Thirty minutes before the world plunged into chaos, Mei Nuhay walked down a silent corridor. The ancient stone walls seemed to whisper forgotten stories, while stained glass cast red shadows across her face. Each step echoed like a warning.
Beside her, Nick walked with a tense expression. Mei had always been firm, but now… she seemed restrained. Almost anxious.
— They want to see you — Nick broke the silence. — All the Monarchs.
Mei stopped. Her golden gaze fixed on the void ahead, and a chill ran down her spine. But what flared next was familiar: rage. Not blind fury, but the kind of silent hatred that had accumulated over years.
— Finally, they've crawled out of their holes — she muttered. — The cowards decided to face what they created.
She knew what it was. Not a meeting. A trap. A trial disguised as an audience. Since her youth, the Monarchs had sought ways to eliminate her. They accused her of betrayal, impurity, of being a threat to balance. All because they feared what she carried: the Nuhay blood — powerful, untamed, and, to them, unpredictable.
But Mei had not only survived. She had grown. She had conquered. She had gained titles, respect, and by popular support, had become an empress. Killing her now had become too dangerous.
Until now.
The Monarchs' Hall was vast and dark, built of black stone, like an ancient temple designed to break wills. Seven thrones rose in a semi-circle, each representing a pillar of the old order. In the center, Mei stood alone, upright, like a flame ready to explode.
She already knew that cold floor. That feeling of being surrounded, judged, threatened. She had been here before — at only fifteen, trembling fists, her back marked from days of torture. Accused of treason, for carrying a power no one could comprehend. It was here they had decided to kill her.
She remembered one of their hoarse voices: "If we let this girl live, she will destroy everything."
Yet protected by the great Zenon family, she survived.
Now, she returned not as an orphaned girl… but as the empress who could destroy them all.
The first to speak was Solan, the Monarch of Righteousness. He wore pale armor, eyes gleaming like cold steel.
— Mei Nuhay. You embody instability. Your power and lineage are a risk to the world.
— And yet it was this "risk" that saved the world more than once — she retorted, unblinking.
The second, Veylor, a wall of muscles and living stone plates, his body fused with armor of rock and metal. His voice rumbled like sliding boulders.
— You break boundaries. Refuse orders. Think you can do everything your way.
Mei merely raised an eyebrow.
— When your way is slow and cowardly, I prefer mine.
Elenys spoke next. Her eyes gleamed like liquid gold, her presence unsettling, as if the world around could be shaped by her words.
— Wherever you go, conflicts arise. Even your presence corrupts alliances. You are a magnet for war.
— I am a flame — Mei replied, firm. — Whoever plays with fire, gets burned. And if it weren't for me, we would have been at war with the Reapers long ago.
Ikaran, thin, hunched, covered in runes of the dead, slowly approached the edge of the circle. His eyes were opaque, like ashes.
— You do not understand… this is not a trial. It is closure. The time has passed.
Mei smiled slightly.
— You've dreamed of this for a long time, haven't you? And even with everything you set up… you still needed seven against one.
Then, from the highest throne, Jade — the eldest — observed. Silent. Motionless. Like a living statue. Her eyes, however, seemed heavier than all the others combined.
Mei stared at her a moment longer. Jade was the only one who had hesitated back then. The only one who did not vote for execution.
And that was where the danger lay.
Then she moved a finger.
The world tore apart.
Mei was pulled into another plane — a vast, empty field, bathed in blue darkness. The ground was black ice, the air sharp enough to slice flesh. Only Mei felt the cold. It was a spiritual plane designed to neutralize fire powers.
They wanted to kill Mei here.
She fell to her knees in the dimension conjured by Jade. A realm of absolute ice — vast, distorted, the ground exhaling an anesthetic mist. Each particle in the air seemed made to numb the fire, to suffocate the living flame in her soul.
She was weak.
For the first time since inheriting the title of Empress, Mei Nuhay felt mortal.
Her lungs faltered for a second. Pain struck immediately. Her blood boiled and froze at the same time.
— What… is this…? — she whispered, her voice faltering.
— A cell, made for you — Ikaran emerged from the mist. — And a grave. You will weaken and die here.
The Monarchs were present. All of them. Garbed in altered robes, covered in spiritual symbols pulsating in unison. It was ritual.
