Arcane

Akane

Akane-

    I don't remember where it all went wrong but I like to think that I never had a choice to begin with... The head of the tainted one was cut clean off his body with a single swing of my scythe, a fountain of blood gushing from the stub left of where his head once stood. The glistening red poured out onto the clean shiny floor and seeped into the dark purple rug of the throne room.

   I had become accustomed to claiming the lives of people and living with their whispers and screams in my head. They haunted me, each whisper in my ear before I slept, every step they took behind me when I walked down the hallways, the chills they sent down my spine. Maybe this is my punishment. I thought to myself.

    I understood that nothing I accomplished or even did could change what I had done ten years ago and what I had been doing for the two years I've worked in the palace. I had been living with a terrible sense of guilt for ten years and soon enough I became numb to the feelings inside me when it came to death. I simply watched the scene before me and counted off the number of souls taken. It was easy.

"Well done Miss Alberola '', the king's voice echoed loudly throughout the throne room. The seats next to him laid empty, their occupants gone from the room. It was just him and me. Other than shadows lingering behind his throne and the android next to him, watching my every move.

   I could gut him right here right now. It was so tempting that I could almost feel the king's blood running down my hands and the warmth and release cutting his heart out would provide me. I pushed the thought to the depths of myself and shook my head. Not here, not now.

    I was the only one left of the Alberola name and the only one left with their disgusting ki. My bloodline would always reek of corruption. This world is full of things I could never understand and ki is one of them. How could someone have the ability to control something so out of reach for others and make it seem as easy as breathing. The thought didn't seem like a blessing no matter how I looked at it. It seemed more like a curse in my eyes. I never asked to have this power and I'm sure others didn't either.

    When someone from the Ryujin kingdom is found to possess ki, they would be sent to the inner circle of the clan corresponding to their specific type of ki. They were then trained and housed there for the rest of their miserable lives. In this society ki is taught to be a blessing from the gods and should be worshipped and treasured. I thought it was cruel and harsh to take children from their parents and everything they had ever known just because they have something they never asked for..

"Lady Mizu, escort Miss Alberola out of my throne room" the king spat my name. Neither he nor I care about what he thinks of me. There would come a day when he would no longer be in the land of the living and on that day I would be free. From behind the king's throne appeared a woman. Her hair was a silky blood-red and fell down to her waist in smooth waves.

   It was a part of her that looked like it was gifted to her by the gods themselves instead of her ki. She wore beautiful cerulean silk and it moved and flowed along with her as she walked forward from the shadows and down the steps of the throne room. The sound of her steps echoed in my head.

"Of course your majesty" she spoke in a calm and collected manner fit for speaking to royalty. The silk she wore was split right up to her hips and showed just enough skin. Goggles sat on top of her hair and she looked elegant and ready to kill.

   Bottles of water were strapped to her thighs instead of knives. She didn't need knives to kill. Mizu's voice was as smooth and flowing as a steady stream and although I haven't experienced having a mother of my own, I'm fairly certain Mizu is the closest thing I would ever get to having one. She had a way of making me show emotion even when I didn't want to. Unlike the other three generals in the king's army, Mizu's armour was not typical armour.