The girl lowered her head low and respectfully, bowing and stating that the prince had replaced her servants at the last moment.

The girl was very adept at dressing a bulky wedding dress and arranging an ornate hairstyle from her thick mop of hair. The final touch was the crown, which Artemis did not allow the maid to take, placing it on her head on her own.

A quiet sneer was heard behind her, and she turned around, not believing her own ears, but the maid stood as meek and submissive as before. Having spent everything on her anxiety, she went to the door, but at the same moment a rag soaked in some liquid, tightly pressed to her nose and mouth, fell on her. And literally in a matter of seconds she lost consciousness, without even having time to understand what had happened.

The servant threw the rag aside, not even deigning to pick up the falling unconscious body. Her gaze was fixed on only one element that had value at the moment. Crown.

She bent down and tried to remove the crown from Artemis’s head, but it seemed to have grown into her head, which made the maid nervous, because no one said that she could have such difficulties, and time was running out and it was necessary to act quickly.

Unable to think of anything better, she grabbed the girl and threw the witch portal artifact on the floor, which immediately opened, and she stepped into it, dragging the Crown Princess’ body there.

The fourth day of the wedding was overshadowed by the bloody massacre of all wizards who fell into the planned traps of witches. The king and queen stood up for their own people, but were isolated and sealed inside the containment crystals.

It was the day when the king and queen saw with their own eyes how absolutely all their subjects died, and they were immured and could do nothing, just screaming in despair from pain.

Raphael forcibly grabbed the resisting Amanda and securely hid her in one of the dungeons of the castle, in a place that was known only to him, since it was a place created by him personally as a child to have a place for solitude.

She screamed and cursed him, forcing him to let her out so that she could help everyone, and in particular her parents, but it was the parents who gave him this order and he could not disobey it.

The next moment, he rushed to look for Artemis, who seemed to have fallen through the ground. It drove him so crazy that at that moment he didn’t even dwell on the fact that his entire race had been destroyed. My thoughts were only that she was safe, that she was alive. His beloved wife.

He rushed from one part of the castle to another until he came across a witch, who realized in horror that she would not have time to defend herself. Rafal was faster, the darkness began to swirl around him and spread like vines towards the frightened witch.

Those swirling, smoky tentacles wrapped around her body, squeezing her until a thin, bloody stream flowed from her mouth.

- Where is my wife? - he hissed with disgust and anger in his voice. His eyes were empty, but in this abyss, one could die instantly.

On her last breath, the witch whispered the place name to him and he immediately disappeared from his seat, leaving only the remnants of the swirling dark smoke behind him.

He used all the wizardry, called on all his powers, just to be in time at the place that the witch called, but what he saw deprived him of movement, speech and reason.

A huge ash heap appeared to his eyes in the very center of the forest. Nearby trees were engulfed in fire and cold weather and snow did not help to rectify the situation.

In the very center of this infernal flame was tied Artemis, whose screams of agony tore his eardrums as he made his way to her through the flames. He had to use wizardry to avoid being burned along the way while he was walking towards her, and at this time her screams became quieter and quieter until they finally stopped.

There were only a few meters left, he reached out to her and called her with all his might, forcing her to hold out a little longer, wait for him, but She just looked at him, smiled as much as possible with burnt lips and began to recite a spell in an already fading voice, and then dark red threads began to stretch from her to Rafael, wrapping around his wrists, squeezing and tearing the skin, penetrating inside, as if the fire itself was getting under his skin.

- I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, my love. – she couldn’t even shed tears from the heat of the fire, but despite the fact that her body was burning, her heart was still reliably protected, not literally, but being given to her husband for safekeeping.

His ears were still ringing with her last words, which she uttered until her body was completely submerged in the flames of the witch fire. He didn’t even have time to get close to her, she died right before his eyes in a matter of moments, completely giving her body and soul to God.

A sharp pain engulfed his entire body, forcing him to fall to his knees. It was as if his muscles were bursting and his bones were breaking from the inside out. Blood flowed from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth, which he choked trying to take another breath.

Raphael did not understand what was happening to him, but not a single cry, not a single plea for help came out of his mouth. He staunchly waited for this mortal body to release his spirit in order to follow his beloved wife.

But his wish was not destined to come true. He lay unconscious on the cold ground all day, periodically waking up and feeling how the unquenchable flame was still burning around him and how his own bones were twisting inside him. It was only at night that he opened his eyes, no longer feeling any pain at all, and the fire around him burned, but not so much that it was unbearably painful.

