Ash lived an average life, more like a peasant. Every day, he would wake up and try to survive by paying off the debts he had taken on during his lifetime. 

The world was cruel, and he knew this; his house was just made of mud, which could be a great risk given the downpour of rainfall. 

When he thought life could not get any worse, he heard his door being knocked on.

“Ash?” the guard with a spear in his right hand asked,

“Yes”

All of a sudden, four more guards jumped on him from behind. Ash was startled, but not by sudden force but by the cleverness of the guards, as one of the guards gave him a “dragon sleeper”(a body lock).

He knew these were not ordinary guards. 

In the past, he had been an absolute menace for these guards, jumping, swinging, playing ropes, anything you say, he was uncatchable, he would pay his due just as the guards would have to use excessive force.

But not this time, he did not have anything to pay for and no hope for escape. 

Ash gave up this time, “sigh”, “well, this is it then”. 

Downtrodden, Ash was shackled up in chains, from head to toe and one of the guard handling his leash.

Life was dead here. All he could do was steal livestock and sell them in different villages, money he burrowed vanished as his mother died, plagued with sickness. 

The moneylender’s society eventually informed “The Queen” about Ash and his escapes. And right there, he was caught at the very first meeting with the “Queen’s Guards”

As he was paraded through the grim village, he caught up a few glances here and there; it was not that he knew these people and knew them by heart, but because the villagers knew what would now become of Ash. 

Every villager dreaded that and vowed to work and not end up in those shackles. 

“I am thirsty” “You got some water on you, boy?” He asked the thin, lean soldier.

I reply he only got an elbow, which immediately put him on the ground. 

They had been walking for an hour, but the destination was now on the horizon. A castle made with bricks, silver faded colour and pointy head tops, exactly as how a queen’s castle would be, each brick was at the height of an average male.

As they entered the castle, more guards came into view. The four guards slowly took Ash inside the castle through a staircase made for humans. 

Ash just looked up and thought the ceiling would never end. “Damit, how big are those walls?”

Every time he would speak, the thin guard would look at him with utter disgust. 

“Ash blinked on him”, The guard jerked forward to hit, but somehow controlled this time. 

They kept moving forward. 

As they approached the door, which would easily accommodate someone more than 100ft tall, the guards gave a head movement confirming a “yes” to the guards standing beside the door. A small door opened to the left, which was used as the passageway for humans. 

As they passed by a small corridor through the grand floor of the castle.

He saw her. 

The very entity everybody was afraid of. 

But what the Queen was about to do shook him to the core.