Chapter One

Enter the Empress

ELEANOR TAL YIN

"All hail Her Royal Majesty, Queen Eleanor of Exon!" The forerunner shouted in a loud voice. Everyone in the vicinity drew themselves up and checked their attire, wanting to look their best in the presence of the newly crowned queen.

Queen Eleanor accepted the coachman's hand and stepped down from the horse carriage. With a gloved hand, she waved away the umbrella he held out and looked out at the sea of humanity. There had to be hundreds, or maybe even thousands waiting out in the field.

She dipped her head politely at the crowd who had cleared a spacious path for her, and walked in between two tall officers dressed in ceremonial white. The field was muddy, as it was drizzling lightly after a heavy rain. What bad luck, Eleanor mused to herself as she squelched through the still wet grass and soil.

Her escorts had offered to roll a long, expensive carpet along the field so that she wouldn't have to dirty her formal black mourning dress or cumbersome dress shoes. However, she had refused, wanting to create a good first impression for her new subjects.

After all, what better way to identify as one of her own people than walking through mud and getting her clothes soiled like everyone else? It certainly helped with public perception and she wasn't going to pass up a good opportunity like that.

The crowd was silent, with no more than a few whispers going through the crowd as they watched her every step, lowering their umbrellas one by one when they saw that their queen was braving the rain. If the queen wasn't sheltered, then no one else deserved to be.

She could feel the eyes of every man, woman and child staring at her, while trying to remain respectful of their monarch. At long last, she reached the place where her parents had been buried. Two large gravestones were placed at the head of their graves, which stood out from all the rest. This particular graveyard was reserved only for deceased members of Exon's Royal Family, the kings and queens of generations past.

Here, the crowd was of a more distinguished nature. Dukes, counts, barons, lords, senior military officers, high society members and foreign dignitaries all stood silently, dressed to the nines, holding umbrellas over their heads due to a light drizzle. They lowered theirs when they realised she didn't have one, and their formal clothes quickly began to soak up the rain. Everyone tried to hide their discomfort, remaining packed together and silent in the presence of the queen.

Eleanor looked to the side and saw that there was a temporary shelter that had been constructed for the riflemen who bore their polished muskets. From what she knew about the military, the gunpowder couldn't get wet or the muskets wouldn't be able to fire, thus the need for shelter for the soldiers. She noticed the officer looking to her for the go ahead, and she nodded in approval.

"Ready!" A voice boomed and the soldiers, dressed in their standard muddy red uniforms and already waiting for the order, gripped their muskets tighter.

"Aim!" The soldiers smarty rammed the butts of their muskets to their shoulders, taking aim at the empty field beyond.

"Fire!" A deafening volley of musketry crashed out in unison. Smoke filled the air but quickly dissipated as the rain continued to fall.

"Thank you." Eleanor nodded at the soldiers in gratitude once the echo had finally subsided from her ears and they bowed to their queen in the most parade ground manner they could muster, which was frankly impressive.

She turned her attention to the two gravestones in front of her, and walked closer, the mud squelching beneath her feet. The names "King Ivan Tal Yin" and "Queen Bernice Tal Yin" were engraved deeply in the large gravestones. Her father and mother. She turned, and at the side of the two gravestones stood another. On it was written the name "Princess Deirdre Tal Yin". Her sister.

Eleanor shook her head forlornly. Her older sister Deirdre had died years ago, which meant that she was the only remaining child of the Tal Yin family, making her the heir apparent. And unfortunately, her parents had died only a few days ago, resulting in the crown falling upon her head.

The news had come to a shock to everyone, and initially the plan had been to establish a Regency Council to maintain stability and govern the kingdom while Eleanor grieved. However, she had refused, telling everyone that she needed to take control and personally prevent things from falling into chaos.

Oh, how things have changed so much in such a short time. Eleanor gazed at her parents' tombstone, eyes watering. Now she was all that was left of the Tal Yin name. She collapsed to her knees, staining her black mourning dress, but she didn't care. Ignoring everyone around her and throwing royal etiquette out the window, she broke down sobbing uncontrollably in front of all the dignitaries and nobles who were watching her with growing discomfort while trying to maintain decorum.

