The Ruler's Rift

The Grave

Celeste plowed through crowds of roaring subjects. The second the battles ended, she rushed to fight her own. Anxieties built through the day, and the moment that Lucian was announced winner, the empress hurried to find her aunt. Her obligations were complete and she needed to know Amber hadn't abandoned her or worse.

Disregarding all privacy, Celeste focused her magic. Yet it failed her when she attempted to teleport to Amber's general location. Her eyes widened. This failure was a clue - only several parts of the palace were under teleportation security. First Celeste went to the royal quarters, but Amber wasn't there. Hopes were dashed further when Amber's own room remained empty.

The only place left haunted the queen. She went there anyway; she dashed down a mile of stairs to reach the vaults. She ran and screamed, "Amber! Amber!" No sound replied but the echoing of Celeste's calls. Furiously, the queen ripped open the safes one by one. She didn't stop screaming, no matter how much the fear in her voice bounced back. She tore open one door. Then another. It couldn't be.

"Hello!? Amber!?" Celeste cried, throat raw. In her heart, as it struggled to tear itself from its arteries, she knew. She wouldn't accept it, not until she saw it. "Please!"

Tears filled her eyes. It just couldn't be.

It couldn't be happening.

Celeste swung open a safe. Panic fueled her vampiric strength. The door ripped open like paper. A puff of used air whooshed into the hallway. Celeste froze, eyes drilling into the contents of the safe. Gold coins decorated the floor. The ceiling grate lay in a heap behind a stack of riches. Scratch marks scarred the door.

Blue eyes fixed on the body, laying against a pile of gold. The corpse's golden hair nearly blended in, as if she'd been inside for so long that her hair grew out and consumed the space.

Celeste didn't breathe, just as Amber didn't in her final moments. Her lips were blue, her fingernails were shredded and bent, and her body lay still.

The empress fell to her knees. Shock twisted into sadness. Tears exploded. Celeste screamed. She hugged Amber's body to her chest, fingers digging into the fallen's hair and skin. Streams of sorrow dripped onto Amber, but she did not react. She didn't comfort Celeste this time.

"Don't do this to me!" Celeste sobbed. Her eyes and nose oozed, and she sucked in air so sharply that her body convulsed. "You can't just leave me like this!"

Amber didn't move. She didn't reveal that this was some sick joke. She lay cold and dead in her niece's arms, buried by tears. Clutching fistfuls of golden hair didn't bring her back. Neither did Celeste's pleas.

In the remnants of Amber's struggle, Celeste knelt and held her aunt. She cried until her eyes were empty and wailed until her throat was numb. What she'd give to hear Amber insult magic again. Anything.

Celeste didn't know or care how long she'd been down there, a mile below the carefree joy of her subjects. Footsteps at last shattered the quiet. The queen's mourning felt sacred and cathartic, and its interruption filled her with rage.

Slowly, the demon raised her horned head from the pile of soggy, gold hair. "Your majesty! Heavens, there you are! What happened down here!?" Nova called as she ran through the hallway of open safes.

Celeste said nothing. She looked over her shoulder as Nova entered Amber's coffin. "I heard you screaming...I..." Nova stopped. Her ears raised and her eyes widened. "What's going on? Your advisor..."

Teeth grit, Celeste rasped, "I knew we shouldn't have installed automatic locks. She must've gotten trapped."

"You didn't kill her?"

Celeste hissed and whirled to her feet. She roared, "Do you have any idea what she means to me!?"

Nova backed up. Her tail curled around her legs. "No! Your majesty, I'm sorry!" Her eyes darted away. "I...I understand. My mother died in an accident. I'm so sorry-"

"Don't pretend for a second that you understand my pain," the demon growled. "Preserve her body, Nova."

"What?"

"Preserve. Her. Body."

"Oh. I-"

"Be quiet. Don't argue, don't talk to me, just preserve her body like you did with Violet's."

The fox's throat pulsated and her ears folded down. She looked pitiful. Perhaps she almost uttered a "yes, your majesty," but she obeyed and said not a word. She lifted Amber's body, and Celeste released new tears upon seeing her taken away.

She didn't know why she asked that of Nova. It just felt right. It was the only beacon in the queen's numb mind. Left all alone in the ghosts of chaos, the safes were wide like mocking maws.

At some point, Celeste found the strength to leave. She didn't know what time it was, but darkness had fallen over Mystearlia. Perhaps it was nighttime. Maybe the planet just knew that its last light had gone out. It must've mourned Amber, too.

The queen crawled into her bed. She didn't sleep and she didn't think. Sorrow filled her lungs like fluid and made it hard to breathe. Instincts taunted her - she wanted to vent to Amber but snapped out of that cruel thought. Such a terrible thought pattern that it almost made her laugh.