The Queen Of All Strange Things

43

I was weaponless. My army of fairies was mostly down. The harpies and the deities broke into a fight. It was Horus who tackled general Long-feather for me. Andrew jumped down from Salzar, brandishing his katana.

'The rest of the dragons are taking care of the harpies outside.'

But something invisible caught hold of Andrew and threw him against the wall. I watched Taramen as he used the scepter to levitate my mom off the ground. She was already knocked out. Andrew dropped his sword when he got thrown off and was already hanging in the air. That's when the floor cracked and a fiery put erupted.

'You know dear,' said bird-man slowly making his way towards me. 'The amulet and the scepter aren't the only things that I have under my sleeve. It's amusing what a piece from the Helm of Darkness can do. It can open a one-way trip straight to Tarturus.... And souls that enter Tarturus, never return back.'

I gulped. The sound of the fighting around me quiet down as everyone stared at the tear on the ground that opened up to the worst part of the Greek Underworld, and my mother and brother were dangling right above it. That's when a familiar voice yelled, 'That's enough Taramen!'

I turned around to see Karl Rightson in his trench coat panting at the entrance. 'That's enough, Taramen. You have no idea of the consequence of your actions.'

'Blake,' he said. 'Long time, no see... You see... I'm rather busy and your little girl's magical core has been much a help.'

I heard the writer give out what sounded like a combination of a snarl and a yelp. But then Taramen leaned closer to me.

'What is it, little girl? The throne or your family?'

To tell you the honest truth, at that time... the theme song of Reign rang my head. It was going to autopilot, multitask form as I could not decide. Give the buy the throne and my only mom and brother will be safe. If he became king, he can rip open the invisible realm. If I don't give it to him, no and Andrew will fall to Tarturus and will never come back.

Never come back. No more mom, no more annoying pestering royal pain who always reminds me how hopeless and stupid I am. No ignorant parent to eat nachos with me. No more warm hugs, ranting and eye rolling. No-one for anyone to compare me with... No one to ask whether or not I was alright... the world suddenly seemed so lonely.

Even if the whole invisible realm was in danger, I guess anyone would chose someone dear to them over the world.

I hung my head low. 'F-fine. You're king.'

'You must declare it nicely, dear,' said Taramen. He lowered the scepter and mom and Andrew got lowered about a foot.

I took a gulp. The words simply came out of me. 'I, Amethyst Stone, current ruler of Sightless and Empress of the Invisible realm relinquish my claim to the throne and declare...'

'Declare?'

Mom's feet touched the edge of the pit.

'Declare Tealiff Taramen as the ruler of Sightless and Emperor of Invisible Realm.'

I saw the throne, the white throne turned red. Then I felt my life being sucked out of me. It was like my brain was at the edge of a vacuum pump. Blue glowing letters and characters flew around me and few towards bird-man. The maniac was laughing as the gift of Sightless swirled around him. I felt my legs give away and I fell on my knees. It took a lot of effort just to kneel down during the time I got it, not it drained more energy as if left. I saw the pit to Tarturus close and mom and Andrew fell on the solid marble floor. My vision got filled with black blots and I heard a voice yell, 'Amethyst!'

Someone grabbed my arm. 'It's time to relieve the world of its ignorance.'

When I woke up, wind ripped through my face. Below me, I saw the ground about sixty feet below. I sucked in a breath. I was leaning on the parapet of the balcony of a high tower that directly faced the arch. I recognized some hieroglyphs carved onto the stone. Behind me, a voice said.

'Beautiful isn't it.'

'W-why did you_' then I froze.

The blood and voice of an enchanter...

'I hate doing things the barbaric way,' said bird-man, 'but this seems to be the only way. I would have used the both of you... that saw neither of you will be killed. But the boy is young and can be used. You on the other hand, are a nuisance. You should feel honored. As the first queen of Sightless, you will also be the one to pave way for a brighter future of both realms. I will make sure that you are properly remembered, Amethyst Stone. And I assure you, I will look after your mother and brother.'

I felt like exploding, if I did have the strength. But I couldn't move a muscle.

'You know. You are probably the Enchantress with the strongest voice in the history of Sightless. I wonder how it still work when it rips open the veil. Well, aren't you going to beg to keep you alive or something? That would be a start if you want to keep living. Sixteen is enough years but still too little.'

'You won't keep me alive even if I did,' I said. 'Sorry, but this girl has some pride.'

'Truly said,' he said, tapping the end of the scepter on the ground. He stepped closer. I wanted to back away but there was only empty space behind me. 'You truly are an extraordinary girl... It truly is a pity... you were a fine queen for someone so young.'

I gulped. He smirked and started to mutter a spell. It was ancient Egyptian. And I still understood it. It was a wonder. I wondered whether the gift of Sightless really did leave me. But I read Egyptian and spoke in it often that maybe it might have been hardwired to my brain already.

'Here I offer the being that brings two veils together, take this voice and sacrifice and reveal the world beyond....'

The spell sure was long. But I didn't hear since I felt blood from my skin. I mean it. Blood simply oozed off my skin (which was impossible) but sweat was not red, right? It freaked me so much that I yelped. But the yelp turned into an ear piercing wail. I couldn't even hear my own voice. And I couldn't stop. It was like someone was squeezing a scream from me. My voice always sounded mile a dozen Tinkerbelles. This time it sounded like a million bells ringing at the same time. I saw the buildings below vibrate. My evaporated blood flew off and filled into the carvings of the hieroglyphs on the arc.

There were a lot of hieroglyphs.

I'm going to die from anemia and overexposure to loud noises.

I started to feel light headed. Surely a symptom of blood loss and I felt like my head was being banged by a hammer. Below the arch, the air shimmered in ripples.

Salvation came in shape of a hammer which slammed onto the top of the arch. Birdman must have lost focus since my screaming stopped and instead Taramen yelled, 'NO!'

The arch started to crumble.

Every since then, I have held a deep respect for the rather idiotic God of Thunder and his hammer Mjolnir.

Something blue and scaly came into my field of vision and a boy jumped onto the balcony, drawing his sword.

'You meddling kids!' screamed bird-man. He was about to use his scepter when a small voice said, 'Meow.'

The man looked down and that was it.

That was the start of Cleocatra's rising fame as he became the savior of Sightless and literary became the face of all cats. Well, it was mostly because she was my cat.

I could not help my smile. I could not feel my skin on my legs, but I knew someone was holding me up. Andrew yelled something to me but I couldn't hear him. Everything was silent and blurry. The smug Cleo's face turned from "I-saved-the-world" to "what-happened-to-you!" I guess I must have looked like the living dead.

I blacked out again.