Murder is usually quick. So was this; it was over so fast, it took a moment to process. At first, at the sight of Santiago and Anastasia having their heads removed, the crowd could only watch in silent, stupid disbelief. Then a cry lifted them to action, they swarmed over the steps of the palace, many falling before the scream of the hunters' weapons, as they raged upon the scene. They completely overwhelmed the hunters and tore them to pieces. From afar, King Shaddam looked with his ugly eye upon this event and his heart was pleased. With Earth3 reduced to confusion, it would be easier to overtake. He had plans to relocate to one of the pleasure palaces there, anyway. Things on his home planet were becoming toxic to his well-being.
On Earth3, chaos was the order of the day. The prisoners and lunatics swarmed freely all over the luscious and quite habitable island Matuszakstan had been founded on, and were only creative in their destruction. The many peaceful people were forced to live underground, or high in the mountains. Tribes and warring factions developed from one corner of the country to the other. The whole planet was plunged into disarray for years and years. Then, eighteen years after the assasination of Santiago and Anastasia, four young people were brought together in a secret chamber underneath the center of the country. They each had been led through a long tunnel that began underneath each of the palaces, and met at an apex. They all knew each other as children that they had played with, schooled with, like so many others in this age of secret society, but there had always been a special attachment. Finally it was all explained to them.

Next: The Art of Vengeance.