The night the prophecy was spoken, the forest did not welcome them. Wind tore through the trees like a warning, branches clawing at the sky beneath a pale, swollen moon. Somewhere deep in the woods, a single lantern bobbed through the darkness — small, fragile, defiant. Two figures rode beneath its glow. Maria tightened her grip around her husband’s waist as their horse pushed along the muddy trail. The cold bit at her cheeks, but it was not the weather that unsettled her.

  “My love…” she murmured, her voice nearly lost to the wind. “Something feels wrong.”

  Victor did not slow the horse. “I know. I feel it too.”

  They were king and queen — though tonight they wore no crowns, only heavy cloaks and silence.

  “It was best we came alone,” he continued. “Whatever fate awaits our child… it should not be witnessed by the court.”

  The horse stopped abruptly, hooves splashing through shallow water.

  “So,” an old voice echoed from the darkness, “you came alone.”

  From between the trees emerged a hunched figure wrapped in thick furs. His beard was white as frost, his eyes sharper than any knight’s blade. Maria dismounted first. This time, she did not bow. “The signs are different,” she said. “Stronger than before.” Victor stepped beside her. “Tradition would call for celebration. But the winds speak of no joy tonight. Elder”

  The Elder studied them in silence. “Then why not end it?” he asked bluntly. “Remove the child before birth.” Stillness filled the clearing. Maria stepped forward, her hood falling back to reveal fierce eyes and deep black hair shimmering beneath the moonlight. “This child will be born,” she said. “Do the reading, Elder.”

  Thunder rolled overhead.

  The Elder turned and motioned them toward a circle of ancient stones carved with forgotten sigils. He pressed his palm against the earth, and the symbols began to glow. The forest darkened.

  “Does the great wolf still bare his fangs?” the Elder muttered.

  Victor’s expression hardened. “I no longer go by that name.”

  The Elder’s soft laughter mingled with the wind as the final sigil ignited. " When the reading were done for you, your fate made you as such a fierce wolf, you can not escape it just like your child " His eyes flared with pale light. Victor crossed his arms with no reply but continued to watch the ritual.

  “I see it,” he whispered. The wind screamed through the clearing.

  “I see fire, banners burned to ash. Order breaking. The world reshaped in ruin… all by her.”

  Maria’s fingers trembled. “Our daughter?” The Elder’s glowing gaze lowered slowly to her belly. “Her crimson hair will be the banner of change. A sign none will mistake. She will be Queen… of a world remade in her image.”

  The light faded. The forest fell silent.

  “This cannot be,” Maria breathed. “There is more,” the Elder rasped. Lightning split the sky. “Her fate will not be quiet. It will not be gentle.”

  A pause.

  “And it will begin in red.”

  Years passed.

  Elizabeth did not grow gently. From the moment she could speak, she questioned everything. One afternoon, perched on Victor’s shoulders as workers constructed the eastern wing of the castle, she observed them carefully.

  “Father,” she said, “If they worked without break through the day then rest at night this will be done much faster.”

  Victor laughed. “You wish to work them to death, Eli?”

  “They are capable,” she replied calmly. “So they should perform at their capacity.”

  " fair enough but there many way to make your people work at their best" he walked up to the construction workers one of them an older but well built gentleman walked up to him.

  " well well well the king taking his daughter out showing her how hard you work us aye" he spoke with a deep raspy voice, this only made victor laugh.

  " if you do not want me here i shall take my daughter and cold fresh ale back with me " All the construction stopped the moment he mentioned cold ale. Victor smirked " bring it out although if your too drunk to work your getting thrown into frost lake." everyone laughed, Cheers erupted. The workers drank, rested, and returned to their labor with renewed vigor.

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  Elizabeth watched in thoughtful silence. Kindness improves productivity.

  Noted.

  By thirteen, she studied logistics. By fifteen, taxation. By sixteen, military positioning. By seventeen, prison reform. “The prison drains gold,” Elizabeth declared before the council one evening that council being her mother and her 4 maidens that were in the library two where attending to Maria gently braiding her hair while the other two sorted the books into the correct shelfs. Elizabeth wore a practical dress and had her hair tied up with pencils in it, though her hair was darkening at the roots from the bright ginger into a more crimson color. “It produces nothing. rather it becomes a school more citizens of my kingdom... I mean the kingdom can be educated while those that don't follow our laws loose a finger maybe two”

  Silence followed.

  Maria’s voice broke it gently. “My thorny rose, what did I teach you about human life?” Elizabeth hesitated. A lock of ginger hair fell across her face. “That all life should be cherished.”

  “And does removing a finger or two mean your are cherishing life ”

  Elizabeth had no answer.

  Maria stood up slowly and walked up to her with a gentle " so many plans, give yourself time to learn and grow. If you want be Queen understand your people. " maria fixed her hair and walked past her, though Elizabeth merely groaned and returned back to her note pad sketching down more ideas

  She was brilliant. Efficient. Loved.

