"You want to know why we decided to take your kingdom?" The Esk Chieftain told her. Regnine's eyes were locked onto his, giving no indication that she had unclasped the locket. No one seemed to notice. "Our people are strong. So strong, in fact, that it almost seems a blessing from the divine. Tzae has expressed his pleasure with us, so he has gifted us with the ability more discs than any other the other races. Our empire has never been larger or stronger. Scientists in the capital have even developed machines that can run on the discs' Energy--machines might one day take the place of horses and animal mounts. We are at the forefront of technology and innovation, while the rest of the world is stifled. It almost seems right that we dominate you."

A feeling slammed into the Queen. Anger. And pure, unadulterated hatred.  They'd taken everything from her, and thought themselves inherently superior. This was the way of the esks. They were trying to convince her that their work was justified--that destroying Summernorth and forcing a million people into slavery, was divine providence.

Slowly,  she twisted the Eternity Disc into its two separate halves.

"Yet, we are still incomplete.” The Chieftain continued, “We are at the cusp of achieving true dominion, and our goal is just out of reach. We are a hair-breadth from it. And all we need is that object you possess."

Regnine tasted blood as she silently crushed one of the halves of the Eternity Disc. Glass bit into her palm, but she barely felt the pain. Anger numbed everything; even the pressing sensation of the disc in her mind was a passing thought.

"Imagine, a world with a deathless ruler. Most monarchs die before they can truly change their kingdom for the better, but imagine a ruler so powerful that no being on this planet could match him in strength. A keeper of all eighteen Eternity Discs--an unkillable god. Tzae in the flesh. "

She prayed for her child, and for strength. What was done, was done. Regnine slipped the other half of the disc back into her locket.

"It was even written in prophecy…the person who would hold the power of all Eternity Discs in their hands, and decide the fate of the world." The Esk Chieftain held out a leathery hand. “But you have to be the one to initiate it. After today, time will not be a barrier.”

“You’re right.” Regnine told him. She blinked away tears as the rage left her. “I can do anything.”

Regnine Agarwin, Queen of the Last Kingdom, closed her eyes. When she opened them again, time around her had slowed, an unintended but valuable effect of the Eternity Disc which now hovered above her bloody left palm.

Her fingers felt stiff and slow and bony and weak, as she touched the warm, beautiful etchings on the face of the disc panel. There were six glyphs total, but each was highly complex--a framework of sinuous lines, triangles, and hollow circles. If the stories were true, any combination of presses could send her whizzing through the ages. She hadn’t had enough time to study the correct patterns.

But the past was waiting for her now, and Regnine was ready. Certain glyphs seemed to grow hotter all of a sudden underneath her hand, pulsating in a recognizable sequence, as if the Eternity Disc was trying to show her what path to take. Maybe it was just her imagination, or maybe it was just a gut feeling. Regnine was not the type of woman to follow gut feelings.

There was no time to trust her mind. The true path was somewhere there in front of her, and she intended to take it now. Pressing the tips of her fingers against the glyphs, her heart began to leap. Her face was numb, but she knew real tears were falling now--tears of joy. Everything that had happened over the past few weeks could be reversed. She would smell the fragrance of the roses in the garden again. She would see her husband's beautiful face. She would give birth to a healthy child. The Last Kingdom would live on. Hope wasn't lost.

Light was swelling all around her as she finished the sequence. The Esk Chieftain and Warprince had gotten up from their seats, the latter floating in midair, leaping towards her. It was too late for him. Time was already compressing, folding. Reality itself was bending. A faint humming could be heard out in the distance. She could have sworn it was the sound of the fiddler's strings. The past is calling to me now. I will create the future that is meant to be.

…

After the blast of white light, the Esk Warprince let out a roar which could be heard all throughout the city. He tumbled over the table, knocking over the hot teapot, and crashed onto the floor. Damn her!

The Grand Chieftain sighed, “I did tell you not to underestimate her.”

He stood and unsheathed his sword--five feet of deadly black steel--and took a swing at the Queen's four-poster bed, slicing clean through the polished wood. Anger pulsed through his veins like a current of molten lava. As the furniture crashed to the ground next to him, dust particles rose all around, turning the air thick and soupy. His breaths didn't slow.