This went on for an unknown amount of time. She didn't know how long. When she had no more tears left to shed, she stood up, refusing the help of her escorts, and attempted to dry her eyes with her hand, which was already soaked to the bone by the rain. Eleanor looked up and around at the people before her.

"Thank you all for coming." She said, her voice quavering as she tried to project it. Then, with a heart throbbing sob, she turned away and walked away from her family's graves. The sooner she was away from that wretched field, the better. Eleanor walked slowly back the way she had come, flanked by the two tall officers, whose white ceremonial uniforms were drenched and no longer smart looking. In fact, they looked downright ridiculous now that the rain had done its damage. Not that they could do anything about it, and neither could she.

Her own dress was crumpled and soaked in mud and rain, making her look anything but regal. As she walked back through the sea of Exonians, she endured the shocked gazes of her people who had evidently never seen their new monarch in such a sorry looking state before. Perhaps there was no precedence for something like this.

Nonetheless, Eleanor climbed into her horse carriage, soaking the leather cushions, and did her best to squeeze the water out of her hair as the carriage was pulled back to the castle located in the heart of the Capital of Exon.

###

"I take it things went as planned, Your Majesty?" Lieutenant Dolan, the head of security, asked as he watched Eleanor step into the castle, still dripping wet and trailing mud all over the red carpet.

Eleanor chuckled. "You could say that."

"The people bought it?"

"Of course. In fact, the rain helped to sell the role of the humble queen." Eleanor kicked off her now brown heels which were caked in mud.

"Fantastic, Your Majesty." Dolan said.

"And I assumed that crying at my parents' grave would've been dramatic enough." Eleanor scoffed. "The rain drenching me, collapsing into the mud and refusing shelter, I couldn't have delivered a better performance."

"I'm sure, Your Majesty."

Eleanor pushed her red hair out of her face and smirked. As the newly crowned Queen of Exon, she knew she had to set a first impression that sat well with her new subjects. And what better way to do it? She had only planned to express her utmost grief at her parents' passing, but now surely after her first appearance as queen, she had won the respect of the Exonians.

"So what now, Your Majesty?"

"Now that I have them in the palm of my hand," Eleanor smirked at Dolan. "We move on to Phase Two."

###

After a long hot bath and a change of clothes, Eleanor walked through the castle. Dressed in a crimson dress which matched her wavy red hair and sporting heavy makeup, she walked haughtily through the castle and when she was certain no one was watching, headed down to the lower levels.

The basements were usually accessed by the palace staff, for transporting logistics or getting laundry done. They were rather ill maintained compared to the rest of the castle, and smelled horrible. Eleanor scrunched up her face and tried to ignore the stench as she made her way quickly through the basements, which were thankfully empty. Not that she was obligated to explain herself to anyone, but she didn't want anyone seeing her navigating through the lower levels of the castle. It would certainly raise too many questions.

The far end of the basement led through a series of pipes which obscured the way. Eleanor squeezed her way through, careful not to cut herself on the rusty pipes. She knew that the place was in desperate need of maintenance, but she wasn't going to get it fixed. What if someone discovers what I'm hiding down here?

Eleanor pressed through the narrow passage. It led out into a slightly wider tunnel, which stank just as bad. Rusty pipes ran along the walls, which were chipped and dusty. It was also extremely warm and humid, since gaps in the pipes let out steam in the tight enclosed space of the tunnel.

Finally, Eleanor came to a gap in the side of the tunnel wall, and turned into the gap. She followed another passage which was even narrower, and came into a wide room which was dimly lit by candles at the corners of the room. Books lined the four walls, and a small wooden table rested at a side with no chairs. A single bedroll was laid across the ground, and a tall man in a grey cloak sat on it cross legged. Yes, she had come to the right place.

"Welcome, Miss Tal Yin." The man glanced at her calmly. "Or should I say, Queen Eleanor now."

