ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟᴇᴅ ꜱᴇɴꜱᴇ

Chapter X: Last breaths

Once the doors slowly opened to reveal the inside decor of the castle, Sylvia would immediately make eye contact with Siora, who was taken by surprise by the elf's unannounced appearance. Soon after Sylvia began walking along the long hallway towards the queen, Siora could notice another silhouette appear next to her. Squinting her eyes, Valzana quickly recognized the man to be a human, resulting in a self-protective reaction.

"Sylvia, what are you doing here? With a human? Guards, capture that man right this second, I do not desire for a pest to be wandering around my cast-!" she began shouting in defense, ordering for the soldiers to take away the pirate before Aradove interfered.

"Stop, Valzana! Do not harm him until you've heard me out."

Siora seemed offended at Sylvia's improper and disrespectful way of addressing and speaking to her, but ultimately she couldn't help but be intrigued.

"Very well, Aradove. Come here and tell me why you are here, child." she ordered and Sylvia glanced at Arthur as the two of them walked closer up to the thrones where Siora and Jandar were sat. Sylvia made an effort in easing the atmosphere and gave a polite bow, Arthur following her movements in a clumsy manner to try and show respect.

"Your highness, I plead with you to listen to the gods as well as your people. You need to stop this war just like you've started it. We're taking way too many losses, you know that and it is time for us to stop being enemies with humans and start making peace. Wouldn't you agree?"

The queen's eyes narrowed and moved onto Arthur.

"Why is it that you've brought a human here?"

"I am not sure if you've heard, but he is Arthur Faulkner. Someone, who has fought against his own kind in this war to prove he is with us. To prove some humans, most humans truly don't think of us as a lower species. In fact, he was one of the pirates I told you about. There are more elves than I can count who will be able to provide proof of this. Faulkner and his crew have also taken great care of my brother. Listen to your people, highness, I am pleading. I don't care if you destroy king Eshil, torture him. All I want is for you to reconsider the war and start building harmony in this country."

Sylvia ended her speech with a deeper and longer lasting bow than before. The queen's gaze did not change, but a flash of sinisterness could be seen in her eyes.

"Take that human away. I sentence him to death."

Arthur's eyes widened upon hearing the order of the queen as the soldiers approached to take a hold of him. Sylvia's mind turned into a cluster of panic.

"What? You can't do that, Siora!" she stood up and shouted, voice full of anger and fear.

The queen only let out a chuckle full of ignorance.

"Of course I can do so. Dear Aradove, your childish thoughts and hopes are ridiculous. You've been blinded by this man pretending to be kind, when he will only use that to his advantage afterwards. And now you've spread those false hopes to others. The humans don't care about, never have and that won't change. That is why it's my duty to erase them. It's what my people want, it's what the gods want."

Sylvia began screaming in denial as a few guards grabbed Arthur by his biceps and began dragging him away, another soldier holding Sylvia back as she struggled to break free

from the grasp.

"It's okay, Sylvia. I'll get out of this. We'll see each other again very soon." the pirate spoke in a reassuring tone as he was pulled away towards the prison cells. Aradove only slumped down onto the marble floor as tears of regret and pain began uncontrollably streaming down her freckled cheeks. The queen had no plans of ever changing her narrow minded way of thinking, Sylvia had only now realized that. And Siora was going to kill off Sylvia's alisaran, her soulmate.

"You're selfish, so selfish! This is not what the gods want, not what Zymos wants! No, you don't even believe in our gods, you just do whatever pleases you, you're horrible! The people do not want such a ruler!" Sylvia kept on screaming, body becoming more and more weak as she spoke. However, Siora did not flinch at her accusations one bit, only kept on staring at Sylvia like she was out of her mind.

"Goodness, child. How gullible you can be. I am only doing this for your safety, don't be so dramatic over something as low as a human."

The healer was not listening, she just kept on mumbling about the queen's betrayal and loudly sobbing.

Sylvia looked up as much as she could in her state and stared at the king, who was clearly feeling remorse towards the young elf, but wasn't doing anything.

"And you! Jandar Valzana, you are supposed to be our king. You've done absolutely nothing these past years. What's your take on this, huh?"

The king was about to open his mouth to speak, it would be the first time Sylvia would actually hear him speak, but Siora shot him a cold glare and he went completely quiet.
"You.. fucking idiot! You don't even let the king do anything, you've completely brainwashed him! I swear, once the elves find out, you're done for!" Sylvia screamed, now trembling with anger and frustration, but the queen kept her calm.

"Yeah, right. As if the people will believe you over their beloved ruler. Don't make me laugh. Disrespect me once again and you'll be hanged along with the human man."

Valzana's threat was dangerous enough to make Sylvia quiet down, but she kept on glaring at the queen through her tearful eyes. Just then, a cold chill ran through every cell of Sylvia's body. She looked around the palace, noticing how everyone's intuition had sensed the same amount of great danger, only they could not pinpoint why their instincts were going off like this.

"Your highness, maybe we should take cover-" a guard began speaking before a deafening explosion echoed throughout the place. Sylvia could feel the floor shake beneath her and she looked up to find out what caused such a sound. A huge cannonball had been flung at the castle and the tall roof of the palace was now open, revealing the sky. The First Lane began immediately moving, guarding the royalty and moving them to safety as everyone forgot about Sylvia. Her mind was not working, she could not seem to have a grasp on the current situation, even when giant pieces of the building were falling next to her in rumbles.

Even when Sylvia was beginning to realize the absolute seriousness of the scenario, she

was utterly way too pained and heartbroken to move herself away. The exit of the castle was still intact and it would take her less than 10 seconds to run and get away from the destroyed castle, but she couldn't. Sylvia let her weakened body get to rest and lay down on the cold marble floor, staring blankly in the direction where the guards had taken Arthur. More and more pieces of the roof were falling around her and the healer brought her hands together in a last prayer, mumbling to herself and hoping she would make it out alive. That if Zymos was going to let her get out of this chaos alive, she would take down the queen and save the elves. Then, one last piece of the roof began tumbling down as the castle's roof was now completely open, allowing rays of sunlight to lighten up the palace. Sylvia opened her eyes as her prayer ended before her world went dark. Dark and quiet. And it would stay dark and quiet for a long, long time.

THE VEILED SENSE

END

Written by sunmisheart