Dusk

Dusk was a brilliant chasm of gloom from the day I was born and my adoration for it had only grown stronger since then. It glowered at the flames of dawn until the sun burnt the sky at twilight every night, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year until the end of time. Wicked blue flames licked up the walls, graceful in their hatred of the world. Four ravines- notorious as the great scars of the Entwine- comprised of different elemental and caligo stones, all converging into one central point entitled The Cardinal. Although there are four ravines separated into areas known as strata, there are five strata as The Cardinal is considered the highest ranking area and took strata-ship three generations ago.

The Cardinal does justice to Dusk, veins of all the elemental stones mesh into the marbled walls of the heart of our society, throbbing with the magic life force and the people- it's blood and soul. The main element of Dusk- caligo stone- is primarily ebony with smoky grey claws scraping through the rocks. The elemental stones are individual caligo stone types containing powerful gems, each strata adopted one as their main elemental stone based upon the majority of a type of elemental stone in the strata. If there were more than one, it was decided by the counsels. The Cardinal (who, of course, had a few issues with choosing their elemental stone) is represented by fire and blood. Due to this, those who belonged to the capital of our lands chose to wear the gems from the elemental stone to show their status. My own were gifted to me by my mother before her brother disappeared, the gems were striking and unmistakable; they hung from a silver chain akin to a knotted rope, tear drop shapes of gems trickled down the chain gradually growing in size until it reached a pendant in the centre. Each stone alternated between the warm, pulsating blood stone and the electric blue, sparking fire stone until they fused together in the pendant. The result was a surging whirlpool of live eddying, boiling blood and wildfire mixing into a tame vortex of pure, violet life.

Due to my Uncle being reported as missing during the trip to the city of Iris within the lands of Dusk, my mother was appointed Queen Regent as he had no heirs of his own, and my mother was his closest relative. The reign would have been passed on to me through succession if I was eighteen, as my Uncle had since been presumed dead, but, the events took place only a few weeks after my sixteenth birthday.

Although my mother never wanted to be anything close to a queen, as her dreams were to have a long and prosperous life with her family, she took the position so as to keep the people happy; to keep my people happy because as much as they seemed to like me, they did not want a young and possibly incompetent ruler- again. She always tried to protect me, one way or another and whether I liked it or not. And that made her despise the role even more. Taking on the role of Queen Regent meant spending less time with me and with her husband, it meant sitting in a magnificent yet hollow throne room or at a table of generals discussing defenses and offences. On the rare occasion, I sat next to my mother in the identical throne to the left. It felt wrong to sit on the throne next to her, but I enjoyed hearing the issues of my people and seeing how their problems were dealt with.

Today was one of those times, I had strode in with two guards flanking me on either side, just far behind as not to tread on my trailing skirts which curved up and inwards towards my knees at the front but falling short mid-way up my calves. The black satin skirt had a sheer, faint red overlay which merged into a black top with a sweetheart neckline and straps which rested around my arms and hugged them. The style of dress was my mother's favourite and flattered every aspect of me.

As the doors to the throne were flung open, signalling my arrival to her, I snuffed out the lights in the room which illuminated the path. As I walked down the centre carpet, I replaced the old fires with those of my necklace. The blue flames crackled and hissed as the blood danced above it, in time with my steps. We were one in the same to the beat of my heart and the magic's heart. I reached the dais and took my place on the throne next to my mother. "My, my. What an entrance you have made today, Meireza." I saw pride glimmer in her eyes at my progress with the magic as I acknowledged her with a nod.

A small, round man rose from next to the dais, signals had already been sent and received from my seating and acknowledging my mother, to the guards taking their places beside us and evenly spaced around the room, and this man was the last for the first of the people to enter the room. My mother lifted her chin and moved her shoulders back, setting her face into that of a strange mixture between interest and boredom as a young peasant boy entered and the small man declared "You are now addressing the Queen Regent Leocandra and Princess Meireza of the Dusk Lands and representatives of the Cardinal. You may now speak." And the day went on for hours, but for once, I was more interested in something else. My magic was writhing and whispering inside of me, as if alarmed and I did not understand why.