WARNING:
This chapter contains graphical depictions of torture and gore. Reader discretion is advised.
...
April 2nd, 1820, Refugee Camp (Burmecian Sector), Alexandria.
06:45
"... When will we go home, daddy?"
Svend Gundersen nearly choked on his coffee. Coughing, he set his steel mug on the folding table and raised his eyes to meet his daughter's, unsure about how to explain the situation at hand to her.
"Ari..." the bandaged Burmecian muttered, fighting against the sudden tightness in his throat. "I've already told you... the old house isn't safe right now. Besides, all of our friends are here. We'll be safer if we stick together."
"But daddy! Lady Freya and Uncle Osbern already killed all the monsters! They can't hurt us now!" the girl retorted, and her father had to hold back the tears. If only she knew about the ragtag death squads that roamed the city at night, hunting their kind in retaliation for the invasion...
"We don't know that for sure, honey," he lied to preserve her innocence; How was he supposed to tell a nine-year-old that she could no longer trust humans, and that even some of the other Burmecian refugees would happily backstab them for their meager possessions?
"Hey bro! You there?" a friendly voice quietly called for him from outside the tent, yanking him back to reality.
"Honey, finish your breakfast, I'll be right back," Svend said, limping towards the tent's entrance. As he emerged from their temporary shelter and the frosty morning air flooded his lungs, a familiar face came into view, much to his relief. "Hi, Bernie... I wasn't expecting you so soon..." he greeted his former comrade-in-arms, and the dragoon responded with a tip of his hat.
"What can I say? I'm just that good," Sir Osbern languidly joked, handing him a rather heavy leather suitcase. "Here, I rounded up your stuff last night as requested. Wasn't easy with all those damn soldiers patrolling the rooftops."
Svend opened the bag and checked its contents: clothes, papers and his life savings. "I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for us..." he said, offering his old friend a handful of glistening golden coins. "Please, accept this as a token of my gratitude."
"The fuck are you doing? Put that back in the bag before we get jumped!" Osbern hissed, keeping eyes and ears peeled for eavesdroppers. "Crossing the Lindblumese border will be tough after what happened. If something goes wrong, look for a short, red-haired Cleyran with an eyepatch camping in the woods east of Bohden Gate. His services aren't cheap, but he has a few officers on his payroll, so he'll get you two in, no questions asked."
"You've saved our lives twice, Bernie. I'll find a way to repay you as soon as possible..." Svend muttered, sheepishly bowing his head.
"No problem, bro. Now, bring li'l Ari, the boys are waiting to get you two out of town," the knight answered, and his friend nodded in agreement before returning to the tent.
"Daddy... what's going on?" the little Burmecian asked, sending a shiver down her father's spine. He didn't want her to realize what was going on, but he needed her to cooperate if they wanted to get out of the kingdom unscathed.
"Hey... why don't we go on a little vacation, just you and me?" he asked his daughter, much to her confusion.
"A vacation..?" Ari repeated, her interest piqued by the sudden proposal.
"Yeah! What do you say we go to Lindblum for a few weeks? We could pay Auntie Gertrud and your cousins a visit! Oh, and maybe we could check out that new theme park everyone's talking about, and eat all the Gysahl pickles we want!" he pressed on, trying his hardest to sound excited.
Ari's jaw dropped overdramatically.
"... Are we going to Mogland..? For real?!" she squeaked, and her father smiled at her childish glee.
"Sure!"
The girl jumped off her folding chair and climbed onto her father's lap to hug him, utterly overjoyed. Svend chuckled and held her tight, drawing strength from that precious little moment to brave the hardships to come; He was ready to kill and die in a heartbeat, if that's what it took to give his daughter a future.
A muffled scream in the distance sent a shiver down his spine.
"Daddy... w-what was that..?" Ari stammered, her big, round eyes filled with dread.
"It's probably nothing, hun..." Svend lied, instinctively reaching for the hidden knife in his coat.
"They're here! We need to leave right now!" Osbern hissed, poking his head into the tent.
"They who?! Daddy, who's here?!"
Svend kneeled and grabbed his daughter by the shoulders, piercing her very soul with his panicked olive eyes.
"Ari... I need that, no matter what you see out there, you stay close and keep quiet until we reach the airport... this is extremely important, okay?"
"Uh... O-Okay..." the girl stammered, trembling in fear.
April 2nd, 1820, War Room, Alexandria Castle.
