The Midnight Queen smiled under her hood as she looked up at Crystalia Castle. Standing in the road before its massive towers, she raised her scythe and created a portal of purple light into the Nether. Lifting one high-heeled shoe, she stepped through the rift. She felt the Dark Consul’s presence there, guiding her to where she needed to go until she could open up another portal to the Crystal Chamber. As soon as she was through and the portal closed behind her, she looked up. The leader of the Paladins stared wide-eyed, open-mouthed at her.
“Hello, good Sir Paladin.”
He drew his longsword. “By the Godde—”
She pointed her gem-engraved scythe toward him and whispered an incantation. The head Paladin fell to the floor of the Crystal Chamber, paralyzed under her spell. She watched him attempt to move, trying to scream for help, but to no avail. The Midnight Queen stepped over him and smiled, tapping the end of her scythe on the floor between his legs.
“Dear me. You’d think the great Crystal Chamber of Crystalia Castle would be better guarded than by a single old man, but what do I expect of a castle that still gives importance to an archaic order like the Paladins?”
The Paladin strained to lift his sword, but the Midnight Queen kicked it away. It skittered across the floor.
“Now, I bet you are wondering why no one is coming to your aid. It’s quite simple, you see. I have sent my beloved Nightsong as a distraction. By now, every Hero and soldier in the kingdom will be rushing into the fray to protect what’s left of the royal family. In the hope of gaining a title, perhaps?”
She walked away from him and began strutting around the room, heels echoing sharply. Her eyes skimmed along the floor. The room they kept her protector in had to have been hidden somewhere in this Chamber.
“And here all I have to do is enter from the Nether, paralyze a single elderly guard and . . . oh, what do we have here?”
Near the outer wall of the Chamber, she found a part of the floor that was not only uneven with rest of the hall but also had a barely visible seam around the edges. She glanced back at the old Paladin, and from the look on his face, she knew she had found the right place. She lifted the false floor upward with a spell, and before it could fall back down, she wedged her scythe between it and the real floor.
“Ah, a hidden trapdoor. Very sneaky. I’m impressed!”
The Paladin again struggled against the magic pinning him. Even as the Midnight Queen ducked under the floor and began to descend the stairs into the hidden cavern below, her spell held strong. She popped a hand up through the opening and waved to the old man.
“Don’t go anywhere, my dear. I’ll be right back.”
She descended the stairs that went deep under the Crystal Chamber. Her smile widened when she saw Daemonus sitting in the shadows behind the blazing bars of a magical prison. It was a giant, clockwork machine covered in golden armor with a helmet that resembled a horse with a purple mane. A sword jutted out from the golem’s chest where it had been stabbed to contain its power.
“My poor Daemonus . . . what have they done to you?” She moved closer, seeing the eyes of the Dark Consul’s longtime servant that no longer shone with life. “Well, we’re just going to have to fix that, aren’t we?”
She raised one hand and created a portal in the air before her. Inside the bars of the golem’s prison, just above where the sword protruded, another portal formed. She could only create portals within a range of 100 feet, but that didn’t stop them from being incredibly useful. Slowly, she placed her hand through the portal and grabbed hold of the sword. She wrenched the long blade free of the golem and tossed the cursed weapon to the floor of the cell.
Right away, Daemonus’s eyes began to glow a bright green. It couldn’t escape through the magical bars, so—body creaking like it was made of bits of porcelain—it rose in the cell and faced the wall behind it. It punched the wall ferociously, the Chamber trembling with each blow until he created a hole through the thick mortar.
The Midnight Queen sighed at all the noise it was making and climbed the many steps leading up to the trapdoor. As she came to the top, she pulled her scythe free from the edge of the hole and the false floor dropped back into place.
Her eyes returned to the old Paladin, who seemed to be staring hot irons into her.
“Come now; you shouldn’t be looking at me like that. It’s not me you have to worry about.”
There was a rumble outside and Daemonus came stomping into the Chamber, now holding a shield and sword that suited its massive size. The Paladin’s eyes widened when he saw the massive golem towering over him.
“Yes indeed, I do believe it is him you should be more concerned about.”
The old Paladin hyperventilated as the golem’s glowing eyes stared down at him, a sharp hiss passing from between its teeth. However, as it stepped forward, the Midnight Queen put a hand out.
“Fortunately for you, there are more pressing matters we must see to before Nightsong is finished with what you people call a castle.” She looked around in disgust and turned to walk out of the Crystal Chamber. “Come, Daemonus! We have a princess that needs rescuing.”