Tulip rushed through the palace to the centre of the maelstrom of noise, jumping past worried people and cracking stone.

She soon arrived at the courtyard outside of the crumbling tower, there was a large pile of broken stone across the ground, making a small hill.

On top of the hill stood a man. He was well toned and had a fire of life in his eyes, so much so that if looks could slice people to pieces, his would.

He wore a ruined shirt and pants, both were ridiculously dirty, and his hands, legs, and neck were all adorned with large iron chains. The ends of which ran along the ground behind him.

His hair was a matted blonde with grey, inciting to his real age that his body threw off. It ran down the sides of his head disorderly, it was clear it hadn’t been washed in quite some time.

The man suddenly howled, his sad and angry emotions tearing through the air.

“A-Asmol the D-Demon’s blade is loose! Everybody run!” There was a servant still nearby surprisingly, they looked up at the man in terror and tried to run away as best as they could. The man spared no attention to them.

Tulip looked from the servant to the man they had called Asmol, he certainly does look like a demon at least. Just without all the horns and weird skin.

“Where is….the king?” Asmol’s voice was hoarse and dry, but he spoke well enough to be understood.

Tulip stepped forward and activated Acting Lvl3.

“The old king is dead! The only royalty that exists now is me! Tulip Hadena!” Tulip spoke brazenly, but inside she was shaking a little.

The aura this guy gave off was no joke!

She had to focus everything just to remain standing on her legs in his line of sight!

Asmol stared at Tulip like a wild beast, his eyes then drifted to the crown on her head, they became filled with disgust.

“Royalty…..” Asmol seemed to be more relaxed, or at least Tulip thought he was with his slower movements. So she began to speak again.

“Yes! I am the new queen of Hadena, and you shall bo-” Before Tulip could even finish she had to duck her head to the left, Asmol had picked up a rock and thrown it at her.

WHEN DID HE EVEN GRAB THAT?!

Tulip was thrown into a sense of fight or flight.

This guy is scary as hell! I don’t wanna fight him!

But Tulip didn’t have a choice, upon seeing that his rock missed, Asmol jumped towards Tulip with a thundering speed, punching her against a wall.

She felt as though she had been hit by a truck, her back slammed into a stone wall on the edge of the courtyard and she coughed up blood, falling to her knees and trying to gather herself.

Tulip felt the world crashing in on her. How the hell is ANYONE allowed to be that strong?! Where did he even come from?!

But she didn’t dwell on it for long, Asmol wouldn’t let her wait like that.

Tulip quickly activated the Tomboy skill and took the boost to her stats, increasing her vitality and helping her grit through the fractured ribs she had probably just gotten.

On the ground next to her was a sword, it didn’t have a sheath and it was probably thrown on the ground by one of the guards.

“Tch, cowards.” Tulip grabbed the sword, and held it up with both hands, putting herself into some kind of stance she had made up on the spot. And as she did so, Asmol stepped back into view, the air around him lightly cracking with pressure.

“Oh this is bull.” She readied herself for an oncoming attack, but the attack never came.

Asmol looked over to a side of the castle, rage sullying his eyes.

“Wh-” But before Tulip could say anything, Asmol jumped towards that end of the castle, breaking through the stone walls with ease.

“Crap!” Tulip quickly began running towards where Asmol had entered, there was practically nothing she could do to him but she could try at least.

////////////

“Da...na…” He didn’t remember much anymore, the days turned to years and the years turned to nothing inside the cell he stayed in.

He barely ate enough to live, and he barely drank enough to stay conscious. He wouldn’t be too over the top, and he wouldn’t be too far gone.

So long as he stayed in his cage, Dana would be okay.

No matter what happened to him, so long as she was alive he didn’t mind.

“Hey, did you hear about what happened over in the main castle?” One guard spoke.

“Yeah it’s crazy. Some girl was summoned as a hero and she ended up killing all the royalty and taking the throne. I mean, I didn’t like the royalty much anyway, but that’s a bit over the top.” Another guard said.

“Wh...at…?” A scratching noise came from the cell the two guards were supposed to be looking after, it took quite some time to realise that it was a voice.

“Hey hey, did he just speak? He hasn’t done that in years.” The first guard stood up and walked to the bars of the cell.

“Yeah, the royalty that put you here are dead now. Doesn’t mean you’re allowed out tho-” A hand grabbed his neck and twisted it to the side.

“Dana…” The same scratchy tone came out from his throat, it sounded like the low metallic screeching of metal, pushing its way out through his throat.

The other guard looked on in horror and started to scream while running away.

He ignored them, and used all the force in his body to get out of this cell.

Rage fueled his body and the primal heat that causes all conflict overtook him, he jumped out from the dungeon tower and made it crumble to the ground as he dropped through the air like a boulder.

His feet planted against a hill of stones, and he howled.

Howled like the beast he needed to be.

Howled like the injured animal his heart wanted to hide.

////////////

A girl sat in a room full of other people, none of them moved, and none of them spoke.

They were all different, male, female, elder, child.

But there was one common point between them all,

They all wore a black and silver bracelet.

Inlaid with blue and orange gems.