Royal Rebel 4 ~ The Return

Chapter 60: Gilded Cage

"Secret is the song of fate..." The child of the prophet hummed quietly, remembering the song her father sang to her when she was young. "The stars will align, and open the gates of time... " She ambled around her room, holding one hand up for the purple orb that floated by her side, glowing with the symbols of fate surrounding it. "And a new world..."

She heard a groan emit from the queen behind her, and she glanced back at the wall behind her, where the goddess descendent was held by chains of gold, and as the woman slowly opened her eyes and did her best to lift her head up. Zelda's eyes watered as she blinked through exhaustion, and her body felt weak as she tried to move at all.

"The poison didn't last very long on you," Irvine went back to what she was doing, but still listened as the queen she held captive was regaining her senses. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering the strength of your power..."

"Poison...?" The queen managed to say, glancing up at the girl. She watched through watery eyes as the teen continued to practice one of her rituals, and she felt her body grow more sore at even the thought she was poisoned.

"It wasn't a lethal dose, just enough to... put you to sleep, for a little while." She poured a little vial of malice into her pot of dark liquid, and she used magic to stir it all together. The liquid began to get darker, and particles of malice floated up as streaks of pink went through the mixture. "Now, I need you to do a little taste test for me, if you don't mind." She used a special ladle to scoop some of her malice 'stew' from the pot, and she walked back to Zelda.

She lifted it up to the woman's lips, but she looked away and refused to drink it. The prophecy child sighed and persisted, but her prisoner wasn't having any of it.

"Drink." The queen was silent, and Irvine only huffed and raised her other hand up. Black magic formed around it, and that same magic swarmed Zelda's chin and throat, forcing her mouth open. Irvine blew gently into the ladle, and the liquid inside it turned into a vapor as it floated into Zelda's mouth.

Irvine began whispering something, and she closed her amber eyes for a moment, only for them to open and be mostly black, but her iris's were glowing pink. Malice began sinking into the veins of the royal she held captive as she continued her ritual, but the Triforce within Zelda awakened and began to battle the dark power that tried to take her over. Her emerald eyes flashed into full gold, and the back of her right hand glowed with the three triangle's power.

The whispers of the prophet child began to get faster and louder as the malice worked harder to corrupt the queen's power, but it was still unsuccessful. Irvine grew frustrated with her failure, but continued in hopes she could weaken the sacred power and win.

"Subject I," She heard a voice behind her say, and she knew who it was but refused to answer as she kept performing her ritual. "Subject I!" Still, she ignored, and she began whispering even louder as she used the last of the liquid from the spoon. "IRVINE!"

She quickly redirected her magic, forming the vapor into daggers, and she threw her arm back and let the daggers fly in Ulia's direction. Two went right past her arms, but the middle one stabbed into her chest and forced her to cry out. Irvine gasped and covered her mouth, shocked with what she had done.

"M-Mother," She blinked, and her eyes faded back to their regular color, and she watched as her mother fell into the doorway and panted, staring down at the malice dagger in her chest. "What are you-"

"I was here to see how you were," She managed to say, and her daughter gripped the ladle in her hand tighter. "But I was not expecting to see you going behind everyone's back like this. You were not ordered to perform any 'rituals' on the queen."