Axella

Nine years ago, if anyone would have said Axella Rotherier would be leading a mission to assassinate the king, I would have laughed. But not even a smile crosses my face now as I check my weapons again.

Sneaking into the palace would be the easy part. Everyone hates the king, including the guards stationed outside. The old man still has a few loyal, highly equipped soldiers, but that is the reason I have been trained vigorously since I was found on that river bed nine years ago.

Death has been my goal, and revenge my reason. Perhaps that is why I don't even blink as I take the guard's lives while the rest of my comrades scout the area for any survivors. I trudge towards the king's chambers with a smirk on my bloodstained face.

I throw open the doors to find him with a ruby sword in his trembling hand. The predator in me relishes the fear as I stride towards him. It takes no longer than two seconds to disarm him with one of my daggers, and three more seconds to place a knife on his throat.

The knife my father made in Syerna, merely a day before he was slaughtered. "I will do anything. Give you any power. Let me live." The king tries to command me.

He must have seen my rage increase as fear only grows in his eyes. He does not deserve to live for all he has done to me and my family. He does not deserve to breathe for turning me into the monster I am.

"Tell my father, I am sorry." I snarl in his ears before I slit his throat. His blood stains the ends of my snow white hair as he falls.

..•°•♤•°•..

The crown lays heavy atop my head. It has been no more than six months since I had slit the king's throat, and perhaps just seventeen weeks since I threatened the heir to step down.

Being the Queen of Kadetia has been easier than I thought it would be. Everyone follows your command after a little bloodshed, except perhaps those barbarians of Demenia. The spies I gathered have already reported that an attack is imminent.

I have learnt the way of war, an army need not have strong warriors if it is huge enough. More lives will be lost, but my throne shall remain intact. I lift my head higher, power making my crown lighter as I place my signature on the first command I issue as the ruler of Kadetia.

By the order of the Queen, any able bodied person above the age of sixteen, without an official job is required to serve in the army. Failure to carry out the order shall result in imprisonment or death.

Some might call it cruel. Some might call it unfair. But I have fought and killed my way into power, and there is no way in hell that I am going to allow it to slip through my fingers.

The king is dead and a kingdom is about to find the same fate. "Axella Rotherier, a queen of death" I hear people say on the streets. Kadetia's crown lays on my head through power and blood, not peace. And it shall be that way. If that makes me a monster, so be it.

My mother used to say a monster is made, I wish she never comes to know I have become one. I am no better than the men who killed my father and mother, but goodness does not survive in this world.