"And here I am…"

He could almost feel the warm breeze on his skin, its sound echoing in the ears from beyond the Imperial aircraft. The journey took a while and he hoped it would pay off at least slightly, humans were not doing a good job distracting him from thinking about the coming rejoining. Oh well, they might as well try again.

"Sir, we have arrived."

Emet Selch turned away from the narrow window and looked at a tall soldier in black Garlean armour.

"I noticed."

"We are waiting for the signal, once it is sent we shall begin the landing."

"Then I suggest you should put your effort into watching out for it and not bothering me."

"Yes, of course."

How incredibly dull. The few soldiers that came with him have grouped in the cockpit for preparation, everyone with their own purpose, cogs in the machine of this pathetic world…He was seeing metaphors for the mission in completely mundane things, the ascian reminded himself why he decided to take this break.

Emet leaned towards the window to take a proper look. The glorious city of Doma before him, the emerald walls guarded by proud loyalists, some of them Doman, others Garlean. And behind them the glorious castle, the jewel of the far east.

At least that's how the natives would call it, for Emet it was average, maybe slightly above. For what it was worth, at least this world had variety. Amaurot was a symbol of united perfection, while here everything was broken in its own way. Emet noticed once again that he was becoming more annoyed with every day, he could only hope that this bitterness would waver after everyone is reborn.

Soon the ship has finally landed, and Emet was the first one to set his foot to the city. Interestingly enough, he could see almost no living beings, the image before him was akin to the ghost town, like a giant sculpture of an entire town never meant to be seen by the prying eyes. Emet could only see a short man in white kimono and two silent guards standing by his side. The welcomer, it would seem.

"My lord."

Emet looked back at his bodyguard, purely there for the image, of course.

"Yes?"

"We will come with you and oversee the negotiations."

"No, I don't think so."

"His radiance…"

"Should have more prominent concerns. I can look after myself, and besides, do you even see someone who would attack me here?"

"It wasn't long ago when these people attempted to rebel."

"Killing me would not achieve anything besides a death warrant for the rebel and their family."

"But…"

"No, not now, I am busy"

"As you wish, his radiance ordered us to obey every command of yours. I would advise to be cautious, however…"

"If you have something to say, do it without a dramatic pause."

"The viceroy of Doma, Yotsuyu goe Brutus will be your contact. She is ruthless and from what we've gathered of her, not exactly in a safe mental state. A degenerate psychopath, to be blunt."

One degenerate proudly accusing another one of being a degenerate, how wonderful the Source was. The name sounded familiar, however, where could he hear it? Emet remembered that there was a member of Populares with similar name, Asahi, probably a relative.

"Zenos knows how to pick them…But being a psychopath and an idiot are different things, and I take it she is more of the first. Now, stay here and get to something useful already."

Emet walked towards the man welcoming him at the landing pad, as he was getting closer he noticed the pathetically fake smile on his face.

"Welcome, welcome. We have been expecting your arrival, Mr Emet…"

"Just Emet. A good old diplomat from Garlemald, of Populares."

Ascian expected this to be the worst part, but found out that he liked the charade. Sometimes his mission and duty got almost unbearable, and it was delightful to indulge in a simple charade of being an everyman to an extent. Few would recognize him as young Emperor Solus, including the Garlean soldiers, and quite conveniently, his convocation title could be used as a regular name in the Source. In reality, an Emperor taking a few days off to walk on his conquered lands among simple mortals.

"My lord, we are grateful for your visit and will do our best to…"

"Yes, I know, just cut the chase. I wanted to meet your leader, Yotsuyu, is it?"

"Yes, lady Brutus awaits you in her quarters."

"Well, I hope we would both enjoy this meeting."

"Shall I lead you to her?"

"Go ahead and tell her I have arrived, she'll have some time to prepare, I will come shortly."

"But wouldn't you want me to show you where to go?"

Emet looked at the red castle towering above the rest of this city.

"Oh yes, how could I ever know?"

"Oh…"

"Stop embarrassing yourself and get out of my sight."

Emet smiled and walked off, less people following him the better, they make it hard to concentrate. It would be nice to spend some time in another degenerate kingdom without babysitting Varis, Elidibus, Vauthry or whoever else.
…

The flow of the river, how majestic it was.

The crystal-clear water beneath Doma castle spreading all the way to Yanxia and beyond, engorging the farthest reaches of Othard. Sometimes the stream could be quick and tempered, the water pushing against the currents of wind. Today, however, it was deathly silent and static. It was similar to Doman people in a way, the burning hour of revolution has passed and only silence remains.

She wanted to finish the job.

Yotsuyu stood at the balcony watching the empty city and the river. She often woke up early, just before the dawn, rarely by choice. The woman enjoyed these moments, while everyone except palace guards were asleep and she could feel truly alone, free from all burdens her post brought. Yotsuyu hated people, her own kind the most. She took a breath from her pipe, breathing a cloud of smoke which rapidly disappeared into the air. It took a toll on her voice and lungs, but Yotsuyu never planned a long life anyway.

She heard a knock to her door, there was someone wishing to see her.

"Milady, may I enter? I have news."

She sighed in annoyance, it was earlier than expected and she hated having her meditation disturbed, but the power Yotsuyu had required sacrifice.

"Enter."

