The first thing that Solene saw when she woke up was her dear husband’s face smiling down at her. Due to her training, it had been weeks since they slept together. She missed that element of their marriage and of course, this too. Nothing was better in the morning than waking up with Henri’s smile welcoming her. She wished to give him a morning kiss but he actually beat her to it.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he greeted. His hand reached her face, caressed it, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Henri...” Her lips broke into a contented smile then.
“How are you feeling?” He moved closer and started kissing her neck, placing small hickeys and creating tingly sensations all over her skin.
Solene released a delighted hum. She angled her head to the side and allowed him more access.
“Surprisingly, I feel fine,” she answ
It had been close to a millennium since Hein last entered the Demon Realm or Straghris as what most demons call it in local dialect. The late king of the demons banned him from entering all simply because Hein rejected his proposal to unify the two realms. Now that the ancient king was dead, he was granted entry by his successor, Crown Prince Andrei, who agreed with his ideals.Thunder, lightning and nimbus clouds heralded Hein’s presence in the demon sky. He hovered above the castle like a dragon ready to lay waste on the land. The last time he visited, the foul stench of decaying matter combined with acid permeated all over the kingdom and despite the Ruler of Death himself who had been accustomed to such ghastly odor, still, this sickened him. But now, under the rule of a new king, it changed. The air was lighter and the overall aura had improved, at least in his point of view.Aware that King Andrei was expecting him,
My Scythe-Wielding QueenPrologue: The Queen in GehennaA stench unlike anything Solene encountered wafted through her nose the moment she came to consciousness. It was so strong, so revolting; she gagged and spat out saliva onto the ground.Quickly, she raised her head and searched for the source of the terrible smell. There was none in front of her, none on her left or right too, but behind her...it was another story. A wall of dirty white spiky scales towered above her. Easily, her mind registered it as a monster. She gasped and desperately crawled away; fearing for her safety; fearing for her life.How did she arrive in this place and next to a beast? That was the question she didn’t have an answer to, and unfortunately, she didn’t also have the time to figure it out as scrambling away was her top priority.
Chapter 1 - The Queen FightsDespite the harrowing picture in front of her, Solene moved forward to the inner valley, to a path she believed was safe enough to trek on. She didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t stay in her spot too long for it had the same depressing element as the others.Again, the portal that admitted her had disappeared. Solene couldn’t backtrack her steps now even if she wanted to.Heat continued to scorch her skin the entire time she ambled the precarious path. Now a soul, Solene expected this would have no effect on her, but she thought wrong. Like her heart wildly thumping against her ribcage, like the sweat collecting on her forehead and temple, and like the hot breath licking her lungs, the burn on her skin was real.It wouldn’t be right if it wasn’t, she thought.This was Gehenna. The land of the dead inside
Chapter 2 - The Queen SummonsThis was unfair.This was unacceptable.In the face of her opponent, the story about David and Goliath taunted Solene and she couldn’t help but laugh.Damn it. This was cruel.This was more than that ancient story.The monster in front of her was more than Goliath. Indeed, fucking more than that.All five tusk-like legs as thick as a drum and as long as a bus told her that. It stood at a height that was staggering. She had to strain her neck so that she could see its face and when she did, she almost gagged.The monster’s head was deformed. Ugly. And very much dangerous.Supported with a single thorax that housed six human-like arms, its serrated teeth in rows and rows snapped at her. Slithering fork-like tongue tested the air and picked u
Chapter 3 - The Queen in HidingIt wasn’t her intention to but Solene found herself losing consciousness. She just felt dog-tired, and it probably stemmed from the battle she just went through with that monster. As far as she remembered, using spells and summoning her familiar technically shouldn’t put her in a fatigued state, but it did.‘Probably another one of this fucked up place’s disadvantages,’ she complained to herself.By the time she woke up, she couldn’t quite figure out how long she slept, but the sky had grown duller and darker, and her familiar was nowhere to be seen.The fact that she was still untouched and undisturbed told her the three hoodlums still maintained a safe distance away from her, but she could sense them; feel their negative presence somewhere behind the dunes.Cold air
Chapter 4 - The Queen without a VoiceSolene blinked once, twice, many times just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.Past the hulking man’s presence, a function room stood with tables and chairs and customers in them. But customer — was a limited word to describe them.These people were a variety. There were half-man skeletons, zombie-like men, and men that looked like pterodactyls, boars, and vipers. There were also demonic-looking aliens with gigantic eyes and serrated teeth, demons that glow like humans on fire, demonic women with busty chests and red-shaded skins with less to no garments.Medium-sized monsters were everywhere too, but they weren’t thrashing. They were drinking. Partying. And Solene furrowed her brows, confused.Is this Gehenna? She thought. Is this the same place she had been tossed to but in a different t
Chapter 5 - The Queen of the DesertSolene wished the cloth still covered her face. It would have been a perfect deterrent against the rotting smell of flesh around her as she padded onwards, together with her captors.After the whole fiasco in the tavern, not to mention Zaraat and Lilith’s second round of live show dog-style fucking, they finally left the area and traveled west, passing a red-light district with more debauchery on the streets and murderous glares on the alleyways and roofs of dilapidated buildings, until they reached the border where another desert greeted them.As opposed to black and golden sand like the ones Solene encountered in her first two days in Gehenna, this desert here had a red shade. And it damn smelled ghastly.Solene retched multiple times, but refused to expel fully her digested food. Zaraat said so himself. Their journey would be
Chapter 6 - The Queen Slowly Remembers‘I want to take this moment to learn more about you.’Solene found herself in the beginning of a dream—a first since she arrived in Gehenna.There were no pictures on it. Just a voice. A male voice. And it affected her in ways she couldn’t explain, but it surely brought some tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t put a name yet to this voice, but she knew she had conversed with him many times before.Darkness continued to fill her mind until she heard a new sound from a woman.‘Hadn’t you already run me in your database? Or at least, I assume you have one. We were basically betrothed when we were kids.’This time, Solene could recognize it as hers. It was full of confidence and wrapped with cautiousness, and with this, she hope