Fearful They Are

CHAPTER 1: THE WORLD ON THE SURFACE

Under the dim lights of the chandelier, there stood a man of red, holding a wine glass in his left hand with the other hidden in his pocket. He stood in front of the large window while observing the moonlight clouded by the rain. "Triumvirate Fiend, explain yourself." he turns to the woman waiting patiently behind him ."You sent a signal but the prince is nowhere to be found. You even killed the men I sent to you. Why is that?" says the man as he drank wine.

With a nonchalant voice, the woman responds. "The men you sent were incompetent. As for the signal, they are still around hiding, they ran away before I could get them."

"They?" the man put down his emptied glass and sits on the sofa.

"Yes, the prince is protected by the Assassin Manor's Leader, however, I shall find them and bring them to you my Lord."

"As you should. If you don't, I'll have you punished in the Red Courtyard."

"I'm aware of it, my Lord."

A week has passed since the prince's kidnapping. The Asperity Palace is now in a state of unrest, and is desperate to recapture the prince. The highest Asperities had to deceive the lower ranks that it was the Queen who ordered them to find the prince, when in reality, they had not heard a single word from the Queen. The prince's disappearance made their uncertainty worse, without the Queen guiding them, they had to handle matters on their own. Though some of them thought that by passing a message to the queen about the prince she would immediately appear in the palace, her abrupt return would wipe them out of existence out of spite, so they had decided to not inform the queen and her right hand woman. The palace is about to crumble down, and the only ones holding it together are the highest Asperities.

"I'll give you 66 days to retrieve the prince in one piece." The man calmly says to the woman. "If you fail to do so, you will receive more than just a simple punishment."

"I will not fail you, Lord Vorax." the woman bows down.

"Excellent, you may go now."

Without wasting time, the woman turns away and walks out of the door. After hearing the door shut, the now angered man pelted his wineglass to the door. "Damn you, Cardinal Fledglings!" he stood once more and screamed, alarming the servants who were stationed beside him. "I knew I should've obliterated their manors to dust, if only I knew that worm would still emerge from the ruins, I would've burned their corpses and crushed the walls and the pillars! I never should've left without having them all killed before my eyes!"

One of his servants tried to salve him and said: "My Lord, please calm down!"

Hearing such absurd words, he turned to his servants and yelled at the instead. "Don't tell me to calm down you brainless son of a wench! The Prince is gone, the Cardinal Manors is back, and Anarchy is nowhere to be found! How are we supposed to fix this by calming myself down, huh?!"

The servants could only hold each other's hands for comfort while witnessing their master's rage. The man grabbed the bottle of wine silently resting in the table and was about to him them, when suddenly, another servant bursts into the room unannounced. "Lord Vorax! Commander Lorelei demands your presence at the Capitol!"

"What now?!" the man reacted.

"The Superior Leader, she infiltrated the Capitol!"

Blood stormed on the longstanding citadel of the Kingdom, the Capital. Its once beautifully painted walls were now bathed in red colors, the grass, the flowers, and the doors were all marked with blood stains. The flags that flew with the wind were torn apart, and the weapons laid broken on the ground with their dead owners still tightly holding on their handle.

Inside the Capital, there sits the masked swordsman in the silver throne of the commander, who sits in a poor chair, moving the bishop to capture the pawn. Surrounding them was a mess, blood, weapons, and dead bodies were scattered all over the floor. Above them were the heads of the strongest knights, hanging on the ceiling with their blood still dripping. Except for the downpour, everything was silent.

The leader was quiet for a while, but then, she moves the queen to the seventh rank and file, ultimately ending the long game of chess, a checkmate.

"Ah, it seems that I lost! One more game!" exclaims the commander.

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid we're running out of time, commander." the leader responds.

"Aww, alright. Augustus, get in here boy!" the commander calls her most favored soldier. "Take this away and get us two cups of tea! I'm thirsty!"

However, she was only met with silence. "Oh, right, you killed him. So, is anybody still alive?!" She calls out to her soldiers once more. Yet the dead cannot answer, and the only noise one can hear was the rain.

"No one? Okay, I'll go get us tea instead." Lorelei tries to stand up from her chair, but is stopped by the leader.

"No need, I'll be leaving soon. However, I still have something to tell you."

Lorelei sits back, propping her cheeks with her bloodied hands. She smiles. "Sure, go ahead, I have all the time in the world!"

The leader rests their hands on the table, their fingers intertwined and their mask staring directly at the commander. "I'm certain that you've already known about the whereabouts of the prince."

"Nope, where is he?"

The leader responds. "He is living in comfort under the houses of the Cardinal Manors, I burned Lucius's stronghold to the ground and took the prince away."

"I see, that's wonderful! I never liked Lucius anyway, the prince didn't like him either so, good for him. Good for him."

The rain became heavy. Thunder suddenly struck, eliminating the silence inside the Capital. "Commander, I don't think you heard me well, both your Queen and the heir to the throne are gone from the Asperities. You all must've realized by now that you have been abandoned."

Lorelei laughed at the notion. "Nonsense, Queen Anarchy is just around the corner!"

"How can you be so certain?"

"I know the Queen's plans and have known it ever since she sat on the throne, you can't fool me with your fear inducing tactics!" the commander continues to laugh. "How can you be so certain that she's not listening to us right now? After all, she moves in mysterious and unpredictable ways. Even more mysterious and unpredictable than you!"

"Really?" the leader jests.

"Yes, and Anarchy will soon kill you, how would you like to die?"

"How adorable."

The leader emerges from the throne, towering over the weakened commander. She then lays a piece of folded paper on the chess board, sliding it towards Lorelei. "Ask her and tell me what she says."

The leader then walks away from her with her hands behind their back, leaving the commander alone and miserable. Lorelei could only look at the paper with hatred in her eyes, but her demise was about to arrive.