NOR
ALL HER LIFE, Nor had known the pain of The Cataclysm.
She was only an infant when it began, only eleven years old when it ended.
A child, turned into an orphan queen overnight.
She’d seen things no one should ever have to see. Burning bodies falling from the sky as her family’s palace was struck by the debris from hundreds of destroyed ships. Screams rising from the smoke as soldiers from the Unified Systems tore through the streets of Nivia, razing it apart until they broke through the doors of the Solis Palace.
Nor had been only five years old when she heard her mother’s scream ring out through the palace in the dead of night. The night she was taken from them, stolen by General Cyprian Cortas of Arcardius.
For six years, she’d felt the emptiness of her mother’s absence. The depression, when her father, a king with a lost queen, tried in vain to rule in the midst of losing a war.
On the darkest, coldest nights after her mother was kidnapped, Nor used to lie in the bunker of the palace and imagine the face of the Arcardian general. She would imagine the pain she’d someday inflict on him, the deep chasm she’d rip through his heart when she stole everything he’d ever loved.
It was with great pleasure that she allowed her torturers to harm his son, Valen. For a while, she’d felt that desire for revenge slowly ease. But since the general’s son had escaped, Nor felt empty all over again.
Alone, just as she’d felt after the Battle of Black Sky, when Nor’s father left her, too, crushed to death in the rubble.
It was Zahn who had pulled Nor from the ashes of the palace. He’d taken her to Darai, who had raised her to take up her throne and become a mighty, relentless queen.
He filled her brain with the desire to lead. Not just with her head, but with her entire heart. Body and blood, a head raised high, an iron fist intent on crushing their enemies.
But now, fifteen years after the fighting had ceased, despite everything she had done, Nor was out of options.
Or, rather, she thought, as her eyes adjusted to the dim hallways of the Lunamere prison, the best option has only just been revealed.
The click of her heels and the steps of Zahn beside her were the only source of noise in the corridor. Darai, who was following them, had a way of slinking silently in the shadows. Not even a whisper of his cloak brushing the ground was noticeable.
Sometimes Nor thought of him as a shadow himself, quiet and hidden.
They passed a series of closed doors before walking into the observation room. A glass window separated the three of them from the five prisoners cuffed to chairs inside.
“Queen Nor, it is a pleasure to see you again,” Aclisia said. Her two heads each grinned at Nor, bowing slightly as the queen stopped and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders against the chill of the prison.
“We are very pleased with the latest batch of Zenith,” her lead scientist continued. “The test subject’s death was actually quite fortuitous. It showed us an unstable property in the weapon that was previously undetectable.”
“How did she die?” Nor asked.
Aclisia’s left head smiled. “Painfully.”
“Quite a mess,” the right head agreed. “But we are happy to say that we think we have finally perfected the solution.”
Nor, stone-faced, nodded once.
The right head continued. “We have handpicked these prisoners to be the first participants in this study. It will be interesting to see if there are any further side effects.”
The left head nodded in earnest. “We are very confident that this new sample will meet your expectations. If all goes well...this will be the final batch.”
Aclisia rubbed her hands together, both heads in agreement.
This was reassuring to Nor, as Aclisia’s two heads were often at odds with each other. As she opened her mouth to order the testing to begin, however, a wad of discolored spit landed on the window in front of her.
“Scnav!” one of the prisoners growled at her. Nor ignored the slight; she had been called worse names before. Such insults stopped bothering her a long time ago.
Zahn, however, took a step toward the door that led to the adjoining room, a deadly look on his face. Nor held up a hand to stop him.
“Enough.”
Zahn froze, but his eyes were molten with rage. “He has no right to call you such a name,” he said under his breath, but a sharp look from Nor silenced any further commentary.
She turned to the window, her gaze falling on the prisoner who’d forgotten the meaning of fealty.
“Aclisia, begin the testing with that one.” She paused, a thought occurring to her. “Can the weapon be activated on any part of the body?”
“Yes, it can be,” the right head said.
The left smiled. “As long as it makes contact with living flesh, and can enter the bloodstream, the fun can begin.”
Nor tilted her head, pinning the prisoner with her gaze.
“Then we should have a little fun, Aclisia. Let’s see how painful it is when placed in the eyes.”
She watched as the prisoner’s mutinous expression transformed to one of fear, his body trembling as Aclisia and two guards moved into the room where he sat.
“Stop. No, stop!” His voice was frantic, and his hatred toward her morphed into a plea for mercy. “Please, I’ll do anything!” He kept yelling as the guards held his squirming body still and a metal instrument was placed on his eyes to hold them open.
“The lively ones truly are the most captivating,” Aclisia’s left head said.
Nor watched with equal amounts of amusement and fascination as the glowing silver liquid dripped from the vial, slowly inching its way toward the prisoner’s eyes. The silver liquid was an art form of its own, one that had the ability to enthrall a person or terrify them, depending on how strong their will was.
As it made contact with his right eye, Aclisia stepped back, the guards still restraining the man. Nor watched with curiosity as the silver bled into his iris like paint dropped into water. The prisoner, pleading forgotten, was back to yelling profanities at her, pain lacing his voice each time he spoke.
Suddenly, his screams cut off.
He fell blessedly silent.
The other four prisoners looked at their fellow inmate, then at Nor, bowing their heads to her. She wasn’t a fool. Their sudden respect was just a facade to save themselves, but it was thrilling to see the power she now held over the people who had spent their entire lives despising her.
Nor turned to Darai, and he gave her an approving nod.
“Go on, my queen,” Aclisia’s two heads spoke together. “Test him.”
Zahn held open the door, his hand lightly brushing Nor’s as she walked past. He and Darai followed her inside, the guards behind them ready with hands on their guns.
She stepped up to the prisoner. His gaze, once full of hate, was now awed.
She stopped over him, glancing down her nose the way Darai had taught her, chin still held high.
“Who do you follow?” she asked him.
“You, my queen.”
He lowered his head in an attempt to bow, even with his hands tied. Nor watched as the other prisoners received their own doses of the liquid on their forearms. She saw again, the way it slipped through their skin, leaving no trace of evidence behind.
Nor waited a moment before asking all of them her most vital questions.
“Will you fight for me? Die for me? Bow down to me?”
“Yes, my queen,” the five responded in unison.
Nor let out a breath.
Her dream, her mission in life, was on its way to becoming a reality. The weapon was complete, a success fully capable of changing the future of her planet, and that of the entire galaxy.
She turned to Darai and Zahn with a grin as solid as steel. “My soldiers, it’s time to darken the stars.”