CHAPTER 1

EMPEROR Gabrien Faberion's harmonious and peaceful breakfast in the empire's garden was ruined by the news reported to him by General Adri, one of the empire's war overlords. The news came from Baron Arnott, the overseer of the moonrite prison.

"Sollel, one of Yther's queens, the Mistress of Flame, has escaped her moonrite prison."

When the emperor heard the news, his hand that was holding the cup of tea trembled in anger.

"Imbeciles!" He angrily threw the cup of tea on the general's leather boots. The cup broke and scattered, but no one moved to pick it up, afraid of the emperor's anger to fall on them.

The emperor, known for his vicious temper, screamed, "Search all the land and drag that woman back to prison! I will not let that harlot or any of you sully my name! For two generations, that woman is our prisoner, and I will not let her escape. Not in my reign, do you hear me?!"

The general who was kneeling on one knee and looking at the ground nodded. "Yes, Your Highness."

Calming himself so he could think of a better plan to drag that woman back to prison, Emperor Gabrien took a deep breath while his lips were twitching in anger. "How did she escape? That prison is made of moonrite—their weakness. And from the report I received, that woman was weak and immobile. How come she could escape that prison?"

General Adri answered with a low voice, hoping that his answer wouldn't anger the emperor more. "We believe that someone helped her."

"A traitor?!"

"We believe so, Your Highness," said General Adri. "All the guards in the moonrite chamber had been killed. No one was left alive. And the door to the prison was destroyed."

The emperor couldn't help his surprise while anger still boiled inside him. "The moonrite chamber has a hundred guards! Who could kill them all?! We have the strongest weapons, an impenetrable stronghold!"

"We do not know, Your Highness." General Adri was scared to say the words I don't know in front of the emperor, but there were really no words to explain what happened. "As of now, we are investigating and looking for the traitor and the woman. We believe that they are together."

"And?"

"Still no report, Your Highness."

In a fit of anger, the emperor's plate made of porcelain was smashed in the general's head, but the general did not even flinch. "Useless fools! Without the moonrite, that woman is powerful! Make sure to find her while she's still weak, or I will have your head together with the baron's!"

The general's head remained low. "Yes, Your Highness."

Letting out an angry breath, the emperor ordered, "Alert the imperial army on every station all throughout the empire to be ready, just in case that mad woman appears. Tell them to ready a moonrite weapon to subdue her. No one is allowed to kill her. Just weaken her." Emperor Gabrien knew how important that woman's blood and presence to the empire were. He couldn't afford to lose her. Not while he's the emperor.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Leave and don't come back without that woman!"

General Adri lowered his head even more before he got up to leave the garden. On the other hand, the emperor had already lost his appetite and couldn't even take a single bite of his breakfast.

"Sollel, the Mistress of Flame," Emperor Gabrien whispered. His voice trembled for a moment when he remembered how his father warned him about her. Fear consumed him for a second before he discarded it. "What can that woman do? She's nothing now but a slave to the royal family—my slave."

The Infernal Empire and its citizens were very proud of their indestructible weapons; they had been the leading kingdom when it came to forging such tools. The emperor did not want to admit or believe it, but his father and grandfather treasured Sollel, the Mistress of Flame—the reason she was captured instead of executed. Her blood could make any weapon stronger, more powerful, and unbreakable. And not only that—her presence alone could strengthen the kingdom's defenses, making it impenetrable.

Considering that, it was understandable that the Infernal Empire was the wealthiest of all the four human kingdoms reigning Azitera.

Emperor Gabrien did not fully believe the tales of Yther's queens. He believed that their weapons were indestructible because they were skilled in making them, not because of some woman's blood. Maybe because Emperor Gabrien was a third-generation emperor—years since Sollel, the Mistress of Flame, was captured—that he did not believe such tales.

After all, he was just keeping her because the nobility faction would see him as incompetent if she died or escaped during his reign; because just like his father and grandfather, they also believed that the Mistress of Flame was the reason of the empire's prosperity.

But Emperor Gabrien did not believe that. The empire's prosperity and wealth was because of him, because of his hard work. Because he was a good emperor. A brilliant leader that even deities would compliment. He would not accept that that woman was the reason. It was because of him. Him and him alone, and not someone else!

Overcome with resentment, Emperor Gabrien threw all the food on the table and even beat up the guard nearest to him to release his anger. And when he finally calmed down, he left the garden, leaving the half-dead guard on the ground.

♕♕♕

"WE HAVE TO KNOW who did this and their location," said the baron after hearing what General Adri reported to the emperor. "If we couldn't find her, the emperor will not hesitate to execute us."

General Adri nodded before looking at the destroyed door to the prison. "Whoever did this is strong and capable."

"Do you have someone in mind?"

General Adri shook his head. "Only a handful officials knew about the existence of the Mistress of Flame, and all of them could prove their innocence."

"Maybe a member of their family?"

"We're still investigating," said the general. "Based on the information we have accumulated, the Mistress of Flame is already outside the kingdom. We asked the guard's gate if someone left late last night, and they said a gryphon flew fast the gate, but they didn't give chase."

"A gryphon?" The baron was surprised because he knew someone who owned one. "You think it's him who took the Mistress of Flame?"

General Adri shook his head decisively. "Aside from having no knowledge of the Mistress of Flame, we have a peace treaty with him. The warlord would never break the treaty. He is, after all, the emperor's nephew. And it was not the first time he flew fast the imperial gate with his gryphon."

The baron couldn't help agreeing. "If the Mistress of Flame already left the kingdom, where could she be now?"

