Chapter 60 - The Evil Thorns Of A Rose

Back in the kingdom of Neuval, Rose sat upon her throne with a worried expression. All of her plans and machinations had come to fruition, however her brother's continued existence vexed her as the possible foil of her scheme. She knew not where he was or what he was doing. All the scouts she had sent to watch him had not returned with any workable intelligence.

The doors to the throne room opened and one of her retainers entered the room. "Your majesty, if I may approach." He said, giving a bow to his queen.

"You may speak." Rose said coldly. "Do so quickly."

"The old man has finally broken my queen." The retainer said.

Rose's eyes lit up with delight at the implications of such a statement. "That old pattering wizard has finally given us the information we need?"

"Yes, my queen." The retainer raises his head from a bow and makes eye contact with Rose. "He has given us the location of the cave of sealing."

"This is wonderful news!" Rose said. "However, you dare look upon me without my permission. I am afraid I must teach you a lesson."

"No, my queen!" He pleaded. "It was a grave oversight on my part. I do not know what came over me." He said quickly, diverting his eyes.

Rose looked over to one of the knights standing guard at the side of the room. She always kept twenty knights in the room with her wearing full plate armor and wielding halberds. The guard nodded back and walked over to the pleading retainer who was now crying, knowing his fate. With a quick swipe of his halberd's blade the retainer's head was liberated from his shoulders and rolled towards the throne as blood gushed from his body as if it were a geyser erupting.

"Thank you, number eleven." Rose smiled, enjoying her handy work. "You may return to your spot."

The knight nodded and did as instructed.

Rose stood up from her throne and began to exit the room. Unphased by the blood, she walked barefoot through it, leaving a path of bloody footprints in her wake. "Get the maids to clean this mess up!" She yelled as she left the room.

She made her way down to the dungeon where they had been keeping the old man, Donovan. She smiled as she saw him in his cage, still strapped to a torture rack. His flesh was covered in burns and cuts and one of his eyes had been removed as well as one of his ears. "You could have saved yourself all this torment, old man." She taunted as she approached. "Had you not freed my mother, and then refused to cooperate with me the hero, you would not find yourself in this mess."

Donovan's wit was warped by the pain and his sharp insults he used to throw at the small queen was replaced by a pained moan.

Rose walked over to a table outside the cell, where notes had been left by her retainer. "So, the cave of sealing is in the northern lands?" She said, reading the notes. "I thought it would be in the southern mountains, I see I was way off base. I shall personally lead an expedition to the frozen north and find this cave. And do you know what I am going to do, old man?" She took a small stone out of her pocket. "I am going to use this. It was a gift from the lion chieftain of the beast clan. It is directly linked to my brother's summoning stone. With it I can summon him whenever or wherever I desire. With it I can finally end his threat to my mission once and for all."

"He will stop you regardless." Donovan said, barely getting the words out of his mouth. "Zell is far stronger than you could ever hope to be."

"Oh, that I know." Rose replied. "But you see, old man, I was given a mission from the divine. I must fulfill it no matter the cost. If I cannot defeat my dear brother with strength, I will have to outsmart him. I had hoped to use my mother as a pawn in all this, using her as his instrument of destruction, but you just had to rob me of that."

"You are a monster." Donovan said.

"I am the savior of this world." Rose laughed. "To save it, I will be whatever kind of monster I need to be. It is the divine's will that I do this. I am justified in all of my actions by the glory of the almighty gods above us. Let me tell you a little secret of mine. I am from another world, one far from here. I was fulfilling my lord's purpose there as well, until some man ended my life. God saw fit to reincarnate me and give me another chance at a grand purpose. I am doing his work; I am following his orders. I am to end the blight that is humanity on this planet."

"You are mad!" Donovan managed to shout.

"He told me not to tell a soul." Rose smiled. "But it is alright to tell you, for you are not long for this world. The person in charge of your care has just lost his head, with that you have lost your food and water… and protection." She looked in the corners of the dungeon where rats were gathering. "Looks like they're hungry. I won't keep them from their meal." Rose smiled at Donovan and waved farewell. She picked up all the notes and left the room shutting the door behind her.

Slowly in the darkness the mass of rats inched closer and closer to Donovan as the smell of his fresh blood lured them to him. He struggled against his restraints but could not move. He could feel them bite into his flesh one after another as they began to cover his body. Donovan let out another cry of pain that would chill a man to his soul.

Rose continued walking down the corridor smiling, rubbing the stone in her pocket. "Just you wait big brother, you won't be a threat to me much longer.." She said as she started laughing maniacally, still leaving bloody footprints in her wake.