Chapter 2: Val's body
The click of marble on wood was the only sound in the room. Val stared at the board, not really seeing the pieces. Her knight was trapped. It was a simple, obvious trap, one her old self would have spotted and dismantled three moves ago. Now, it just felt like a wall she couldn’t climb.
Lilith watched her, those gold-flecked eyes unreadable. She hadn’t gloated, hadn’t pressed her advantage. She just waited, her fingers steepled under her chin. The eerie light from the room’s enchanted sconces made the shadows of the chess pieces stretch and warp like grasping fingers.
“Your mind is elsewhere,” Lilith said, her voice soft. It wasn’t an accusation. It was worse. It was pity.
“It’s nowhere,” Val muttered, pushing the knight forward into the inevitable capture. A pointless sacrifice. “It’s just… empty.”
Before Lilith could respond, the air in the room shifted. It grew cold, and the shadows in the corner of the room deepened, coalescing into a solid form. A figure stepped out of the darkness as if simply parting a curtain. Raziel.
They were tall and unnervingly slender, draped in robes of grey that seemed to absorb the light. Their face was androgynous, perfectly symmetrical, and utterly devoid of warmth. A smile played on their lips, a subtle, knowing curve that didn’t reach their eyes.
“My apologies for the interruption,” Raziel said, their voice a smooth, genderless whisper that seemed to come from everywhere at once. “But I couldn’t help but observe the… game.”
Lilith’s posture stiffened almost imperceptibly. “Raziel. This is a private moment.”
“All moments are of interest to the Crown, my dear General.” Raziel glided forward, their gaze sweeping over the chessboard. “And this one is particularly fascinating. Watching a legendary strategist play like a raw recruit. It’s… poetic.”
Val felt a hot flush of shame creep up her neck. She kept her eyes on the board, on her doomed knight.
“Her skills will return,” Lilith said, her voice tight.
“Will they?” Raziel picked up the captured knight, rolling the cool marble between their long fingers. “That’s the question, isn’t it? The transformation was so much more than cosmetic. We didn’t just break the soldier, Lilith. We broke the sword.”
Val’s head snapped up. “What are you talking about?”
Raziel’s smile widened, showing a thin line of perfect, white teeth. “The Queen’s magic is not a blunt instrument. It’s a scalpel. We didn’t just change your face and suppress your fire, little Sunstone. We went for the root of your power. The part of your mind that could sense the flow of battle, that could calculate trajectories and probabilities faster than any mortal should. The part that made you a General.” They leaned in, their voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “We snipped it right out.”
The silence in the room was absolute. Val could hear the frantic thumping of her own heart.
“That’s not possible,” Lilith breathed, her composure cracking for the first time.
“Oh, it is.” Raziel tossed the knight into the air, catching it without looking. “Think about it. The magical aptitude, gone. The muscle memory with a blade, reduced to the clumsy swings of a conscript. And the strategic mind…” They gestured to the chessboard. “Well, you see the results. You’re not playing against General Thorne. You’re playing against a teenager who remembers being good at chess once, a long time ago. The aptitude itself is gone.”
Val’s hands began to shake. She curled them into fists, her short nails digging into her palms. The feeling of emptiness in her head, the frustrating fog that descended every time she tried to think tactically—it wasn’t grief or trauma. It was surgical. They had hollowed her out.
“Why?” The word was torn from her, raw and broken.
“To make you manageable,” Raziel said with a casual shrug. “A brilliant General is a threat, even in chains. A common soldier is a tool. Or a pet.” Their eyes flicked to Lilith. “Though some seem to have developed a sentimental attachment to the tool.”
Lilith stood, her chair scraping against the floor. “You will leave. Now.”
“Of course.” Raziel gave a slight, mocking bow. “I merely thought you should understand what you’re working with. Don’t waste your time trying to sharpen a blade that has no edge. You can’t re-teach genius. It’s either there, or it isn’t.” They paused at the edge of the shadows, looking back at Val. “The auction block was a mercy. You were already broken. We just made it official.”
They melted back into the darkness, and the cold receded with them.
Val was on her feet. The chessboard went flying, pieces scattering across the opulent rug with a sound like falling hail. She couldn’t breathe. The walls of the gilded room felt like they were closing in, the dancing shadows now felt like they were laughing at her.
All of it—the humiliation on the block, the clumsy loss to Kael in the courtyard, the pathetic chess game—it wasn’t just her failing to cope. It was her being less. They had reached inside her skull and taken the things that made her her.
Lilith was saying her name, over and over, but the words were just noise.
Val stumbled back from the table, clutching at her head. She looked at her hands—the hands that had once held a sword with unerring precision, that had traced battle plans on maps. They were just hands now. Useless.
“It’s true,” she whispered, the realization a physical blow to her gut. “It’s all true.”
She looked at Lilith, and saw the confirmation in her eyes. The pity was gone, replaced by a horrified understanding. Raziel didn’t lie. Not about things like this.
