The King only stared at me. But I could see the fear flickering in his eyes. His fear made me angrier.
"You locked me up for years and thought I wouldn't come back to clear my grievance?" I questioned in a single breath. "Shouldn't you have more courage?"
"Elodie..." He drew his sword. "You wish to kill me here?"
I smiled, lifting my own sword. "Yes."
The horses underneath him cried loudly. It raised its front hooves; a seconds later, the horse ran off.
"!!" The king jumped down in the nick of time. I watched, pleased.
"Now, we are on equal playing fields."
"Evil Witch-"
I pointed my sword towards him. "Call me by my name, you b*stard." I hissed.
"Elodie." He spat out my name with distaste. "Think about what this will cause! Do you truly wish to kill another heir?"
"You piece of sh*t." I cussed at him again, smiling at his audacity. "You and your siblings know who it was that killed the Queen. You, of all, should know exactly who it was, shouldn't you?"
I was so focused on him, I watched his hands grow tight around his sword, turning ghostly white. Partially due to his hatred towards me, perhaps. But the other half? Fear. Fear of what I would reveal, but also,
The fear to admit to his crimes.
"Elodie." Adam suddenly spoke up. "Calm down. We need to fix things first."
I closed my eyes, taking his advice. The tingle of magic calmed down, as did the roaring thunder around us.
"General Adam," Elicus, the king, spoke. "You betray this kingdom for the Evil Witch?!? What has she promised you?"
"We have recordings of your family's debt and treason of this country." Adam still held strongly to his sword. "You'd be wise to stop calling Elodie such names."
"Where is that little sister of yours?" I finally asked the king. "She's done something foolish again."
Elicus grated his teeth. "You think I will reveal where my family is?"
"Tell me where she is or every single government official, and all the people of this country shall receive the documents proving your crimes."
"You!" he started, enraged.
My eyes mirrored his own expression back to him. His audacity was unbelievable.
"Your brother spends all this country's money on women and his concubines. So much so that you've become unable to provide aid to civilians suffering from food shortages. The other brother has done immensely well at training soldiers in secret but fails to strengthen the defenses of this country." I couldn't help but scoff. "You, King Elicus, are running this kingdom into the ground with your greed. Your sister has not only betrayed your trust but everyone in this kingdom's. I ask you once more, King. Where is Isabella?"
The sword began illuminating with my power.
"Here." A voice said.
๏๏๏ꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉꪉ๏๏๏
I turned around when suddenly, my environment changed. I was teleported inside the palace. But it wasn't me—and it surely wasn't Daniel. "Elodie, I've been waiting for you."
"Isabella." I turned around and spotted the princess; my lips curled downward at the sight. "What have you done to yourself?"
Her eyes were glowing red intensely without calming. Veins across her neck and arms were purple, her skin a pale white color.
"A scarlet witch's powers rely on magic." She glanced at her fingers. "Didn't you tell me this, Elodie?"
"You've consumed too much." I spoke seriously, clenching my jaw. "You used the crystal shard... how could you take it's powers for yourself?"
She laughed. "I am the princess of the crystal shard. It was mine to begin with."
"It belongs to the people. It is a magic source for everyone." I stared at her without reacting, "You were meant to protect it, the people of this kingdom—"
"Shut it." She snarled at me, raising her arm as bright-colored magic shot out of it. A blood red.
I deflected her magic, watching the visible pulse of her veins. "Your body cannot sustain all it's powers. You will die."
"Shut it!" She angled both of her hands at me, red energy bursting from them.
"You can barely control them as is. Isabella, you must stop!" With one hand, I shot energy back; it's magnitude larger and greater than Isabella.
"Not until you are dead!" She screamed. "You ruin my kingdom! You hurt my brothers!"
Our magic collided in flashes and sparks. The room we were in illuminated, and it was then that I realized it was the ballroom I had first entered nearly a month ago.
I barely left, like responding, irritation burning under my veins. "Oh please. Why do you all act so innocent?!"
Her powers dimmed for a second, allowing the ray of green energy to slam into her. Isabella fell to the pollished ballroom floor, coughing. The ground beneath her cracked from the impact.
"Y-You..." She started. I cut her off, walking towards her.
"The curse I placed on you locked away your natural prowess. You have no foundations to cultivate the strong energy within the crystal shard." I lifted my hands, staring at her. "You will die."
I blinked, and Isabella suddenly disappeared from the ground.
"You have undone my years of hard work!" She screamed.
I turned around to see her trying to strike me. I couldn't suppress it, a bitter laugh escaping. "Hard work?" I slammed my palm into her gut. Isabella vanished a second time.
"You!—you come back and try and turn my own people against me?" She was staggering towards me from the right, her eyes wide. "Die!!"
Her skin was bulging; the magic was just beneath the surface, begging to pop out. My hands lifted towards her, but none of my magic emitted from it.
Instead, vines extended from the corners of the wall and grabbed her; she was brought back harshly; the sound of her body making contact with the ballroom wall made me cringe. She went still, completely restrained.
"You lie to your kingdom. You force false memories upon your people. What hard work could you have done?" I asked, disgusted.
"I've been restraining my brothers for years!!" She looked up at me, the red in her eyes flickering between that and her natural brown eyes. All that remained in both colors was hatred. "And you... You never even tried to help me!"
I felt the skin around my jaw go taught when I clenched my teeth. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb, Elodie." She scowled. "You knew what my brothers were like. You made a joke of it. You knew what I was going through in this palace; you did nothing to help me!"
I shut my eyes, barely comprehending he words. Or maybe I was understanding them right. They were just so nonsensical, it made my head hurt. "You..."
"You think I wanted things to be this way? Huh? It was the only way to suppress what they had done! To frame you was the only way to hide that Elicus killed our parents!!"
I opened my eyes, staring at her. Without blinking, I lifted my hand, catching something that was whizzing towards the back of my head, surrounded by blood red sizzling magic.
A dagger. I looked forward, directly at Isabella's eyes of glowing red.
"Tch." A scoff bubbled out as I clenched my hand into a fist, shattering the blade without batting an eye. "That's why you locked me away? On that battle field, watching as so many of your own men died."
The shards of the dagger rebuilt themselves into a sword, this time, green energy connected each piece carefully. Isabella's eyes flicked red and brown, by also with fear. She had never seen my power this strong. Perhaps not since that day on the battlefield, where we stood at opposite ends, like we did now. "You-"
"Quiet." My lip snarled. "You think I won't kill you here and now? After you watched as Adam was killed?"