07:30
"You're kidding me, right?" Garnet asked, massaging her temples in a futile attempt to relieve her throbbing headache.
"I really wish I was, ma'am," Weimar of the Pluto Knights answered, marking three locations on the tabletop city map. "On top of the wave of hate crimes, riots have broken out here, here and here. Someone's coordinating everything, that's for sure; look at this..." he said, pulling a bloodstained knot of gold-trimmed black ribbons from his leather pouch.
"Looks like a cockade..." the Summoner observed, studying it from every angle. "What do we know about this?"
"Not much, except that the rioters wear these to identify themselves, but rest assured, we'll find out who's leading them."
"Have they made any demands yet? What do they want?"
"Vengeance, first and foremost," the officer stated. "They blame the Burmecians for the invasion, so they want them either executed or imprisoned..."
The queen averted her gaze, clenched her teeth and slammed her fist on the table, startling Weimar.
"We worked so hard to make amends... so hard..." she grunted, eyes full of tears. "Why..? Why would they do this..? Why would they choose war again after all we've lost..?!"
"... Some wounds take longer to heal, Your Majesty... I'm sorry..." the knight stated, approaching her until he was within whispering range. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's something else I need to warn you about. My sources informed me that the Royal Council plans to summon an emergency meeting today... rumors of treason are spreading through these very halls as we speak, ma'am..."
Treason.
Even if Garnet expected as much from her rancid, decadent court, getting backstabbed at her most vulnerable by the Council, after decades of devoted service to her people, was still devastating.
BLAM!
Garnet and Weimar gasped; Lydia, the newly appointed captain of Beatrix's unit, had thrown the door open with a panicked expression on her face.
"Your Majesty! We need to get you to a safe place immediately!" she said, clapping her fist on her chest and bowing her head.
"What's going on?!" the queen asked.
"Someone has infiltrated the castle and killed half a dozen guards with fire magic!" the captain frantically replied. "Our soldiers are searching for the intruder, but we have to assume the royal family is their target..."
"Fire magic..." Garnet muttered, feeling a sudden, primal dread slowly creeping through her spine. "Weimar... where's Tot..?"
"Tot..? Oh, you mean Prince Aristotle..! I believe he's studying at the library with Lady Kildea..."
Without losing a second, Garnet ditched her uncomfortable, high-heeled shoes, headed for the door and brushed past Lydia, her heart thundering in her chest.
"Your Majesty, let us handle this! It's too dangerous out there!" the captain said, chasing after the queen with Weimar in tow.
"Captain, assemble your unit and meet us at the library asap. We're gonna need backup," the Summoner ordered. "Weimar, follow me. I hope I'm wrong, but I think I know who we're dealing with."
...
April 2nd, 1820, Royal Library, Alexandria Castle.
07:35
"... In ancient Madain Sarian folklore, Jinn were powerful manifestations of the Crystal, much like the Eidolons. They were often summoned to the physical world through a forbidden blood ritual in order to exact revenge on their master's enemies..."
Prince Tot sighed and rocked back and forth in his chair, trying not to fall asleep. He hated mornings and history lessons with a passion, and the elderly Lady Kildea reciting myths from her book in a quivering, boring monotone wasn't helping matters either.
"... The word 'Jinn' is actually a collective noun, whose primary meaning is 'to hide' or 'to adapt'. Some authors interpret the term to mean 'beings that hide in plain sight'..." the old Cleyran scholar read out loud, and then she raised her gaze from the dusty tome in order to check if the young Genome was paying attention; Unsurprisingly, he wasn't. "Your Highness, are you listening to me?"
"Ah..! Uhh... yeah, Yans... fascinating creatures..." Tot blurted out, none too convinced.
The former forest oracle sighed and shook her head in exasperation.
"It's Jinn, not Yan..." she corrected him, pinching the bridge of her snout. "I've told you a million times, young sir... a prince needs to be well educated in order to become a competent leader. Don't you want to be a great king consort, just like your father?"
"I don't wanna get married..." Tot pouted, grumpily folding his arms.
The tutor obliviously let a tiny snort escape, much to her student's indignation.
"Not funny..." the child grumbled, averting his gaze.
"Please, forgive my rudeness, Your Highness... I didn't mean to mock you," the elderly Cleyran apologized.
"...'s okay..."
"Also, please pardon my boldness, young sir, but I don't think you need to worry about that..." she added with a nearly toothless smile.
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Well, I've known your parents for a long, long time, Prince Aristotle. I'm sure they would never force you into a marriage of convenience..." the oracle speculated.
