~If someone would have told me I would be ruling over an empire a thousand years ago, I would have probably ignored or devoured them on the spot. I guess it's right what they say: Reality is stranger than fiction.

I have decided to start writing this diary because I am afraid I will go insane if I spend another night brooding over plans, what ifs, unanswered questions, the future, my Empire… and my son.

My son… I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to call him that. After all, I am probably the worst mother in the world. I abandoned him, when he was just a baby, gave him away to an old Malak or rather Seraph as they're called nowadays. It's not like I wanted to give him away and under any other circumstances, I would have taken him with me. But not like this, not as long as somebody is able to take advantage of him in order to get to me. What a petty excuse. It is my very own fault that almost everyone on this land wants to have my head. I could have gone another route, I should have gone another route, one that costs less human lives. But of course, once again I act out of my own selfishness. The life of my son is worth more than the lives of the hundreds of peoples, which I have devoured. But I have the hope that one day I can reconnect with my son and explain everything to him. He will undoubtedly be disgusted by my actions and hate me for what I have done, but he deserves to know the truth.

Which makes my current predicament all the more irritating. Sorey, the gentle shepherd. Honestly, the first time I heard this specific word combination, I wanted to smack my head against the next best wall repeatedly. My own son, who I had assumed lived a happy life in the safety of Elysium decided to come and explore the world. In all honesty, I was half-expecting this to happen one day. I know I would want to know more about my own kind if I lived my entire life with Malakhim. I mean seraphim.

What I wasn't expecting was for him to become the shepherd and thus my arch-enemy. I believe this is some kind of cruel revenge plot from the four Empyreans, either from almost destroying the world or from giving them a rather rude awakening 1000 years ago.

I guess it's partially my fault. When I heard that Princess Alisha planned on holding the Sacred Blade Festival, I wasn't too worried. In all actuality, I was looking forward to this, since it could bring forth another Shepherd. Hopefully, one that was nothing like Artorius, but I could always devour them if that would be the case. The best case scenario in my mind had been that I would be able to use the Shepherd to achieve my own goals. And in case that didn't work, well one of the few positives of being a Therion is that I never have to worry about gaining weight.

But of course, fate had other plans. Of all the people present in Hyland on that day, it had to be my son who made a pact with the Seraph Lailah, who served who knows how many Shepherds in the past. With her help, Sorey quickly became accustomed to his new powers and almost immediately began helping the people of Hyland.

As a mother, I am proud of his accomplishments. But as the Lord of Calamity, he's giving me an even worse headache than Melchior did with his illusionary artes. My plans are threatened to be thrown off the rail completely and I cannot explain the situation to him without endangering him more than he already is. The only things giving me some sort of solitude are Zaveid, who has accepted in becoming one of the sub-lords and Symonne, who looks after my son whenever she has the opportunity. I am truly lucky having such loyal allies as them. No, ally is the wrong word. It's what my old self would have called them if she had a good day. Those two are not my allies. They're my friends. My only friends, I have left in this world that is slowly being swallowed by chaos. Everyone else is either planning to betray me or too afraid to stand up to me.

XXX

Captain Sergei Strelka of the Platinum Knights didn't even bother to try and hide his scowl, as he made his way through the throne room. The room itself was practically a long hallway, with multiple large windows on each, allowing the sun to shine into the room. An impossibly huge red carpet was laid out all the way towards the throne, which was made of black stone and had multiple spikes sticking out of it. On the throne, itself sat the current ruler of the Rolance Empire, as was to be expected.

The ruler was a female beauty of pale skin, fiery amber eyes and shining black hair so long, it almost reached the ground. She wore an expensive red and black garment of the finest silk, which had a rose pattern stitched into it and revealed a fair amount of cleavage. The woman also wore a single, black opera glove, which covered most of her left arm.

This woman may appear human, but that was only a ruse. By now everyone in the empire was aware of the true nature of their new ruler, Velvet Crowe, also known as the Lord of Calamity.

Sergei barely managed to suppress a growl. To say that he hated this woman would be the understatement of the year. This woman right there was responsible for the death of half of his men, several Government Officials and who knows how many poor citizens had fallen to her claw before she decided to kill her predecessor and make herself the ruler of the Empire.

Right now she was giving him that smile. The smile that said: "I know you want to kill me, but I also know that you are incapable in doing so." It said something of Sergei's willpower that he hadn't drawn his sword and started attacking the demon disguised as a woman, even though he knew it would be a feeble attempt.

"Captain Sergei." The Lord of Calamity greeted her knight with her usual calm demeanor, though the smile never left her face.

"My Lady." Sergei bowed politely, careful minding the tone of his voice. "You called for me?"

"That I did." Velvet nodded, the smile leaving her face and her expression turning neutral. "I hope it wasn't an inconvenience for you. I know how much attention your tasks as captain require of you."

"It is never an inconvenience, when you call for me, my lady." The captain lied. The Lord of Calamity was quite aware that he actually loathed spending time in the same room with her for even a single second. The obvious signs aside, no normal human would be happy if suddenly a demon came running along, killing the ruling caste and making itself the new ruler.

