1. Royal Darkness

AMANISA’S POV

“Flee!”

“Run as fast as your legs can carry you, Child!”

Simultaneously, my mom and dad barked at me with obvious pain in their eyes… it was also right there in their voices. I couldn't react to their commands until they both released their royal Lycan auras to compel me. 

Yet again, they did it out of love.

“Don’t send me away, mother. I will stay-”

“You will go, Isidora.”

My father’s harsh voice resounded and sent shivers down my spine. It was the kind of shiver that was born out of fear and pain. My father's face and the soft emotions in his eyes made up for the harshness of his voice.

I missed those voices… in fact, I was beginning to forget how my parents sound since the last time I heard them speak was that day. The last words they said to me were heartbreaking and I was filled with misery right there before I was dragged away by my father's last standing loyal man…

That happened twelve years ago…

The pain, the misery, the chaos, and the darkness that came later all began twelve years ago and they never creased or faded. They stick with me on that supposed-to-be special day that later turned into a bloody one and still remained with me to date– twelve years later.

And in a few hours, it will be that day again just twelve years apart. 

“It’s that time of the day again…”

That was me talking to myself and acting like my heart was shattering all over again just like it did twelve years ago. My face and eyes were staring back at me through the mirror I had on the wall of my bedroom and like every other day, I focused on stretching my face. I wanted to perform that action that is called “smiling”. To me, it was an action I had to learn after the most challenging part of my life.

Others call it a reflex connected to emotions or the heart but that made no sense to me. Why would I think that when I had never been genuinely happy… not in the past twelve years. Not after what happened back then.

I thought about the years that had passed and the fact that I was still stuck in the past. Not that I couldn’t move, I willingly chose to be stuck and to live in the past. The past was where I belonged. Where my heart remained.

And the memory of it made me who I was. It made me the woman staring right back at me through the mirror. It made me a woman that was after one thing and one thing alone- VENGEANCE.

The thought of that made me smile and I almost agreed with the human philosophy that smiles were connected to emotions. Vengeance was that emotion that made me smile. if I thought I was weak, the humans were breakable. They are blinded by emotions that I had successfully kept away from me.

If humans were made from a color. Maybe wine which was a darker shade of red itself, then I was made from an even darker shade and the darkness that I had embraced for years had now become a part of me that would never fade.

I was dark… I was Black… in fact.

“You seem as pale as a half-dead to me, Ama. I can't even see that dark shade of red and shouldn't that be noticeable since you claim to be so dark-”

“Don’t ruin the moment!” 

I snapped at my Lycan spirit who wouldn't join me on my pilgrimage to the land of extreme darkness. if I didn't know better, I would say my father infused light into me when we parted twelve years ago and the light went to my Lycan spirit, Arla.

She was the opposite of me but we have learned to coexist without killing each other.

“Don't be so… so you, Amanisa. I agree it's that time of the day when you have to go to work in that place that I hate so much but it's also that day and time of the year. A day that I love so much on your behalf-”

“Don’t mention, Arla. I’m not interested in whatever crap you have cooked up and as you can see, I have to get to work soon.”

I ended Arla’s attempt to bring up her intended topic. That was my way of holding on to the darkness within me. I wanted to remain dark. I needed to. That was my identity. Without the darkness, I would be lost and lonely. 

“We can’t pretend, Ama. it's will be your birthday-”

“And it will also be my parent's death day, Arla. if you are so optimistic, I don't mind, but can you at least know when to stop!”

I was grateful for my Lycan spirit. She had been my companion and friend since she surfaced right after I fell out of a spiritual portal with an arrow in my back but sometimes like two of ten occasions, I usually regret that my father didn't seal her away when he made sure I would never be able to shift without finding peace as he wanted for me.

My father made sure I wouldn't be capable of a lot of things but he missed sealing Arla’s attitude. That would have saved me some headaches.

“I won't stop until you stop acting like you are a dying log of wood that had detached from the source of its life. I won't stop, Amanisa-”

“I’ll save us both the trouble then…”

I blocked Arla out, knowing full well that she hated that and that I would miss her soon when my inner darkness begin to spread without Arla’s light. I quickly finished applying my makeup and now that Arla had been suppressed, I could add black eyeliner to the art on my face. My Lycan spirit hated it. It wasn't on her face but that was just who she was.