"Brother Salvadore." Eleanor walked towards him. "You don't look very comfortable here."

"I'm not staying for long." Brother Salvadore got up. "Just long enough to work out the terms of our agreement, and I'll be on my way back to the Crimson Order."

"Always busy, aren't you?"

"Of course." Salvadore adjusted his cloak theatrically. "The Crimson Order never sleeps."

Eleanor chuckled. The Crimson Order. An ancient cult long thought to be extinct. They had attained a presence close to a millennium ago, but they had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth as the centuries went by and civilisation had evolved. Only a select few knew that the Crimson Order still existed, operating silently from the shadows.

It was not unlike the mythical League of Sorcerers which had just been exposed by their new leader, the Snow Queen, who had recently dethroned the Pilgrim and taken on the mantle. The Crimson Order and the League of Sorcerers had feuded for centuries, their conflicts growing more subtle and quiet over time, till the point where the common man knew of neither's existence.

The Crimson Order was run by "Holy Priests", whose sole purpose over the years had been to eliminate all magic from the world. That meant recruiting able bodied radicals to their "holy" cause and reciting ancient spells to bind rare but powerful demons to their new hosts, turning them into supernatural assassins the Order called "the Sanctified".

Eleanor felt that it was laughably hypocritical of the priests, wanting to rid the world of magic so badly that they would resort to turning to the power of unpredictable demons to do so, and in the process become far worse than the very thing they were attempting to destroy.

It was all a bad joke to her, but she decided not to say anything, for fear of ruining her volatile alliance with the Crimson Order. Or more specifically Lord Magnus, who was the High Priest of the hypocritical cult.

"You summoned me here for something?" She probed.

"Ah yes." Salvadore had an annoying Bastrusian accent that made her want to punch him in the face. "His Eminence would like a word." He chanted something under his breath and thick, grey smoke began to fill the room, gathering up in a cloud.

Eleanor watched this without much of a reaction. The first time she had seen it, she had been in awe of what powers magic - or a demon - could bring. But now, she was used to seeing it.

The rough outline of a human head hooded by one of those thick cloaks the Order loved began to form in the cloud, and the man's figure in the cloud inclined his head towards her. She'd seen the vague shadowy features of the High Priest, Lord Magus, often enough to recognise him.

"Your Eminence." She knelt with one knee to the ground, her head bowed. It ate her up on the inside that she still had to kneel to someone. One would have thought that when she became queen, she would answer or be subjugated to no one else ever again. Guess I was wrong.

"Sister Eleanor." A husky voice materialised from the mist like a hushed whisper.

"Have you found him?" Eleanor asked.

Lord Magnus dipped his head. "After you delivered us the map to the Eternal King, we were able to unveil the secrets and found the demon. His host was pathetically weakened after centuries of being imprisoned, and we had no choice but to put him out of his misery and bind him to a new host."

"You know that's not the him I was referring to." Eleanor said.

"You watch your tongue, young lady." Magnus said dangerously. "Don't forget who you're talking to."

Eleanor bit her lip. She so desperately wanted to shoot back something rude, but the High Priest had something she needed.

"I've given you everything you've asked for, haven't I?" Magnus continued. "You wanted your parents eliminated so that you could rule unchallenged, and the Crimson Order made certain of it. With your parents and your sister dead, you're now free to be the queen you've always longed to be.

"You wanted powers, and the Crimson Order bound a powerful demon to your frail human body. And with your new powers, you were able to alter reality and create an enormous and powerful army beyond your wildest dreams, haven't you? What have you done for us in return, other than retrieve a map?"

"That map was hard to track down, you know." Eleanor snapped. "It took me a while till I found it in Srevnjor, and just in time too, because there were others looking for it."

"The League of Sorcerers." Magnus sounded intrigued.

"I risked my neck to get you your precious map that you wanted so badly." Eleanor said. "Doesn't that at least make us even?"

"No, it does not." Magnus said. "Which is why you're going to do something for us."