"You... you mean it..?" the boy stammered, looking so utterly vulnerable that his tutor just couldn't refrain from reaffirming her reckless declaration.
"I mean it," she answered, playfully ruffling the prince's hair. "Hey, why don't we..?"
BLAM!
"Wha..?" Kildea stammered, craning an alarmed look at the front door; five insurgents led by an imposing, plate-armored knightess had entered the library, all of them wearing the rebels' colors and evidently looking for someone.
"What is Mildred the Butcher doing here..?!" Tot hissed, terrified by her presence; Mildred's bloodlust was only matched by her ruthlessness, as she had caused so much collateral damage during the Trenoite rebellion that Garnet only refrained from court martialling her because of her immense popularity among the troops, so she had her assigned to a ceremonial post at the farthest corner of her kingdom instead, in hopes of never seeing her again.
"Whatever it is, it can't be good..." the Cleyran answered, holding the Prince's little hand. "Your Highness... I need you to hide right now. No matter what happens, you must not reveal yourself, understood?"
"But what about you?!" the Genome whispered, tugging at her embroidered sleeve. "I'm not leaving you alone with that brute!"
Lady Kildea reacted with a grateful, quivering smile at her student's bravery, but she had lived long enough to know how letting Mildred find the Prince would end.
"She's coming..! Go, hide behind that bookcase!" she hissed, pushing Tot away. "Don't let them find you!"
With teary eyes, the Prince obeyed her command and hid behind a centuries-old collection of Madain Sarian lore, hoping that if they didn't find him, they would leave Kildea alone. The tutor quickly grabbed Tot's handbook and buried it under a pile of parchment scrolls, seconds before the Butcher identified her.
"Forest witch! What a pleasant surprise!" Mildred sarcastically boomed, leaving her group and sitting at the elderly scholar's table with a perverse smirk on her lips. As she spoke, she ordered her soldiers to search the place with a wave of her hand. "I forgot Garnet allowed animals inside the castle! I should have brought my pets."
"You know you're not welcome here, B-Butcher," the teacher stuttered, ruining whatever semblance of confidence she had mustered.
"Whoa, relax, woman! Jeez... city rats have even fewer manners than their countryside brethren!" the knight mocked her, languidly reclining herself on her chair and resting her armored feet on the table.
"What do you want? I'm b-busy right now..." Lady Kildea asked, pretending to go back to her reading.
"Come on, oracle, you know why I'm here," the Butcher answered in a bored tone, slowly drawing a large, jagged hunting knife from its sheath. Its blade gleamed menacingly under the candlelight as she absentmindedly watched her own reflection in it. "Give me the kid and I'll let you walk out of this room in a single piece."
The elderly scholar swallowed the lump in her throat, completely aware that she wasn't going to make it, no matter what she did.
"Kid? Do I look like someone who would b-bring children to a sanctuary like this?"
The renegade knight snorted, amused by the oracle's pitiful attempt at deceiving her.
"Oooh, what's this?" she said, picking up a scroll from the table. "It looks ancient, just like you! I wonder if it's valuable..."
"Whatever you're thinking, please don't... ah!"
"Oops! Silly me..." Mildred crooned as the parchment roll spontaneously combusted in her hands and burned to cinder.
"That was the last remaining copy in existence of the Tale of the Summoner!" Ms. Kildea squawked, utterly horrified.
"No fucking way!" the Butcher ecstatically exclaimed, and then she speared another scroll like a fish with her knife, sinking it deep into the table.
CRACK!
"No! The Sacrobless Manuscript! Leave it alone!"
"Then give me the kid!" Mildred barked back, loading her blade with magic until it glowed like a red-hot fireplace poker.
"I told you already, there's no..!"
FWOOOM!
"Aaah! Nooo!" Kildea exclaimed as the scroll turned to ash.
"I'm getting tired of your shit!" the knight roared, ripping her knife from the wood as she whistled an order to one of her goons. A rogue soldier grabbed Kildea by the wrist and forced her to put her withered hand on the table.
"No... no... please..." the forest oracle begged, on the verge of tears.
"You've fucked with me long enough, rat. Now, I'll fuck you up," the Butcher snarled, trailing the scholar's cheekbone with the tip of her blade. "Where's Prince Aristotle?"
"I swear to Reis I don't know!" Kildea exclaimed, trembling in utter terror.
CRACK!
