Rise of the Goddess

Chapter Fourteen - Zariah

What was supposed to be one of the greatest days of her life had quickly become a nightmare. For the past month and a half, she had been working on making this day amazing. She had doubled and tripled her security for this event. Her enemy had not once shown their heads except for in her dreams. She had sealed up every possible point to the fissure beneath the castle. She had begun to get used to all of Hoff's degrading comments. She and Raeden... she still couldn't think of him without making her heart flutter. She had convinced herself of it, she loved him. Everything seemed to be going right for once. She had actually gotten excited for her Coronation.

And yet, even though there had been no trace of her enemy, she couldn't help but feel anxious. With every passing day, she had this feeling that something horrible was going to happen. Every night her nightmares got worse and worse, she woke up screaming almost every night, Raeden had to hurry in to comfort her every time. The most recent nightmares had brought her into panic attacks. When she didn't have a nightmare, sometimes combined with the nightmares, she would see the same visions she saw so long ago. Stained glass windows shattered to pieces. A plain white mask concealed by a red scarf. A goblet of black liquid. Blood seeping through the cracks of a golden surface. All three golden pieces of the Triforce put together. Stained glass windows shattered to pieces. A plain white mask concealed by a red scarf. A goblet of black liquid. Blood seeping through the cracks of a golden surface. All three golden pieces of the Triforce put together.

When she had gotten dressed that morning, and she had put on the same blood red dress that she wore in every nightmare of hers, she should've known something would've happened.

Just before Hoff presented her as Queen, just before her father came to place the crown on her head, they attacked. They ripped her kingdom from the ground, they attacked her people.

And then they attacked Corvus. The Rito had been watching out for whoever it was, she'd drawn her bow, noticing someone, and then collapsed, she fell unconscious.

Jira sprinted her side, skidding her knees against the ground as she slid into action. She grabbed Corvus's wrist and waited for a moment.

"She doesn't have a pulse," she yelped, throwing her head back towards where she stood with Aadil, Miko, and Darmar.

Zariah watched, her heart felt like it had somehow jammed itself in her throat. She stood on edge, what was she supposed to do?

Then Corvus's body arched back, her chest now rising and falling, her short legs squirming against the ground. Jira felt for a pulse again and visibly seemed to calm down. Corvus's body relaxed again.

She heard a deep laughter fill the room.

That was the final line. She stepped out into the middle of the room, her heart racing, her blood boiling.

"I'm tired of playing your games!" she shouted, in one hand she still held the sword from the ceremony, the shield left abandoned on the ground behind her, "If you're going to attack us, come face us! Stop hiding in the shadows!"

For a second, nothing happened.

Then, all around her, everyone around her fell limply to the ground, Aadil, Miko, Darmar, Jira, Hoff, her father, all of the Guards and the Knights still left behind in the Sanctum.

Everyone except for one familiar figure.

Raeden.

He locked eyes with her, and said "I'm sorry,"

No...

She collapsed, her body falling to the ground, her sword falling with a clang.

But she stayed awake. She was paralyzed again, she couldn't move, she couldn't talk, couldn't cry, couldn't do anything. Her mind felt foggy, her eyes stayed wide open, everything felt numb, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.