He wore a helmet, but she could fear his worry from afar. The viceroy took her pipe and made another breath.

"Milady?"

Yotsuyu slowly turned towards the soldier, calmly looking him right into the eyes, trying to understand how well is he truly holding. The man seemed nervous which was the norm, he swiftly gave an imperial salute.

"Speak your mind, I am listening."

He regained his posture and saluted.

"Yes, viceroy. Last night our patrol encountered a group of resistance partisans on route to Yanxia."

"And?"

Rebels were still present, but a very rare commodity these days. There were many people who dreamed of liberation, yet very few of them would dare to even dare to act on this thought, they knew that nothing awaited them except death.

"They haven't shown themselves for quite some time. So, tell me how it went?"

"We had a skirmish."

"I assume there is an array of severed heads being prepared for me, otherwise I don't envy you."

"We killed most of them, but few rogues managed to disappear into the night, we haven't traced them yet.

Yotsuyu shook her head slowly, soldier seemed concerned.

"If even one of them is still alive, this is a failure.

"Please, you have to understand. They were strong and agile, like shadows in the night…"

"Excuses, excuses, excuses. Let's not dwell on the topic if you don't want me to lose my temper, anything else?"

"We managed to capture one of them alive and are currently torturing him for information."

"And have you learned something?"

"He mentioned something…About a conspiracy and assassination attempt. On you."

This wasn't the first one, Yotsuyu did not even pretend to be surprised.

"I suppose he told you the culprit, are they dealt with?"

"He…Didn't tell us anything more."

"And is that it?"

"Yes, milady. I thought you might want to question himself."

Yotsuyu stood up and slowly walked towards the soldier.

"You dare to bother be in the morning bringing the story about how the trained Doman soldiers fell to some savages? And even the one they captured, they can't even question properly? Did you hope that I will react positively to your incompetence?"

"Milady, please…"

"Get out, now. Prepare the prisoner for our meeting, and then perhaps you can catch a thing or two about how you should do your job."
He nodded and rushed back to the corridor, Yotsuyu could be angry, but was there a point of being angry at degenerates? A waste of energy. The woman sat at the desk, clutching her pipe right when she heard another knock.

"Lady Yotsuyu? It's Shen, I have some very important news! There is a…"

Yotsuyu picked her musket lying at the table and pulled the trigger pointing at the air through the balcony, the loud noise of the gunshot quickly pacified the mutter. The she smiled and announced almost playfully.

"Come in."

She could see Shen, one of her most loyal servants. He was clothed in white robes and in his eyes there was nothing but loyalty and submission. He served with her for almost a year now and there is no one more loyal that a beaten down slave, she knew this all too well.

"Lady Yotsuyu, I hope I am not distracting?"

"You are, so be quick."

"I have been at the docks, the Garlean emissary has arrived and is eager to meet you."

Why do all these annoyances have to come at the same time?

"Well, he will have to wait, I have better things to do."

"He is downstairs, shall I tell him that?"

"No, just do some cleaning, I will deal with him myself."

"Are you sure?"

"I won't repeat myself."

Soon Shen disappeared too and Yotsuyu walked towards the door. This day was about to prove busy and yet very interesting.
…

Emet sat at the bottom floor on a chair. This castle seemed more impressive than the rest of the city, there was some style to it, but even in comparison to Garlemald it paled. It wasn't crowdy at all, there were various servants and lower rank guards passing by doing their duty. Ascian noticed two of them whispering to each other of their new guest, Emet looked at them judgingly, and this very instant they were apart.
Emet saw a teapot on the table near him with a few cups available, apparently this was somewhat of a gift to those who waited for the audience. He poured some of the drink into the cup and took a sip. Ascian could feel the warmth going through his body, as well as the exotic taste, this one wasn't that bad.

Soon his attention was turned towards a tall woman in red dress with long dark blue hair, same colour as Asahi. She held a long pipe in her right hand, with an expression on her face which showed just how much she looked down on all these people, including him. Emet was torn between feeling appreciative that he at least could find someone with a similar emotional reaction or laugh at the irony.

She approached him, examining him closely, Emet did the same. The woman took a glance at the tea.

"It wasn't prepared for you."

Emet shrugged.

"Well, I made the fairly logical…"

And then, he suddenly stopped. The ascian's breath was overtaken by this strange heartache, this mix of regret, anger, and despair which flew through his mind uncontrolled, Emet could not understand. This was akin to the resurgence of painful memories which flooded every time he looked at the end of Amaurot through his recreation at the First. He rarely was left speechless, and yet this was exactly what happened now, why?

And then he started to realize. Her eyes, two green emeralds, held a story unto themselves. And now the most painful shards of memory which he tried to bury long ago.

"So, what have you decided on?"

"The convocation is in debate on the matter, but we cannot escape the bitter truth. The cataclysm from the core will be unavoidable."

"We should inform the people and let them know."

"Please, not yet, not until we come up with a solution."

"Is it really wise to hold them in the dark?"

"It won't be long, believe me. If you spread the rumour, Hephaistos won't let me catch a break."

"If that's you want, but I ask you not to hold it for long."

"We won't. I'll need to come back to my business soon enough, sorry for not having enough time to…"

"It's okay, Hades, I understand. If the convocation will need any aid you just need to ask."

"Thank you for understanding. I love y…"

And then he was pulled back to reality.