When The Stars Align

chapter forty six | queen of noatra

ONCE UPON A TIME, greed got the better of mankind.

The six kingdoms that were once attached to each other like glue were losing its adhesiveness, it's ability to stick. And that was caused by a man of greed. A man who only married to gain his wife's power. But even then, he wanted more power. He needed more power. It was his only way of living.

In began with the attack on Sylvaine, what he considered the weakest of the six. It was an easy target, a chemical poison knocking them out, and slitting their throats to make sure they were dead. It caused an uproar in the kingdom. All fingers pointed to Coronam. Of course, because they were shifters. They could blend in, hide in plain sight.

An attack on a kingdom was considered a threat. The kingdoms were supposed to be at peace. They were supposed to be as one. But they were quickly falling apart. It was supposed to be a easy war to win, once it broke out: five against one, what were the odds of Coronam winning?

But apparently, they were high.

The war lasted years, the royals draining the power out of the kingdoms all within a generation. Bombs were dropped and lives were lost. Princes and princesses became kings and queens fated to die without their crowns. Coronam fought till the kingdoms breathed their last breaths. They fought until Sylvaine was no longer green, until the skies crashed on Caelum, until the broken ones of Alynthi could no longer be healed and until the coldness left Auxillium.

They fought until Noatra was all that was left, until it was their betrayal to the other four that led to their downfall. Gavin Alderidge took the crown of Noatra from the queen's dying body, and began his reign as a bloodthirsty tyrant.

Lies and corruption ruled the lands. The heirs watched as the citizens slowly fell into their new normal, into a steady rhythm under a king who could only smile as he watched his people suffer. They were all the same, the bloodline tainted, and the possibility of a kind hearted ruler was far from reality. They stayed in hiding, unable to fight back for their thrones.

But there came a legend, discovered from thousands of years before. The kingdoms would fall and there would be no way to retrieve them. Not until the next time the stars align.

A queen would be born, eighteen years before the return of all the magic to the kingdoms. Her birth would send tremors through the grounds, through the world around them. The people would know it was almost time for a change. It was almost time for a change in rule, but her life would not be easy.

For the young queen would face great tragedies in her life. She'd feel pain and grief and loss. She'd lose the trust of those around her, she'd lose the family she loved dearly. It would be her fault for the tragedies, whether she would like it or not.

My throat closed up as I heard Amelia Covington's booming voice, repeating the stories I already knew by heart. I listened as she informed the people, all over Noatra, about the lies Coronam spoke, about all they caused over the last two centuries. I watched Pheon as he watched the ghost carefully, soaking up every bad word said about his family.

"But as the clock strikes midnight on her eighteenth birthday, it was said a queen would be crowned," Amelia Covington continued. The crowd was hooked onto every word she spoke, sounding as regal as ever.

She waved her hands, and the lost crown of Noatra - the official one, which was hidden in my house for years - was in her hand.

"A coronation is in order for tonight."

I don't move. I can't move. I don't want to move. I watch as intensely as the other guests of the ball, but there was an obvious difference between everyone around me and me. They were looking around, looking for this so called queen. I couldn't tell between the confusion and the excitement from people. Most seemed relieved that the king would no longer be a ruler.