Homecoming

Sunlight glinted off the huge spires that stood atop the palace, making it look like it was made of gold. The marble walls of the palace had yellowed a bit, and the South Tower was crumbling, but the rest was as it had been when she was last there. The memories came rushing back again, flooding her mind. She saw the Royal Gardens and she remembered how she had run about there when she was a child. The careless laughter rang in her ears. She thought of her pony when she saw the stables beyond, and how many times she had ridden it, cool wind whipping her red hair. The streets outside the palace compounds were deserted, the shops empty. She remembered trying to make her way through those streets when they were crowded, visiting shops, and talking to the different people that thronged the area. After all, a princess needed to know the people she was going to rule over. And now those people cowered in fear, hiding behind their pitifull wooden structures.
Hadn't they seen her power? The Outer City lay in ruins, people lying bloodied and dismembered amongst pieces of jagged rocks and splintered wood, remnants of their homes. Craters dotted the land, grim reminders of the annihilation that had occured. Fires still burned from the structures that had mysteriously survived the devastation. The Outer Wall had been completely levelled, it's very foundation torn apart and flung miles across the surrounding land. But the people of Drede were as proud and haughty as the city had been. They wouldn't run. Not while the men of the city stood outside, garbed in burnished breastplates and plumed helmets. They had been arranged hastily in battle formations, following the destruction of the Outer City. Archers stood at the back of the formations holding longbows nocked with feathered arrows, ready to let fly when the signal came. Pikemen surrounded them, conical helmets on their heads, and long shafted pike at the ready by their side. Then came the legendary Dredean Centurions, resplendant in their golden breastplates and billowing cloaks, huge broadswords in their hands. Her eyes scanned their gritty faces, resolute and emotionless, like as if they were carved from stone. Then she saw her father, standing in the middle of the Centurions, a jewelled crown on his head. His face was stern, just as it had always been.
The harsh words came back stonger than ever. You are supposed to be a princess. Not some servant to a priest. How he had ridiculed her after all the hard work she had put in being an apprentice to a priestess. And now it had paid off. The power she had, it was exhilerating. And she wanted her father to see her wield it, and demolish his army. She wanted to see the look on his face when her father realized it was her. I am so ashamed of you. Why can't you be like your sisters? Why...
The list went on, his words repeating over and over again in her head. And then a new set of words made their way into her head, from a different voice. She turned to see Krodar, standing beside her in a richly decorated black tunic, poining towards the army confronting them, and more importantly the huge rock trolls that stood amongst the Black Cavalry. The trolls wore boiled leather, but she knew that their skin was as strong as any metal. Standing over 30 feet tall, the rock trolls were undoubtedly the finest fighting unit in the entire world. She could handle one, maybe even two, but three rock trolls along with an entire army would be a challenge. Possibly the toughest she had ever faced, compounded by the fact that she had no one to fight beside her, except 20 riders, wielding worthless swords, that Krodar had brought with him.
"It's time," he whispered in her ears. "Show them the error of their ways, the penalty for standing against Helyna. Kill them all."
Kill them all.
The words stood out in her head. Yes, she would kill them all, she would destroy them, hear them scream. And yet a part inside her screamed out, trying to stop her. The ground trembled slightly, and up ahead her father's army had begun their march. The Black Cavalry separated from the main army, soaring ahead, warriors in black armour and plumed helmets urging their war-horses on. Closer and closer they came, and she waited.
"Now," said Krodar, fear showing in his eyes.
The Cavalry kept approaching, faster. The voice inside her head grew louder. Stop this madness. Then the memories came back again. She was running across the lawns.
"Kill them, quickly." Krodar's voice was fraught with fear.
The cavalry were 400 feet away, trolls following just behind, cradling massive spiked clubs.
Kill them. NO. She was running, careless laughter in the air.
300 feet. Sweat streamed down Krodak's face. She could feel his heart fluttering like a candle in the wind.
She was running, and someone was running with her, laughing as well.
200 feet. Tiny stones on the ground jumped about as the trembling grew. "What are you doing," screamed Krodak.
The person running with her caught her and lifted her up. She looked at him, at her father's smiling face. More memories followed, like water breaking through a dam, flooding her, overwhelming her.
100 feet. A barrage of arrows shot up into the air from the archers, turning the sky dark. "Kill them, foolish woman. NOW", roared Krodak, shaking visibly.
And then a new entity entered her mind, clouding every other sense. Anger. It grew inside her like a huge beast, breaking free from it's chains.
And all hell broke loose.
A wave of pure energy burst out from her, slamming into everything around her, flinging them back like particles of sand. The arrows reached the pinnacle of their arc, and then disintegrated. The earth around her shook, and then ruptured. Huge walls of fire exploded from the fissures, instantly burning everything that passed through it. The cavalry was torn apart, their screams piercing the air, and their chargers running madly, flames dancing on them. Beyond them, Centurions lay writhing about on the fragmented earth, breastplates melted over them, slowly burning them alive. Their hideous screams filled the air, giving Helyna a sense of satisfaction. The pikemen and archers were motionless, their skin burnt to a crisp. Huge, black clouds of smoke rose ominously in the sky, permeated with the sickening stench of burnt flesh.
Helyna dropped to her knees, exhaustion taking over her. She covered her eyes against the stinging smoke, waiting for it to clear. And then she saw them.
The three rock trolls stood amidst the carnage, tendrils of smoke curling upwards from their thick skins. They charged at her, clubs raised over their heads. It was time for more drastic measures, but Helyna hesitated for a moment, not sure if she had the energy for another onslaught. Krodar's body lay mangled beside her, and her father lay amongst the Centurions, his body encased in a metal cuccoon. Anger flared inside her again, more than it ever had. Dark clouds formed in the sky. Then the storm followed.
Lightning rained down from the heavens, striking randomly, destroying everything it hit. Almost everything. A troll lay unconscious on the earth, struck on his back by the lightning. Twisters followed, massive columns of twirling air, sucking everything under it into the air, tearing them apart. It picked up two trolls, including the unconscious one, lifting them high up, contorting their bodies into grotesque shapes, and then hurling them miles away.
Helyna was sprawled against the earth, unable to control her powers. Her energy had been used up, and now her life slowly drained away, being used up in sustaining the massacre. Meteors were called down from the sky, against her will, peppering the earth, annihilating everything, including the ravaged city beyond. Her breathing came in short gasps, and her sight was dimming. She saw the third troll batting away a meteor with his club, only to be pummeled into a pulp by two others. The entire city was razed now, and everything around it had vanished, replaced by large craters. Helyna's breathing stopped, her lungs collapsing, pain wracking her body. She thought of her father hugging her in the lawns.
And then darkness finally came.