Rex Gloriae - Julia Kinney
“Long live the King!” echoes repeatedly in my consciousness, as flames trickle down in the night sky. These new stars glowing, lighting up the wreckage of the strong, wooden walls reduced to splinters. Cattle bleating in the streets, no longer able to run in terror, just like my people, clothes dirtied and torn, choking on the clouded, burning air.
The ragged rocks pointing up from the ground, new bones beside old. My obsidian castle outlined in shadows, air mixing hot and cold with the scent of the hopeless. The crows circle ‘round and ‘round, stirring the chaos of the night.
I stand in the opening of the gates, debris scratches, bleeds on my arms as it falls, just as my people do while fleeing past me. My velvety robes the color of soot, my crown long lost under the rubble of the town. My pride: the source of this flame, as hot and dark as used coal.
Julia Kinney is a senior at UAlbany and is graduating this May with a Bachelors in English. Her official writers page is j.v.kinney on Instagram and she can be reached at juliavkinney@outlook.com .