The old lady howled in pain as Mildred jammed her knife into her open hand so hard it punched right through the table.
"You hearing that, brat?! This is your fault!" the knight bellowed, relishing every second of the Cleyran's agony.
"He can't hear you... I've already sent him with his mother..." Lady Kildea hiccuped.
"Listen... I don't know how things worked back in your fucking treehouse, but lying to an officer in Alexandria has consequences," Mildred hissed, pulling the blade out of her flesh with a sickening squelch.
"Yaaaaargh! Ah... ha ha... ha ha ha!" Kildea laughed through the pain, bleeding profusely but still determined to protect the prince. "It's over, Mildred... you're gonna hang for this..."
"We'll see about that..." the rogue knight answered, approaching the old tutor as two of her soldiers restrained her, forcing her to stand up. "Hey kid, it's a damn shame you're not here! I'm sure you'd have loved to watch this!"
BLAM!
"Urk..!" the oracle uttered, doubling up in pain as Mildred prepared to punch her again.
"Aw, c'mon, take it like a woman, will ya?" the Butcher mocked the Cleyran before decking her in the ear with a savage right hook, followed by a knee to the stomach.
"STOP IT, PLEASE! YOU'RE KILLING HER!" Prince Tot yelled, leaping out of his hiding spot in tears.
Mildred chuckled.
"D'aww... ain't that cute? I knew he wouldn't disappoint us," she commented, holding the oracle's bloodied face in her hand. "C'mere boy, I wanna show you something."
"Will you let her go if I go with you..?" the prince asked.
"Of course, why wouldn't I?" the Butcher sneered with a murderous smirk. "You've taught him well, treehouse witch... he's a brave little monkey. How quaint."
"Don't listen to her, my lord! I'm already done for! Get out of here immediately!" Kildea shouted, only to get punched in the gut for her trouble.
TWHAP!
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Tot cried out in desperation, balling up his little fists. "I'll go with you!"
"Good boy! Tie him up, gals, we're taking him to Her Majesty," Mildred ordered, and once her soldiers had seized the blubbering child, she smiled maliciously and winked at him.
STAB!
"NOOOO!" the young prince shrieked, struggling to free himself from the thugs' grip as the Butcher viciously sank her blade between Kildea's ribs.
"W-Why..?" the Cleyran stammered, feeling her own life slowly ebb through her wounds.
"... Because the true queen of Alexandria is back from her exile, rat, and there's no place in her new order for the likes of you..." Mildred whispered in the scholar's ear before pulling the knife out of her body. Lady Kildea staggered and toppled over like a discarded doll, hitting the floor with the faintest of thuds. As her blood pooled over the pearly marble tiles, the young Genome began trembling with pure, unbridled rage. A new kind of hatred, unknown to him until then, burned him from the inside, making his very soul boil in his chest.
"Uhh... ma'am..?" a rebel said, realizing a second too late that there was something off about the prince.
KER-ZAPPP!
"What the..?!" Mildred spat, craning an alarmed look at the source of the noise; two of her underlings lied convulsing on the floor with their skin charred as if they had been set ablaze, and the prince was still standing, glaring back at her with murderous intent. The Butcher cocked her head as she wiped the blood off her weapon, curious about the child's newfound abilities. "Would you look at that... the little monkey is a weirdo, just like his parents!"
The three surviving rebels drew their swords, but Mildred ordered them to back off with a hand gesture.
"You wanna kill me, monkey boy?" she asked, calmly approaching him with her hunting knife at the ready. "Why don't you give it a try? C'mon, hit me with your best shot."
"Raaagh!" the prince screamed, instinctively hurling a huge fireball at the knight with his bare hands, but she swatted it aside with her blade like it was nothing. The wayward spell hit a nearby bookcase, setting centuries of knowledge alight.
"A Fira spell, huh?" the Butcher commented, watching the dusty tomes burn as the flames encroached upon them. "Congratulations, boy, you've got potential... but not enough to beat me."
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" the Genome howled, and the room temperature began to drop rapidly until the rebels could see their own breath.
"W-What's going on..?!" an insurgent stammered, noticing that a shimmering frost was forming beneath her feet.
Mildred looked down and quickly realized what was going to happen.
"It's a Blizzaga spell! Get outta there!" she yelled, leaping out of the kill zone, but her companions weren't fast enough to avoid getting impaled by the monstrous ice spikes that burst out of the floor in the blink of an eye. "Oooh, you're gonna pay for that, brat!" she roared, lunging at the prince like a charging Zaghnol, but before she could reach him, Weimar of the Pluto Knights kicked the door open, bringing Beatrix's squad and Garnet with him.
