Ashes Of The Throne | Part I

Chapter 2 | Everyone Has Bad Days

Warm blood splattered Sera's face and neck as she drove her swords into the vile creatures that continued to harass the lands. Beheading the next one that crossed her path, the larger ones required more force from her, the ones with scaled necks and pointy teeth that resembled giant frilled lizards than anything else she had witnessed.

Everyone has bad days.

The ones where their hair just won't fall right, or they stub their toe, Sera had done that twice already that morning, or forget something important on the way to wherever they're going and get yelled at by her trainers or teachers.

That's how things should be, bad days were necessary because if you never had a bad day, then you could never really appreciate a truly good one.

Returning her attention back to the monster before her, the creature had been rampaging through the poor town, mangling anyone in its sight, blood dripping from its gnarly teeth, and she was pretty sure the baker's arm had fallen to the ground as the creature hissed at her.

Sera was always a firm believer in the necessity of having a bad day, and she was no stranger to tough days, but lately it seemed as though they were coming one after another, a never-ending barrage of obstacles and challenges. And to top it off, she had arrived in Narrabeen just in time to see her favourite soufflé shop reduced to ashes and now she was face to face with one of the most terrifying creatures she had ever encountered.

Surely there was some cosmic karma? 

Not one to back down, Sera was a firm believer in the power of perseverance, in fact, she relished the idea of overcoming obstacles and coming out victorious. So, with a twirl of her weapons, she was ready to take on the beast, it was just, the glint on the dismembered arm caught her attention. 

Was that Jack's wristwatch on that arm? Could it be? Shit, it was! 

Poor guy, she really liked Jack. His sense of humour wasn't well understood by many in the small town, but he made her laugh when she frequented, and he was a fantastic cook in the morning. He was honestly the reason she escaped on occasions, no one on these known planets could make a soufflé desert the way that man could.

Such a shame that talent was gone now, knowing what she knew about him, the idiot probably tried to be a macho man instead of hightailing it out of there, she knew his soufflé-making days were over.

Why were people just so bloody dumb?

As she stood there, sword in hand, watching the beast feast on poor Jack's arm, Sera's mind couldn't help but wander to Ezra.

Ezra was the definition of evil to Sera. 

She was the reason that everything went wrong. She was the reason for her bad days. 

Words had failed her as she stood before one of Ezra's monsters, she felt a spark of anger ignite within her. She remembered the countless lives lost, the pain and suffering caused by Ezra and her minions. The very same person who was the face of this war. This powerful woman came out of nowhere and destroyed their lives in one night. It's perplexing how it all happened in a mere few hours. She and her armies wiped out billions, and with no distinct reason, nor that there had ever been one, their worlds had never recovered.

Despite it being in the middle of summer, the rain was chilly, and coupled with the devastation of one of the last remaining independent towns being destroyed and its residents mercilessly slaughtered, she felt emotionally exhausted.

The enigma of Ezra and her quest for the crystals was a puzzle that Sera was determined to solve. She knew Ezra was searching for something; she knew that in her bones, the answer however had escaped them for the last fifteen years. Just like the answer to when the timekeeper would come back for her and explain to her what the hell these crystals were and what was the point of having them.