“You look like the female version of the devil with that.”

Arla would have said.

Fine… I was missing her already but if I should drop the shield I put up now, she would make me regret it. Maybe I wasn't as heartless as I wanted to be but one thing was for sure, I was determined to slit the throats of hundreds of Lycans.

They used to be my people but now, they were traitors.

Traitors that ruined my life and whose blood I, Princess Amanisa Isidora, would feast upon.

Today will be my last day here, the Hallowland- a valley where humans lived. This had been my home for the past twelve years and while some humans had made me feel unwanted, most of them helped me and nursed me but I never stayed in a place long enough to catch feelings for those that shielded me from the harshness of the valley.

It was a valley but it was a big town.

This place had held me when my homeland purged me.

I met a lot of people here and by tomorrow morning, I would be gone because this place never felt like home for my twenty-two years old ass. I no longer had a home and even though that haunt me every day, I had come to terms with that.

With one last look at myself, I concluded that I was ready. I picked up my black coat, wore it, and strapped on my usual black high heels before leaving my apartment- a place I got four years ago. It was hard but easier with my job and the fake IDs that I had made with the help of some human younglings that called me their friend.

If I was confused about everything, I was damn certain that I didn't have friends. I attracted some but I didn't let my feelings mix with theirs. Who was I kidding? I had no feelings. 

Since I would be gone by morning, I decided to take a walk to my workplace. The dark cloud of the night couldn't match the darkness I carried in my heart but it was beautiful. Which was one thing the ugly darkness within me lacked.

If I would miss this realm and the people in it, I wouldn't know until I successfully enter the Royal Hills. The determination was there but truth be told I didn't know how to get to the Royal Hills. It's been twelve years without practice and even though my father provided me with the key before…

I pushed the surfacing memories down... Beyond the darkness, I carried and allowed the darkness to submerge over it… like I have been doing for twelve years. That was how I kept breathing without wallowing in sorrow.

“You will find a way, Isidora. You always do.”

I murmured to myself and walked the street like I was walking the red carpet. I might have been working like a commoner but the royal blood still coursed within my body.

No one here knew me as Isidora. The name I have been using in this world wasn't my Royal name. No one has to know that a Royal Princess was working in one of the famous clubs in Hallow Valley.

In fact, I ruled that club. 

I wasn't the princess there. I was the queen and as I entered the large compound of the nightclub, the loudness welcomed me. This was it. The only place that made me feel like I had forgotten who I was yet made me feel complete.

Hallow Fun House.

That was the name of the nightclub. It would seem like a house for kids' fun but this place was built for the richest of the town and I happen to be the queen of their desire. They wanted me and maybe this night, I would have fun with one of them before leaving the realm and everything it has to offer.

And just when the clock hands touched twelve, I was called on. It was a new day. It was the day I was born and the day my parents died. Yet I got ready to perform.

“And it’s the time of the night that we have all been waiting for. The queen of the stage has arrived. Let’s welcome, the Royal Darkness!”

I was introduced and called to the stage. The Royal Darkness was my stage name and it suited me really well. After all, everything about me was dark and my choices were also dark… except my hair and my eyes, and lastly, my skin.

Those were the exceptions but my choices made up for them.

Picking my dark mask, I walked to the stage and the crowd of sophisticated men cheered for me. Slowly, I dropped my coat, and as expected, their jaws dropped along with it. The stage light dimmed, complimenting the darker shade of color that I had chosen to wear for the night.

“Today would be the last”

I murmured to myself and slowly, my face stretched and the fake smile I had perfected appeared. That was the last touch to my outfit. 

It might seem like I was a stripper but I wasn't. I was more sophisticated than that. Who was I kidding, I was no different. The humans call me an erotic dancer but who cares? Potayto potahto? All the same.

Before I left my apartment, my intention was to have fun even though fun was odd to me and as heavens would have it, my body sensed the gaze of fun before my eyes found him among the seated men.

What could he be doing here? How did he get here?

I could sense that he was different from the rest of my audience. He was the same as I and my body melted under his gaze, calling for him. His presence affected me in the head and in my heart. My fists clenched around the pole as darkness resurfaced.

This would be fun… or disastrous.

Yet, I moved my body to the salacious music that reverberated in the room.