Naya's Blade

Thinking of uniting the golden empire once again was Queen Cleopatra's biggest mistake, and accepting the peace offer from a monstrous king was the death of the entire kingdom.

"A long time ago, say 2,000 years ago our kingdoms were united as one. Devon, Naile, Torra, Avalor, Troy, Zago, and Greene. All were one mind, one strength but different rulers who all bowed to one leader, the Queen of Devon. We were strong and known across other empires. We were the golden empire. The golden empire had the greatest magic of all times and the keeper, Gazura was one of the most powerful priestesses that ever existed. Our forces could conquer kingdoms until someday Gazura became greedy and wanted to be a goddess. Greene one of our kingdoms made a deal with Gazura that if she turned in the onyx orb that held all our powers together, their kingdom will give her what she most desired, the power of a god. Gazura handed over this orb which without it, our powers were nothing but the Greene instead of making her a god made her their slave. The orb gave Greene so much strength almost equal to a god." Queen Cleopatra scoffed then continued telling her story "the six kingdoms came together to seek a solution to their fading magic but on that day, Greene attacked and each kingdom ran off to their destinations all thinking each other had planned the attack and since that day we have all lived apart as enemies when we should be one but today, I will change that narrative."

"how mummy?" I asked linking my five-year-old arm to Queen Cleo's twenty-seven-year-old arm.

"You see my little sweet princess, I have always wanted to unite us but I lacked the courage and only a few days ago I got a letter from King Stefan of Naile asking for unity amongst the six kingdoms." She explained.

"and I still stand firm to say that this is a bad idea, your Majesty. I don't see why you should all bind your powers as Stefan suggested." A young woman about Queen Cleo's age spoke.

"Mara, you know this is the only way to achieve peace." Queen Cleo said to her in a hushed voice.

"I don't trust Stefan and you know why. They are here Cleo and this is the best time for you to change your mind." Mara urged but Queen Cleo already had her mind made so she did not listen to her handmaid and best friend who has since the day Stefan's letter arrived tried to dissuade her.

"change my mind at this time? Oh, that would be lame. You don't have to worry about anything Mara, this meeting will bring peace. You'll see." Queen Cleo said.

"I hope it does, but my instincts never fail me, King Stefan has other negative motives my lady, I know he does."

"You can't be so sure."

"I may not my lady but this is a mistake, Queen Cleo," Mara said.

"After the introduction, keep Naya close to you." Ignoring Mara's worries, Cleo responded and walked away with me trailing behind her.

Soon all our Nobel guests from all the kingdoms made their entries on the announcement. My mother introduced me to King Stefan who was eager to meet me.

"This must be your girl." King Stefan asked with a fake grin spread across his face.

"Yes, this is my daughter Naya." Cleo said.

"I'm sure she is as strong and powerful as her mother." He said staring at me sternly.

"Mother, I'll go be with Mara," I said to my mother.

"of course my little Princess. Run along, dear."

Soon my mother was addressing the entire kingdom. "great people of the golden empire, I am honored today in expectation of how powerful we will become after this gathering. For many years we have only existed to fight each other. We have been our very own enemies when in fact we should work together. Today, we are gathered here to get back and distribute amongst us that strength that was taken away for thousands of years which will make us strong to stand against our common enemy, and as your leader, I will take the first step to bring back our strength." She said then pulled out the crystal on her pendant and raised it. "in here is the magic that keeps Devon together bounded." She dropped it on a round table decorated for this purpose after muttering some magic spells.

The other kingdoms proceeded to the same thing and as they dropped their different objects they conjoined as one. The five rulers brought forward their powers without addressing the crowd but when it got to Stefan's turn, he started with all talk.

"two thousand years ago before the betrayal of priestess Gazura, the golden empire existed as one thinking every kingdom had a fair share of its magic, but it was all a lie." King Stefan spoke.

"Stefan what are you doing?" queen Cleo asked him quietly but he ignored her and kept speaking.

"Devon has had it all in the long run. The priestess obeyed the Queen of Devon, the entire royalty pledged fealty to Devon and nobody ever questioned it. I King Stefan would never bow to a woman no matter who she is and so there shall be just one leader amongst us." Stefan place his hand on the magical crystal which was formed already by other kingdoms and it started to glow. Nobody could do anything, not even the guards as no weapon was allowed into the event but Stefan and his minions still had a way to fulfill their evil mission. They secretly brought in their weapons.

"Stefan you can't do this." Queen Cleo said going close to him but it was late already. Stefan had fully lifted the crystal and as he drained the powers, there was a gust of wind that sent people flying and crashing into each other, and then a black smoke covered up the entire room. By the time it all cleared up, Stefan spoke in a loud and husky voice "this is my world…!" he said and quickly passed his blade through Queen Cleo's belly who was right next to him trying to stop him. She held her tummy and whimpered and then dropped dead but before she did, her eyes met mine as she mouthed "run" before I could scream and run to her, Mara grabbed me and ran away from the palace.

"Come on Naya, we have to go now." She said as she lifted me. I couldn't even say a thing at first, I was just staring at my bleeding mother.

There was a commotion and people began to run helter-skelter trying to disappear before they got killed. I screamed as Mara lifted me on her shoulders but slowly, I lost cautiousness.

King Stefan, having the ultimate power surrendered the whole of Devon which already lost its Queen and had no magic left to protect them. Other Kingdoms were also surrounded as they had no weapons to fight. The only people with the weapon to fight were the Naile soldiers, and King Stefan's regiment and they dominated the entire kingdom.