Stone steps took stretched far ahead of herself, taking a steep dive into the masses standing in neat rows. Each bunch together into several tightly packed squares that stretched on over a craggy landscape. A jagged ridge stood far in the background was highlighted by a sickly green light of broken moons uselessly trying to set into the endless night.
A roar erupted from the masses, and their neat orders moved. Fists shot up high with fierce weapons and fel flames bathed the sea of demons.
Black talons drummed on the armed of her carved seat with small clicks that drowned out in the chorus of demonic voices. Slowly she rose with a new weight about her body, but one that had been familiar at the same time. Esreiella tried to recall a time when the feeling had not been there, but it had seemed so far in the back of her mind. A point in her life that was too distant to bother with dredging up, yet it nagged.
Great wings stretched wide from her back, giving her an appearance of being much larger than she was. Although, her height had sprang up significantly, and it was not just by the growth of cloven hooves.
When was your tipping point?
A voice called, clawing at her mind while she snatched up a staff. Like the legions of demons before her, she raised to the sky and called back to them. The weapon’s twisted metals bit into her hand, but the pain seemed to encourage her rage rather than make her shrink away.
“At long last the forces of Light have been beaten back! Victory is within our grasp!” Her head tipped, and she could finally acknowledge the set of heavy horns that had grown. “The last stronghold of man is losing ground and their hope has fled them!” All at once, the broken landscape revealed itself as the ruins of a city. The castle, reduced to a pile of rubble, still smoldered with charred bodies littered among the stone work.
What made you slip so far into your true potential? How far did you have to fall?
“We honor our victory with a sacrifice!” Esreiella announced in her otherworldly tones.
No. This isn’t real.
But at last, you have your home. All of it to yourself and a cursed throne to sit upon.
I don’t believe this!
Esreiella felt her hooves move, and as she made the first step of her descent, the stairs dissolved into dust. There was nothing to catch her, and as the demons had faded, so did her corrupted features. Green light dimmed until only the abyss enveloped her.
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