BLOODY VENGEANCE

A visit from the Goddess of Deceit and Illusion

Gudmund found himself in a temple, lying down on the ground when he opened his eyes as the light from the sun pierced his eyes. He immediately got up and looked around his surroundings but he could not still guess where he was. A voice reverberated across the room from behind him making him jerk away in fright. "Oh, you are finally awake!"

"Who are you?" Gudmund took several steps back, realizing that somehow his sword had followed him here so he pulled it out without any hesitation and aimed it at the woman dressed in a purple dress in front of him. 

"That's what I should be asking you, Crown Prince of Krudak." The woman seemed unperturbed about the fact that he was wielding a weapon to her face. She removed the veil that covered her face and watched him gasp in horror to her delight. "Why are you here with the heart of Hildr?"

"Drika..." Gudmund felt a cold chill run down his spine when he saw her face, two eyes staring at him while the third one was closed. He would have never thought that he would finally meet the Goddess of Deception and Illusions in this place but he knew at once that she was not his ally. "That is none of your business."

"There is no need for you to be so hostile, Son of Sigurd. I will not harm you." She walked closer to him and looked straight into his eyes. "I know what you did. I just want to know what deal you struck with that hateful woman to make her give up her most prized possession."

Gudmund bristled at her tone but resisted the urge to swing his blade at her head. Although he now possessed the strength and powers of a god due to the heart he obtained, he doubted he would be able to kill her anyway. "You should guess. Maybe it's probably the same reason you gave your third eye to the Queen of Yottera Kingdom."

Drika's eyes flashed with surprise when she heard his words but then she smiled again leisurely as she sat down on the stone chair that was placed in the middle of the room. "What can I say? I had to give them something to reward them for serving me so loyally all this years."

"No, what you did was to help them achieve your evil scheme!" Gudmund stabbed the sword with a sharp clash into the ground as he glared at her. "You think I don't know that eye was what Selene used to control me into giving her the city's underground map back then?"

Gudmund felt his heart harden again when he said those words. The Krudak Kingdom was the biggest and most prosperous among the three kingdoms that occupied their planet. The biggest advantage they had over their fellow allies was the underground tunnels they possessed over the planet and the map was safely stored by the royals who guarded it with their lives. Back then he had been foolish and naive to fall in love with Selene, so much so that he made her his fiancée and trusted her with all his secrets except one. One night after losing his virginity to the woman he loved, he gave her the city's underground map as a part of her dowry and the next morning he woke up, his kingdom was under attack. 

His people were held under a siege for a long time but they refused to yield and instead sent a letter to their second ally, the Scuzar Empire warning them of what the Yottera Kingdom had done. To his utter surprise back then, the army he thought was for reinforcement for his kingdom turned out to be Yottera's allies in the whole scheme. His capital defense had been broken through and his people were slaughtered like sheep in the throes of war. 

He had thought that everything could be saved as long as his own people stayed as one and worked to overcome the crisis but life taught him another bitter lesson when he finally learned that he not only had external enemies but also internal ones. His father was later killed by his most trusted general, Commander Ingouf while him and his brothers were imprisoned by his sons, Elif and Eluf...the two people whom he had called his best friends and had been raised like princes along him and his siblings. 

He had destroyed his kingdom with his own bare hands and stupid heart. 

"You and the Yottera Kingdom will pay for what they did to us." Gudmund's eyes flashed golden as his heart brimmed with hatred and vengeance. His anger and pain fueled his powers causing him to see a familiar purple haze that hovered over his eyes. "Don't think about controlling me again. That is no longer possible due to Goddess Hildr's kindness."

"Kindness? You think that Hildr is helping you out of kindness?" Drika looked at him incredulously for a moment before she gave a loud laugh that echoes through the empty temple. She leaned back on the chair and wiped away the tears at the corner of her eyes with her forefinger as she grinned at him. "You still haven't changed at all. Be warned, Son of Sigurd. Out of all the gods on the planet, I am not your only enemy..."

"My prince! My prince!" Gudmund could vaguely hear someone calling his name. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he did was to grab the sword beside him and place it on the neck of the servant who had woken him up. The poor maiden stilled herself and looked at him, terrified. "My prince... please spare my life!"

Gudmund looked around and saw that he was still in his room so his tensed body finally relaxed when he realized that he had been in a dream all this while. He lowered the sword and snapped at the maid. "What is it?"

"Your father summons you this moment." The young maid stepped back from him and swallowed fearfully as she lowered her eyes, not daring to meet his gaze. "Please wash up and eat. You are to welcome your fiancée, Princess Selene of the Yottera Kingdom in thirty minutes."