I’m writing this now before I’m sentenced to be executed. It is the final entry in my diary before I die. I lost my family, my hope, and all direction I had in life. I was forced to witness my brother being skinned alive, and my mother’s hand being cut off finger by finger. I hope to leave this here before my death in hopes that one day, someone can find this and expose the atrocities of the Ravenna Realm. Today, I’ll recount the events that led here, who I am, what I hoped I could be, and my wish after I’m gone. Executions are brutal—but for me—they assigned to me a quick beheading, hopefully it shouldn’t be too painful.
Life before the war was normal—at least normal in the sense of having a life. I’m Alyona. I grew up with three brothers and two sisters, all of which were annoying. I’m the second youngest of six, but I’ve been always treated like a middle child. I wish it weren’t that way. Perhaps I’m a bit entitled. I went to school at a prestigious magic school known as Valdystrovich. It was founded by Winterveil’s great founder Sami the Great. He was a powerful mage who could defeat most curse users, and established order over the pirate-controlled Bronze Sea. We had dominion over the Bronze Grasslands, an island of warring tribes and power-hungry warriors. But our outpost didn’t last long. It was destroyed by the Caesar tribe.
When Calvus III of the Caesar Tribe died, we wanted to use the Winter Army to get revenge over Fort Yelebey. However, his son Nero single-handedly murdered the entirety of the Lurco and Revora tribes, and United the tribes into a new kingdom. A kingdom known as the Ravenna Realm. They were friendly with us at first—Nero even met King Vasily to negotiate the possession of the Frostmetal Curse, but it never amounted to anything. Nero went mad—like real mad. This is what I believe started the war with Winterveil. I don’t know why King Vasily refused to use the Frostmetal curse. It was our most valuable possession. He could have given it to General Irina. She was more than capable to handle that amount of power. Irina’s father used the Frostmetal curse in the war against the growing Azura Province 100 years ago. The Inferno Curse user was held in check by our mages, but Irina’s father took the opportunity and dealt a massive blow. He survived somehow, and he still roams the War Seas.
Back to the topic of Nero—I went to sleep one night during the war, and I woke up on a boat, and I saw Winterveil in ruins. I searched the world for answers, along with my family, and we found out that Nero used the Apocalypse Bringer Curse to blow Winterveil up. Nero is long gone, his son Octavious rules now. He continued the order of killing Winterveil citizens, so we fled far away. However, we couldn’t go undetected for long. The Bronze Legion caught us and brought me and my family back to Ravenna. From here I was imprisoned. I have endured 3 years of abuse, neglect, torture, interrogation, trauma, and malnourishment. Even the mines were too good for us, according to them. I’m getting tired today. I think stopping here and writing more tomorrow would be good for me. I have 3 more days until my execution, and I expect these 3 days to be the most brutal of my life.