Day 5: Year C - 009.

...

The fading moonlight was once more blocked out by the Head Priest’s thickening black fog. Every soul who remained awake was consumed by dread and unfortunately struck down by the assassin and her doubles. Though the streets this twilight remained silent, as the usual reporters or rebels knew better than to risk their lives.

Despite the dreadfully peaceful atmosphere from the surface, below the Temple of Obsidian, Lucian barked commands for the Royal Guards to break the ice block containing the woman’s head. His pale hands shook with bottled rage, and the veil over his right eye twitched with anticipation.

“Tell me why none of you ladies are able to accomplish landing a singular scratch!? Women are the epitome of magic! Our Goddesses granted you magic before men, and yet here we are with something as fragile as ice standing up to fire-breathing, the defiance of gravity, and even turning oneself into a bundle of needles! What would my Mother say to this terrible display?!”

“Forgive us, your Excellence!” The commanding knight in gold saluted, shaking in her armour.“It would seem even the Golden Guards who graduated with top honours could not be effective against this seal!”

“What a shameful display, women. You are all dismissed! Out of my sight, this instant!”

“APOLOGIES!” The other Royal Guards shamefully saluted and marched out of the black room, leaving Lucian alone with his frustration.

“Even when I invited Osmium to this location on the twilight of my coronation, she could not break the seal either. Then again, she is clearly far more skilled with butchering flesh and foolishly lusting after the idea of her perfect bride...” Lucian seated himself beside the block of ice. “Speaking of. Perhaps, it’s about time I find one of my own... Though, how could I concern myself with romances when I have my pretend-sister on the loose with that demonic choir boy and their allies? She’s clearly after the Obsidian throne after I denied it to her.”

Lucian closed his eyes and thought of the time he met Zanna.

Despite living within the same walls for years, they did not formally meet until they both turned eighteen. It was a private meeting between Allucia, Zanna, and Lucian in the Obsidian Temple’s throne room. Lucian had dressed in all black, while Zanna in white as Allucia instructed.

“This... is your brother. This is your sister... My beautiful Zanna shall be the one to take the Obsidian throne, and rule over Grand Island with an iron fist. She is perfectly educated, speaks with poise like no other, and radiates new beauty the Island shall appreciate-”

“Mother, how could you?!” Lucian furiously roared. “I am your own biological son, clearly she is from another family! Are you attempting to infuriate the Goddess’s-”

Allucia, with a blink of an eye, appeared before Lucian and slammed him into the ground, bloodying his nose and forehead. Zanna let out a terrified scream, and looked away in fear.

“Look at what you have done, Lucian.” Allucia lifted her cold hand as Zanna’s eyes grew dim, clearly under the influence of magic. “Now, I am forced rearrange a reintroduction. Why could you not play the perfect role of an obedient son and listen?”

“M-Mother. Why pick her?”

“For political strategy. I sense boredom within today’s youth, itching to start revolutions and create new false Goddesses for the sake of curing their selfish desires. If I am able to introduce a new face with different features and slightly change new rules, perhaps they will be satisfied with what I have accomplished. Though, this requires meticulous planning.”

“I-I do not understand. What if she creates too much change?”

“Not with you around. You will work in the shadows to uphold order, thus creating a perfect duo of Head Priestess Zanna and Lucian, Head of the Royal Public Relations. She brings genuine smiles as you kill anyone who refuses to smile with her...Out with you. I shall speak to Zanna alone,”

A blinding rage loomed over Lucian, as he simply bowed and walked out of the throne room. Though, in secret, he kept a close ear from a nearby empty hallway meant for guests only.

“Mother Dearest, I am most joyous in your presence!” Zanna hummed, unaware of Allucia’s memory erasing spell. “What shall I do for you at this time?”

“My precious daughter... As you graduate with excellent grades from Grand Street’s academy, I am to announce your coronation when once you are formally twenty years old on New Years Day.”

“Ah, what joyous news! I am honoured to be your chosen candidate,”

“Indeed, my lovely daughter. Today, you will partake in a new lesson in our golden dining hall to discuss the wisdom and strength it takes to uphold order within Grand Island. Not to mention, I have to now rearrange a husband to you, once you take the throne...”

Lucian reopened his sandy eye, filled with old resentment he refused to depart with.

“The worst of my Mother’s antics, I somehow stood no chance to rule Grand Island. To this day, I haven’t a clue what foolish thoughts plagued that woman’s DAMNED PSYCHE!”

Lucian rapidly stood up and slammed the ice crystal containing the giant woman’s preserved head with his fist. A very tiny piece of the seal had broken, which left Grand Island’s ruler utterly flabbergasted.

For years, he commanded his Golden Guards to chip away at the woman frozen in time. He had never fathomed to resort to his own power.

The very thought of labour infuriated him. But Lucian harboured a sense of relief.

“...As the Head Priest of this Island, I am attentive of maintaining absolute order. So long as this demon frozen in ice is unidentifiable, she is declared an unknown variable under my rule. Any unidentifiable thing is artlessly a demon that ought to be purged,”

...

Eternal winter had continued to sleep from underneath the Palace of Obsidian, as the residents from above shivered from fright of the assassin and the freezing overnight temperatures.

One woman with raven hair carrying newspapers on Maritime Street had attempted to sneak in between chip shops, carrying notes written in red. One that stood out had read; “Missing Priestess-Kidnapping or Something Sinister? Origins of Zanna.”

As the moonlight had shone over the woman just for a moment, the shadow of the assassin had eclipsed the light known for its beauty and hope. The report’s face of solace had turned into horror as a black cloth had covered her pale mouth and her aubergine eyes filled with dread.

Before the reporter could cast a magic signal for help, she was injected with oleander leaf residue. The reporter’s dulled eyes became bloodshot as she realized an intense pain from within her chest, collapsing from the deadly poison.

“Such unique beauty gone to waste,” The assassin gently whispered as she dragged the body toward the underground sewers, “...Ah, carrying filth, which holds nothing but propaganda and slander against the Priestess of Verde. A fitting punishment would be for you to be mere fish food, and yet your face still radiates beauty after death...”

As the frozen muddy waters remained fairly still, the assassin pulled an axe from a sheet of paper. Beneath her visor and mask, she bore a twisted expression of morbid curiosity.

“...I chose to be his right hand to fulfill one selfish desire of mine... He promised me. To arrange a sapphic-styled wedding... For myself and a bride who finds me to be beautiful...” The assassin lonesomely whispered as she performed her gruesome work, “My future bride and I would hold a wedding filled with white roses... A ceremony, just as the Goddess of Life held for herself and the silver knight of legend... As we live happily ever after... Happy. I could just die from agonizing heartache...”

Osmium removed her visor and mask as a twisted echo of a childish whimper emitted from her scarred lips. She held herself, attempting to contain her desire for love, but she continued to weep, feeling the internal pressure of her unfortunate position. Bloodshed for the sake of walking down a sunny aisle, wearing all white. Holding white roses as a portrait of the Goddess of Life and her knight holding hands sat by the lakeside.

“...I swear it... One day... I’ll have my revenge and find love with a woman who will love me for who I’ve become...”