Erisa

Prologue

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Sabrina watched in evil glee through the keyhole as her youngest son, Damon, stood over the sleeping king, knife in hand. It was dark, so she saw only his silhouette and the gleam of his knife reflecting the tiny streams of moonlight from the three small windows in the royal bedroom. Her scheme was playing out perfectly. She had been planning this day for almost all her life; patiently waiting for another to come along, someone who shared her vision of royalty. That someone was Damon. Now here was her dream, unfolding itself before her alert, untrusting eyes. She peered through the keyhole anxiously and grinned. It was flawless. Who would ever guess that Erund, the great king, would die in his sleep the night before his brother's wedding? Of course the world would be shocked, and during that dreamy phase of disbelief they would follow Damon's rehearsed lead. Then she and her son would rule, and they would use their complete power over the world to form a new, fresh dynasty of tyrants, one far more evil than any of the three before it. Sabrina smoothed her frizzy black hair and almost laughed. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Damon raised his knife, blade gleaming in the moonlight that streamed through the windows facing east towards the sea. He looked around, though he had already checked to make sure the room was empty. In the comfortably simple room that was the king's private quarters, it almost seemed like the very moon was watching him, ready to tell someone what it had seen as soon as he took the king's life. Then again, evil was a tricky trade, as his mother always said. And then there was the king himself, sleeping peacefully. Damon watched Erund's chest rise and fall. He stared at the king's long, light brown hair; wondering if he really was ready or if this was just a game he was playing with himself. Could he actually kill the king? Suddenly realizing how much time he was wasting, Damon mentally cursed himself. He couldn't afford any delays; not with this precarious plan. He gripped the knife with both hands, raised it higher, and closed his eyes. He was going to do this. Taking a deep breath of cool night air, his eyes shot open and stared straight ahead as he drove the knife down. Erund the Great gave one short gasp, and then he breathed no more. Damon wiped the blood-stained knife on the white and gold sheets of the king's bed and sighed. It was over. His mother silently rushed in the room, heartless eyes madly lit.

"Well done, my son!" she whispered, "Very well done. Now, let us leave this place. You must prepare for the morning."

Sabrina and Damon slunk through the palace, hiding when necessary behind a pillar or a stone stand. They met no one during their escape, for the two could very well have been invisible, or not there at all. The huge halls did not echo with one footstep as the two shadows crept in the darkness. Soon, they were out of the castle and in the gardens. Clouds drifted over and covered the moon, and light rain ran down the slick roofs, making muddy ruts in the soil. The two assassins snuck through the small side gate and into the already muddy dirt road in front of the huge walls. They tiptoed to the other side, avoiding puddles in the ruts so as to not wake the drugged castle guard. Once they had crossed into the town that surrounded the king's home, Damon cleared his throat. Sabrina turned and smiled at her son as she continued to walk backwards by small brick houses and dark alleys.

"Yes, dear?" she asked.

"Mother, since I am to be king-"

"And I queen." Sabrina added. Damon continued, ignoring her statement.

"Since I am to be king, I want a trusted band of servants. Or slaves." Sabrina nodded, and a malicious smile slowly stretched across her face.

"I can help you." she said happily.

"That's just it, mother. I won't need your help anymore. I don't need your help anymore. I am fully capable of ruling by myself."

Before his mother could grasp the implication of what he had said, he pulled her into a nearby alley and plunged his precious knife into her ribs. He smiled as he looked at her face; she glanced at the blood dripping onto the ground, confused.

"Y-you killed me!" she gasped, then her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed. Leaving her body in a heap in the mud, he took his knife and strode out of the alley confidently. Damon stared at his hand, covered in mother's blood, and laughed, drunk by the sudden sense of power he received by murdering the two most influential representatives of good and evil their world had ever known... in the same night. The next day he would take advantage of both groups, and make the world a place where evil reigned.