Queen's Shadow || Kingdom at the End of the World - Book II

[29.1] Chasing the Moon

The World Below bore a startling resemblance to a towered fortress. Nine Kingdoms governed lands that spiraled ever downward, with each kingdom serving as a gate to the next. The further down one went, the more unstable the environment and unrestrained its inhabitants. Few ever ventured as far as the Ninth Kingdom. Of those who did, none returned whole and sane.

The two white serpents that had caused so much chaos in Samodevia hailed from the Seventh Kingdom. They were monsters in the World Above but to their own kind, the siblings were but behaving in a manner expected of their nature. The Seventh Kingdom was also known as the Beast Kingdom. Its subjects lived freely, governed only by their instincts and an inherent desire for power. The pursuit of strength through strife made politics in the Kingdom particularly bloody.

The death of the serpent siblings would not cause grievance, had it occurred within the Seventh Kingdom. However, they had fallen in a land far from home, on a journey incited by malicious forces with unknown motives. This was an insult enough, but the serpents were also members of the current ruling clan. Their inglorious end could not be ignored.

Hel was doubly implicated. First, in its failure to guard the passage between the World Below and Samodevia. Second, in that its own residents were among the parties responsible for the conspiracy. The Beast Kingdom naturally used the situation to their utmost advantage. Lady Bai Suzhen, the Seventh Kingdom's envoy, was as shrewd as she was ruthless. Had Rae not been an old hand at wrangling the greedy nobility in her own court, Hel would have lost more than a pound of flesh to Lady Bai's aggressive negotiation.

Really, who needed enemies, with subjects as fine as Hel's demons?

A shadow fell over Rae, breaking her thoughts.

The Queen of Hel had arrived in the Desolate Lands alone. She was yet to encounter a living soul. Barren land stretched as far as the eye could see, the fine sand so pale with heat that earth and sky blurred into one where they met. Rae knew well that she was not truly without company. Monstrous beasts lurked beneath the sand, ready to swallow an unfortunate wanderer whole. However, they would not engage a demon of Rae's caliber. Anyone approaching aboveground could not escape the queen's eyes.

The sole exception to this natural fact was not a creature Rae wished to offend.

These considerations passed through Rae's mind in a flash. When she turned to face the dark beast that towered above her, the Queen of Hel was composed enough to offer a polite greeting.

The dark beast snorted. The branching antlers crowning its head shortened and wrapped inward as the beast's immense body shrank in size. Powerful hooves stomped at the ground once, then twice when Rae did not react, the queen's startled face dyed red in the creature's large, unblinking eyes.

Rae approached hesitantly. When the beast only eyed her with scorn, she took initiative to mount properly.

"I am not done with my rounds," she said.

The dark beast resolutely turned its back to the desert plains. Rae gave up on complaining and concentrated on maintaining her balance instead. The pace was punishing from the onset. Their surroundings smudged, the earth shaking under the beast's powerful hoofs.

Rae's visit to the Desolate Lands was not planned. Her journey had begun as but a stroll through Hel's gardens, but a restlessness in her heart drove her ever forward. She had not ventured too far, as she had travelled on foot. They soon came upon the mouth of a great cliff, Hel's gate rising like a beacon on the other side.

The crystal bridge glinted in the gloom. Upon it walked a man both familiar and not.

Rae's breath stuttered in her chest. The dark beast paused its mad run without her prompting, unusually accommodating. Rae dismounted woodenly. She was in no mind to wonder about the creature's purpose. Her entire being was focused on the man on the bridge.