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The Empress of Gristol (Act 1)

Chapter 5: Victim of…

It was as if her nightmares had become reality. Emily was falling through the air, her hand glued to a sword that was dragging her into the abyss, like those times in the Void. She was passing by the spiky walls of the Bottomless Canyon that had been hidden in shadow, only visible to the damned souls that had plunged to their death.

The Princess wondered if she was already dead. By this point, all of the trauma she had endured had made her numb and her vision was blinded by a bright light. She didn't know where it was coming from, but it was glowing brighter and brighter. Emily closed her eyes, resigning herself to her fate.

Something collided with Emily, forcing her to open her eyes. This only ended up blinding her, but she could feel a set of teeth biting at the arm that was holding Ganglari. It wasn't painful nor did the creature that was biting her pull her arm in any direction. Despite that, the Princess's momentum and direction was changed drastically. Her vision was then burned once more as more light began to shine from multiple directions. The next thing she knew, Emily was rolling on her side on a gravely surface; gasping for breath as confusion replaced her apathy.

It felt like an eternity as she lay upon the solid floor, as she waited for her vision to return and for all her emotions to return. Though the latter came back like a flash flood, a mix of emotions that still left her unable to calm down. The events surged through her mind like a frenzied clip show; the Hoshidans, her first kill, her siblings, her father's betrayal and Gunter's…

Her peace of mind was found as her eyes returned to normal; as if her desire, her hope, that this was all just a long, twisted dream managed to pull her back from insanity. Now comforted, she tried to move her body in very small ways. She stretched her legs, cleared her throat and flexed her fingers—

She sat up, looking at her empty left hand. The hand that had been holding her father's gift, Ganglari. Confused, the princess looked around to see where the glowing sword had vanished to. Alas, there was no trace of it. But Emily's search had made her conscious of her surroundings.

The dark-haired royal was no longer in the Bottomless Canyon, nor was she in a place that looked like Hoshido…well, at least to her knowledge. From what she had heard, the eastern kingdom was more colourful than Nohr. Their fields were green instead of brown, their mountains bore more snow and the sky was the ideal shade of blue.

This place, wherever it was, did not fit that description in the slightest. She couldn't compare this location to Hoshido very well, but she could see similarities in her surrounding to her home country of Nohr. Its colours weren't as earthy, but they both had a heavy reliance on stone. For example, despite thinking she had fallen on gravel, Emily was sitting on a grey bricked road. A road that lead to other roads that were joined together to form a grid.

As she stood, she spun around on her heels to observe the walls that enclosed the large, spacious area she had found herself in. This was where she noticed one of the factors that separated the architecture from Nohr: The Metal. The walls were constructed mostly from iron and steel. There were bricks, but only in the lookout towers. The metal tended for dark colours, but unlike the clean, sharp edge that Nohr preferred this metal was twisted and jagged.

Another comparison to be made was that besides the roads, there were canals as well. Cheve, one of the countries Nohr had conquered had these as well. But these canals weren't as clean or calm, for the plant life seemed to populate its damp stones and waters; giving the water a greenish hue.

That was not the only place where plant life grew, for on the north side of this space was a dais; a raised, square platform that had three sets of steps leading up to it. On the dais were planted trees, the only green foliage around that didn't mingle with the water. On the far end of the dais was a simple, wooden chair and behind that chair were two doors the led to the castle that was looming in the north.

The overall picture was wet and oily, but not in a sickly sense. The dampness didn't look like the victim of rain, but the inevitability of the sea crashing against the shore. The oil wasn't black and gunky, it was the sheen of the iron and metal that stood strong in its own twisted way. If Nohr had a natural grunginess to its landscape, this place had an engineered quality that was wrought with a natural flaw that was present in the people who made it. While Nohr was shrouded in darkness, this location was just overcast with dreary clouds that hampered the relentless assault of the sun.