"What is it you wish of me?" the captain asked, a part of him actually being genuinely curious. The rest just wanted to slit the woman's throat with his sword.

"I have received a rather disturbing report today. You are aware that our harvest has been, to put it bluntly bad the past couple of years. Our food reserves are holding up, but unless we have a better harvest this year, the people will starve."

"I am well aware of that fact." The captain replied. He was also sure that she had something to do with it, as the harvest wasn't the only thing that had been a problem for the past couple of years. "Does this have anything to do with why you summoned me?" he asked.

"Indeed." Velvet nodded, standing up from her throne, her dress no longer hiding the red cushions. "The report said that thieves have been raiding our crop storages as of late. I don't need to tell you what would happen if this continues."

The captain bit the inside of his cheeks, knowing exactly what she was talking about. In fact, just the previous day he had received the same report and took immediate countermeasures, by increasing the guard presence among the storage facilities. However, he had not told the Lord of Calamity about this problem, for a multitude of reasons. The most prominent one was that she would take drastic measurements and punish the entire populace for something only a select few people were responsible for.

"I want you to increase the guards stationed at our storage facilities." The Lord of Calamity ordered. "I also want you to investigate the thefts and find the culprits. I do not wish to the people to believe that the guards are not able to apprehend some simple thieves."

Captain Sergei Strelka had to blink a couple of times. That was it? Just a simple investigation? No searching the houses of the people, no mass arrests, no mass executions, not even a shortening of the rations given to the people? In all honesty, he was surprised. He didn't expect the Lord of Calamity to act so...humane. A second later, Sergei wanted to slap himself. A demon being humane? That was laughable. No, Sergei had simply underestimated the Lord of Calamity. Clearly, she didn't plan on making the populace hate her more than they already did. She wanted a functioning Empire, not a crippled one. That much was obvious.

"Understood." Sergei saluted. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Indeed there is."

Sergei cursed himself. He just had to ask.

Velvet walked a few steps closer to the captain. "Our spies report that the tension is rising in the Kingdom of Hyland. Their leaders are now openly considering to go to war with us in order to make up for the poor harvests they experienced as well."

The captain tensed up at those words. So it came to this after all. Even before the Lord of Calamity took over the Empire, the relationship between Rolance and Hyland had been far from good. Even in Rolance, a war had been considered in order to get food and possibly better farming land from the neighboring Kingdom in order to make up for the losses, though at this point it was talked about behind closed doors.

"Shall I prepare the army?" Sergei asked.

The Lord of Calamity put her ungloved hand under her chin, thinking. "Prepare yes, but do it discreetly. From what our spies have gathered, Princess Alisha is doing her best to keep the idiots who want to go to war in check. In fact, she has gone as far as to hold the first Sacred Blade festival in years."

Sergei's eyes widened. A Sacred Blade Festival basically meant that there was the potential of a new Shepherd finally appearing on the face of the land, someone who would be able to challenge the Lord of Calamity and remove her from not only the throne but from the realm of the living. There was a possibility, a tiny possibility that his homeland would be saved soon. His surprise was immediately replaced with horrifying realization.

The Lord of Calamity was well aware that the Shepherd would be the only person able to eliminate her. Surely she had some sort of plan in order to get rid of the Shepherd immediately, should one appear. Sergei had to do something.

Carefully masking his emotions, Sergei cleared his throat before speaking up. "I see. So, do you think Princess Alisha will be able to keep the government officials in check."

"I am not sure." Velvet shook his head. "Which is why I want you to prepare our forces, just in case. Humans are naturally greedy and mistrusting creatures. If they see her as a threat to their power, they'll probably try to remove her, if you catch my drift."

Sergei nodded, understanding. He knew enough about the politics to not be surprised at the Lord's deduction. He could easily see this happening in the Rolance Empire as well, as much as he loathed to admit it. So far they had been lucky. Their new Empress didn't appear to have any plans to expand her border and instead focused on securing her position as a ruler. From the looks of things, their luck had run out.

"I understand. I will give the necessary instructions immediately."

"Good. You're dismissed."

Sergei gave one final salute, before turning around and heading out of the throne room. Considering everything, this was one of the better conversations he had with the Lord of Calamity, even though it was one of the shorter ones. He had not lost his temper, she had not threatened him in any way or even indicated of that she knew of his secret plans to overthrow her. He was about to exit the room when Velvet called him one last time.

"And Captain? As much as I enjoy a midnight snack, please refrain from sending any more assassins to my chambers. I prefer to have an uninterrupted good night's rest."

XXX

~Captain Sergei Strelka is one of the most competent knights I have ever met in my life. He is not loyal to his rulers, but his kingdom and his people. Never once did I ever sense a single bit of malevolence coming off from him, no matter how much I provoked him. If he had been born a thousand years earlier, I am sure he would have become an exorcist praetor.~