She was afraid, she was alone. The last thing that she remembered was the warm comfort of her bed. Now she was floating here in an endless void. In front of her, behind her, above her and below her there was nothing but a shattered mosaic of red, black and purple. It was beautiful she had to admit but also terrifying. She felt like she was under water and no matter where she swam for lack of a better term the same mosaic of colors remained. She was trapped.
'Am I dreaming?' She said and thought at the same time. It seemed in this place her thoughts were not her own.
Then all of a sudden a cloud of vaporous black smoke appeared right in front of her, tendrils of red lightning striking Louise. She yelped in surprise, not in pain for the red lighting did not affect her in anyway. Sounds of thunderclaps and flash of lightning made it look like a storm cloud. If it wasn't for the unusual colouring of the lightning or the red baleful orbs that was emanating from it she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.
"My Mother." Its voice was horrific, like the buzzing of insects mixed with the cries of lamenting women. The howls of wolves mixed with the death cries of men. The whistling gale of a fearsome storm mixed with the shrieks of tortured children. Louise's ears bled as if the the eldritch sound was so horrific, that her brain thought it fit that being deaf was preferable to processing another agonizing stream of sound.
"GO AWAY! I AM NO ONES MOTHER! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Louise covered her ears as tightly as she could and screamed. Her voice was like a puddle compared to the ocean of this thing.
"Would you still reject me if I gave you power ? Let me show you your destiny!" The thing continued talking, its words managing to bypass the hands that covered her ears. The rolling black thunder cloud then dispersed forwards and took hold of Louise within its vaporous clutches. Louise could only scream as her mind was being broken by the sounds of every form of suffering known to man.
She didn't stop screaming when the sounds stop, she didn't stop screaming when she felt the ground beneath her feet. It took her a few moments to realize she was no longer in darkness and a few more to reorient herself.
She was standing in what looked like a throne room one could find in a royal palace. It took her some time to realize she knew this particular room.
'The Tristain Palace?' Louise was perplexed by how she managed find herself but even more so by how different it looked.
Instead of the vibrant and optimistic atmosphere she was used to as a child, the air in the throne room of the Tristain palace was heavy, oppressive and dark. Banners that were supposed to fly the heraldry of the royal family were instead flying a hand print, a hand print that Louise was all too familiar with, much to her horror.
'The Void Brotherhood has managed to take over Tristain?' Before Louise was able to realize the gravity of such a thing, the doors that served as the throne room's entry flew open.
An old haggard woman was walking inside, flanked by two threatening figures wearing heavy black plate and brandishing wicked looking halberds.
"Welcome to my home." Louise turned, not realizing the throne was being occupied.
Sitting on the throne was her mother or someone who looked like her, on closer inspection the woman didn't look exactly like her mother but from a distance she would be an almost exact replica. She was slouching as she sat on the throne of Tristain giving off an aura of power and arrogance rather than an air of grace and poise that befitted any rightful ruler, the woman was wearing armor that resembled that of her guards and her pink hair was in a bun, a very embellished crown resting on her head, the crown different from the one Louise was accustomed to and dare Louise say it? It looked even more valuable than the old crown.
Next to the throne was a significantly older gent, he stood straight and had a regal nature that was lacking in the person Louise assumed was the new queen of Tristain. Yet his eyes, as Louise walked closer towards the pair she was hypnotized by the man's golden eyes.
'Cicero?'
"After so many years languishing in your dungeons, why let me out now?" The old woman asked.
"I wish to show you something." Her not mother replied, her voice not her mothers but yet similar in an unusual way.
The false queen stood up and walked to an entry way to her right, the man whose eyes were like Ciceros following diligently with the old women and the two guards moving next.
Louise immediately tagged along and tried to appraise the woman. She wasn't old, not in the physical sense. She actually looked around the same age as the false queen. It just seemed she was old because of a multitude of scares that blemished her face.
'She's been tortured." Louise noted with a frown.
She then took a look at the guards that flanked the prisoner.
Underneath all of that armor Louise was sure they were wearing normal pantaloons and doublets. Their heights and build far too tall and too bulky for them to be natural born Tristainians. Their helmets were smooth and pristine. In fact Louise wondered just how in the world were they able to breathe or see? It was completely flat with no holes what so ever.
'Are they golems?'
She noted the bloody hand print that tarnished their otherwise spotless smooth helms. Judging by what she knew of the Void Brotherhood Louise seriously doubted that they used red paint to make those hand prints.
They finally stooped in a moderately sized room. At its center was a large table, a map draped on its surface. They formed a circle around the table, one of the guards grabbed the tortured woman by the hair and moved her head so she could take a closer look.
Louise was too short and as she tried to find a gap within the circle she discovered she was transparent as she fell through the old woman and landed on the floor. When she got up her torso was just above the map with her legs nowhere to be found.
Louise ignored all of this and proceeded to examine the map. It was of Halkeginia. Entirely covered in red and on top of it were the words "Empire of Tristainia", Louise's eyes widened in alarm when she noticed the lands of the elves were included in the domains of this Empire.
The old woman was similarly shaken.
"When I heard you were crowning yourself empress I thought you had finally lost it like that fool in Germania."
"You were wrong. In just thirty years I managed to conquer the entirety of Halkeginia. I made the Germanian 'Emperor' kiss my feet. I razed Albion into the ground when they dared to form a second Reconquista. I made the Pope of Romalia beg for mercy as I disemboweled him and scattered his ashes into the winds. I showed the elves the true meeting of fear as I crushed their hopes and ravaged their lands."
"Was it because of him?" The old woman accusingly glared at the man with the golden eyes.
"Is it because of him you've become the monster you are now Louise?"
Louise felt her blood freeze in her veins and arteries. Her eyes focused on herself. The Empress merely smirked.
"Initially, but I soon discovered how fun it was in conquering and creating an empire."
"Why are you showing me this?"
"Remember that day Henrietta? You said 'the day you would call me Empress would be the day you would kill yourself'? I expect you to follow through with that promise." Empress Louise handed an older Henrietta a dagger. The intent clear.
At the midst of this Louise was simply staring in shock at what she had just seen.
'I-is this the future? Is this what I'll become?' Tears were already streaming down her cheeks when sweet sweet darkness claimed her once again.