Emily felt a strange sense of nostalgia as she looked around, wondering if it was just the reminders of Nohr that caused this feeling. The answer, however, wasn't based in reality…but her nightmares. This architecture had been the disjointed backdrop to those times in the Void when she wasn't traversing a memory; drifting in the fog with other landmarks. Like a golden cat statue, a sign with a painted dog and that damn letter…

The princess shook her head and bit her lip, ridding her mind of that image. Though a part of her knew that if this was a nightmare, then it would appear to her soon. But after absorbing in her empty surroundings, she was starting to wonder is she really was asleep. If this was the Void, then she wouldn't be able to say a word unless it's something from her past; for her voice was robbed of the pleasure or adding new reactions to her visions besides her frightened expression.

She took a deep breath, and—

"Lady Emily! Are you alright!?"

The dark-haired royal couldn't help but squeal when those words suddenly sounded behind her. She spun around, her surprise turned to horror as she started to scream. To be honest, she was overreacting due to all of her pent up emotions. The being that had snuck up behind her wasn't scary…just weird. She realised this, after tripping on a gap in the road and landing square on her bottom.

The being was very small and was hovering off the ground, thanks to a golden orb that it was perched on. Emily thought that it was a bird at first, a really odd looking bird that look exactly like the one she had looked after many years ago. But seeing that it was floating on an orb, what the Princess thought were scaly wings were just fins. This white and blue creature wasn't a bird that looked like it was part wyvern, it was completely draconian…and it was wearing a white handkerchief.

Emily blinked, as the creature moved its jaws and a familiar voice came out. "I'm sorry, Lady Emily! I didn't mean to scare you." The Princess looked into its yellow eyes and, as she raised her vision, saw a giant red diamond that looked like an enlarged version of—

"Lilith?"

The little create smiled down at the Princess. "Yes, Lady Emily. It's me." She floated down on her orb so she was level with the fallen royal, sincerity brimming in her yellow eyes. "I knew this day would come…" she began in an accepting tone. "…The truth is, Emily, I'm not a human. I am a dragon. One of the last, pure dragons from the time where the First Dragons lived physically in your world."

There was a pause as the two beings looked at each other, the human giving the dragon a dead pan stare. She then slowly nodded and let out a low whistle. "You know; this should be a dream. This shouldn't be happening. It can't be real…" But she knew that it couldn't be the case. She could talk freely, and ever since she received the mark her dream voice had been taken by the Void. And every timed she dreamed, she would be in the Void. This was real life. The Princess, to occupy her mind from accepting this truth, threw out a basic question: "W-where are we?"

"This is a world parallel to the one in which you live, Lady Emily."

"…So…it's a parallel universe?"

Lilith, despite lacking many human facial features, looked unmistakably amused by these words. "No, Lady Emily. This world and your world exist in the same universe of time…Look, if I try and explain it to you properly, both our heads will explode. To put it simply, it's a pocket of space and time called the Astral Plane. The First Dragons have allowed us access to this part of the Astral Plane."

The Princess could have absorbed all of this information faster if she wasn't trying to suppress her emotions and memories, but she got the gist in due time. With the pieces in her mind, she slowly spoke her conclusion aloud. "So…you were a dragon all along? And, correct me if I'm wrong, you're the… 'bird' I found in the stables?"

Lilith nodded by tilting her orb back and forth. "Yes. I was wounded when I was flying near the Northern Fortress. I only survived thanks to your care, so I used my power to become a human so I could serve you; to repay your kindness."

Emily let out a chuckle. "You're lucky that none of the stable hands found you first. The stable master would have tried to mount you on a wall. But back to…this." She waved her arm at their surroundings. "Years later…Ganglari drags me into the Canyon. You jump in after me, transformed back into a dragon and brought us…here."

She repeated the nodding motion. "I opened up a portal on the canyon wall after I grabbed you. I didn't want to risk being stuck by lightning while you were still in my jaw. While you were recovering, I disposed of the cursed sword and flew out of the Canyon." The little creature let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, what I feared came to past. I got hit by electricity and I had to create a portal on the plateau. We are still in danger from the Hoshidans and I don't have the strength to close the portal behind us."

