“What do you want?” Roger asked, trying to be brave. “Nothing much- just you to give me the crown”, she said. “What? Why would I give you it?” “No whys. Just hand it over.” She could’ve been filing her nails when she said it with such ease. “Why would you say that! I am your king!” “I see no reason why I shouldn’t have the crown. Don’t you agree, guards?” The guards looked surprised to be addressed. “We’ll never bow down to a fake ruler!” The guard who yelled at Candy five years ago said. The other guards looked at him as if he was crazy. “Yeah!” Another guard said bravely. “I didn’t want it to come to this. . . I could’ve made your minds less corrupted”, Candy said. “But if you must disagree. . . I suppose it’s time to DIE.” and when she said those words, her eyes changed to black with white pupils, and her wings expanded. An explosion seemed to shake the cavern.

Everyone besides three of them fell. Roger, Zach, and Denise stood facing the creature. “One of you is a fake king. One of you is a traitor. And one of you will live”, the thing said, turning to each of them in turn. “I hope that you know who you are.” “Stop this at once!” Roger yelled. “Oh, Roger. . . The sibling who had all the riches, who had all the love, who “rightly owns the kingdom”, drawled the thing bitterly. “I do rightfully own the kingdom!” he said. “The person who kills the king with their own hands rightfully owns the kingdom,” said the thing. “And that, that is just what I’ll do.” Claws expanded from the hands of the thing, and it sliced Roger’s head right off his body. It grabbed the head, and took the crown off of it and placed it on its head.

“Now, for the traitor. Would you like to argue or let me kill you?” It said, paying no mind to the fact it just killed someone. “I’d like to say that I am not a traitor,” Zach said. “Are you sure about that?” The thing said. “You were a traitor to both me and Roger.” “What do you mean?” “You killed palace guards and lied to Roger. You told Roger of my position, which sadly means that you have to die too. And what a shame that is, because I was considering to add you to my army,” The thing said. “You wouldn’t-” “Did you see me murder Roger?” “Well-” Zach tried to say before everything went black.

Two months later

“Who’s the visitor?” Candy asked Denise, her consultant and head guard. “They call themselves Dan,” Denise responded. “Let them in, I suppose. It’s always interesting to get visitors,” she said, bored. Dan could hear them through the door. He was prepared to meet this ruler of legend, who managed to kill an entire squadron of guards- and more importantly, the king. She- or it- was the first girl as a ruler that the kingdom had ever seen. He was both excited and terrified. Then the doors opened, and he was immediately dazzled by how bright it was. Soon, his eyes adjusted, and he could see a glittering gold throne, with a black velvet seat. And sitting on it was the girl of legend, Candy. She was wearing an armor of jewels and obsidian instead of the classic robe. “Hello, Dan,” she said. Her voice was hypnotizing, and it seemed to lull Dan to sleep. “You said you wanted to talk to me. It must be important business, for you to want to come into my throne room.” “It is very important, my sire,” Dan said. “It’s very important.” “Very well, you can tell me.”

I came to tell her about the resistance, Dan thought. Should I tell her? “The people are starving in my town.” “And you’re from. . . The mines?” “Yes.” “They haven’t sworn their allegiance yet. Until they do, I will not spare them a single penny,” the thing responded. “I also have slightly more important news,” Dan said. Here’s my chance, he thought. “A resistance is inside your palace at this very moment, about to end your reign of terror.” Candy didn’t look surprised. “Do you know how many rebellions I deal with in a day? While I am surprised they managed to get into the castle, they most likely will be taken care of immediately.” “You’ll have to take care of them now, then.”

Candy looked up to find three humans hanging on her chandelier, about to pounce. She pulled a lever next to her throne (one of many) and the chandelier arms expanded to make a suspended cage. Then, after Candy pulled another lever, the chandelier above Dan moved in front of a squadron of guards and lay to rest on the floor. After ordering the guards to take away the traitors, she said “I suppose you were working with them.” “I was not.” “There’s no point lying; you were, I can tell.” “Will I be tortured?” “Torturing is fun, but you have the joy of getting to talk to someone in the deepest part of the dungeon instead.” And with that, Dan was escorted down a winding staircase by the guards.

The staircase, about every ten steps, had a door to different dungeons in the castle. He could hear groans and yells of pain coming from inside of them. Soon, they reached the bottom. Somehow, Candy was already there, deep in a conversation with a prisoner. Then, she turned to face Dan. “This,” she said. “Is one of the worst prisoners in these dungeons. He is paying for the crime of treachery.” “The crime of treachery?” Dan repeated. “Yes.” The only traitor in the story about Candy was someone who was killed two months ago, Dan thought. Could it be? “This,” She said. “Is Zach.”