Alexis hovered in the air above the Siempre Dorado Kingdom. Her eyes were transfixed on a solid gold statue in the center of a major town that was just barely on the border of the mountain barrier that separated this new land from the ever-shrinking Gallows Woods. Her eyes were not filled with any kind of admiration for the absolutely exquisite detail work on the more than fifteen-meter-tall statue, but instead filled with loathing and hatred.

This gold icon of that false deity, its features so perfect and idealized and its eyes filled with such tangible mercy and hope filled her with unspeakable rage, boiling the vampiric blood that coursed through her veins. She would bathe this statue of that false goddess in the viscera of its followers. She would force this blessed monument to be drowned in sorrow and pain, hellish torment and abject despair. By the time she was done with this ‘Forever Golden’ Kingdom, it would be tarnished beyond repair, stained a twisted crimson-black by the misery and agony of its own people!

She looked over at the fort that stood just outside of the town. Its walls were plastered and whitewashed, its soldiers walked about without a care in the world. Why would they worry? The Holy War was destined to go in their favor, for their false goddess was on their side. Her whole face contorted into a hideous snarling visage, the utter contempt she had for all in this nation plainly visible for any who saw her to see. A pity that she was so far above them that they could not sense her malice or see their executioner holding the blade above their necks…

She watched from her place so high above the sky as the sun slowly began to sink into the west. Night was falling, and with it would come the doom of these foolish mortal creatures. A pity that they did not follow her or her beloved; their lives might have been worth letting them keep hold of if they did. As they were now, however? They were less than scum, less than excrement, less than the worms that dwelled in that filth and so far beneath her willingness to care for that they only deserved one fate.

Still, she was willing to add a bit of excitement to the mix. She did grow to have a flair for the theatrics. Perhaps she should put off the erasure of this nation for a bit so she could set the stage. Yes, that would be wonderful.

With a sinister and malicious smile on her face, Alexis sped off towards the petty kingdom beneath her and began to prepare for the show.

…

Rodriguez Juanito Cortez stared over the letter his father, the king before him, had sent. The letter was full of mad ramblings about ‘unleashing some unspeakable horror’ and that ‘the bloody day of reckoning was imminent.’ One line stood out over all others though. It was a line written in his father’s own blood. It was a single sentence that, despite his attempts to calm himself over, stuck in Rodriguez’ mind and had him peering over his shoulder repeatedly.

“Ruin has come to our family.”

This one line held more weight than all the mad ramblings that the rest of the letter contained. Someone or something had shattered his once unbreakable father’s mind in a single night, and in his misery, he had penned this letter, committing suicide while writing the last line. What in the name of the Goddess Lumina could have driven him to such depths of despair and madness?

Rodriguez did not have time to question what this to the previously implacable man had done or why he had done so, as his door was knocked on by someone at this early hour. Rising to his feet and straightening his clothes, he strode confidently to the door and ushered in a messenger to his private study.

“My good man; calm down. Take deep breaths and relax a moment before you lose your life to this haste!”

“No… no, my liege! This… this is…!”

Rodriguez handed the messenger a glass of wine which had been handed to him by a page.

“Drink! You must drink! It will soothe your nerves!”

The messenger did the unthinkable and waved away the glass.

“No… there is no time, my liege! It… it is horrible!”

“What? What is horrible?”

Finally having caught his breath, the man relayed his message. The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop on a rug.

“This… is this true...?”

“Yes, my liege. The whole town… overnight… there are no survivors…”

Rodriguez nearly fainted as he took in the news. The whole town and the fortress nearby it… completely destroyed… the people… torn to shreds and their blood, guts and bile… staining the very statue to the almighty Goddess that his father had finished just so recently, mere days before abdicating the throne! Now he knew what had broken the unbreakable monolith that was his father… Somehow his father had learned of what transpired and, in his grief, took his own life.

But what could have done something so grisly and ghastly? Could the undead even be that efficient and brutal? Surely a vampire was capable of something like that, but with the holy wards around all of his nation’s infrastructure and settlements, let alone forts, nothing wholly undead could come too close or risk destruction! What horrible, mindless monster could have done something so twisted to the faithful of the One True God?

He regained his composure faster than even he had expected. Now was not the time for disbelief and indecision. Whatever monstrosity did this could strike where no one was supposed to be capable of doing so. Now was the time for action! It was obvious that the evil Abominable King had decided to spread his malign forces too thin. Holding off the Heroes, the Holy Church, the Dominion and the Union while also seeking to attack his kingdom? That was a mistake, and a mistake that would cost that devil dearly.

The Devil had sent its ace in the hole to fight him, and he would find this monster and slay it himself! He would be like the heroes of old, maybe even being remembered like his ancestor who had driven out the infidels and the lesser races and established the very kingdom he now ruled over! He was a king, so he had to act like it!

“Gather my men! I will go and hunt this demon myself! After I return victorious, I shall finally find a queen worthy of my royal blood!”

…

“Gather my men! I will go and hunt this demon myself! After I return victorious, I shall finally find a queen worthy of my royal blood!”

Alexis hung upside down just outside of the window. Even if one looked through the stained glass, they would not have seen her. Even if they looked at where she was, they would not have seen her either. Magic was a powerful tool for those who knew how to use it.

“So, you want fight a monster and find a queen worthy of your blood?” she said before letting out a silent and cruel laugh. “Then allow me to help you do both at once! My little pet project has finally reached the state where it can be fielded, and while I wanted its first fight to be against the Heroes, you and your men will have to suffice. If only those who loved her so much could see how their beauty has become a beast… Then again, they already do. The Swarm is ready, and the field test was successful.”

Alexis exploded into a swarm of bats and flew off, rematerializing high above a certain cave. She had sprinkled a few rumors around the area, and soon that stupid brat would come here and meet his new queen. Or rather, his new Swarm Queen. It would be love at first bite, and that little king would almost certainly emerge from his dance with his new mistress quite… drained.