"Wait, what do you mean you don't have the strength? Aren't you a dragon? Can't you just breath fire at them?"

Lilith smiled; but this time, Emily saw that doing so was causing her pain. She noticed how her tiny claws were digging into her orb as the dragon spoke: "The act of casting off my human form drained me of most of my power. Even then, my flames wouldn't be enough to stop a large number of enemies. Look at me, I'm tiny and I need this orb to move around. If I ever lost this, I would have to crawl everywhere."

The two of them shared a morose laugh, as they became painfully aware at how vulnerable they were. One was nearly drained of her strength and the other was at her wits end. The Princess couldn't even see where the portal was, the unclose-able gateway to a pack of warriors who wanted them dead. And right now, she couldn't tell if they were Hoshidan or Nohrian…besides…

Emily pushed herself onto her feet, while Lilith continued to sink to the ground; her grip on her orb slackening. The Princess, as she looked around, queried the tired dragon. "Hey, Lilith, do you remember that joke? About the two soldiers who hid in a barn?"

The little dragon looked up with a puzzled look. "No, Lady Emily. How does it go?"

"I don't know. I'll tell you it when I see you again." She pulled her retractable sword from her coat, as her eyes fixed onto an open gatehouse that was in the closest wall. Her suspicions were confirmed when the orb shot in front of her, its rider wide eyed and terrified.

"Don't do it, Emily!" She yelled, as her orb started to shake in her grip. "They'll kill you…" Lilith coughed, trying to keep high in the air despite her obvious fatigue. However, one of her claws finally relinquished her perch as her strength continued to sap. She started to fall, but she gently landed in the arms of the dark-haired princes; who was smiling gently at the little dragon.

"They're more likely to kill the strange creature riding an orb, rather than a potential, profitable hostage." Explained the royal as she laid down her servant on the floor; patting her softly on the head. "That is if I meet them back in the real world, and not when they're trying to make sense of parallels worlds. Besides, Xander and the others wouldn't leave us like this. There's a high chance of me meeting them than the enemy." As she finished her argument, she rolled the orb to the tired dragon. "Please, rest up and gather the strength to close the portal. I will be safe, but you're not and I am not losing…"

Her words faded away, the truth of the situation having managed to creep around her denial. She prevented it from appearing on her face as she smiled down at her loyal servant. But the moment she turned away and started to walk towards the gatehouse, the princess felt her emptiness rob the life from her eyes.

She didn't even notice when she made the transition from the Astral Plane to the real world. She only noticed when thunder slapped her out of her doldrums; noticing that she was back on the plateau and was near the tree she had puked on. The Princess turned around, trying to find where the portal was, and caught a glimpse of a fading white light. Just as she felt something stuck the back of her head; sending her into darkness.

The dark-haired princess opened her eyes, gazing into the shadows above her with the understanding that this was the Void. What tipped her off was that she could feel the cold slab of stone that served as the welcome mat to most of her most nightmarish trips to this realm.

Emily slowly turned onto her side, unable to make a sound as she observed a staple horror that always got under her skin. On another slab on stone was a body, a corpse to be exact. Its rotting flesh was fully exposed and infested with maggots and flies; moths tearing at the grey hair of the feminine carcass. At first this sight alone was enough to terrify a young Emily. For the past three years, the fact that the body was growing like a living organism put anxiety in the Princess. For the corpse had grown its hair and the organs since its first debut. At this point, the body had formed a perfect, hazel coloured eye; before an insect had burrowed into it.

If her voice hadn't been robbed, she would probably be screaming as she hurried away from the rotting infestation. Silently, she exited the dark chambers and found herself on a stone road similar to the ones in the Astral Plane. This road, however, was fragmented and led into the mists of the Void; parts of it floating around other broken structures. This road could take Emily to many places. Either cryptic locations that were still shots of faceless people, or memories that played out in sound with the Princess as the star; reciting lines she knew all too well.