Five rune circles appeared around Mei. The sequence was exact, precise:
1. Partial drainage
2. Rupture of internal channels
3. Distortion of spiritual focus
4. Energy absorption
5. Direct contact with the flow's center — the navel
The mark appearing on Mei's forehead signaled the ritual's beginning.
This time, Mei could not stop it.
Solan struck first. A spear of golden light pierced her right shoulder, tearing a gaping wound. She screamed — real pain. Her aura wavered.
Veylor attacked next. Chains of stone shaped like serpents bound her ankles and lifted her into the air, slamming her to the frozen ground with such force the impact echoed like thunder.
Elenys approached calmly, her eyes glowing. With a gesture, she created a terrible illusion: Mei, young, standing over her family's bodies, their faces twisted in pain, hands reaching out as if begging her. Mei tried to close her eyes, but the image burned in her mind, trapping her. Blood ran from her nose. The guilt was real. The pain unbearable.
Ikaran advanced. Fingers wrapped in black runes began chanting a curse. Mei's spiritual channels started tearing from within. Her aura fragmented like glass under pressure. She coughed blood. And fell again.
The spiritual field seemed to narrow further. Invisible walls crushed her like a trapped prey. Mei felt the fire within her fading, suffocated, evaporating. Her body trembled, hair stuck to sweaty skin, pain tolling like funeral bells.
They were winning.
She was losing.
The Monarchs surrounded her. Solan, Ikaran, Veylor, Elenys — shadows of the world's elite. Their combined auras formed a prison. The cold consumed her energy. Her shoulder wound refused to heal.
She fell a second time, one knee to the ground, blood dripping.
— Look at that — Elenys murmured, laughing. — The flame has turned to embers.
— Now — Jade said. — Ikaran, finish it.
Ikaran lunged.
Speed was a tear in time. His fist, wrapped in black runes, aimed for Mei's navel — the center of her vital energy. He was about to snuff out the flame with a touch.
But then…
He froze.
The arm locked.
Held.
By a hand.
Mei's hand.
Her eyes rose, golden like molten suns, pupil-less, merciless.
— You… are slow.
Ikaran struggled to free his arm, but her grip was too strong. He tried to strike, and at that moment…
The dry snap of bone echoed like thunder.
Mei had read Ikaran's arm and raised her knee to the elbow joint, breaking the arm so forcefully the bone protruded. He screamed, but Mei pulled him closer.
— I felt it. Weakness. Pain. Fear.
Ikaran's eyes trembled with fear and agony.
— But it lasted only minutes. Enough to understand the field. To adapt.
She glanced at her shoulder — now clear, healed.
— And now… there is no brake.
Flames erupted like a solar explosion.
White. Golden. Alive. Divine.
The ice around her began to melt, then boil, then dissolve into pure light.
— You never stood a chance.
Mei touched Ikaran's chest with two fingers. Fire erupted from within. His screams were brief. Bones turned to smoke. Ashes disintegrated.
Nothing remained.
The cold wind ceased. The field began to collapse.
The Monarchs stood in disbelief.
Then… memory struck.
Little Mei. Trembling.
Crying alone in the cemetery, surrounded by tombstones engraved with the name "NUHAY."
The wind whipped. Rain washed her face. But could not wash what was inside.
Then, in the dark room.
Torn pillows. Broken furniture.
Muffled screams through cushions.
She pounded the floor. Her face contorted by sobs.
— Why… why did they take you from me…?
Fenra's voice returned in her mind.
— Because you were too powerful. Because you were at the top. Because ambitious youths wanted to reign in your place… and manipulated the world for it.
— They… killed you out of envy… fear.
Mei clenched her fists in the present. Flames around her grew like titans dancing in fury.
Her aura was colossal.
She was not just anger. She was justice fueled by accumulated hatred.
— Enough. Who's next?
Fear etched itself across the previously confident faces of the Monarchs.
She advanced. And the massacre began.
Solan tried to lift his celestial spear. Mei drove her arm through it, tearing flesh and bone. She pulled out his heart and burned it before him, as he writhed.
— You forgot who you're dealing with.
Veylor constructed walls of stone, earthen prisons, immense pillars.
Mei shattered everything with a punch.
She appeared behind him and buried the Monarch's skull into the frozen ground, dragging him until his body split in two.
Elenys cried in terror. Begged.
— I… was just a pawn… I…
Mei said nothing. She approached slowly.