The momentum of the revelation propelled her backwards, away from Lilith, away from the scattered pieces of the game she could never win again. She hit the wall beside the grand window, the cold stone a shock against her back. She slid down to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest, making herself small.
She wasn’t a General. She wasn’t a warrior. She was just a thing that had been carefully, precisely dismantled.
Lilith took a step toward her, her hand outstretched, but Val flinched away.
“Don’t,” Val choked out, burying her face in her knees. The sobs came then, wracking and violent, tearing through her with a force that felt like it would break her ribs. There were no words for this kind of loss. It was a void where her self used to be.
Lilith stood frozen in the center of the room, surrounded by the wreckage of the game, her own plan in ruins. The only sound was Val’s shattered weeping, echoing in the opulent silence.
She had thought that time and patience would heal Val’s wounds, that the General would return, stronger and more resilient than before. But now, faced with the harsh truth, she felt a despair unlike any she had known before.
After what felt like an eternity, Lilith finally took a step forward, her boots sinking into the plush rug with a soft thud. She reached out a tentative hand, lightly touching Val’s shoulder. The action was met with a sharp intake of breath, but Val did not pull away.
Instead, she raised her head, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She looked at Lilith, and for a moment, there was a silent exchange between them—a thousand words unspoken, a thousand emotions shared.
“I’m sorry, Valerie,” Lilith whispered, her voice hoarse with unshed tears. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Val’s lower lip trembled, but she held Lilith’s gaze, her eyes filled with a raw, brutal honesty. “I know you are,” she said, her voice barely audible. “But it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t fix me." A broken giggle escaped, "A useless girl barely of age, who used to be a general. A worthless piece of livestock. Or a pet." Val whispered. "That’s all I am now."
Lilith felt her heart shatter. The pain in Val’s voice, the resignation, the self-loathing—it was a knife twisting in her gut. She knelt beside Val, her hands cupping her face, her thumbs brushing away the tears.
"No, Valerie. Never that," she said fiercely. "You are not worthless. You are not a pet. You are so much more than that.
You are my heart, my strength, my everything." Lilith's voice cracked with emotion, her own tears threatening to spill over. She pulled Val into a tight embrace, her arms wrapping around her, holding her close. Val tensed at first, her body stiff and unyielding, but then she seemed to crumble, her shoulders shaking as she broke down into fresh sobs.
Lilith held her tightly, rocking her gently as Val cried, her own tears mingling with Val's. It was a raw, anguished sound, a desperate, broken cry that tore through Lilith like a knife.
She held Val closer, her fingers tangling in her hair as she pressed her face into the crook of her neck. She rocked her gently, murmuring soft, useless words of comfort. "It's alright, Valerie. It's alright. I've got you. I'm here."
The sobs eventually subsided, leaving Val limp and exhausted in Lilith's arms. Her breathing was ragged, her chest heaving with the force of her tears. Lilith pulled back slightly, her hands framing Val's face, her thumbs brushing away the last of her tears.
Val's eyes were red and puffy, her breath still hitching in the aftermath of her emotional release. Just as Lilith was about to speak, the air in the room shifted once more. The shadows danced at the edges of their perception, coalescing once again into the form of Raziel.
They stood there, their grey robes billowing slightly in the sudden chill, their androgynous face a mask of casual indifference. Val tensed in Lilith's arms, her eyes widening in shock and fear at the unwelcome interruption.
"You," Val growled, her voice ragged and raw from crying. "What do you want now?"
Raziel's smile was a thin, cruel line. "I told you before, my dear General, I have a vested interest in your progress. Besides your Mistress kicked me out before letting me finish what I had to say. So rude," Raziel added with a mock pout.
Lilith's grip on Val tensed, her eyes narrowing at Raziel. "Out. Now. You've done enough damage for one night."
Raziel held up their hands in a placating gesture. "Fine, fine. I'll go, if you don't want to know how to fix her." Raziel's eyes flicked to Val, a brief moment of empathy flashing across their face before it was swiftly replaced by that maddeningly calm smile.
Lilith's eyes widened in surprise. "Fix her?" she echoed, her voice barely above a whisper. "You can't fix what was taken."
Raziel's smile turned into a knowing smirk. "Well, that's where you're wrong, dear General. Everything can be fixed... for a price."
Val's eyes snapped up, her breath hitching as she slowly pulled herself out of Lilith's embrace.
"Loyalty, obedience, and submission. Once you have proven these three empirically you magic, martial, and mental prowess will return . No shortcuts." Raziel’s voice was like ice, sharp and cold.
Val was still weak from crying, her body shaking slightly as she stood. Her eyes were locked onto Raziel, her gaze fierce and determined. "No." She spat out the word, her voice filled with defiance. "I will not be your puppet, your pet, your experiment."
Raziel's smile never wavered, but there was a hint of surprise in their eyes. "You cannot truly mean that, General. You are a warrior, a leader. You understand the importance of order, of discipline.
You know what it takes to lead, to inspire, to command. So why would you deny yourself the chance to reclaim that power?" Raziel's voice was a smooth purr, a gentle coaxing that belied the sharp edge beneath.