BLAM!
"Stay away from him!" the Summoner barked as she launched a Blind spell at Mildred with pinpoint accuracy, forcing her to dodge it and retreat as the loyalist troops barged into the library. "Get her!" the queen ordered, and her soldiers cast a fusillade of deadly ice stakes at the Butcher, who immediately flipped a wooden table and used it as improvised cover. Exhausted by the sheer energy drain, Tot staggered and fainted, creating an opportunity to escape that Mildred wasn't about to ignore.
"Hey, poser queen!" the rogue knight exclaimed, grabbing her weapon by the blade and loading it with fire magic until it glowed a scarlet hue. "Fetch!"
Garnet opened her eyes wide as the Butcher emerged from cover, poised to throw her knife at the unconscious prince. "No!" the Summoner screamed, pushing Weimar aside as she rushed to protect her son.
"Your Majesty, wait!" the Pluto knight exclaimed, caught completely off guard by her intervention.
"Die!" Mildred roared triumphantly, hurling her Firaga-infused knife at the prince before disappearing into the bookcase maze.
To her enforcers' dismay, Garnet threw herself between the projectile and her son; she knew that no matter which magical barrier she tried to put up, either the knife would pass right through it, or the collision would trigger the spell, killing everyone in the room. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl for her as she aimed her index finger at the incoming blade and cast an enchantment.
"Float!" she yelled. A bright flash of light engulfed the knife, stopping it dead in its tracks mere inches away from her face. It then began hovering harmlessly in the air, still very much loaded with dangerously unstable magic.
"Freeze it over, now!" Lydia ordered, and her squad quickly encased the bomb in a block of solid ice while Weimar helped the queen carry both her son and Lady Kildea to safety. "It's gonna blow, close the doors!" Lydia yelled, and as the troops pulled the wooden doors closed, the knife detonated, sending chunks of frozen shrapnel in all directions.
...
April 2nd, 1820, Alexandros Airport,
Alexandria
07:45
"We made it..!" Svend Gundersen sighed as the gilded gates of Alexandria's first and largest airport laid open before him.
"Whoa! I've never seen so many airships at once!" Ari ecstatically said, riding on her father's shoulders. "Gosh, there's so much people!"
Indeed, a bustling, colorful multitude of travelers hustled about, making the terminal feel utterly cramped despite its massive size.
"This is the last boarding call for flight 903, nonstop service from Alexandria to Lindblum," the airport's loudspeakers blared across the station, prompting Svend to check the number on his flight ticket.
"That's our ship," he stated, turning to face Sir Osbern for the last time. "I guess this is goodbye, old friend... thank you... please, take care of yourself..."
"Don't worry, pal, we'll meet again shortly," the dragoon answered, playfully winking at Ari. "See ya, kiddo. Keep an eye on your father for me, okay?"
"Will do, Uncle Bernie! I'll bring you Gysahl pickles!" the girl enthusiastically answered.
"Cool, I'll be looking forward to that. Now go!" the knight replied, waving at the Gundersens as they disappeared into the crowd.
He spent a moment scanning the station for signs of trouble, but luckily nothing seemed out of place. Relieved, he made his way back to the main gate once he was sure Svend and Ari had safely boarded their airship, and it was at that moment when he noticed five armed soldiers with black and gold insurgent cockades heading towards the check-in counter, carrying a parchment scroll with the Royal Council's seal on it.
"Aw, shit..." the dragoon muttered, realizing that getting any other compatriots out of Alexandria was about to become much, much harder.
...
Author's note:
Holy duck, it's been what, six months? But I'm finally back, yayyy!
If you're wondering what I've been up to, well, I've been working full time with my team on our thesis, a sci-fi / action short film about VR gaming, social engineering and love. We've just finished shooting it and now we're hard at work editing it. We'll probably release an online version in short order, so I'll let y'all know when it's uploaded in case you want to watch it!
I'm also celebrating The Last Cherry Blossom's third anniversary too! (Three years already? Dayum! o_o), for that matter, I've uploaded a bunch of TLCB-related content to my TL, made by the amazingly talented Janet K. Wallace, and the legend herself, Myshu! If you wanna check it out, follow me on Twitter! (username: JotaTeOk)
It's good to be back. I hope you're all doing great! Stay tuned for more!