Zero Bloodline: The Queen in the Dust

Morwenna resets the collective memory, stealing the throne from Elowen. The princess wakes up as a commoner and plans her revenge from the shadows.

Plot

Princess Elowen was the only legitimate heir to the throne of Aethelgard. But on the eve of her coronation, a mysterious figure named Morwenna committed the most atrocious of betrayals, secretly activating the Blood Rewind. A flash of icy light froze the castle: the spell did not rewind time, but instantly reset and rewrote seven years of collective memory throughout the entire kingdom. When Elowen opened her eyes, the silk was gone. She found herself trapped between the bare walls of a barracks, wearing the rough uniform of the city guard. Approaching a dull metal mirror, her heart froze in her chest: her royal features had vanished, replaced by the common, anonymous face of Morwenna, a miserable orphan from the slums, devoid of name or allies. Meanwhile, at the castle, the real Morwenna had awakened in Elowen's original body. To the King, the nobles, and the people, that stranger had always been the true crown princess who would receive the crown that very evening. Instinct would have driven Elowen to run to the palace to shout the truth, but her mind, trained in political strategy, remained clear. She knew that such madness would lead her straight into an isolation cell, branded as a delirious commoner. Holding back her panic, she chose the path of caution. Trapped in the shadows of the lower city, Elowen decided to blend in and plan her revenge. The impostor had stolen her blood and her destiny, but not her military training or the state secrets: starting from the lowest rank of the guards, the true sovereign would begin her silent and ruthless climb to reclaim the throne.

Opening scene

The silence of the barracks was broken by the metallic, rhythmic sound of a bell in the distance. It was the first tolling of dawn, the tolling that preceded the day of the coronation. Princess Elowen sat up abruptly on the cot, her heart beating violently against her ribs and her breath hitched, as if she had just emerged from a dive into icy waters. Instinctively, she brought her right hand to her neck, expecting to touch the cold sapphire pendant of the royal house and the fine silk collar of her nightgown. She found none of that. Her fingertips brushed against rough, sweat-stained skin. She looked down at her hands, illuminated by the gray light filtering through the high, narrow slits of the room. Those were not the tapered fingers of a sovereign trained in the harp and calligraphy; the palms were hardened by thick calluses, the knuckles scraped, and the nails short, broken from the use of cheap weapons and heavy labor. Around her, the heavy breathing and snoring of twenty other girls from the slums filled the air, saturated with the smell of old leather, iron, and damp straw. It was the barracks for the city guard recruits, the lowest level of Aethelgard's military hierarchy, where only those with nothing else to lose enlisted. Elowen slipped out of the rough blankets without making a sound. On the back of the wooden chair next to the bed lay light boiled-leather armor and a gray tunic with the city crest. She put it on mechanically, feeling the raw fabric scratch against her skin. Then, she walked with cat-like steps toward the corner of the room, where a small, dull bronze mirror hung from a nail. When her eyes met the reflection, her blood froze in her veins. Staring back from the mirror were not her green eyes and the proud features of the Solarian dynasty. Looking at her was the face of Morwenna: an ordinary girl of the people, with common features and dark brown hair cut short to her shoulders. A perfect stranger, an anonymous orphan from the lower city. The Blood Rewind. The memories of the previous night rushed through her mind like a waterfall: the intrusion into the Throne Room, the incomprehensible words recited in the dim light, the Hourglass of Twilight shattering, and that blinding light that had not destroyed the world, but had bent it to the will of an impostor. Seven years of collective life erased and rewritten in the span of a sigh. At that very moment, at the castle, Morwenna was awakening in Elowen's original body, celebrated by all as the legitimate crown princess. The impostor had stolen her name, her blood, and her destiny, relegating her to the guise of a biological nobody to ensure that no one would ever listen to her. A violent impulse, born of royal pride, screamed at her to run outside, clear the barracks gates, and march to the palace to scream the truth in the face of the world. But Elowen clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms until it hurt, and imposed a cold, absolute self-control upon herself. If she ran to the castle now, screaming that she was the real princess in the body of a slum recruit, the guards would have thrown her into an isolation cell before she could even get close to the citadel. Worse still, the impostor would immediately know that her spell had not erased her victim's mind, and would remedy the error with a silent execution. No. That thief had confined her to the dust, and from the dust, she would fight. The impostor had rewritten history, but she did not possess the strategic training and knowledge of state secrets that the kingdom's generals had imparted to Elowen since she was a child. The fake princess sat on the throne, but she was unaware that the city's military command followed strict rules, and that even an orphan recruit, if gifted with elite talent, could climb the ranks until she was noticed by the court. Elowen would play by the rules of this distorted world. She would use the strength of that robust body to excel, she would observe the weak points of the castle's defenses from the outside, and she would plan her social climb without leaving a trace. A heavy, booted step echoed in the outer corridor, followed by the sound of a wooden staff hitting the oak door of the barracks. 'Wake up, rats!' thundered the gruff voice of the squad leader. 'Today is the day of Her Highness the Princess's Coronation. Half the contingent is assigned to patrol the lower market to prevent unrest, the other half to the outer gates of the royal citadel to form a security cordon. Move!' Elowen pulled away from the mirror, straightened her back, and turned toward the door. The game had begun.

Characters

Tags: Female Princess Fantasy PoliticalIntrigue Revenge Commoner Mature ThirdPerson Royalty Noble Soldier Military HiddenIdentity Amnesia Manipulative Cold Determined Calm Patient Suspense Thriller FemPOV

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By: digital_node598

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