Val's hands clenched into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. She could feel the prickle of magic still lingering in her veins, the remnants of the transformation that had reduced her to this. "Because I won't trade my soul for a chance to fight again," she snapped.
"I won't grovel and beg for scraps of power. I won't be your pawn, your experiment, your fucking pet!"
Val's voice echoed through the chamber, raw and full of pain and fury. Lilith watched her, pride and fear warring within her. She knew Val's spirit, knew the fire that burned within her. It was that fire that had drawn Lilith to her all those years ago. But she also knew the cost of defiance, the punishment that awaited those who dared to challenge the Crown.
Raziel's smile faded, replaced by a cold, stern look. "You cannot afford to refuse this offer, General.
The Queen expects results. She expects fighters, not broken dolls. And you, Valerie Thorne, are a broken doll. A pretty, empty shell. Do you really want to spend the rest of your existence like this? A shadow of who you once were?" Raziel's voice was like a whip, cracking through the air, stinging Val's senses.
Lilith stepped forward, her body language protective, her voice steady despite the storm raging inside her. "And what if she does refuse? What then?"
Raziel's gaze flicked to her, their eyes cold and calculating. "Then, well... I guess you have a cute toy then huh?" Her face flicking to a smile and turning to Val, "But, to 'throw you a bone' you only need to prove it to her." As she points to Lilith.
"But I've said everything, so farewell.
Hopefully, we'll talk again soon." Raziel bowed their head slightly, their voice dripping with sarcasm. They turned to leave, but Val's voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Wait," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Raziel paused, their back still turned to her. "What do you mean, 'prove it to her'?"
Raziel turned slowly, their eyes meeting Val's. "You want to regain your power, your status, your respect? Prove to her that you are still worthy of it. Prove your loyalty, obedience, and submission. Then the queen will not see you as a threat, and feel no need to keep you crippled." Raziel's voice was clear and concise, devoid of any emotion.
Val's eyes narrowed, her mind racing. "You're saying that if I can prove my loyalty, obedience, and submission to Lilith, the Queen will restore my abilities?"
Raziel nodded. "Precisely. The Queen's magic is meant to be a tool for control, a way to ensure that those in power remain there. If you can prove that you are no threat, that you are under control, then the magic will be lifted."
Lilith watched the exchange, her heart pounding in her chest.
She had known that Val was broken, but to hear it confirmed so brutally, to see the pain and disbelief in Val's eyes—it was almost too much to bear. She had always prided herself on her strength, her ability to remain calm and composed in the face of adversity. But this... this was something else entirely.
Val's eyes were locked onto Raziel, her gaze fierce and determined.
She took a deep breath, her mind racing as she processed what Raziel had said. "And if I refuse?
Raziel shrugged, their expression unreadable. "Then you will remain as you are. A broken doll, a pet, a plaything. The Queen's gift to her favorite." She could feel the familiar anger rising inside her, the same anger that had fueled her rebellion against the Queen's rule. But now, she wasn't fighting for a cause or a kingdom. She was fighting for herself.
For her pride, her dignity, her very essence. She had to. She couldn't bear the thought of being reduced to a pet, a plaything, a broken doll. But as Raziel's words echoed in her mind, Val felt a chill run down her spine. She had no choice. Not if she wanted to reclaim her power, her strength, her self.
Raziel turned to leave, their robes billowing dramatically behind them as they stepped back into the shadows. "Farewell, my dear General," they said, their voice a mocking sigh as they melted away, leaving nothing but emptiness behind.
Val watched them go, her heart pounding in her chest. She felt a mix of relief and dread. Relief that Raziel was gone, leaving her with the one person who mattered most. Dread at the thought of what she had to do.
She turned to Lilith, who was watching her with worry etched deep into her features. Val saw the questions in her eyes, the silent pleas for understanding and reassurance.
Val looked down, "what... do I do now?" Val's voice was a hoarse whisper, echoing in the empty room. She looked down at her hands, fingers still curled into shaking fists. "I didn't think I know how to trust anymore, myself or anyone else."
Val felt the weight of Lilith's gaze, a silent plea for reassurance, for understanding. She couldn't meet her eyes. Not yet. Instead, she focused on the scattered pieces of the chessboard, the game that seemed like a lifetime ago.
She picked up a pawn, its once-smooth surface now chipped and worn from years of use. It was a symbol of the General she used to be, a strategist who could see the battles before they were even fought. Now, she was reduced to this—a pawn in someone else's game.
"I don't know, Valerie," Lilith said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know what to do. I can't fix this. I can't make it go away."
Val looked up, her eyes meeting Lilith's.
There was a raw, painful honesty in her gaze. "I know you can't. I don't expect you to. But... I need time. Time to think. Time to figure out what I'm going to do."
Lilith nodded, her eyes filled with unshed tears. She reached out, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind Val's ear. "Take all the time you need, Valerie. I'm here for you, no matter what you decide."
Val nodded, her eyes dropping to the pawn in her hand. She turned it over and over, her fingers tracing the worn surface.