Chapter 3 - THE SHADOW OF THE CROWN
"Mother, stop!" Aria cried out, stepping forward, her hands raised in supplication. "It’s me! It’s Aria!"
The woman didn't lower her spear. The white, milky glow of her eyes reflected no recognition. She took a step forward, the liquid silver armor clanking smoothly against the crystal floor.
"Mother, please!" Aria’s voice broke. "The silver pendant... you gave it to me! You told me to find Father!"
"Her mind is controlled," Lyra said softly, stepping up beside Aria. She pointed to the thick, black collar locked around the woman's neck. "Look at her throat. That’s a Mind-Siphon Collar. It's dark magic from the deep archives. Malrec didn't just imprison her here; he turned her into his guardian."
"Serena..." King Aldric’s voice drifted into the hall.
Aria and Lyra turned. King Aldric was leaning against the doorframe, his noble robes soaked in blood, his face deathly pale. He was using his broken sword as a crutch, dragging his wounded leg behind him.
"Father!" Lyra rushed over to support him, taking his arm. "You're alive!"
"Barely," Aldric rasped, coughing up a spatter of crimson. He looked up at the silver-armored woman, his eyes brimming with fresh tears. "Serena... my love... look at what he did to you."
The armored woman—Serena—tilted her head slightly. For a fleeting second, the milky white in her eyes flickered, revealing a flash of deep, brilliant silver-grey. She lowered her spear an inch.
"...Ald... ric?" a faint, raspy voice escaped her lips, sounding as if it hadn't been used in a decade.
"Yes! Yes, it's me!" Aldric took a painful step forward. "I'm sorry, Serena. I was a coward. When the council threatened the realm, when Malrec showed me the ancient laws... I let them take you. I thought I was keeping you safe by hiding you in the deep vault. I was a fool!"
Serena’s hand trembled on the shaft of her spear. The obsidian collar around her neck began to pulse with violently bright dark light, shocking her neck with bolts of purple electricity.
"Aaargh!" Serena collapsed to one knee, clutching her throat, a sound of absolute agony tearing from her lungs.
"Serena!" Aldric cried out.
"It's a trap!" a cold voice rang out from the grand balcony above them.
Lord Malrec walked out onto the marble railing, flanked by dozens of shadow guards. He was holding an obsidian orb that glowed in sync with the collar around Serena's neck.
"A pathetic, emotional trap," Malrec smiled down at them. "Did you really think I left her here unguarded? Serena was the most brilliant scholar of her age. She deciphered the Dragon Scripts, found the location of the Dragon Crown, and understood the true bloodline. I couldn't kill her; I needed her mind. But her heart? Her heart was a weakness. So I removed it."
Malrec squeezed the orb.
Serena screamed as the collar flared with dark power. She stood back up, her eyes turning entirely black this time, the silver light completely extinguished. She raised her spear, and a aura of dark blue flame ignited along the blade.
"Finish them, my puppet," Malrec commanded. "Kill the king. Bring the girls."
Serena lunged forward with unnatural speed.
"Aria, get behind me!" Lyra shouted. Unexpectedly, the pampered princess stepped in front of her younger sister, pulling a thin ornamental dagger from her waist.
CLANG!
Serena’s spear slammed into Lyra’s dagger, shattering the tiny weapon instantly and sending Lyra sprawling across the stone floor. Serena raised the spear for a fatal strike, aimed straight for Lyra’s heart.
"NO!" Aria threw herself over Lyra’s body, wrapping her arms around her newfound sister, exposing her own back to the descending spear.
The tip of the spear stopped a hair's breadth from Aria’s spine.
The golden symbol on Aria’s right hand was blazing with heat, casting a blinding, sacred golden light across Serena’s face. The light struck the obsidian collar, causing the black metal to crack and smoke.
Serena froze, staring down at the golden crest burning on Aria's palm.
My... little flame... a faint, ghostly whisper echoed inside Aria's head.
"Mother, please!" Aria sobbed, turning her head to look up into the blacked-out eyes. "Remember! Remember the songs you sang to me in the rain!"
Serena’s arms began to shake violently. The black color in her eyes fought against the rising golden light from Aria's skin.
"What are you doing?!" Malrec yelled from the balcony, his face twisting in sudden anger. He squeezed the obsidian orb with both hands, channeling pure dark magic into it. "Obey me, slave! Kill her!"
"NO!" Serena screamed—not in obedience, but in defiance.
With a final, desperate burst of willpower, Serena raised her spear and drove the butt of the weapon directly into her own chest, shattering the obsidian collar from the inside out!
BOOM!
The collar exploded into shards of black glass. The dark magic dissipated into the air, and Serena fell forward, crashing onto the crystal floor beside her daughters.
"Mother!" Aria crawled to her, pulling the older woman’s head into her lap.
Serena’s eyes were normal again—a clear, beautiful silver-grey. She looked up at Aria, her hands, pale and thin, reaching up to touch the dirty cheek of her child.
"Aria..." Serena whispered, tears spilling over her long eyelashes. "My sweet, brave little girl... you grew up so strong."
"Mother, don't talk," Aria wept, holding her hand. "We're going to get you out of here."
"There is... no time," Serena coughed weakly, turning her head to look at Aldric, who was kneeling beside them, his eyes full of grief. "Aldric... you old fool..."
"I'm here, Serena," Aldric whispered, taking her other hand. "I'm here."
"The Crown..." Serena said, pointing a trembling finger toward the top of the crystal staircase. "Malrec... cannot be allowed to touch the Dragon Crown. It doesn't give power over dragons... it controls the core of the world itself. If he takes it... Arkenfall will crumble into ash."
"How do we stop him?" Lyra asked, wiping away her own tears as she knelt beside her family.
Serena looked at Aria and Lyra, taking a hand of each girl and pressing them together. "The bloodline was never meant to rule alone. The dragon needs the rider; the crown needs the hearth. You two... together... are the key."
Above them, Malrec let out a furious roar. "Useless weaklings! If you will not bring me the crown, I will tear it from the stone myself!"
Malrec leaped over the balcony, his dark cape billowing around him like the wings of a giant bat, landing directly at the base of the crystal staircase. He began running up the steps toward the sanctuary above.
"Aria... Lyra..." Serena said, her voice growing fainter. "Go. Stop him."
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Aria looked at her mother, then at Lyra, and finally at King Aldric. The street girl from the gutters took a deep breath, stood up, and wiped the tears from her face.
"Lyra," Aria said, her voice cold and steady. "Let's go save our kingdom."
