Will continues to look through the perspective of Queen Melody as his heart collides against his sternum repeatedly.....

Her people raised their glasses of red and white wines as they cheered. Will sees the glass of white wine being raised to "his" lips as Melody took a sip.

Glasses then fell to the floor. Pieces of glass scattered around. It only took less than a minute before the poison kicked in.

Most of Melody's citizens keeled over. Hands sprawled out onto the tables for support as their legs gave out. Some clutched their throats for air. Hector motioned his guards to quickly attend to them.

Emilia held onto her father with welled up eyes. "Papa! What's wrong? Someone help!" she screamed.

Some bodies collapsed to the floor with their final exhales lifted up to the ceiling. Will finds "himself" jumping out of her seat. Anger and confusion poured out from the lump in her throat.

"What is the meaning of this?!" she exclaimed.

"My wife, there is a way to save the rest of them. The clock is ticking though for those with less poison."

Hector rushed up with a screech of his drawn saber to protect his majesty. He goes for a nonlethal slash at the groom's side, but the white garbed mage steps in his way.

"Fulgur!"

A lightning bolt crackled through his chest! He drove his saber into the floor to keep himself up as Melody rushed to his side.

"Hector!"

"I'm fine," he grunted as he clutched his wound. Her top guards rush in and surround her.

"Ignis gladius!" Arthur's red mage uttered. With the swing of his arm, a prolonged sword of flames burnt their torsos to a crisp. Their bodies of her guards toppled to the floor.

"If you want the rest to live, give us the research for your white wine. We will give you the antidotes in exchange," her "husband" offered while pulling out the vials as proof.

"Don't do it, Your maje-"

"I will do it! Just don't hurt them anymore!" she pleaded while fighting back tears.

"Fine. Go with her," he instructed the fire mage. Melody rushed down to the cellars in the castle and returned. She threw the book towards him. He read through it for legitimacy. 

"I didn't lie to you! Give me the antidote!" she ran to Hector's side.

Labored breaths accompanied her racing heart. Emilia and the other children were clutching on to their lifeless parents. Her heart broke, but she hoped to save the rest of them. Arthur of House Vinum continued to read through the pages.

"Give me the antidote! You have-"

A whispered fulgur cracked the table. The sparks from it set the cloth on fire. The horrible flames mocked her shaking magenta irises.

"The House of Vinum has what we needed. My son will inherit this castle and its riches as a wedding gift to his bride. He's been looking forward to this." 

Arthur nodded to the mages of Vinum.

The fire mage raised a finger and pointed down. "Ignis hastis."

Spears of ember lit up near the ceiling and struck through the remainder of her people. Will's heart breaks as Emilia and the children screamed through the flames that are consuming their bodies.

"STOP IT!" Melody cried out with flowing tears. She took Hector's sword and rushed in to kill the mage. Arthur interfered by cutting off her right hand with his sword.

Will almost feels nothing from his right hand until Melody squeezes it.

She fought back from screaming as she held her wound. She swung her left leg into a roundhouse kick that hit him across the jaw. The nobleman stumbled to the floor. 

"Fulgur!"

Hector pushed his queen out of the way. Will sees his head explode as blood and brain matter spills on "his" face. He can feel Melody's heart wanting to leap out of her chest. She held onto what's left of Hector while taking a look around. None of her people have survived this act of treachery. The smell of burnt flesh permeated Will's nostrils and eyes.

Melody rushed to the fire and grunted from the self-cauterizing of her wound. Arthur and his soldiers looked on as the queen took up a sword in her left hand. Will feels her mouth uttering something under her labored breaths. The mages went to end her, but Arthur motioned them to stand down.

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?!" she screamed from the top of her lungs as she swung wildly from all angles.

"You can no longer call yourself a queen," he parried and stabbed her through the gut. William lets out an exhale from the sharp sensation. Red blood stained her white dress as he made her let go of the sword. Before she fell backwards, she bit down on his nose and ripped the tip off!

"YOU BITCH!" he slapped her to the ground. Will's senses vibrate as they reorient themselves. A warm steel blade touched "his" throat. The noble's vomer bone was exposed from what she did to him.

"No one else will know about this event. My House will concoct a story to cover your pathetic kingdom. We will be prosperous thanks to you. "

With a swing of his sword, Will can feel the sensation against his neck. The father of the late knight looked straight down at his "face". Melody's mouth uttered some words as the noble stepped away for treatment.

"Gather the riches," he coldly instructed the mages who attend his injury.

The bard notices a malevolent green glow appear above him before enveloping Melody's body. What followed next was a scream that pierced the roaring of the flames. Melody rose up from the floor with a jerk. Her long brown hair turned to a cobweb white as she dodged a lightning bolt and a flaming spear. Her steps couldn't even be heard against the floor as the head of the fire mage rolled off with a single chop.

The lightning mage was going to incite a spell, but her hand erupted out of his back before he could finish the second syllable. Her stare was fixed directly at the disturbed face of the man who caused all of this.

His soldiers fired off their arrows, but she danced around the volley while extending her hand. Arrows are returned back as holes appeared in the heads of the former archers. The groom pushed a group of swordsmen as he made his getaway. He pulled out a glass orb that shined.

"We need-"

He was interrupted by the blood that splattered on both sides of the walls ahead of him. He got yanked by the collar and was thrown against a table. His hands scrambled for his sword, but only found the charred corpses of her citizens.

Melody's left-hand pierced through his gut and slowly pulled out what's inside little by little. The pain accompanied the screams of the noble before she plunged his sword down to the guard. She sliced upwards, resulting in warm blood raining down on her dress and hair.

Through the fragments of broken glass, she saw what she had become.