This time, however, the road skipped all of that. As the coated royal walked and jumped along the road, using her teleporting powers to cross massive gaps, she saw the place where all of her nightmares ended. The path stopped at the steps of a circular belvedere, a domed structure that is designed to provide cover from the elements whilst you gaze in all directions.

The Princess climbed the steps, knowing that if she didn't move the finish line would come to her. Her foot landed at the top, making an unexpected sound that reminded the royal of sticky toffee being trod on. When she looked down, she saw that the sticky substance was fresh blood. Blood that covered the floor of the belvedere; fresh life essence dripping from the roof like it was raining. Sickened beyond measure, the marked-lady was too appalled to notice that the blood had left a part of the floor untouched. The liquid free space caught her attention, especially its human sized shape, and her heart sank when she saw that a piece of paper was sitting in the middle.

Emily looked up at the ceiling, which continued to secrete blood, before she glanced back at the letter; the finish line of her nightmares. She knew that things would get worse, much worse, if she put off reading the letter. Her mind recalled the punishments for stalling and it motivated her to take her first step across the bloody floor.

Pain shot through her foot as if she had stood on hot coals. Her clothes were left unaffected, as if they were purely illusionary, but she could feel the burn marks form on her toes. By sheer force of will, she gritted her teeth and began to sprint across the boiling blood. No sound could leave her lips, but her face contorted in agony as it continued to burn; not just her feet but the drips that were falling from above.

She reached the untouched floor, her skin charred and flaming, and reached down to snap up the letter; praying that this would be the end of her suffering. But as she read the words she knew, a new addition caught her off guard. Along with the blood around her, as it suddenly leapt off the ground and flew through the air at the royal. The bloody fire storm clung to her, the pain blinding her if not for the repeating words that began to burn itself into her vision.

YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER YOU CANNOT SAVE HER

YOU CANNOT SAVE HIM

Eyes snapping awake, Emily pulled herself from her nightmare into the waking world; escaping the same words that had haunted her shapeless visions for what felt like forever. Though she knew that the air she breathed was real, it didn't sooth her nerves enough to stop her from gasping it in like a straw with a hole slashed in it. The princess was so stricken that her senses could not pick up on her surroundings; sights and smells rendered blind and tasteless to a person who had emerged from a sea of confusion.

The days of when a friendly face would appear to comfort her and dispel her worries were ended. Instead the rough grip of a coarse-skinned hand appeared on her shoulder; shaking the princess violently. Scared, Emily tried to squirm away but was rewarded with another hand grabbing her.

As if the fingers clutching her armour served as the anchor that brought reality upon her, the dark-haired princess' eyes finally came into focus. What she saw didn't please her in the slightest, for she had jumped from her tormented imagination straight into the fires of reality. The reality being that the dark-haired princess' wrists were bound together and that the person who was shaking her was clearly on the side of Hoshido; the country that Hans had provoked into a violent skirmish.

In fact, her captor was—ironically enough—the female Flame Tribe member, Rinkah; one of the two officers she had spared. Still shaking Emily, the tribal-woman gave heated words, saying; "Stop moving! You're going to knock over my stew pot, you idiot."

Emily did stop flailing, especially when her senses picked up the heat that was coming from the fire that was in such close proximity that it was just asking for a clumsy elbow-bump to spill over the hanging black pot. She shifted herself as far away from the flames as Rinkah's hands would let her. "Where am I?" Asked the princess, hurriedly.

"This is a Flame Tribe village within Hoshido's territory," spoke the tanned-fighter in a slow, mild mannered tone. "I'm going to hand you over to the Hoshidan authorities."

With the pieces of information received, it revived the princess' clarity of the events that just passed. Of Han's betrayal, of Ganglari pulling her into the canyon, Lilith's rescue and reveal and Gunter's…

Her stomach churned as the sound of broken boards and her guard captain's screams played mercilessly in her mind. It took much strength to block that fresh memory, for she needed to focus on what was important. "Listen," she began in a serious tone. "That skirmish at the Canyon was not meant to happen. I was told that—"

"Spare me your lies. Nohr's motives do not need to be spun into pretty sounding words, for they are clear as crystal." Her tattooed face did not bother to hide the personal discontent she had for the royal. "You broke the border treaty and attacked our men; no doubt you were planning to spin it into a sob story to—"

"No!" Interrupted Emily in plain anger. "That is not what happened! We were given false information; we were told that the fort was empty. And before we realized that wasn't the case, an officer—"

"Do you mean the officer that you killed?! The old man that you knocked into the Canyon!?"

