Chapter 7: The end of the innocence
The group went to the palace, like dead walking to their last trip. Altraya had a bad presentiment, she asked Arja to follow them from afar.
It was only when the doors opened and Ulrich rushed outside that she understood.
She screamed to Arja.
"They are dead!"
Looking closely, the men should not be able to continue their travel, they were not alive anymore! Arja noticed one of the men with a slit throat, had no blood running from his wound. This man was not alive. She ran to her brother to push him far from the group but it was too late. Ulrich was already one step from the leader. Then… it was nothing…
Arja was thrown into the building behind her. She saw Altraya running to her, she could not hear anything except a pitch noise in her ears. She saw the dust and a crater in the ground. Then she could hear again, Altraya was shouting.
"Are you ok! By the gods! Are you ok? Arja!"
Arja could hear people crying. There were many people in this place at this hour. The entrance of the palace also fell and parts of the golden massive doors were everywhere. Many houses were destroyed in the explosion.
The trees were on fire and the beautiful curtains that she loved so much were simply disintegrated.
In one second, that was enough time, only one second the world changed forever in front of them, and from this point, things would never be the same.
A doctor from the palace arrived, Altraya explained the situation, and Arja, still shocked, could not talk at all. They took her with them and took her to the clinic. When she passed the doors she saw her brother on a table and many doctors running around. She felt a ball in her stomach growing and growing, she laid down on the bed and stayed there obediently. That was the first time she was wounded and she didn't even realize what happened. The doctors took out her dress slowly and then she felt a terrible pain in her abdomen. Arja was severely wounded. A piece of the golden door has been cut and pierced her body. They extracted the part from her body, and Arja fainted at this moment.
When she woke up, it was silent all around her. She stood up immediately forgetting the intervention, she felt the pain and watched her belly. A twenty-centimeter large scar was crossing her from left to right. She took a few steps and pushed the curtain that was separating her bed from the rest of the clinic. It was a private clinic for royalty only, there should be nobody else there. Nobody except one other person. Arja did as fast as she could, pulled the curtain and she discovered with horror the mutilated body of her brother laying on the bed, still unconscious. Except for the large burns on his body and the wound on his face and chest, Ulrich lost a leg and an arm in the explosion. Arja cried all her tears. This meant that today, they lost the heir to the throne. A King could not rule without going to war with his soldiers. This also meant that Arja would have to marry and give an heir one day to replace her brother. Things could not be worse at this moment. Then one of the doctors caught her and placed her on her bed again. Arja was still crying, then the doctor raised his head and told her in a cold voice.
"Don't worry, with this wound you will never be able to carry life."
Arja opened her eyes, the doctor went away. This meant that the royal family would stop with them.
The doctor was not able to tell anything to the common people if they knew it could be dramatic. People could start to leave the country or give loyalty to another King. For sure, Arja would have to be ready to leave as fast as possible. The Queen and the King didn't come to the clinic in the next following days. It was only after a week that Ulrich opened his eyes. At first, Ulrich screamed in pain, Arja went into the corridor and asked for help but nobody seemed to hear her. She came back to him and tried to appease him.
"What the hell! What happened?! My body!"
Ulrich was in between anger and despair. Arja always knew him as a strong man, the solid rock she could admire. She never saw any traces of doubt, fear, or anger on his face, and now, there were all these emotions mixed at the same time.
The worst of all was the shame, he didn't lose his abilities during a fight, it was in his own home.
Arja tried to calm him, she placed her hands on his shoulder, and then he saw that some members were missing.
Ulrich shouted with all his guts, water covered his face and he slapped Arja with his other hand pushing her away. She lowered her head, closed the curtain, and went back into the corridor. Then she placed her hands on her face and cried. Ulrich lost his mind. During this time her father and mother were not there for them. Nobody was there and it was like she was alone in the entire world at this moment.
Arja decided to find Altraya, she went to her room and knocked a few times slowly. Altraya was there, packing luggage. Arja could not hide her surprise.
"What are you doing? Where are you going?"
Altraya shook her head sadly.
"Father died on the battlefield, we are going back to the family farm. Arja, all the main generals are dead. We lost."
Arja took her hands and cried out loud.
"Altraya, don't leave me. What will I become without you?!"
Altraya covered her hands and Arja could feel the cold of her skin.
"Come with us, you are like a sister to me. Come with me."
Arja closed her eyes and saw the image of her brother. What would he become without her?
"I cannot leave Ulrich…"
Arja took Altraya in her arms, she embraced her as strongly as she could, she knew it would be the last time. Right after, Arja left to find her father the King, or her mother the Queen. She ran in every place of the palace. She found many servants but nobody knew where they were. She spent all her day searching in vain, then she came back to the clinic. Ulrich fell asleep from exhaustion after screaming all day. Arja went to her bed, her wound opened a bit, and it spread blood all over her white dress. She didn't even realize that and fell asleep in her bed with slightly open curtains to keep an eye on her brother.
She was awakened many times that night. The vision of the man in a white coat haunted her. She dreamed a few times of his cadaver face. She couldn't get rid of the image of this dead man exploding in front of her brother. Altraya was leaving her. Her parents were nowhere to be found. At this moment, Arja was sure the man in white manipulated her father and he was responsible for the attack.
Then, in the middle of the night, a hand shook her shoulder slowly. She opened her eyes and saw her father. She threw herself at his neck and cried silently.
"Arja, we are sending you away. You leave tonight."
Arja couldn't believe it. The moment she found her father was only to hear this sentence.
"Why? No. I must stay with Ulrich. Father, you will find a solution. I know it, I believe in you."
The king lowered his head sadly.
"There is nothing anymore. This is an army of dead men that walks on us. We have a solution to stop them but it is too late for us to save the living. I am sending you to another region. This will help your brother and you should be safe. Now, stand up and leave, there is a carriage in the court that awaits you. This is the best solution for all of us."
Arja wanted to say something, she was speechless. That was all too sudden, too brutal. As she stood up she felt her heart breaking. She watched her brother and the pain get bigger and bigger.
She felt like her moves were mechanical, she was deeply shocked by the recent events and she didn't process what was happening. She went into the carriage and heard the horses running. Arja passed her head through the opened window. Watching the palace getting smaller every second, it was like a piece of ice in her heart burning her from the inside.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone