She wiped the blood from her mouth as she slowly got to her feet. Her breath ragged and eyes narrowed.

The king raised a brow and looked at the fierce woman-turned-beast. Once a beautiful maiden now in torren rags. Seeing the raw rage woven through every fibre of her being, he let out a low chuckle.

"Now my dear, just what do you think you're doing? We have you chained with the strongest metal in the kingdom, bloodied and bruised. Everyone else in your place has done one of two things, freeze or fight. Their fates always end the same, but at least it's entertaining to watch."

She pressed her back against the wall, trying to keep her balance while maintaining eye contact with the corrupt ruler.

"You're sick. You slaughter hundreds of innocent people, for what? Entertainment? You're absolutely sick." She spat on his feet, not flinching when the guards snapped their spears towards her stomach.

The king held up a hand and they froze, not moving any closer but still ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Is that so? You sure have changed since you were a little girl playing in these very dungeons. The smell of blood would surround you so often that you became numb to it. What happened to that little girl, so ready to take on her father's mantle?"

"You killed her. Just as you did everyone else I held dear."

"Oh, we both know that's untrue. What about your brother? He's still alive and well."

"That's because you keep him captive to show to the public that you still have an heir! He's a soulless husk now, disposed of life, a decoration to show off. Mom's dead! My sister is dead! Do you even remember them?! They risked their lives to get you this throne, and you go against everything they would have wanted for this kingdom. Everyone I loved is dead. My Madeline... my maidens, the gardeners, the chefs and the hundreds of others now gone. BECAUSE OF YOU! DID YOU EVER CARE? DID YOU EVER FEEL GUILTY FOR TAKING THEM AWAY NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN?!

She takes a breath and clenches her hands before glaring at the man she once called father with enough rage to make ten grown men drop dead. "Their families only had days to wonder what happened to their loved ones before you slaughtered them as well. You are an abomination. You are a testament to everything wrong with this world. No cure can be created to hide the scars you have inflicted in this land."

The king just looked at her, unbothered. Her chest heaved, holding back tears that she knew would be mistaken for fear. She was not afraid. Not of this man. Not ever.

"Are you finished? I have much more important matters to attend to than your whining."

She leaped at him, only held back by the chains wrapped around her chest and limbs. She bared her teeth, and a snarl emitted from her throat.

"Monster. Monster. That's all you'll ever be. Long after you and I are dead and our bodies return to the Earth, legends will be created from the remains of a fallen kingdom. A place once full of life, turned graveyard by an outsider. Someone promising light and hope, only to twist it into dark tendrils waiting for a minuscule slip up to end more lives. You'll be remembered, written down in books. Just as you wanted right? That's why you did this? Well, good job then, you've achieved your goals. You'll be remembered but as a monster, a taker of souls. Ender of lives. Conqueror of peace. Never a king. Never a man. Never a father.

Though his posture never changed, she saw something break. Deep down, the man she once loved was still there. Deep down he was hurt. And she? She was glad. This was no 'dark magic' or 'benevolent force' that took over the king, no, this was pure monstrosity of man.

The guards looked towards their king, waiting for a command. His gaze trailed across the chains holding her to the wall, up her bruised chest and onto hateful eyes. A smirk made its way onto his face, leaving no trace of the man he once was.

"I'll ask you again, what will it be? Will you freeze and choose the cowards option? Or fight and make a fool out of yourself? There is no hope. Go on, give us something to laugh about. Fight for me."

She growled, and lept at him again. And again, and again. "Never. If I'm going down, then I'm going down fighting. Not for you, but for them. For mom. For my sister. For my brother. For my friends! For the civilians! FOR EVERY LIFE YOU RIPPED AWAY FROM THIS PLANE OF EXISTENCE I WILL RIP FROM YOU!" After every name, she struggled forward. Her shoulders bled harder from where the chains dug into her skin. She screamed as the guards knocked out her feet from beneath her. Yet still, she surged towards the king, the man she once called father. The stone walls began to shutter, cracks forming from where her chains connected to the rocks. Dust rained down coating everything in a fine layer of silt.

Her hair, once a beautiful brown now grey as time. Her eyes, warm, hazel and inviting now blood-shot and crazed. "I will kill you. I will tear you limb from limb until there is nothing left save for your name. This land will be free from the curse of your touch and able to rebuild. I was wrong. You shalln't be remembered, just another pile of bones stacked into an unmarked grave. Then after we are all long and dead and our souls have found new hosts I will track you down and do it again. And again, and again. For all of time. There is no lesson for you to learn, no way to repent. I shall be your eternal punishment father, and you, my eternal task."

She started cackling, her hands flying and chest heaving. Her head tilted and her jaw unhinged to its fullest extent. A sound came out, unlike any other. It was the sound of sorrow, grief and weeping. Of heartbreak, pain and a hint of excitement. Excitement to escape from this horrible life she found herself in. She would finally see her family again. Her Madeline... She was free.

The king's eyes widened and he took a step back. Her body gave one final lurch before it collapsed, disturbing the dust that had formed all across the ground. Even in death, she still stared into his soul, eyes as piercing as the day she was born.

"My lord, what will you have us do with her body?" The king stood unresponsive, starting at the lifeless shell that once held the soul of his daughter.

"My lord?" The voices of the guards were drowned out by a pulsing radiating throughout his being. The background noise blended into a thumping beat, akin to that of a heart. Soon, that was all the king could hear, could think, could feel. A steady beat, one of life. One that lived and loved and saw all the wonder the world had to offer. One unlike his own.

The king tried to focus on the noise, trying to figure out where it came from. Slowly he noticed that it was... multiplying. Growing. One turned to two, two to ten and ten to hundreds. All with their own rhythms, yet somehow in harmony. A wailing shriek cut the air, going straight to the king's skull.

He fell to his knees, hands clawing at his ears, stop. Stop. STOP! Too much... it was too much. So painful... Get him out, get him away from whatever was doing this!

He frantically looked to the guards, trying to motion to them to get him out of the dungeon. His vision must be impaired, for he couldn't see them anywhere.

The world was spinning, the dim lights at the end of the hallway shined like stars, and the pebbles underneath his palms felt like daggers stabbing into his hands.

The king cried out, a final desperate plea into the world to save him before it all went dark.

His body hit the ground, right beside his former daughter. Two more thumps could be heard, one after the other. The clanking of metal rang around the small stone room for a beat before all was still again.

Not a whisper nor word would be spoken in that chamber. The night would bend away, light would not come close. Only a lone soul would make it out, that of a young girl, a woman, a pure soul, made of tears and light.

The soul smiled down on the world as it rained, watched the blood drain away and the sun come out again. It was not fixed, would not be for a long time. The castle still stood, a reminder of the terrible events that took place. The civilians came out of hiding, the lifeless bodies that would have to learn to live again.

Together they climbed up the drawbridge, tore down the gates and marched into the building full of lost souls. The girl could see them, hiding in the shadows. These would stay here, choose to be with their loved ones down on Earth instead of beyond. She respected that, but it was not for her.

Her brother by blood, nothing else, stayed in the high tower, looking down on the people entering his home. He would be there, for the end of time. No throne and no people to rule, he had no purpose. His life was built on leading others, under his father's guidance. That would happen no more, these people wanted no king.

No one remanded for her to stay, and with no more tethers, she ascended.

The world fell away as she brushed her hand over the scars covering her once home. Home no longer. They would be fine, survive as they always did.

And she, she would be free. Goodbye world, a whisper to the wind. Shining sun take care of them, its rays fall onto the ground. A breath... float and escape.