Until the stars are all alight

Mercury POV
It had been a week since Mercury's forces had captured the coastal cities of Teirm, Kuasta and Narda, along with the vast majority of the Empire's navy, which had been stationed in just those cities. The rest of the imperial navy was being hunted down even now, as they really did not stand any chance against the three fleets that he had brought with him to finish this end of the job.

Even one of his fleets would have easily been able to finish off what remained of the imperial navy, but Mercury had always believed that it was better to error on the side of caution, as there was always an element of uncertainty whenever wars were being fought.

Even though the three fleets in and of themselves were an impressive enough force, their purpose was actually more along the lines of making sure that the sea truly and unquestionably belonged to the Alliance, so as to not have any chances of the Alagaësians sneaking forces around his own ground forces that had landed unhindered in the three coastal cities, which consisted of just three Alliance Swords; the First, Second and Fifth swords to be exact, or roughly 30.000 men.

"The final reports have just come in", his aide, Ilumëo, said from in front of his desk, which was actually the previous lord of Teirm's desk, "during the extent of Operation A Foot in the Door, 537 natives were killed, of which 356 were guards and the remaining 181 civilians were killed while attempting to obstruct our forces. Furthermore, a total of 32 allied people were killed, of which all were native mercenaries, while Alliance forces came out with only 11 wounded, of which none were critical".

"Thank you, inform the men that with the successful end of Operation A Foot in the Door, Operation No Mercy will commence immediately", Mercury responded as he swirled around the wine in the wineglass that he was holding in his right hand, which no longer held his signet ring, as it was kept with the other three when he did not need it.

It had a strange yet mystifying glow that resulted from the light of the small noflam that he had brought with him from his ship's quarters. The wine almost seemed alive as the swirling made it change to give out first an orange, then a red and sometimes even a pink colour.

A noflam was an invention that had first seen the day of light during one of the annual contests for advancement that Mercury sponsored. It was, in all its simplicity, a small dwarven lantern on a small metal rod that fitted unto any desk-space and which had been spelled to turn off when one tapped it twice and to turn on when you only tapped it once, though the larger models meant for lighting up entire rooms were more often than not spelled to do the same with the sound of someone snapping their fingers twice or once.

The contests, where the noflam had first seen the day of light, were actually divided up into three major categories; pure magic, pure non-magic and mixed, where the pure magic part was solely based around admitting advances in magic spells and so on, while the non-magic part was focused on learning to accomplish or predict the outcome of things without the use of magic, and finally, the mixed part revolved around trying to take mundane machinery and problems and solve or improve them with the help of magic, but so that non-mages could also operate the machinery.

Since Mercury sponsored the annual contests, he was always given the privilege of setting the theme for one of the challenges in each of the major categories for the contest three years from the one where he announced the challenge, so as to give the competitors time to prepare their inputs.

In effect, Mercury's challenges had always been regarded as the main prizes, while all other contests were secondary to those. Doing it like this had enabled Mercury to push forward the time of the societies that seemed to have been stuck in the dark ages for thousands of years now, but at the same time, it allowed him to stay clear of having to actually do the work himself.

For example, one year, he had, for the non-magic challenge, declared that he wished to find a way to determine exactly how long it would take for an undetermined object to drop an unspecified distance.

Mercury knew that the law of gravity would still apply in this world, but he wanted for them to figure the concept out themselves, instead of him just giving them the answer, as that would hardly make them break out of the dullness that seemed to have consumed them since time immemorial.

Only a few inputs had been submitted to that particular contest, of which a few of them actually came pretty close to understanding the concept of constant gravitational pull, which might have been made easier for them as Mercury had earlier defined the unit of time as being how long it took a one kg lead lump to fall five metres in a magically induced vacuum.

He had already known, when he had ordered to define the unit of time as such, that the specifics of the object was not important, but if he had mentioned that back then, then he might as well have given them the formula for gravity already.

Because of the careful planning of when to instigate certain key elements to his non-mage challenges, Mercury had been able to push the Alliance's understanding of physics, chemistry and certain other subjects from somewhere near the dark ages to somewhere close to the renaissance, though he had yet to introduce the steam engine and certain other elements to the Alliance that he had envisioned for close to the last four centuries.

"Was there anything else that you needed?", Mercury inquired as he noticed that Ilumëo had not yet left his office to carry out his orders.

"Yes, there is still the matter of what to do with the mercenaries that the Grey Organization hired", Ilumëo mentioned as she opened her leather folder, "if you wish it, I could have them form a special auxiliary centurion under the command of the First Sword?"

