Dancing Silver Blade

Heavy treads of footsteps resounded at the streets of Darven City even before dawn, it was a sound that no civilian was ignorant of. Peeking through the small holes on their windows and doors, they watched the battalions of armies marching towards the gigantic gates that separated their city from the forest of troubles.

Among all the thousands of armored soldiers, one person stood out. Riding on her white horse, Aloisa led the armies of Helios to the prospering empire of Chrysafenios. Her red cape that signified her power and strength, fluttered with the wind, intuitively raising the flag of war and bloodbath. Her silver armor that everyone thought to represent her sophistication, was actually a symbol of her sullied reputation from her past life, which up until that moment, haunted her to no end.

Her eyes were fixed on the distant horizon and her thoughts may be filled with her bitter past but she was fixed on one goal—conquer the Chrysafenios Empire.

After marching for hours, Aloisa raised her arm with a clenched fist that halted the soldiers like a domino effect, from up front going to the back, and made them rooted right where they stood. From afar, she could see the blue flag of Chrysafenios, raised up high as if claiming the vast savannah as their own.

Aloisa needed not to shout a command or instruct her right-hand-in-command to tell the soldiers to draw out their swords, prepare their spears and shields, and catapults. Her gestures alone were enough to make her army move.

There was an audible clink as she unsheathed her sword that was just resting on her hip. Lifting her weapon, its well-crafted edges down its very tip, glimmered under the now rising sun who shall witness how the war unfolds. The archers, standing at the back, nocked their arrows ready and stood their ground.

Aloisa whipped her horse with the reins and first she went as though she was asking to be killed, with the cavalry and infantry troops charging towards their upcoming enemy just behind her.

A princess she used to be in the past; wealth and beauty she owned, kindness and tenderness she showed but just alike that of silver, she corroded and was corrupted by greed.

Given another chance to live, she became a general, a leader that every soldier looked up to and even the very emperor of Darven trusted her. A still good life, one could say for it seemed like her cheating and lying in the past didn't affect her current way of living; still extravagant, dignified and a person with power.

Each gallop of her horse drew her closer to the enemy. And not for long, she struck one soldier dead with one swing of her blade. Metals clanged—swishing and clashing—against another metal. Her horse neighed and raised its forelimbs forward, making Aloisa tighten her grip on the reins. One strike of spear into the horse's neck forced her to keep her feet on the ground, leaving her bloodstained horse behind. One swing forward, trickles of blood stained her sword. She turned on her heels, ducked for a quick second and another swing of her weapon made one soldier lose his hand, spurting scarlet liquid on the ground.

If one sees her from above, one would think she was a great performer, dancing on the stage with only one blade and captures her audience with her grace. She moved with precision; each strike must end a life and/or make them scream with demise. The dying people's agony was her music, making her move with the rhythm of their bellowing calls.

Aloisa danced through the sea of soldiers, leaving scarlet trails instead of footsteps and increasing the numbers of lives she had taken. Forward she went, driven by courage, pride, strength and will to live.

Like a play in a theater, she came to a halt when the red curtain unveiled a new act—an act she wasn't prepared for and an act that she must dance to until the very end.

Clad with gray armor, signifying freedom with tarnished dignity, was a man she knew, not in the present but a man from her past life. He was the man she protected before, she tainted her hands with blood to never let a single hand harm him. She planned different stages of sabotage to let him sit on the throne and had him as her rightful king on the throne.

However, destiny sure was harsh and wouldn't let her get away without paying for the crimes she committed. The man whom she gave her heart to, whom she protected with her life was also the man she was set to kill in this very stage of war.

Aloisa's choice now was to kill or be killed, a choice for a general like her who sought after survival in the brutal world of soldiers and fighters. And also, it was a punishment for a murderer and cheater and a liar like her.

No words were needed to be said between them, only their weapon and fists communicated. For Aloisa, who fully remember her past life, meeting that man meant overcoming her fears yet in return, she will be rewarded not with a good life after, but with guilt and regret still following her.

Almost out of breath, Aloisa knelt on one knee with her sword trickling with blood planted on the ground. She still stood and moved forward, forward into the greater stage, leaving the lifeless body of her past lover, who was fighting for his empire's freedom. And there she was, still dancing in the waves of enemies for she was chosen by destiny to rise from the ground and suffer with no happy ending guaranteed for her.

"I am the villain who'll bring death as I await the hero who shall end my breath."

- Aloisa