"You still didn't answer the question, Your Eminence." Eleanor grated while trying her best to keep her tone in check. "Did you get who I asked you to help me find?"

"Ah." Magnus drawled, which annoyed Eleanor tremendously. "Yes, of course. He's upstairs being brought back from the dead now, courtesy of the powers of the Eternal King."

"That…that's good." Eleanor said in relief.

"I told you, Eleanor." Magnus said. "The Crimson Order always delivers. I've given you everything you've asked for, making things fall in place for your ascension to the throne. But you still have your end of the bargain to hold up."

"Fine, what do you want?" Eleanor asked impatiently.

"Now that you have your army, and your prized possession revived," Magnus had an eerie little upturn of his age-weathered lips. "I know you're going to set your sights on making Exon the greatest empire in history by conquering the surrounding cities and kingdoms, and continue up north to expand your territorial borders. Am I right to assume that?"

"Yes."

"Good." Magnus steepled his fingers with a calculative air. "I want you to use your campaign as a guise for our holy crusade. Cleansing the world of magic. While you bring kingdoms and cities to their knees, you will use your newfound army and powers to destroy all beings who wield magic, especially the members of the League of Sorcerers."

Eleanor narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "That sounds fair."

"Excellent." Magnus smiled. "Go on up then. The process of resurrecting your man is just about finished, and he'll be in a state of confusion. I'll be in touch."

Eleanor watched as the enigmatic High Priest melted into the mist, and the smoke faded as if it had never been conjured. She turned to Brother Salvadore, who regarded her with a simple nod and nothing else. He sat back down on his bedroll and closed his eyes.

She guessed that that was the end of their little conference, and turned to leave his room. Hastily navigating through the tunnels and back into the basement, Eleanor made her way up to the castle's audience chamber, glad to finally breathe fresh air that wasn't warm or musty.

She settled down on her large comfortable throne which glittered with expensive jewels and waited. Before long, there was a series of loud knocks and the door opened. Lieutenant Dolan peered in.

"Your Majesty," Dolan said. "He's alive."

"Good." Eleanor smirked, glad to once again be the most powerful person in the room. "Bring him in."

Two soldiers in Exon's muddy red uniforms brought a man into the audience chamber. The man was still in somewhat of a daze. She couldn't blame him, for if she had been brought back from the dead, she was sure she would've been disoriented too.

Eleanor signalled for some privacy, and waited for the soldiers to leave the audience chamber before addressing the man.

"Welcome, Victor Kane."

Kane looked up and Eleanor saw that he had hollow black eyes, filled with confusion. "How do you know my name?"

Eleanor smirked. "I've heard of your exploits, Major. Trying to save the world by purging it of humanity. Bold."

Kane stared at her. "How long has it been since…"

"Since you died? Three months."

"How am I even alive?"

"Let's just say, I've unlocked the secrets of life itself." That wasn't entirely true. It was the Crimson Order priests who had done all the heavy lifting with the help of the demon, but he didn't need to know every single detail.

"The Eternal King." Kane said. "You found the demon."

Eleanor was slightly taken aback, but then remembered that Kane had an extensive knowledge about magic. She had studied his exploits, and had sought to have an ally as intelligent and efficient as him by her side. And now, she was glad that all the trouble she had gone through to find the map in Srevnjor had not been in vain. It had led to the Crimson Order finding the Eternal King and using the demon to resurrect Kane for her.

Eleanor nodded. "You should be grateful. I gave you a second chance at life."

"My life is meaningless." Kane said bitterly. "My life is nothing without my family. I died years ago without even knowing it. It only took my body and mind a few more years to realise it."

She was very well aware of Kane's original quest to honour the memory of his family. All he wanted was to be with his family again, and with her newfound powers and allies, she had a way of giving him exactly what he wanted.

"I believe I can change that. I have an offer to make you."

"Who are you?" Kane demanded. "Where are we?"

Eleanor got up from her throne and spread her hands. "We are in the capital city of Exon, and I am the new queen."