"What!?"

"I saw what you did, what you tried to do to the other solider before you fell into the Canyon! I saw you throw away the sword you used to kill one of your own men, you lying coward!" Rinkah grabbed the rope the bound Emily's hands and used it to drag the princess to her feet. "If Queen Mikoto didn't want you alive, I would have thrown you straight into the Canyon; you piece of Nohrian c—"

The tanned woman's lips were silenced by the sheer force of Emily's head-butt, which knocked her backwards into her stew pot. As the fiery liquid spread across the opposite side of the room, the princess raised her bound hands and called upon her mark to slow the passage of time. However, before the mark began to glow, the sensation of cold air stuck her body so hard that even her soul felt like it had frozen. Shivering slightly, the dark-haired combatant was quick to realize that whatever caused this chill was stopping her from using her magic. Turning around, she spotted a young lady dressed in holy robes of red and white. She was armed with a magical staff of some kind, most likely the kind that prevents magic.

Without even thinking, the Nohrian tried to charge at the priestess. But Rinkah, roaring like a scolded lioness, brought down a brass-handled club upon Emily's left thigh. The blow earned a scream of pain and the drop of the knees, but that only raised her temper past the breaking point. Ignoring the pain, she rose up on one foot and drove her knee into Rinkah's gut. But her fury was equal to the princess, as well as her own head-butt which sent Emily reeling backwards.

But before anymore blows were exchanged, the door slammed open and a shadow darted across the room. In one smooth motion, he grabbed the tanned woman's weapon wielding arm and set up a barrier between the two enraged fighters. "Rinkah," shouted the man in a calm and orderly fashion. "Remember our orders! Princess Emily is to—"

"Fuck our orders!" Roared the Flame Tribe Princess; trying to push the green-haired man out of her way. "This rat tried to kill us, Kaze! And she backstabbed that old man who fought for her, her ally, like any other Nohrian garbage!"

"How dare you!" Screamed the dark-haired lady, as she tried to rush past the ninja with no success; forgetting about the priestess that was blocking her magic. "I did not kill Gunter! I have not lied about anything! And if I hadn't sparred your life, you won't be here, you stupid skank!"

"You didn't spare us," snarled the tattooed warrior. "You failed to kill us with your poultry magic because you didn't have the guts to finish your enemies face to face!"

"If that were true, why didn't the guards pilfer your bodies when they carried you away? I see you still have your necklace, Rinkah. Strange that they didn't just tear it off your corpse along with your equipment? But wait, they didn't even touch that, did they?"

The Flame Tribe princess was taken off guard by that point. "How…?"

"And one other thing," continued the Nohrian in a temper that had simmer to righteous fury. "Do you remember the lake that sits at the bottom of Windmire's cenote? And the bridges which you cross to travel up and down said cenote?"

"What's your point," spat the fighter who was still trying to wrestle past Kaze.

"My point is that, in normal circumstances, dead prisoners are usually tied up and taken to one of the highest bridges that is directly over the lake. They are then dropped into the water from that height to make sure that the prisoners are indeed dead. If one of them happens to be alive at that point, they either die upon hitting the water or drown to death as they try to escape their bonds. I think it's safe to say that your disposal was nothing like I described."

Kaze nodded. "We were put into wagons and were carried out of the city. I presume Prince Leo was the one who organized our escape." Emily's eyes widened in surprise. The ninja smiled, softly, and explained. "He was the one who overserved the men who dealt with our corpses. He had to be in on it, for if he wasn't we would be dead by now. My only question is this: why did you spare us? Because I do not believe it was out of cowardice, as my companion Rinkah believes."

