someone young, as they are more likely to survive."
After a moment of silence, the queen went back to communicating through her assistant who then signalled to the guards to escort Corinna Warren out of the hall.
Mana- the energy that mages possess that allow them to use magic. Once expended, they are unable to cast any spells until it naturally refills.
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Thank you for reading the first chapter.
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Book cover by Jamie Williams
Their Twitter: J_W_Animation