Stitches on her neck for what Arthur did to her. Her caramel skin decayed to a greenish hue. Her magenta eyes were still there.

She found Emilia's burnt corpse and held onto her as something built up inside her chest. Her torturous wails gave her company in the empty kingdom. Something dripped down her face. She touched her cheek to find thick violet blood on her palm.

She kissed the top of her exposed skull before laying her back down. Her mind goes back to the grimoire that allowed her to become this new being. She went to seek it out, but a thud on the table alerted her. The book with black burn markings was right there. She opened the book and jumped to the page of the spell she recited.

She read the unholy powers that were bestowed upon her and what fueled her.

To make things easier for her, she thought of her right hand which appeared. She re-attached it with ease as nerves and tissue sown back together. She clenched her right hand, and it was as good as new.

She flipped through the book forwards and backwards while drying her face. Her eyes were glued to a particular ritual with her father's notes in the book: Resurreccion

She read thoroughly and found she had the materials with restrictions to take into account. They could never speak because of the spell, but she will still be able to communicate with them. She gripped her father's book as the spell couldn't bring them back as they were.

The spell for talking spirits wouldn't last as long as she wanted. She took solace in that she will have full control over them.

The proximity was also a factor. If she were to leave outside the castle grounds, they would have to follow her. The risk of them being attacked has her think of never leaving. Fortifying the kingdom against catapults and magical projectiles with the spells would be her solution.

A gasp startled her thoughts. She found a gleaming orb that was dropped by Arthur. She picked it up and almost crushed it. Members of House Vinum were watching the whole thing. Some of them shook in fear, while others shook in anger that the plan had failed. Her magenta eyes did a double take until they bored into one individual. 

Will sharply exhales as an upset Garth was scowling from the failure of his father's plan. That "gallant" knight knew and oversaw the countless murders of innocent people. 

"You're fortunate that I won't be able to leave Albarino. I would have ended your lives the same way as your precious Arthur. Send as many people as you want. They will serve as my new subjects!" before crushing the orb into pieces, cutting off the connection.

She took a long, shaky exhale before raising her right hand.

The bodies of the people she killed levitated into the air and combined into a mangled ball along with the spilled blood. Her boney hands glow with malevolent energy. The mangled flesh rotted away with the bones. The wounds on her body turn to faint permanent scars from the healing. With the healing came a power boost needed for the ritual.

She brought over the book and incited a spell. With a wave of her hand, the corpses of her fallen followers are arranged. A slight mutter was all that was needed. Emerald fire consumed their flesh, leaving only their skeletons behind.

Wisps of orange spheres appeared and sorted over their appropriate bodies. With a drop of the hand, the souls dived into the bodies.

The bones rattled, jerked, and shook as the resurrection spell took place. The orange glow disappeared as the skeletons stood up. By Melody's instruction, she made sure they wouldn't be spooked from seeing each other. Hector and the others felt their new bodies and the gaps between them. Their steps didn't throw them off balance as they reached for their loved ones.

Emilia recognized her father as she ran to him. Her skull rubbed against the ribcage of her father as he held her tight.

"Don't worry. The people who hurt you have been killed by me."

They looked at their queen and most of them groaned in misery. Hector ran over to hold her close. His bones rattled to communicate with her.

"It's not your fault, Hector. I made my choice. I will explain why you're here."

She took her time to tell them how she brought them back to life while holding back tears. Emila ran and embraced her legs with all that she could. Her boney arms trembled against her flesh.

"I will make things right for you and everyone. For now, sleep."

The skeletons rested gently on the floor as she went through the book. After summoning a protective insignia over her kingdom along with the warning, she threw off her wedding dress and the wedding ring to wash herself.

Now wearing her violet dress, she collected the bottles of poisoned wine and assembled them in her room as a reminder of that day. Through the book, she summoned a raven to serve as a lookout. With the fog to warn innocent people away.

"Now you have my side of the story, William Bennett", she lets go of him. He puts his hands on the floor from what he experienced. His breathing is erratic and shaky as heavy tears flowed down his face. The first-time seeing color and faces was something he would never forget.

The Skeleton Queen stares at the traumatized bard. Not with malice, but something else she wouldn't describe out loud. She shirks off that sentiment.

"Now that we know each other better, things haven't changed. Prepare to-"

"E-Emilia? Where is she? I want to comfort her for what she went through," William interrupts.

Melody eyebrows' shoot up from the unexpected question. Fighting her was still not on his mind. She swallows the lump in her throat while waving her hand.

He hears her hurried, tiny footsteps coming towards him. He turns to her direction and extends his arms wide open. Streams of saline hit the stone floor.

"It's okay if you don't want to hug me, just know that I'm sorry. You and your people didn't deserve that."

Her tiny arms try to wrap around his torso. He gently embraces while patting her ivory. Melody's eyes lost the fight. His apology and his warmth brought more conflict within the Albarino Queen.

He slowly lets go of the little girl.

Emilia uses the back of her hand to wipe his tears. She rattles her bones to communicate before running back to her father.

Melody translates. "She said: Thank you and..."

The queen refuses to say the last part of her sentence.

"What did she say?"

"It's not important!" she snaps at him.

The bard takes some cloth out of his bag and ties it around his forehead to cover the self-inflicted wound. He stands up with his mandolin. "Did you know about your magic's effects on the kingdoms? Rotting food and all that?"

"Yes, my raven told me so."

"Was it intentional?"

"It doesn't matt-"

"It does. If it wasn't on purpose, I can help you-"

"There isn't a way to get what we both want! I will not lose them again because of you nor anyone!" she yells through closed teeth.

She lashes out with a flurry of strikes!