Said companion had stopped struggling with the ninja at this point, though she still glared with silent reproach at the princess.

The Nohrian took a deep breath before replying, her anger back under the boiling point, and tried to remember all the advice Xander had given to her over the years. Those lessons ranged from poise to projection, but the most important of them all was to speak with your mind rather than your heart. Unfortunately, that was a lesson she always struggled with. But right now, for the sake of peace, she needed to ignore all the pain and anger that rested inside of her.

After a long exhale, Emily began her explanation in an even tone. "The reason why I spared you was simple: I saw no point in taking your lives. You were already our prisoners and I only fought you to satisfy my father's… questionable needs. I refuse to kill pointlessly, even if my father commands me to do it."

"So you'd rather aid our escape, soldiers who fight against your country, than kills us?" Queried the ninja; who for some ungodly reason had signs of… disappointment on his face?

"Just because our countries fight against each other doesn't give us the right to abandon our morals. If given the choice, you would still be our prisoners and be treated with basic dignity. But my father wanted me to break my morals and I refuse to do that, even for him."

The Flame Tribe princess laughed at these words. "What do you Nohrians know of honor? You're King is a vile monster, who—"

"Yes, King Garon is cruel man. I know that, but I also know that he wasn't always like this. Before he went mad, he raised my brother, Prince Xander. And if you knew my brother, you would know that he is the most honorable and just man in all the world. He is why we, the citizens of the dark lands, are proud to be Nohrian while our King turned cruel. And that honor was taught to him by his father, the King. So please, don't speak to me about honor when you…" she glared Rinkah, "…write me off as a liar and a murder of kin by virtue of my heritage alone."

The tattooed lady still had a flame in her eye, but her tension lessened in the rest of her body. She exchanged a look with the ninja, one that seemed to be a mix of disbelief and mirth. Having lowered her club a while ago, she placed it down on the ground before taking a few steps forward. Now level with Kaze, without scuffling him, she looked at the dark-haired princess in the same mild-manner she had before losing her temper. "So, Princess of Nohr. What do you claim happened at the Canyon? Speak the truth. Swear on the honor that you claim to have."

"I swear on my honor, as a Princess of Nohr, that I was sent on a mission by my father, the King. I wasn't aware that the fort was occupied, because Garon told me that it was abandoned."

"Why would he do such a thing," asked the Oni Savage in a reasonable tone, rather than anger.

Emily felt her heart sink as she uttered the unpleasant truth. "As I said, he has gone mad. The thing he wanted was not raised tension between our lands, or just that anyway. He…my father was clearly trying to kill me…"

There was a silence after those words, as the two Hoshidans resumed communicating by face alone. Emily, on the other hand, began to walk to a blank part of the house. She didn't care what the wall was made from. She didn't really care about anything at the moment. She put her face in her bound hands; managing to get both palms sides enough space without hurting her wrists too much. Though that pain was nothing to the emptiness that was filling up inside of her.

The ninja was the first to speak again, asking her about how she was sure and if it had anything to do with their escape. The Princess answered with the passion of a child five minutes after its parents had died. "No, he gave me the sword before I was tasked to fight you. He must have already planned on sending me there."

Of course, they asked how the sword proved that. She didn't know or care which one said it, because words at this moment meant very little to her right now. "Because the sword tried to pull me into the Canyon with… Gunter…"

Tears were starting to dribble down the space between her palms and her cheeks, as that concept had finally sunk deep enough into her heart that she couldn't deny it anymore. Gunter…was dead. Him, the old solider who had watched over her for so many years. The one who was always there, being grumpy yet loving, and now he was just…gone.

As grief continued to take hold, Rinkah come over with fire in her voice again; something about another officer. "Hans," muttered the distraught Princess. Anger should be what comes when she hears that name, but she has spent her anger already; in defense of a man who threw her away like she was an unused toy that got brought out only to be discarded like rubbish.

"Hans? Is that the name of the solider you attacked?"

"Yes…He killed…Gunter…"

And that was the last thing she remembered saying.