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Niteshade

Have I always been alone? Niteshade found herself wondering to herself within the familiar and comforting darkness of her throne room. She vaguely remembered others at one point in her very early life, but it was too far in her past to remember. If they existed once, they were no longer of any part of her life.
And yet she remained curious. Had there been a life before the goblin camp in which she grew up? She was not a goblin, obviously. She was an elf, kidnapped at birth for their amusement. It had been the same for the rest of the children there, the same story over and over.
At two, after learning to walk, run and talk, she was also finished learning to fight in the goblin tournaments. It was the reason she had been abducted, and it meant becoming a goblin feast if any of them didn't comply.
She hadn't necessarily been alone during those times, however. There were always others around her, fellow captives and their captors. The problem was that unable to get too close to anyone, thanks to the goblin tournaments.
It was those very tournaments which gave her a name, and an identity. Niteshade. It had been her first weapon she had ever used and she used it well against her first ever opponent. She had been horrified to see the boy sprawled on the ground. He had been so limp that she thought him dead.
He hadn't been, to her delight. She had simply knocked him out. After that first trial, her thoughts flew, trying to figure out what to do next time she was put up against one of her own.
Then it hit her. Magic! She knew full well how easy it would be to get rid of an opponent without hurting them too much and she could put on a good show so the goblins would never suspect.
By the time she turned four, she was the indisputable champion of the tournaments. She had begun to grow corrupt from the crowd, who often yelled encouragement to further injure the defeated child before her for their entertainment.
And then came the day which would forever change her life. She was put up against the one child in the entire colony which did not fear, loathe or resent her yet. The only one with whom she had begun to befriend.
Wissa. Her name had come from the the blanket she had with her when she was taken. She was an excellent fighter and often fought to kill, since that was what she had been taught in her previous troubled life. She was also undefeated.
It had been quite entertaining for the onlookers who cheered and jeered as the four year olds went at each other with an imaginary vengeance. They matched each other, or so it seemed, blow for blow and neither was gaining any ground.
This has gone on long enough, she remembered herself thinking. I've got to put an end to this. They have gone too far. In a magnificent burst of light, she tossed Wissa to the other side of the ring, half conscious, and caused a number of goblins in the first few rows to writhe in pain.
"I want to see the chief!" she demanded. Her small voice rang clearly in the ears of the silent crowd and sent a small chill up a few of their spines. "Where is he?"
An intimidating goblin with a strange headdress stepped into the ring and carefully approached the girl. Though he kept his composure, his eyes betrayed his fear as he bored down onto the little girl. "You are magic?" he said with a quaver so slight, only Niteshade heard it.
"Of course," she had replied calmly. The seconds dragged on heavily as she awaited his next move.
The chief's face had become grave. Anger now mixed in with the fear in his eyes, putting his mind into a frenzy. This child could destroy him at a thought if she so chose.
And then came a moment she would never forget. The man took off the headdress, allowing dirty, unkempt hair to tumble out, and gave it to her. A loud cheer went up in the crowd and she tentatively took it.
Wissa had been the first to pledge allegiance to her, being the first there and now awake once more. The rest present were quick to follow her example. No one wanted to feel her potential wrath.
In the last of the sometimes week-long conferences with the high council the goblins revealed a startling bit of information. They claimed to have done this, all of it, because the other races had forced them, first off their land and then off their own dimension. They fled here in search of refuge and did not find any. Niteshade sympathized and worked long and hard to discover a way to punish the people of this land for their heartlessness.
She soon learned of stories adults told to children as history. They also muttered similar things when they became irritated and times became hard. These were the many tales of the 'old world'.
A plan soon formed in the four year old's mind to deviously purge the land of these people. For a week straight, day and night, she labored to create a curse to make any and all who spoke of these stories as truth to disappear into thin air without a trace.
During that time, she decided to get a bodyguard. Niteshade was quite wary of the sudden friendship displayed by the goblins and thus appointed her only true ally, Wissa, to the task. She smiled at the memory of her friend's report at the end of that strenuous week. "I would tell you how many tried to kill you, but I can only count to ten." The pile she had made ended up having sixteen, the former chief among them.
The queen paid a visit before Niteshade had completely recovered from the aftereffects of creating the curse. Her majesty was not amused when she was greeted by a child who looked like she missed nap time who claimed rule. She did, however, decide to humor the elf girl with an audience.
The meeting was a blur to her to say the least. She remembered only making a small demonstration of magic, then being accepted as the queen's disciple. From then on the queen or one of her attendants lectured her on such things as etiquette and how to behave in court with the various other species aligned with the Fae.
And then she came into full power. The queen 'mysteriously vanished', naming Niteshade her successor. At ten, she knew all she needed to know and, after the necessary grieving, she began to raise an army. Once more she would purge the land, though it would be different this time. This time she would be more direct and this time she would force these other races into hiding. She would do all this in the name of her former majesty.
Once more, a smile formed on Niteshade's lips. She knew well the fate of her queen, the one who taught her how to get what she wanted to get, no matter what, without getting her own hands dirty. In teaching this, her majesty had sealed her own fate.
Wissa strode towards her throne and gave a short bow. "Your majesty," she said with a cruel smile. "We have caught the ones the prophesy foretold. They currently await your arrival."
There was a small click in her head. Her own fate had just been sealed as the conqueror and ruler of this world. All that was left was to face those with her own face, the ones who would make her no more.