"No, putting that kind of fighters on the front line would be less beneficial than it would be detrimental to my overall forces", Mercury responded without taking his eyes off of the wineglass, "tell Commander Elladan to hand them the list of the prioritized targets and have them do the job of hunting them down instead. They are after all, more acquainted with the land than the rest of my Varangian Guard".

"But is it really wise to entrust such a delicate task to such…people", Ilumëo asked sceptically.

"If nothing else, it will keep the mercenaries busy until the time comes to deal with them", Mercury merely shrugged and took a sip of the blood-red liquid, "we can always get the commander and a portion of the Guard to take over for them afterwards if they are incompetent in that regard as well".

"I understand", Ilumëo acknowledged as she scribbled down a note in her folder, "I believe that that should be all for today, have a pleasant afternoon".

"Thank you, I will", Mercury responded as she exited the commandeered office to carry out his orders.

It is not the best that I have ever had, but this Aroughs Red does have some notable qualities at least, he mused as he continued to pour himself another glass from the wine that he had pilfered from the cupboards of the previous lord of Teirm.

Just as he finished pouring, the desperate yet frail growl of a dragon sounded from outside the window. Without pausing from his task in any way, Mercury set down the bottle and went to stand by the window to hear as the dragon's growl was slowly but surely tuned down until it could no longer be heard.

It had come from the facility where he was keeping all of the dragons locked up in, which was coincidentally the exact same building where they had always resided, as that was the optimal location to house the dragons, though there had of course been a few additions installed.

One such addition were the heavy steel chains that bound the dragons and tied them down, so that they would not pose a threat to anyone by suddenly going on a rampage, while another was the replacement of the previous guards of the dragon riders with his own men.

The riders of said dragons had all been locked up in improvised anti-mage cells that would hold them forever if Mercury wished for them to be held for that long, though he would much rather have them moved to proper anti-mage cells as soon as they were finished being constructed.

Another dragon wail soon followed the other one, which was also quickly muted down, before a third one started up. By the time the sixth one had quieted down, Mercury knew that all of them had been fed for the day, as that was currently the only time when their steel muzzles were taken off for any period of time.

They had tried to blast their surroundings with fire the first few feedings after their capture, but after having been stabbed by spears in non-vital areas enough times without the possibility of retaliating, and then having their food taken away as an extra punishment, the dragons had soon learned that it was best just to eat the offered food and not try to destroy anything.

Perhaps I should go see her, Mercury mused as he once again began to swirl the now mostly full glass of wine, I know that I have to do it sooner or later, and a week should be enough time for her to have calmed down substantially. Who knows, perhaps it will even go well.

He had purposely not seen Loivissa since he had overpowered her in the meeting room a week ago, as he deemed that she would likely have been unwilling to listen to anything that he would have to say immediately after the incident. It would have simply been a waste of his time to talk to her any earlier, as it was imperative for his future plans for her that she not just tune out his words without a second thought.

Well, that was his logical reason for waiting, but another less logical one was that he had purposely postponed it to stall the point of no return, the point where she as well would be subject to his machinations.

Still, just standing here, looking out over the city and further out to the sea behind it, seemed like a good choice as well. The scent of the sea certainly brought back fond memories of a life lived in carefree voluntary ignorance to the world around him, back from before he had realized what had to be done in order to fix it.

"My, my, I seem to have gotten nostalgic all of a sudden", Mercury murmured surprised, "has my little pet already reached that far? I would have thought that It would have tired of these games after centuries of playing them. I guess that it really must be time for me to visit her then".

And with those final words, Mercury downed the remainder of his glass and proceeded to venture down into the dungeons under the citadel, where the riders' cells were located. He had to wave off a surprised prison guard on the way down and insist that both his own guards and the prison guards leave him as he talked in private with one of the prisoners.

Loivissa's cell looked almost exactly like a normal prison cell with its iron bars and cold stone walls, aside from the addition of the metal encased slightly glowing amethysts that would block any magic or mental abilities within their vicinity. They had been among the first of the subjects that he had had ordered rediscovered upon defeating the Ra'zac Empire, as their value in containing mages was far too important for them to be lost to time and forgetfulness.

Sitting in the middle of the little cell was the crouching form of Loivissa, who had her foot chained to the wall with a chain that was just a little too short for her to be able to touch the amethyst crystals. She had her knees pulled up to her chin, with her arms around them and her head bent down over them, so that her long golden hair obscured her face from view. It did not look like she had even registered that he was there.

"The guards tell me that you have hardly eaten", Mercury announced his presence just outside of the iron bars.

