In The Dark Of Night

Prologue

 Prologue

Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people.

~Nigel Short

After years of trying and failing, she was standing on the threshold of everything she'd ever yearned for. Her gown billowed around her, her hair falling in perfect ringlets around her heart-shaped head, her lips pursed, eyes bright and skin flawless - she was the epitome of perfection.

She strode into the room, head held high, pulse racing. She could feel the eyes on her; watching, evaluating.

She reveled in it.

She paused before the Magistrate, their cool stares shaking her ever-confident facade only briefly, before she was thrown back into the safety net of arrogance. She smirked up at them and her wings - every color of the rainbow - fluttered with a gut-wrenching anticipation. 

Then the Queen stood and the hushed whispers and the oddly saccharine music that had been flowing through the room upon the girl's entry drew to an abrupt stop. 

She was tall, with an eerily gorgeous face and an imposing figure, the crown atop her green-haired head glittering, the horns twisting from her forehead as regal as the rest of her. She cast a shadow across the girl and her wings fluttered again, primed for fleeing, but she stood firm, her grasp on her airy gown tightening slightly and her smirk drooping just a little.

And then the Queen smiled, and suddenly, the room was ages brighter.

"Come to my arms, my dear. Come and join the Realm of the Fae." She was beaming, eyes bright with emotion. 

And the girl scrambled to her feet, her heart in her ears as she took the steps two at a time to stand next to the royal representative of the Fae, her hair dancing around her. The Queen reached out a hand, gripping her shoulder. 

And her palms were cold, and frightful and the girl's blood seemed to grow sluggish. Her vision blurred and she drooped, and she felt her body grew weak.

She knew then, that she was never meant to be a permanent fixation in the Realm... that her presence was required for matters that would result in an undesired end to her stay. 

She tried to pull away, but the Queen's grip was steel, and her cheeks grew hollow, her eyes heavy, and her skin lost its radiant glow. 

Her fingers grew to skeletons of what they once were, her breath rattling in her now visible ribcage and her skin stretched tight across the bones of her face. 

The Queen's smile grew wider as the woman before her crumbled, her gown floating gracefully to the marble floors, brushing the edges of it around the pile of dried bones that had once been a prideful young woman. 

She sank into her throne again, the smile still etched on her now glowing face as she licked her luscious lips, as though she'd consumed a delicious meal. 

With an appeased look at the lingering beings within the room, she nodded once, affectionately. "Send me the next one."

And then the hushed whispers resumed and the sickly sweet music picked up and the doors opened and another beaming girl was ushered into the throne-room, towards the Queen... and towards her doom. 

Many Miles Away

Death reeked from the frigid room off the side of the Grand Library. The man sat silently in a plush, red leather chair, hands locked before him, elbows resting on the surface of an over-sized, stand-up chessboard with custom-made pieces lined up on each side and lips curled into a smile as he listened to the muffled screams echoing from the confined space. 

"Shall we proceed as planned sir?" Came the sudden tone of interruption off to the man's left. 

He didn't turn to acknowledge it. Instead, he listened to the screams for just a while longer before, with a sigh, reaching out and pressing a greenish-blue button beneath the desk.

Cries of agony and mortality escaped under the cracks of the door as a loud hiss filled the room. In seconds, there was silence. 

Then, and only then, did the man turn to face his companion - a being with the same face as his own. 

He smirked at his 'reflection' and inclined his head. "Yes... all the pieces are almost in place." He bent to retrieve a light green, marble piece from beneath the chess-board.

It was shaped as a woman, tall and imposing, a crown sitting upon her green-haired head, a narcissistic smile on her gorgeous, devilistic face and her gown billowing out around her. After examining the piece a while longer, the man smirked and plopped it down beside similar carve-outs, this time one of a hunched lycan, teeth barred and ruff fluffed in a fierce stance, and a slouching ogre, huge battle axe swung casually over its shoulder and its eyes bulging from its skull. 

"Soon... we shall have all the power we need." The man smiled, rubbing his pale white hands together, his impossibly blue eyes shimmering in the light. "And the world as we know it, will be changed forever."