  As time went on she found ways to start to rule from making suggestion to her father to outright organizing and making decisions for her parents, though she kept stepping on people toes there was no denying her underlining brilliance she found ways to improve farming and cultivations, to bring more people out of poverty and use their country unique area to create many things that could easily be exported such as juicier fruits and stronger wood. Though Victor and maria could see the glaring problem as time went on.

  Victor and maria walked hand in hand with a 19 year old Elizabeth ahead of them with a new project she was a excited show them. Then when she was stopped but a older woman.

  " forgive me your grace please th...this building we use to commemorate my lost grand son is there-" Elizabeth cut her of with a gentle yet completely unaware smile

  " Do not worry it will be used to bring strength to our army as a forge your son be more then pleased" she darted of before The older woman could speak, Victor and maria watched disappointed and then gently told the older woman that her plans wont be accepted

  On the morning of her twenty-first birthday, the sky was clear. The city overflowed with celebration. Red banners draped stone towers, and citizens gathered in the thousands for her coronation.

  Elizabeth stood before a full-length mirror, adjusting the weight of her crown. “Finally,” she murmured. Not relief. Inevitability.

  Her gown flowed in layers of ivory and gold, embroidered with thorned roses climbing from waist to collarbone. Candlelight shimmered across the fabric like captured sunlight. But it was her hair that commanded the room — long, thick, crimson. Not copper. Not rose. Crimson, rich and unapologetic, like spilled wine across marble.

  “It was only a matter of time,” she whispered. “I will make this kingdom stand among giants.”

  Maria entered quietly. “I fear for the world,” she teased. “It will be ruled by a thorny rose.”

  Victor leaned against the doorway. “Poisoned Rose suits you better.”

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes but smiled. “Careful. You speak to a Queen.”

  She stepped onto the balcony.

  The roar of the crowd crashed over her like a wave.

  Destiny.

  Order.

  Control.

  She inhaled deeply. and took one last look at what would be hers, a kingdom small she could see the edges of it from this balcony it was modest tucked between two massive mountains, and shrouded by forest it would be all her. She closed her eyes for a brief moment but when she opened then the blue sky she had known through out her child hood was now turned green.

  A violent beam of energy tore through the palace gates. Screams followed. Knights rushed forward with raised shields. They turned to ash. Another blast shattered a tower. Smoke swallowed the sun. Elizabeth’s mind struggled to process it. One moment applause — the next chaos.

  In the distance floated a cloaked figure, surrounded by swirling pale lights — souls torn from the dying.

  Victor strained against collapsing stone. Maria ran toward civilians, shouting commands. "Protect your people!” her mother cried. “That is a Queen’s duty!”

  Elizabeth tried to move. Her body could not, fear had chained her down, everything around her was now a blaze children scream, carts where thrown over and destroyed in the panic, building crumbled around. The once peaceful kingdom was now in ruin and all she could do was stand and watch. The night mare only got worse the longer she stood there.

  " ELIZABETH!!!" she turned after hearing her mother pained scream only to be caught in a massive explosion that came from the direction of her parents. it threw her back but as she flew through the air a stone pillar impaled her through the abdomen and lodged itself on to the castle behind her pinning her there.

  The shock of what happened caused her mind to barely feel the pain, she slowly lifted her hand seeing blood her blood. she moved her hand away seeing where she was impaled it did not look real, she coughed up blood and grasped the pillar " am..am i dying" the question fell out her lips but she slowly realized the answer. he body was getting weak her hearing slowly lowering the screaming the fire the dripping of her blood everything was going dark. In one moment she had it all now she was slowly loosing it . Through fading vision, she saw him — the mage — harvesting thousands of souls with an upraised staff.

  Then another figure collapsed beside her. The Elder. Dying. “Forgive me… Your Majesty…”He began to chant. Ancient sigils flared, and the river of stolen souls shifted direction. They struck Elizabeth.

  One.

  Ten.

  Hundreds.

  Thousands.

  Agony beyond anything human. Her scream split the air. The Elder smiled faintly as his body turned to ash. “Your fate… has only begun. Lets see what world you create” those were the last words she heard as Darkness swallowed her.

  Hours later, the kingdom was silent.

  Smoke lingered above ruin and stone.

  Boots stepped through ash.

  “Who had the power to do all this?” A man landed lightly at the edge of the destroyed plaza.

  His eyes were calm.

  Assessing.

  Unshaken.

  Then he noticed it. A faint red glow beneath broken stone, He moved toward it. Half-buried in rubble lay a young woman crowned in blood and dust.

  Still.

  Lifeless.

  Then—

  She gasped. Her eyes snapped open, glowing faint green. as life returned to the Red Queen