Her head snapped up upon hearing his words, and Mercury could see heavy bags under her red eyes, as well as clear indications that she had been crying a lot recently, before she returned the head to its previous position without a word or sound. An untouched plate of food had been pushed just out of her reach, presumably by herself, which only confirmed Mercury's suspicion that she was purposely denying herself food out of guilt.

He unlocked the cell door with the key and proceeded to enter the small cell that housed her. The effect of the amethysts could be felt as his wards all abandoned him, but he did not care about that at the moment, as he could always raise them again later, and she certainly posed no threat to him in her current state.

"You really should eat, you know", Mercury said softly as he squatted down in front of her and pushed the plate of food, which consisted of a bowl of soup and some rye bread, into her reach once again, "punishing yourself by starving is after all only a cowards choice, and I have never pegged you for a coward".

"Leave me alone", Loivissa growled without looking up.

"Why, so you can continue to sulk in the dark and pretend that by denying yourself food, you are in any way making up for allowing me to take the entire northern coastline with minimal effort, as well as conquering Estildirin and subduing the very power base of the dragon riders?", Mercury asked her, but as no answer came, he snorted and continued, "both of your parents would turn in their graves if they could see you now".

"They are dead?!", Loivissa looked up in shock from the news.

"Yes, according to my reports, they both died in the air above Estildirin as they tried in vain to halt the inevitable victory of my forces", Mercury said casually, "all but a very select few of the dragon riders that were in Estildirin have either been killed or captured".

Instead of responding verbally, Loivissa lunged forward with her hands out to strangle Mercury's neck, but the chain on her ankle prevented her from reaching him by a very short distance. It was no coincidence that Mercury had chosen to place himself where he had.

He looked at her hands with dull interest as they continued to try and find a way to somehow reach him, but eventually, Loivissa understood that she simply could not reach him and retreated back to her former space.

"I understand that this saddens you greatly, but you can be assured that Adûn at the very least is still alive, though he is confined with the other dragons and you are regrettably banned from communicating with him until we can be sure that you will not try to attempt something foolish", Mercury explained calmly.

His response was for the soup bowl from the food plate to be hurled at his face with as much force as Loivissa could muster, but when he deftly avoided being hit by it by tilting his head to the side, the ceramic plate came next, which he actually had to move his entire body to avoid getting hit by.

Both objects crashed into the iron bars and splintered upon impact, but just as Mercury believed that she had run out of ammo, the rye bread flew at him next. He grabbed it in front of his face with lightning fast reflexes and proceeded to calmly set it down next to him as he once again resumed his previous position.

"Your reaction time is faster than back then", Loivissa noted with anger clear in her voice at him avoiding her projectiles.

"And you have gotten slower since then", he noted calmly, "I believe it to be because of your lack of sustenance. You really should not throw your food away".

"Remove my chains and these foul crystals and I shall show you just how much you underestimate me", Loivissa growled

"We already played this game once before", Mercury smiled coyly at her, "you lost".

"I was not prepared", Loivissa objected.

"People seldom are, but the facts still stand that even with the reserves in your sword and the help of another rider, an elf, an urgal shaman, two human mages and three dwarven ones, you could not beat me, so what hope do you have now?", Mercury craned his head just a little forward to emphasize that he was not in the least afraid of what she might do.

"I should have realized your corruption from the moment that you first set foot on Alagaësian soil", Loivissa admitted with guilt evident in her voice, as she lowered her head to her knees once again, "if I had just done what I was sent there to do, then none of this would have happened".

"Loivissa, I know that you probably do not hold my word in high regard right now, but would you please stop your guilt-tripping for just a moment", Mercury said sternly, as he watched how she looked up at him with surprise evident in her features, "I spent the better part of a decade having Alagaësia's underground infiltrated and bringing it under my control. The plans for my invasion have been finalized for years, and nothing that you could have possibly done could have changed the fate of those cities. Estildirin would have still been caught by a surprise attack and been defeated, and even if you had realized that I had ill intent the moment that I stepped off my ship and had me arrested, I would have still been able to conduct the invasion from a prison cell. The only difference between that scenario and now would have been that far more civilian casualties would have occurred when the fleet had arrived and started its bombardment of your coastal defences".

"You are as dark as the magic of those amethysts that you use", Loivissa responded with venom.

Mercury gave an amused snort at her comparison, as he said, "so you ended up adopting the riders' viewpoints after all. How many times must I tell you that no magic is dark or light? Magic is as much a tool for its user as a hammer is for a blacksmith, as both can be used equally to inflict death and destruction and to create new wondrous things".

"That is the same excuse that every dark mage gives right before we condemn him for having put hundreds of lives at stake for his own benefit", Loivissa argued.

