The Kingdom’s Destruction
How’s it going? This page will provide you with more details on the first chronicle entry in the Hypnotic Destiny series, a short story titled “The Kingdom’s Destruction”, available for free at your favorite retailer.
While stories within the series may not directly connect with each other, nor do they always follow a chronological order, if you are following a release date order, The Kingdom’s Destruction is the first entry in Hypnotic Destiny.
How much would you endure to reach those you love?
About The Kingdom’s Destruction
For the most part, the dilemma above follows our main character, Cristina, throughout this story. It starts off with her enjoying her day off, preparing for the birthdays of her husband and daughter, when an odd storm blankets the whole kingdom, drenching everyone in a green rain.
The effect of the storm is discovered when seemingly everyone develops plague-like symptoms. Last, the final symptom turns them into mindless monsters, attacking anyone nearby without reason.
As a result. this disease propels Cristina on a journey across the kingdom to reach her husband and daughter, hoping for their safety.
Can Cristina survive through hordes of diseased people without the will to kill any of them?
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The Chemist’s Robbery
In addition to The Bear’s Rescue, read a full short story right on this website, The Chemist’s Robbery, which is a prequel to The Kingdom’s Destruction, starring Cristina’s husband, Karl.
Excerpt from The Kingdom’s Destruction
Cristina charged through the plague-infested streets of Ostarin. No matter where she turned, people infected with this unknown disease punched, clawed, and bit each other for no reason at all. They all shared one common trait: a shrill shriek before the madness.
The dark cloud still hovered over the kingdom, and the green rain continued to fall. At first, Cristina wondered why it appeared she possessed an immunity to the effect of the storm, but like a puzzle piece clicking into place, she realized: the blood flowing in her veins protected her. Lineage did not matter at the moment, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, making one thing the focus: reaching Karl and Lea.
A sobbing teenage girl knelt over an older man lying face down in an alley Cristina turned into. The teenager appeared unaffected by the disease, as her skin showed no signs of dullness. When Cristina approached with care, she confirmed the man’s deceased status after seeing his lifeless yellow eyes.
…
The girl screamed, different from the shrill shriek from the diseased, and turned to face Cristina with a knife in one hand. Cristina jumped back, ready to defend herself against another of the infected, but noted that her eyes had not yellowed, nor did her skin flush with green. The girl wailed again.
…
The girl was experiencing a mental breakdown, Cristina thought. Killing someone close to you, regardless of its necessity, would break anyone. Cristina had treated people with that condition countless times in the hospital.
…
Cristina took a step forward. “You won’t believe me, but you did the right thing.” She gazed up at the green cloud. “Whatever that is, it’s affecting people, taking their sense of selves away. When your father attacked you, it wasn’t him anymore.”
…
The girl screamed again and slashed her weapon, missing Cristina by a few inches. “You lie! That was my father, and I killed him.” She coughed. “I stabbed my father, and then I did it again, and again.”
“I know it’s hard for you.” Cristina held her ground. “Trust me, the people here went mad, probably because of this storm. You did nothing wrong. Your father was dead before you stabbed him.”
Another scream, another slash. This time the blade nicked Cristina on the forearm as she attempted to dodge. The pain made her wince, but she did not move, not wanting to set the unstable teenager off further.
“Listen to me,” Cristina said. “I know what it must feel like—”
“No, you don’t!”
Cristina paused, formulating a better response. “You’re right. I don’t. What I do know is the reaction this storm is giving people. They are being… transformed. First, they develop a cough, then they get the sweats, like they ran in the sweltering heat with a winter coat on for an hour.”
The teenager lowered her weapon an inch.
“After,” Cristina continued, “some kind of stomach issue causes people to vomit. Their skin dulls with a greenish color. Their eyes yellow.” Cristina hesitated on her next words, wondering if they would set the girl off, but decided to say them. “Then they lose their sense of self and go mad, attacking anything and everything.”
The girl’s hand trembled, her purple eyes obscured by tears. “I still killed him.”
…
Cristina stepped back. She had been so focused on trying to talk her way out of the situation, she had not realized. The girl had coughed. Sweat from her forehead dribbled down into her eyes, making them resemble tears. The tanned pigment of her skin started to dull with a green color.