A week after school ended Alcid gathered the two dozen demons and together with Vannal they headed towards the royal palace. At the main entrance to the royal palace were two guards that told them that visiting the royal palace vas forbidden.

“Well, then that is good for us because we are not visiting the palace.” Alcid said calmly.

The guards looked at her confused and told her to go away, that the palace was locked and that she couldn’t go in.

“You pour souls. There isn’t a place I can’t go.” Alcid said and put her palm on the door lock, she began releasing acid and the door lock started to dissolve. The guards looked at her and the door baffled. Once the lock dissolved completely, Alcid opened the door and she and the demons with her entered the main entrance of the palace.

The main entrance looked unkempt. There was dust everywhere, the floor was dirty and the carpet had disgusting stains and smelled awful. All of this was the fault of the mayor of the city who lived here. All the demons in the demon world were corrupt mortal souls, but the mayor’s soul was so corrupt with greed and disregard for others that he was the number one on the list of most hated demons. The only things that kept him as a mayor of the city were his political ties and the corrupt and greedy souls of other demons in high positions.

They climbed the stairs towards the door to the royal throne room. The door was all scratched up from the battle with the demons, but they were also full of dust and rust. The doors were so full of rust that the larger demons from the group barely managed to open it. The royal throne room looked like the battel and the murder of the king and queen, Vikorith and Domitia Chaios, happened only yesterday. There were broken statues, broken glass, broken furniture and claw marks all around the room and on the floor. Alcid started to walk towards the king and queens thrones, but stopped when she saw blood on the carpet, leading to the thrones. The mayor didn’t even have the decency to clean the blood of her parents. Barely keeping herself composed, rage building inside of her, she asked one of the demons to alert all the media that in an hour something is going to happen on the balcony where the royal family spoke to the public.

In that hour, Alcid asked one of the other demons that was skilled in magic, to make a big screen with sound over the balcony and to show what was happening on the balcony on that screen, so that all the demons on the main square in front of the palace could see. She also told him to make the same screens with sound in all towns and villages.

With twenty minutes to go, Alcid stood next to the balcony preparing for her speech holding the paper tube with silver decorations in her hands. With five minutes to go, Alcid stepped out on the balcony and pulled down the strings that usually held the paper scrolls. She opened the paper tube and took out the paper scrolls. She hanged her paper scroll on the right side of the balcony and the royal paper scroll on the left.

She turned around and saw hundreds of demons on the main square and all the news crews. Alcid started to get nervous but Vannal peeked onto the balcony and said. “You can do it. Just pretend you are talking to us.” He smiled and left.

The big screen over her showed her and the two paper scrolls behind her. Alcid walked over to the edge of the balcony and said. “My fellow demons and demoness I stand today before you as Alcid Chaios.”

Alcid heard a murmur in the crowd of demons but she continued. “I am the lost child that disappeared on the day my parents, the king and queen, Vikorith and Domitia Chaios, were murdered. They were betrayed and then murdered by a mortal eating demon. I avenged their murder and killed the mortal eating demon.” As she said the pictures that Kheba took of her throwing acid at the demon and the demon dissolving appeared on the screen.

“To prove to you that I really am the lost child and heir to the throne, I have the royal symbol and the symbol given to me by the king and queen. They are all in the books of symbols connected to the royal family. I will touch the symbols and you will see that they are my family’s symbol and my symbol.”

At that moment, the mayor stepped on to the balcony and angrily yelled. “It doesn’t matter who you are! I run this city! The time of kings and queens is in the past. You have no authority, no power here! This city, the demon world is mine. Do you understand?!”

Alcid looked calmly at him and quietly said. “I have all the right and all the power I need.” She smiled at him, put her hand on his forehead and acid started to run down his face. In a few seconds, the mayor was gone. Alcid heard cheering from hundreds of demons on the main square.

“Now, quiet down and look.” Alcid turned around, lifted her right hand, touched her symbol and it glowed silver. Then she lifted her left hand and touched the royal symbol. Both symbols glowed gold. Alcid heard a simultaneous whoa sound of hundreds of demons. She lowered her hands and turned around back towards the square. The demons were all, for a few moments, looking at her wide-eyed and then started chanting her name repeatedly. “Alcid Chaios, our queen! Alcid Chaios, our queen...”

The demons in the palace helped her take down the scrolls and put them in a safe place. With the mayor gone it was time to renovate the palace. She ordered the guards to summon the staff in the throne room. Alcid was standing in the middle of the throne room when the staff members began to enter. When they all kneeled before her, she asked. “Can you explain to me why the most important room in the palace looks like this?” However, she got no answer.

She walked over to one of the staff members and told him to stand up.

“I asked a question and I expect an answer.” Alcid said.

“The mayor told us to leave it as it is.” The staff member said.

“You see, it’s not that difficult.” Alcid said. “There are fifty of you so I will put you to good use. I have tasks for all of you. I will give you a month to clean the palace and make new carpets and decorations.”

