Pressure - A Wish Sequel

His Fury

No.

This couldn't be the end. She couldn't be locked in there forever. She couldn't be lost to him.

"Amaya.." his voice pleaded for what felt like the umpteenth time, his tone growing more and more desperate each time he said his wife's name. Asha stood behind the king in silence, unsure what to say, but panic was beginning to rise within her. The two ships that had broken through Magnifico's shield had reached the second one he had put in place, and the sound of shattering and the breaking of bonds filled the air around them.

"They're getting through.." Asha whispered, horrified, but if the King heard her, he didn't acknowledge her words. The young woman tried her best, creating another shield of her own behind Magnifico's, but her sorrow over Queen Amaya and the mirror was affecting her magic. The ships easily powered through Asha's glittering shields, heading towards Rosas. In the distance, the sound of cannons firing once again filled the air.

This was all her fault, Asha knew. If she'd not brought Amaya outside, none of this would have happened. If she'd left the mirror with her mother and Saba, Amaya would be safe and sound within the walls of the castle. She knew that Magnifico would blame her, and she didn't hold that against him. It *was* her fault. But how could she refuse the Queen?

She and Amaya had worked together so closely in the last few months, and truthfully, Asha adored her. Amaya was exactly the kind of person Asha wanted to be, beautiful and strong yet delicate and unapologetic in her femininity. Observant and introverted, yet not afraid to speak up and challenge power when it was needed.

This couldn't be the end of the Queen. Asha refused to believe that it was.

"Your majesty.." Asha said softly, creating another shield between the docks and the city, but it felt almost pointless. Her magic was nothing like Magnifico's. Her shield wasn't like a solid wall, it was more like a rippling curtain, easily pushed aside.

The two ships anchored themselves, and Asha couldn't drag her eyes off them as they both stopped moving and two gangways appeared, landing on the wood of the docks with a heavy thud. Almost instantly, dozens of soldiers made their way along the walkway, swords in hand as they gathered themselves in lines along the wooden planks. The invading forces had arrived and Asha found herself questioning their motives. Were they here for their lands? Their people? The jewels that they had convinced themselves that Magnifico had been hoarding for years? Maybe they wanted his magic or any number of the magical artefacts that Magnifico had gathered across his centuries of sorcery? She was certain she would soon find out.

For the first time since she had faced Magnifico above his castle, Asha felt afraid.

"Your majesty, please. They're here, there are soldiers... I know you're grieving for Amaya but—"
"You don't know a thing" Magnifico growled, finally rising from his knees, the broken mirror held in his hand so tightly that the shards of glass dug into his flesh and crimson blood dripped down his fingertips.

"You've never understood a thing. You waltzed into my study, begging for a job as my apprentice just so that I would grant your Saba a wish, filled with exactly zero real-world experience and decided to tell me how to rule my Kingdom. What would a girl who was born and raised in Rosas, in the Utopian Kingdom I built, know about the real world? Of course, you thought that the citizens of Rosas were good and pure, I made them that way. I took away the darkness, the wicked thoughts and bad wishes. I left everything else, taking only that which weighed heavy on their hearts, or the parts of them that prevented their happiness. People are not good, Asha and the real world has decided that you have been naive for too long."

Asha stared at the King, unsure what to say. Behind her, the soldiers were moving closer to the city walls, to the place Asha and Magnifico stood, but the king, not yet done in his rant, forced his crystal wall to rebuild itself around them. They would have to break their way through to approach the city.