How dare she?  He trembled with rage.

But as the dust began to settle, the Warprince noticed a single shadowy figure standing near him, just a black silhouette against the scarlet glow of the burning city. The Warprince whirled, his blade lashing out like a viper.

But the Shadow dodged the blow and danced away, now leaning casually against the side of a ruined wardrobe. It moved so bloody fast!

"Where is the Queen?" The Shadow said, its voice quiet and dangerous. It was clearly human...its eyes didn't glow like an esk's.

The Warprince tilted his head, grinning. He readied an ordinary disc, concealing his free hand behind his back so the Shadow wouldn't be able to see. He would blast this creature into the void. "Dead. I took pleasure in killing her...and I did it slowly." He would not allow this Shadow--this human rat--to know that the Queen had escaped.

If the Shadow was pained by his queen's death, he didn't show it. Instead, it wiped its hands on its rich black vest, and then gently caressed the metal box at his hip. Its silver eyes were fixed upon the Warprince, hungry, as if they longed for killing. He had never seen anyone look at him like that, without a hint of fear. "Such--such a terrible mistake." The Shadow stammered.

That was when the Warprince unleashed his power, his fingers moving in the pattern that would inflict instant death. He urged the power towards the Shadow, willing it rip apart the man's body in a most gruesome fashion. He did not like defiance, and he wanted the Shadow to tremble before him at the moment its spirit left this world.

Nothing happened. The Shadow took a step forward, its jaw clenched.

The Warprince’s blood boiled with fury.

"Who are you?" The Grand Chieftain spoke, stepping out into the open.

The Shadow flicked its wrist. The Warprince could only watch as his father flew out the window, tossed by an unseen wind.

Then a wall of air smacked into him, throwing him off of his feet and sending him soaring into the rubble of the Queen's bed. His onyx armor crunched, and the sword flew out of his grip, clattering onto the floor, far out of reach. No. His head swam, feeling pain radiating from his arms and legs, and he couldn't feel any discs in his head. How had they all broken at once? All he could do was let out a hiss of hot air through his pointed teeth, battling the inferno of rage within.

The Shadow loomed above him, now a short man with messy black hair and sharp features. Streams of black soot had dried on its intent face, which was illuminated by the light in its hands. A disc operator. But how had he blocked my spells?  As the light flickered out, the Shadow pulled out a jagged machete, a wicked blade dripping with fresh blood.

"Your guards didn't even notice me when I ripped out their throats, and honestly, I expected more out of their leader...the infamous Esk Warprince." It brandished the steel weapon, then gave the Warprince a hard kick in the chin, knocking off his helmet with a single blow.

The Esk Warprince gritted his teeth. "If you are trying to avenge the Queen, you are already too late. I destroyed her discs. I feel no remorse, only intense, burning joy." A smile crept across his lips. No...weakness. He thought. No shame... in my failure.

Shadow frowned, leaning in close and pressing the warm tip of the machete against the Warprince’s throat. "Before you die, I want you to know who I am." Its eyes were slivers of cold, white ice.

It was difficult for the Warprince not to show the terror he felt now, for new feelings were strange things. I am sorry, father.

Harder and harder the Shadow pressed, now drawing blood. "I am the shadow in the night and the darkness between the stars. I am the emptiness that follows the flash of lightning, before the clap of thunder." The Warprince couldn't breathe as the machete pierced his throat. All he felt was pain...and hot blood. "I am the blizzard's wind, the slayer of Winter herself." Its voice was so dim, so far, far away. "I am all of your nightmares made flesh, and the gentle caress of death." The world darkened. "Well...maybe not so gentle."

And as the end of that bloody machete began to scrape the floor, the Esk Chieftain believed it, greeting death.

__________________

Thanks for reading!

For some context, this scene takes place nearly 500 years before the main story. The catch is that Regnine intended to go back in time to stop the destruction of her kingdom, however, the eternity disc decides to take her forward 500 years. Whoops! Now onto the main story...