A few years ago...
Orin walked through the door to the throne room, however, Nyxelene was not on the throne.
"She rarely moves, so where could she have gone to?" Orin whispered, looking around the throne room.
"What happened to you?" A voice called out from behind him.
'Curses, I nearly stumbled. I could've sworn she wasn't on the throne when I arrived, just where in the seven hells did she appear from.' Orin's eyes quickly snapped to the queen who sat on the throne like she had always been there.
"Are you alright? I asked what happened to you," the commander quickly snapped out of his haze, tracing a hand up the fresh wound on his neck.
"Oh, this? That was what I wanted to discuss with you, however, when I arrived, you weren't on the throne," Orin spoke, quickly dropping to one knee with his eyes fixed on the ground.
"I had to attend to something urgent. You may stand." Nyxelene dipping her right hand into the air. It was as though the air swallowed her hand.
"Thank you, lady Nyxelene," Orin said, then his gaze fell on the queen.
'Is that Šërēĺįťh? No, I didn't hear her mutter any incantation. If so, then how is she doing that?' Orin watched half of the Queen's hand disappear into the thin air and emerge a second later with the leather book she always read.
"Is it your wish to stare at me all day? I must have misheard when you said you had something to discuss with me. I know I gave you permission to see me whenever you wished. However, I find it unsettling if a person's gaze lingered on me for more than ten heartbeats." Nyxelene spoke, opening the book with gentle fingers.
"My apologies, lady Nyxelene. It was not my intention to make you feel uncomfortable. I came here to tell you about a trainee with the name of Migard. The one you recommended." Orin said in a desperate voice.
"There's no need to apologise, those were just words of humor. Migard, you say? I did recommend him, however, I have yet to meet him. Tell me, was he the one who gave you that scar?" Nyxelene's crimson eyes shifted from the new page she had just opened to the commander for not more than a heartbeat.
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but it was indeed him. Who is he?"
"He is dead," Nyxelene said, glancing through the pages of her book as though she hadn't just said something absurd.
"I'm sorry, lady Nyxelene, but I fail to understand your words. Are you asking me to end his life?" Orin said with a frown.
"If I wanted him dead, you wouldn't have had the chance to meet him. Every person is a puppet to their own soul. The body is a container to the soul, life comes to an end when the soul leaves the body. However, the life of the soul continues. Migard was struck down by an illness known only to the dark. He died for a few heartbeats. But instead of his soul leaving his body, his soul possessed it,"Nyxelene spoke with casual tone like what she just described was an everyday occurrence.
"That should not be possible. What could trigger such a happening?" Orin's voice was filled with confusion as he spoke.
"I do not know. There are many things that happen beyond the vision of man, such an event is one of many." Nyxelene spoke with the same bored expression.
"I still do not fully understand. Isn't possessing the body and occupying it the same thing?"
"Desires of the body differ from the desires of the soul. People fall into temptation, lust, and give in to their wants. They do not feel comfortable about these actions because that is not the desire of the soul. Instead of their bodies being the puppet, they've made their soul the puppet. However, Migard is different. To be possessed means to be owned. Migard's soul and body are one. Everything his body wants is what his soul wants. In this world where everybody is fighting themselves, he's already won. When he dies, his soul would not leave his body but die alongside him," Nyxelene closed her book and gave Orin her undivided attention.
"Does that mean there's no afterlife for him?" Orin asked.
"He traded that chance for another life. However, Migard himself isn't aware of this fact. When this happened, he was but a child and had no say in the decision his soul made. Send him to me when you get back to the field."
Orin bowed slightly and turned to leave. For a while, he wasn't sure if he had been told a tale or true life happening.
Nyxelene watched the Tyrant leave, she stared at his back, however, her mind's eye was fixed on something else.
...
Moments later, Migard walked through the same door that led to the throne room.
The Queen sat with the leather book lying closed on her lap. She stared into the distance. She didn't even seem to acknowledge his presence, or maybe she was lost in thought. However, her state of mind did not concern Migard. He had one chance and he would make the best of it.
Migard did not greet the Queen, he didn't even kneel. The young man walked towards the throne, he climbed the three shallow steps and stood directly before the Queen. He drew a dagger from his belt and pointed it at Nyxelene.
Nyxelene still had her gaze to the door where Orin had left.
"Quite foolish of you to keep the guards outside instead of inside, not that it would've made any difference." He was shunned by his parents when he was young, just because he could lift things an average adult could not. Just because he could run a little bit faster. When they finally spoke to him, they told him to serve in the army and lay down his life for the queen and for the kingdom.
"Tell me, is your life more important than mine. Why did you force my father to send me to the army? Did you think I wouldn't find out? We've never met before and yet, I'm supposed to die so that you and the rest of the kingdom would live? Today, I will watch the light fade from your eyes, then I will return to put my pathetic kin to the sword, then I'll flee the kingdom." Migard said, looking down at the Queen.
Nyxelene finally looked at the young man. Unlike Orin and Ramius, he did not flinch under her gaze.
"If I recall correctly, I asked Orin to send you—not to threaten me."
"You think this is a jest? I obtained this poisoned dagger from the thornsleeper I killed. One cut and you die, there's no cure. Before you could call for help, I'll slice your throat." Migard felt a tiny bit of nervousness as he spoke. 'Why is she so calm, does she think I'll not kill her?'
Nyxelene's gaze drifted to the jagged edge of the blade, her expression still unchanged. "Is that the same dagger you used to scar Orin?"
"I don't know how he was able to survive a deep cut from this. But I doubt you would be able to survive too." Migard said, placing one boot on the armrest and pressing the tip of the dagger to Nyxelene's neck.
Nyxelene didn't even blink as the poisoned steel touched her skin. "You wouldn't hurt a defenseless woman, would you?"
Migard brought his face an inch closer to hers.
"If that's your attempt to plead for mercy, it's pathetic. I don't like my birth parents, yet I watched them work hard to maintain their territory just to meet the Royal tithe. Who do you think you are to make everyone do your bidding?"
"It's been ten heartbeats, Migard. Please move away, for your safety and the kingdom's."
A sepulchral silence fell over the hall as the ten heartbeats expired.