"Do not fret, Baron Arnott." General Adri sounded confident. "I already sent a wanted poster all over the empire, even to the small villages outside. We will find her before she regains her strength, and we will drag her back where she belonged—a nutrient to the empire."

The baron put his fist on his chest and muttered solemnly, "Long live, Infernal Empire."

General Adri did the same, more solemn than the baron. "Long live."

♕♕♕

A HUNDRED kilometers from the City of Faberion, in an apple woodland next to the small village of Mistvale, a woman with dark red hair was lying on a wooden bed inside a shack, her eyes were half-open, and a thick dark red cloak was wrapped around her body.

The woman was Sollel. Alone in the shack, in the apple woodland.

It had been days since she was brought there. The person who took her from prison left her in the run-down shack—alone. She didn't even see her freer, given how weak she was.

After her freer left, no one entered the shack. She was all alone, which she preferred. She didn't need food every day to live, so not eating for a whole week since she was freed had no effect on her body. What she's focused on right now was getting back her strength.

Now that there was no moonrite near her, she's slowly recovering her strength. But even after a week of recovering, all she could conjure was a small fire in her palm. If it couldn't even light the whole shack, then all the more was it not enough to burn a trespasser to bring her back to her moonrite prison.

And that made her feel tense and anxious. If she couldn't fight, if she couldn't unleash her destructive flame, she'd be dragged back to her prison again. Back to that hell. Back to being a nutrient to the empire. Her escape would be useless!

Sollel knew that it would take time to recover her previous strength and power. And all she could do was wait and hide until she got her strength back.

Wait and hide. What a useless thing to do after escaping prison and swearing to get revenge. But Sollel knew that to get her revenge, she had to wait and hide to recover her strength.

Looking at the full moon through the small crack on the roof of the run-down shack, Sollel thought of her comrades, her sisters-in-arms—the other queens who reigned with her back when Yther was still a grand and respected country. The last time they spoke to one another was before they were sieged at the Yther Primal Hill Temple.

Even though it had been so many years, Sollel could still feel their presence. They're still alive, but weak—just like me, she thought. I'm too weak to even pin down their exact location.

How many years has it been? Sollel had no idea. The only information she knew that could help her calculate the time was the current emperor now. He was the third generation to rule the Infernal Empire since her capture. That means a century had passed.

I have to get stronger.

Pushing herself up to sit on the wooden bed, Sollel looked around in the darkness. It was silent, and only the sound of insects at night can be heard.

Closing her eyes, concentrating, Sollel thought of her freer. Who was it? Who wants me out of prison? And it looks like that person had been looking for me. Why? It's been centuries, we—I have already been forgotten by time.

The only long-lived race were the Elves, but Sollel was pretty sure that they wouldn't rescue her. They care for their sacred forest too much to leave and sacrifice themselves for her.

Even when the Ytherians were sieged and betrayed, no one came to help them. No one stepped forward to save them. After all the protection and help they had given to every race, when it was time for them to need their protection, no one came.

No one.

Before, Sollel believed that kindness could change the world. Oh, how naïve she was. Their kindness was repaid by betrayal. And now, there was no kindness in her anymore. All she wanted was revenge. That's the only way for her to live.

Revenge. I must have it, or I will die trying.

Sollel's thoughts were interrupted when she heard multiple footsteps nearing the shack. And she instantly felt her strength draining.

Sollel's eyes widened in panic when she realized and felt that familiar feeling. A moonrite is nearby!

Horrified even in her weakened state, she hurriedly put the hood of her cloak on to hide her face and left the shack, and then she started running. She ran away as fast as she could, but she was still too weak—too slow, but she didn't give up.

No! I won't be captured again! No! I will never be caged again! Sollel continued running barefoot and strengthless.

Behind her, she could hear the soldiers running with their torches, shouting for her to stop or she will be harmed, but Sollel did not listen.

She ran, uncaring if she was weak. She pushed herself to flee while trying to conjure a flame in her hand, but nothing. The flame she could summon couldn't even harm a fly.

But the soldiers would not let Sollel escape. Never. Using their bows and moonrite-tipped arrows, they shot at the fleeing woman to weaken her.

Sollel immediately felt herself weakening. She looked back over her shoulder while running, her eyes widening in panic when she saw a dozen arrows with moonrite tips aimed at her.

Sollel stumbled, fell to the ground, but hurriedly got up and started running again, doing her best to run in zigzag to avoid getting hit by the arrows. But just when she thought she was safe, a moonrite arrow pierced her shoulder.

The pain was enough to make Sollel's head ache, and her strength immediately dropped to almost nothing. But she didn't stop moving her body to flee even when she was literally dragging herself and crawling on the ground just to escape her pursuers.

She would never let those scums imprison her again. Never!

Just when she was afraid the humans chasing her would send another volley of arrows, she heard clashing of weapons—sounds of swords and blades clashing against each other. Then she heard grunts and screams of pain, as if someone was fighting and killing the soldiers.

But Sollel couldn't care less who it was. She forcefully pulled out the arrow from her flesh and threw it away and then started running again. Stumbling and falling to the ground a lot of times, Sollel continued to rush in the middle of the darkness without care where she was going. Her mind was focused on escaping that she didn't realize she ran into a cliff...until she fell.

Sollel was already ready to accept her fate, that her body would soon break, but instead of feeling the hard ground, she felt herself sinking, followed by suffocation.

Before Sollel could figure out where she fell, her consciousness was already robbed from her by lack of air.

Meanwhile, from atop the cliff where Sollel fell, a man was standing there, looking at the flowing river below while holding his war blades covered with the soldiers' blood. His eyes were focused on a certain part of the river.

And when the man didn't see Sollel resurface, he left the cliff and vanished into the night.

CECELIB | C.C.