#zarmina

The queen, last of her kind, fled Zarmina on a ship with whoever had survived the attack. She now stood, barely breathing, leaning against a wall, looking back at her destroyed home with tears in her eyes and a pained expression. 

-”My queen, we must do something! We can’t just leave Zarmina! What if someone else managed to survive?” Callisto, the queen’s trusted advisor, came closer once he made sure the ship was secure and they weren’t being followed. 

The queen slumped down, not having the energy to keep herself standing anymore. Callisto flung himself forward, catching her barely alive body before it hit the cold, metal floor of the ship. She rested her hear on his shoulder, life leaving her more and more with every breath she took.

-”Oh no...” Callisto said, barely above a whisper. This couldn’t be happenning, he thought. He had spent his whole life serving the queen. He had been there when she lost her family and friends in the Great War. He stood next to her despite all the hardships she went through. And from a simple servant he became her closest friend. That is why Callisto couldn’t imagine a world in which she didn’t exist. “Help! Medic! We need a medic!” He yelled behind him, hoping it wasn’t too late.

-“It is okay. I have lived a long life. I believe my time has finally come.” She said with a gentle, albeit sad smile and reached a hand up, pushing a few strands of his dark hair to the side. 

-“Don’t say that. Please…” Callisto uttered with blurred vision. He leaned into her touch. This gesture brought out old memories from when he was still young and unruly. Memories of the woman that laid in his arms, fussing around him, most of time times because of an injury he had gained during one of his “adventures” as the other servants used to call them. Memories of her, fixing his clothes before an important event. Memories that made his heart ache seeing her like this, so fragile, like she could break from the smallest movement.

He was about to say something when the queen held her hand up, silencing him. She was focused on something behind him. And when Callisto followed her gaze he saw a woman. A young woman with thorn clothes and patches of dirt covering her bright red skin, crying over a bundle in her arms. When he looked closer, he saw that what she was holding, was an infant, not more than a few months old perhaps. The child stood still, with closed eyes, not moving while its mother cried her eyes out above it. 

With whatever energy she had left, the queen crawled closer to the woman, which jumped surprised when she felt a comforting hand of her shoulder. Turning around she was even more surprised to see that the queen was the one who had come to her aid. 

A small crowd had gathered around them. Some there to help the queen as Callisto has demanded, others to see what caused their ruler’s interest.

The queen looked at the child and then back at its mother, wordlessly asking her if she could hold it. The woman hesitantly placed her dead baby girl in her leader’s hands, surprising her yet aging with the gentleness with which she handled the infant. 

Brushing her fingertips against the child’s temple, she help its head in her palm. Closing her eyes and leaning closer to the babe, a faint glow could be seen in the little spacethere was between them. At that, the mother of the infant gasped, covering her tearstained face with her hands, only her eyes peaking above her fingers. 

-“I believe that it is quite clear that I won’t last much.” The queen said quietly, but her voice was carried above her people, reaching even the ones who couldn’t see her. “From now forth, this shall be your queen.” She held the baby high, whose skin had started to warm up and regain its red hue identical to its mother’s. “Protect her, as she will one day lead you.” She handed the child back to its mother who pressed her little girl close to her chest and looked at her dying leader with gratitude and disbelief.

And with her last breaths she turned to a shocked Callisto who was on the verge of collapsing into a heap of tears much like the mother of the newly resurrected child.

-“Come here.” She beckoned him and he obliged, taking her in his arms. “Please, don’t cry. I want you to celebrate, for you now have a new queen. An opportunity for a new start.”

-“But what good would this new start be if you aren’t there to see it?” Callisto asked, barely managing to squeeze out the words through the lump in his throat.

The queen’s only answer was a gentle smile before her eyes closed, giving in to the sweet embace of death and her body going completely limp in his hands. A scream of agony left the man’s lips as he weeped above his queen’s dead body. She was everything to him, not only a leader, but a friend when he most needed one, a mother he never had, a ray of hope when everything seemed lost, a beacon of light which guided him through the darkness. She was the only family he had ever known. Losing her would have crushed him, if only she hadn’t left behind a part of herself, an heir. But she did.

His purpose was to protect the queen and that was exactly what he planned to do. Swallowing his tears and sorrow, he gently laid her lifeless body down and stood up in front of the still crying woman only to kneel, looking at the child. Right then it opened its eyes, eliciting a gasp from everyone who could see the heartbreaking scene unfold. One of the infant’s eyes was a bright blue, much like its mother’s. But what caused the surprise was the child’s other eye. It had a golden hue, the same as the deceased queen’s. The babe’s eyes landed on Callisto and she laughed, as if she recognized him, and reached out her small hand towards him. With a pained expression, he extended his hand and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips when the child grasped one of his fingers.

-“Hello there, little one.” He whispered softly as if making any sound louder than that would scare her away.

The child, happy to have gained Callisto’s attention laughed and started chewing on his finger. Her mother, happy beyond belief, leaned down and planted a feathery kiss to her child’s temple.

-“My little morning star. My little queen.” The woman said lovingly as she watched her baby.