"And then how would you have preferred that I deal with unruly mages?", Mercury asked as he let his right hand glide along the metal case surrounding and protecting the amethyst inside, "would you have preferred that I chop off their heads every time that they broke the law? These amethysts have allowed me to sentence a mage to the same prison sentence that I would give a non-mage for the exact same crimes, as we both know that continually drugging someone is hardly an effective or cheap way of keeping a mage contained".

Loivissa did not say anything for a while, before she finally let out a defeated sounding sigh and meekly asked, "what do you want?"

"I want to give you the offer of being reunited with Adûn and be free to fly the skies as you wish", Mercury answered evenly.

"What would I have to give in return?", Loivissa growled.

"Nothing more than that you would have to swear that you would not hinder me in completing my work of unifying the world under one banner, and that you would not attempt any actions that might jeopardize the security of the Alliance or any of its interests", Mercury answered her calmly.

"Uniting the world under one banner? That is the same madness that the mad king spouted", Loivissa snorted.

"His idea was not wrong, you know", Mercury responded calmly, "Galbatorix was just too incompetent to see it through. Would it not be better if the entire world was united? There would be no more wars between countries because one wanted the other's lands and no more division by where you came from. Think about it; would such a world not be worth fighting for?"

"My brother will stop you", Loivissa growled as a response, "it will not be the same as the last time someone tried to invade us. Alagaësia stands united now".

"Oh, I already know that your brother will attempt to stop me", Mercury smirked, "even as we speak, he rallies more volunteers from the villages of all of the nations of Alagaësia to join up with the grand army that they are gathering. The people look to him for hope because he is the son of the Shadeslayers, but do you want to know what amuses me the most about it all? His efforts are futile and the more men that he gathers to fight, the more will ultimately have to die.

You see, even though the royals of Alagaësia feared me so much that they sent representatives to act in their stead, I still got everything that I had set out to get from that meeting; you".

"I?", Loivissa asked confused.

"Yes, in all of Alagaësia, the one person that could have possibly predicted my movements and strategies was you, and thanks to the delegates so vehemently demanding that you aid them in their negotiations, as I knew that they would, you never even once suspected that my one and only goal with those negotiations was to capture and imprison you", Mercury smirked as he watched her realize that the meeting had been done solely to get her within his grasp, and she had fell for it without a second thought, "do not get me wrong, if the delegates had been willing to even begin to negotiate their peaceful admission into my Alliance, I would have put the invasion on hold, but as I had predicted it, they did not, which have led us to where we are now".

"I take it back", Loivissa said relatively calmly, "you are even madder than the mad king ever was. The dragon riders WILL stop you".

"I take it that that means that you will not agree to join me then?", Mercury said jovially as he rose from his crouching position with the lump of rye bread in his left hand.

"I would rather watch all my friends burn in front me while I was left alone than ever join you", Loivissa growled at him.

"As you wish", Mercury chuckled and tossed her the rye bread, "although, if you ever want to stand a chance of fulfilling those morbid thoughts of yours, then you need your strength to do so".

As he made his way out of her cell, Mercury could practically feel the scathing look that was burning itself into his back, but nevertheless, as he unlocked the cell door and proceeded outside, he also heard the distinct but faint noise of someone chewing.

All in all, the visit had accomplished what he had wanted for it to, and he was certain that given enough time, she would eventually begin to play the way he wanted her to. There truly was no way of turning back now, not after he had begun to guide her unto the path that he had set out for her.

I have sacrificed too much already to allow anything to stand in my way, Mercury mused as he ascended the stairs that would lead up to the walls of the citadel, the lives of millions of people, my own soul and the sanctity of my mind that I sacrificed to keep It contained. All of it will have been for nothing if I should stop now, at the apex of tomorrow.

No matter the cost, I will not let it all be in vain, Mercury concluded as he reached the walls that faced east.

Down in the streets of Teirm, you could see the columns of soldiers marching out of the eastern gate of Teirm as they marched towards what Mercury hoped to be the last truly major battle that would ever have to be fought among the inhabitants of this world.

The steel spears that rose up from all through the long column caught the setting sun's light and reflected it in such a way that it looked like thousands and thousands of little stars twinkled in and out of existence.

"Your move", Mercury said as he faced eastwards.

So...anyone wanna guess whether he has crossed the Moral Event Horizon yet(from which there is no return)?

Also, I do not know why, but every time that I read the part where Mercury leaves Loivissa in the cell, I keep hearing the Green Day song "I walk alone" in my head. Seriously, try listening to the song while imagining his walk out of there.
And on that note, the start of the music to Jedi Temple March from episode 3 fits really well to when he is overseeing the columns marching out.