“You will remove the damaged things and clean the dust, the mold and help the workers I’ll hire to repair the damaged windows and statues.” Alcid said to the men.

“You will make a new carpet for the throne room and wall decorations. The new royal colors are white, black, red, blood red and silver. The carpet in the throne room will be black with a silver edge and blood red symbols from the royal and my paper scroll. Do you understand?” Alcid said to the women.

In the meantime, Alcid will use the time to find out who betrayed her parents. She asked the guards if there was anyone here, in the palace, who was in the palace when the king and queen were murdered. The guard said that the mayor chased away everyone from the palace and put his own people in.

Alcid also used the time to fulfill the promises she made to her demon friends. She asked her friend what they wanted to do and got some strange answers from such scary demons. One wanted to be chief of staff, another a librarian, one less scary one liked animals so he wanted to run the stables, the biggest of them all wanted to be the leader of the royal guard. Alcid warned him that the guards at the palace were the mayor’s guards ant that they were probably spies for others. She told him to get rid of the guards that are here now and to look for other demons who wanted the job. She also planned to get rid of the staff members when the renovation was over and make a clean start.

After two weeks, an older demon came to the stables and left his horse there. He ran up towards the place. The guards stopped him wanting to know what he was doing here and what his intentions were. He was a big demon so he just pushed them aside and ran towards the throne room. Seeing that it was under construction he started yelling. “Alcid! Alcid! Alcid, where are you?”

Alcid heard the commotion and ran down the stairs from her room. She walked over to the throne room and saw a big demon standing there looking at her. Alcid looked at him confused as he ran towards her and hugged her tightly. “Oh, Alcid. I thought I would never see you again. I’m so happy that you’re alive.” He said.

“Ahm… Can you please let me go and tell me who you are?” Alcid said.

The demon let her go and still holding her by the shoulders he said. “ I’m Sigurd, I was your father’s best friend. I was crushed when you went missing and when they murdered your father and mother. But when I saw you on that screen, two weeks ago, I rushed to get here, to see you.” Sigurd said.

“You knew my father?” Alcid asked.

“Not only knew him, but we also grew up together. His nanny was my mother and we spent each day together.” Sigurd said.

“Could you tell me about my parents?” Alcid asked.

“Absolutely. I can tell you right now that they would be proud of you.” Sigurd said.

“You must be hungry and thirsty after your trip. Let’s go to the kitchen and you can tell me about my parents.” Alcid said.

“You said the magic word, lead the way.” Sigurd said.

They sat in the kitchen, eating and drinking. Sigurd told Alcid stories about her father and about how he met her mother and funny stories about his friendship with her father. They talked almost all night, but at one point Sigurd felt tired and they called it a day. The next few days Alcid enjoyed Sigurd stories and one day she asked him. “Were you here when they attacked my parents?”

“No. I was on a mission to help a village. Maybe if I was here that wouldn’t have happened.” Sigurd said.

“Do you know who was here and who held a grudge against my parents?” Alcid asked.

“Everyone liked your parents. Your father wanted to ban killing mortals because, when you were born, he didn’t want to see you with the blood of mortals on your hands. But I don’t think that the ban was the real reason your parents were murdered.” Sigurd said.

“Why?” Alcid asked.

Did you look at your family tree? Sigurd asked.

“I did. It’s huge.” Alcid said.

“Let’s go see it.” Sigurd said.

“Can I ask a friend to come with us?” Alcid asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Sigurd said.

Alcid called Vannal to join them and they headed to Alcid’s room. They opened the map of the royal family tree on the floor of the room, Sigurd pointed at Alcid’s grandparents and said. “This were the king and queen before your parents. As you can see here they had two children, your father and an older son Roknin.”

“Why is his picture gray?” Alcid asked.

“I’ll get to that. Roknin had a son Ulrahr. This is him here. When your grandparents died the new king would have been Roknin and then Ulrahr, but… Roknin died and that made the second son, your father heir to the throne. That’s why Roknin’s picture is gray.” Sigurd said.

“But Ulrahr is still alive and probably angry that he’ll never be a king.” Alcid said.

“He could be a king if he killed your parents and you. And I think he did that but he didn’t kill you, so he still can’t be the king.” Sigurd said.

“What do you mean can’t be king? What if I never found out I was the heir to the throne?” Alcid asked.

“The royal crowns of the king and queen are magical. If the true king or queen doesn’t wear them, they look like they are made out of stone. However, if the real king or queen wears them then they are gold. He probably tried the king’s crown and it remained looking like stone.” Sigurd said. “Be careful, he now knows where you are and he may try to kill you to get to the throne.”

“I will, thank you for the warning, but I’m not that easy to kill.” Alcid said with a smile.

“Yeah, I saw your stunt with the mortal eating demon. Impressive, really impressive.” Sigurd said.