His gaze instantly fell on the place where Artemis was tied. There was nothing left but a pile of ashes. Even the bones were gone, everything burned to the ground.

He deliberately blocked his mind from the pain that was flooding over him in order to be able to finish the job.

His hearing suddenly became much sharper, so much so that now he could hear every rustle of an ant, as if it was close and loud, and his vision was so clear and distant that one glance was enough to immediately notice a moving animal five hundred meters away from him.

On that bloody night, not only wizards, but also numerous witches went down in history. His witch-smashing sword was stained with their blood and a red line appeared in its very core, along the entire length of the tip, as if the steel had absorbed the blood, now reminding him who his sworn enemies were. Forever.

His feet trod on the cold snowy ground, but this snow is not white, as everyone is used to seeing, it is mixed with mud and fresh blood in the slush. There’s a fetid, vile, coppery smell and the smell of fried flesh that would make someone else want to close their nose, but not him. This smell sobered him, supported his inner thirst, depriving him of self-control and adequacy.

Bones crunched under his feet, loudly and distinctly caressing his hearing, and he absorbed it with pleasure and ecstasy with his ears. With ears that from that day began to perceive sounds at such distant distances, which he could not even think of before. And his own strength had grown to stupefaction. The witnesses to that were lying on this ground now with severed limbs, decapitated and torn to shreds.

He stopped near a huge mound littered with ashes. This place was proof that there had been a bonfire here quite recently. But the bonfire is not simple, but sacrificial.

Pain gave way to anger and bloodlust. A sharp, heartbreaking, piercing hellish pain in the very heart. The once confident rigid stance failed and Raphael’s knees trembled, dropping him to the ground, which was still warm with the remains of the fire.

They say a man should not cry, but he could not restrain his tears, they seemed to live their own life and had no master, flowed without stopping. He continued to stare at one point at the ashes, realizing the irrevocability of what was happening and at the same time trying to make himself believe that this was a dream and he would wake up soon. But he didn’t wake up. Didn’t wake up from that damn dream. He was devastated and defeated, killed and defeated, but not physically, but mentally, which was an even worse outcome.

- I wish I had died instead of you, it should have been me. - Raphael shouted at the top of his voice through the tears that were not drying, through the hellish mental pain. – Temi. Hey, come back to me, baby. Don’t leave me, please.

- Why? Why did you leave me? – out of anger, he hit the damp ground with his fists and pieces of dirt flew apart, dirtying him even more.

Although it was hardly possible to get more dirty, all his clothes, his whole body was covered in blood, as if he had bathed in it. Dried, fresh, it emphasized his new eye color, which his beloved wife gave him before her death. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

- Why did you do that? I can’t even kill myself to be around you. - Raphael shouted through agony, continuing to complain about fate.

He destroyed all the witches who were here, who were responsible for her death, who burned her alive. But he could not find out who was the initiator, who took it into his head to take his wife’s life. The witches sealed themselves with the bonds of silence and in return paid with their lives, every single one. But even if it weren’t for these bonds, he would still destroy each one, in a sophisticated and monstrous way, exactly as they deserve.

He did not remember how long he knelt there in front of the place of her death, he did not remember what was in his head that made him calm down, but by the time the coolness of his mind prevailed, only one feeling glowed in him-an uncontrollable thirst for blood and revenge. Revenge on all witches. He got to his feet and walked to the center, shoveling the ashes until he found what he was looking for.

The crown of Artemis.

A magical artifact that immediately turned in his hands into the very sword with which he killed witches, but there was one special difference – touching "this sword" to the opponent’s skin caused indescribable agony, the poison from the blade of the sword instantly penetrated into the blood and caused hellish pain, corroding organs, melting the skin and destroying the soul.

He grinned at the weapon in his hands.

- So that’s what kind of power your crown has absorbed. – he said and disappeared, disappearing into thin air.

His parents had been released from the witch crystals in time, so their lives were no longer in danger, as well as the lives of his sister. But there were no more wizards left with whom they could extend their lineage. This was the end of the era of their rule.

It was this event that forced the elves to isolate themselves so much that it was now impossible to get into their country, since no one could find where it was. Faeries followed suit.

Every country began to fence itself off and defend itself, but not from witches, but from a crazed vampire.

/*************/