— My mother begged. My father tried to protect my siblings. And do you know what you did?
She gripped Elenys' face with one hand.
— You silenced them all.
Elenys burned alive — slowly. Golden flames crept over her flesh like hungry serpents, consuming every nerve with precision. She died screaming Jade's name.
The silence after the Monarchs' massacre was almost sacred. Only Jade remained.
She stood, immobile, facing the fiery figure advancing slowly among the charred corpses. Mei Nuhay — ruthless, covered in living embers and blood — walked like a harbinger of destruction, eyes ablaze with the fire of a thousand condemnations.
— Why didn't you strike? — Mei asked, stopping. — I'll give you the first move.
Jade smiled, coldly, like one who had waited long for this moment.
— You have no idea… who you are speaking to, girl.
Then her body began to change. Wrinkled flesh rejuvenated. Hair turned black as night, sleek and dense. A black rune mark appeared, cutting the left side of her face like a sacred, cursed scar. Her eyes now ruby, radiating ancient power and absolute control.
— I do not need to attack. I only need… to keep you here.
The ground glowed with ritual marks. A spiral of energy activated beneath the Empress's feet, a prison of condensed space and time enveloped her, sealed by a rune on her forehead.
— This place… was made for that. To contain you. And now… you won't leave.
Mei smirked sideways. Arrogant. Provocative.
— You're absolutely sure? Better be. Because if you were strong enough to kill me, you wouldn't need to plan an entire scheme to contain me. You would have done it with your own hands. You're just a cowardly old woman. I'll wait a bit longer… then I'll kill you.
Jade's expression faltered for the first time. Like someone losing a high-stakes bet.
— But tell me… who are you really?
— My name is Vernasha. And even if you are all-powerful, all this time… you danced in the palm of my hand. Like a puppet made of fire and pride.
With a subtle gesture, she altered the surrounding space and projected a half-reality, revealing what was happening outside that dimension.
The world in ruins. Collapsed structures. Sif sanctuaries burning. Allies' bodies fallen to the ground.
And then… a woman with white hair and blue eyes, dressed exactly like Nick. A uniform Mei knew all too well.
Her eyes widened.
— No…
All the memories Mei had with her friend raced through her mind.
— Yes — Vernasha whispered. — Nick, or rather, Karmore, worked as a double agent. Pretended to be your ally for years. All your secrets, your trust… used against you. A plan built over a decade. We knew when and where to strike, which is why the world out there is collapsing.
Mei stared at the image, incredulous.
— You lost. Because of your ego. Your desire for vengeance. Your arrogance. You fell exactly where we wanted.
Vernasha extended her hand again. The image shifted. Now showing Dan and Stella fighting Jouki together. A second later… Stella was impaled by a shadow spear. Blood flew in slow motion.
Mei's eyes wavered but did not lose strength.
Vernasha smiled.
— Your arrogance, your desires… everything you did thinking you were in control… was just the same illusion of dominance a dog feels on a leash. You will die here. But first, you will watch everyone you love die before your eyes. You will feel impotent—
But before she could finish, Mei surged forward.
Fast as the very flaming light.
Her arm sliced through the air with lethal force. A single strike aimed to split Vernasha in two.
But the scenario shifted. Reality around them twisted, and the distances between them warped, as if the ground itself was fleeing beneath the Empress's feet.
Mei stopped.
"She manipulates space," she thought. "Perfectly. This… is problematic."
Even with the distortion, Mei adjusted her trajectory at the last second — and the cut landed.
Not lethal. But deep.
Vernasha's chest split open, blood slowly streaming down the slit that ran across her elegant body.
She recoiled, trembling. The pain was real.
"She truly is a monster," Mei thought, panting.
With a final gesture, Vernasha closed the dimension. She sealed Mei in complete isolation.
The Empress, now alone, surrounded by walls that twisted time itself, stared into the void.
— I will get out. — she said, her voice low, grave, filled with a hatred hotter than fire. The ice around her melted. — And when I do… I will kill them with such power that not even the echo of their existence will remain in this world.
---
Outside…
Vernasha appeared amidst twisted flames, greeted by Isha, Jouki, Kaze, and Karmore — still dressed as a Sif.
— It's done — Vernasha said, covering her wound with her hands. — Now…
She looked at Dan's unconscious body, suspended by spiritual chains.
— It's time for the rebirth.
To Be Continued...