.A Spark From Before.

-46-

I sat outside in the rain, not caring for the biting cold as I reran all I knew about Seva in my mind from the moment I met her.

Slowly but surely, seeing her change was subtle, but it was there.

And each time, I remember someone standing in her way or something not going how she wanted... Their untimely passing or their execution soon follows it.

The first death I knew of was my mother. I couldn't prove it, but my heart whispered that she had something to do with it.

Then, the next notable one was the elvish queen passing soon after we arrived and Sawyer becoming extremely close to her, stepping into the guiding role, convincing him of many things. She was the one to find her dead, after all.

Tho not a death. There was the maze of the elves. Lashing out angrily at us while she told me how that maze would attack those meaning evil before it suddenly was calm around her, but the whole maze felt tense. It wanted her end.

Another notable death is the dragon, Seva being the one to find the dead dragon, another death she discovered, another execution.

There is also the event of the gatekeeper telling me to hide what I know from Seva, hiding the true strength of my dragon stone cuff-bracelet thing and my scale staff, and not trust her.

And then... Davis.... He was so panicked when he ran to find me, telling me she had lost her mind, forgot about peace, and was using me, trying to tell me who did it as he died... Just after trying to convince me to leave... He was always weary of her... And now I know she did it, that I am sure.

It was almost...

Seva, at first, talked about saving the people, but near the end, she spoke purely of becoming the queen.

She changed, and not for good.

I thought the people were good, but them never leaving their homes is fear.

I thought traitors were executed, but it was Seva's fear of them thinking badly of her that killed them.

I thought I was helping people but was leading them to their deaths.

I stood, having been sitting on the wall around the castle, walking down it.

I made my way through mud and water to the dragon's garden, which looked like an eternal tomb. It didn't feel warm anymore, almost as if it was mourning for the dead.

The silver of the elm's bark was dulled by age, and the red leaves fell like droplets of blood in the wind. It felt like each leaf falling was a step to the inevitable death of Solor if nothing was done to rectify this.

I sighed, leaning my body against the trunk before falling through an open passageway that appeared, the bark hollowing itself behind me and swallowing me.

I heard panicked screams and shuffles as I felt the stairs dig into my back as my head bounced off one... Wait.... Stairs.

"How did you get in here?" A voice said as an ice lance hovered by my throat, and I looked at an unmasked Elite, in the clothes and all but not the face covering.

"I... Leaned against the tree." I didn't fight back, staying lying there. "Go on, kill me now if you want, I won't stop you... I helped put a bigger monster on the throne than the previous one." I closed my eyes, awaiting my death as punishment.

But nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to see the Elite backed down.

I sat up and fixed my position, looking at the group sitting there.

I then looked at the painting on the wall, a silver dragon. My eyes went to the hole in the wall, but I couldn't see it very well.

"So you see what we do now, huh?" A voice said, the one of the Elite I had whacked not long ago. I looked down in dismay at my actions.

"Come." Another said the one who didn't hide her face.

I walked over. All seemed on edge.

"The tree only lets those inside its hidden halls that are of royal blood. We all needed to enter through a secret entrance in the old archives since we are not royalty." She said as I stared more at the drawings on the walls.

"How do you know that?"

"Because despite who she was, the queen could still enter; touching the bark where the stairs start on the inside shifts it and opens the entrance."

"So Seva could come."

"If she knew of it." There was a threat of not telling her, but I wouldn't dare.

"I... I am so sorry. I should have seen what she was. I am sorry." I whispered, suddenly doing a 180 since I learned the truth, pitying the Elite now.

"We've all done terrible things." A young male voice said, leaning against the wall. "And we've all hurt one another, but you could enter the tree, you could fix everything."

"What do you mean?" I was at a loss.

"You are of royal blood. It is not hard to guess; we all heard your story of how your fire manifested, and now you stand here as a head mage after less than a year. Your magic is evolving at an extraordinary speed. Your hair blazed with silver, your eyes red with dragons' anger. All of us here want to fix Solor, and you look just like half of the duo of greatest queens Solor has ever seen."

"The silver queen." I breathed out, still feeling the pang that she gave up her silver soul to me.

"Yes, and dragons are just and lawful. Dragons know someone should be on the throne or not... We need Seva off the throne and you to take it. Only then will balance be restored. Seva knows that, with your bloodline, you are a danger to her. It is just a matter of time before she kills you, too."

"But I never wanted to be queen! I was never meant to be!" I exclaimed.

"That's why you are the first choice." The woman went on. "You lived down at the bottom and rose to the top, never wanting your titles, too humble for it; that's what we need from a queen."

All nodded, and the knowledge weighed hard on my shoulders... But...

"Give me one chance to try convincing her," I said. "Then I'll do what you want."

"You have one week." The woman said as I nodded.

This will be one stressful week.