Kane backed away. "I don't believe this. You? A queen?"

She was slightly offended. So what if she was barely twenty and looked like she was just someone's angry daughter who had a bone to pick with the world?

She cocked her head and tried not to sound too defensive. "And what's wrong with that?"

Kane shook his head. "What do you want with me?"

"As I was saying," Eleanor smiled slyly. "I have an offer for you."

Kane narrowed his eyes. "I'm listening."

"First of all, allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Eleanor Tal Yin, the new Queen of Exon. You've heard of Exon, haven't you?"

"I don't care who you are or where Exon is," Kane said bluntly. "Get to the part where you had an offer."

"Ahh, so you haven't heard of Exon. That's just my point." Eleanor said. "Exon has always been an obscure kingdom, oppressed and relatively insignificant throughout history."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you're going to help me change that," Eleanor continued. "We're going to put Exon on the world map and solidify our place in history. Centuries from now, people will look in the history books and remember the greatness of Exon. We're no longer going to just be a kingdom. We're going to be an empire."

"I missed the part where that's my concern."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, my dear friend. You'll be begging to help me."

"And why would I be?"

"Because," Eleanor paused dramatically, taking a moment to savour the power of leverage she held over Kane. "I have access to the power which can resurrect your loved ones." She watched as the expression on Kane's face changed.

"How…"

"The people who resurrected you can bring back your loved ones too. All I have to do is make a request on your behalf."

Kane looked at her with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, the first legitimate ray of optimism she had seen thus far. "Will you really bring them back?"

"The power of the Eternal King is boundless," Eleanor said.

"I don't doubt the power of the Eternal King. I mean, will you honour your word?"

Now we're getting somewhere. She smiled. "Before we can get there, there's something I need you to do."

"What do you want?"

"As you know," Eleanor paused. "Or you probably don't. Exon has had a rather average army, what with us being a relatively oppressed kingdom and all, limited by treaties and all. But that's all changed after my new friends gave me the demon's power to shape reality as I wish. Now Exon will have a ferocious army unlike anything I could have ever dreamt of."

"If you have the power to alter reality, why don't you just use it to turn Exon into the empire you envision it to be?"

"Unfortunately even my powers have limitations," Eleanor lamented. "If I could, I would've made the world into my image by now."

"You're a narcissist."

"I'm a visionary." Eleanor corrected him. "I do what I have to do to get what I want."

"You still haven't told me what you want from me."

"Patience. I was getting to that." Eleanor smirked. There it was. She had him in the palm of her hand now. "I need a military commander capable and intelligent enough to lead my great army across our borders to conquer the land."

"And you figured that's where I come in. You want me to be the commander of your army."

"Correct."

Kane stared at Eleanor, who was fully confident that he would accept the offer. After all, she was his only hope of ever seeing his family again for real this time. There was a long pause.

"Where do you want me to start?" Kane finally asked.

"I'll leave that to you, General." Eleanor got up from her throne. "You're the strategist." She walked past Kane and towards the door of the audience chamber.

"I'm going to need access to all your military resources."

"Done. Lieutenant Dolan will show you where." Eleanor said. "We're going to do great things together, you and I. Now that I have your cooperation, we can finally get the ball rolling."

###

Dressed in a black dress which signified that she was still in mourning, Eleanor stepped out into the castle balcony which overlooked the courtyard where seemingly thousands were packed. They too were in black out of respect for the late king and queen.

These were probably the same people who were at her parents' funeral and witnessed her breakdown in front of the graves. Now that she had crafted the perfect public image, she could begin to sway the masses. Eleanor held up a gloved hand and the crowd fell silent.

"Are you ready, Your Majesty?" Lieutenant Dolan whispered as he stood at attention by her side.

Eleanor tried to hide her smile in the presence of the thousands of Exonians. "I've waited amy whole life for this moment." She turned to the crowd and lifted her voice.

"People of Exon!" She began loudly. "As you know, my parents, King Ivan and Queen Bernice, passed away unexpectedly due to unknown causes. Rightfully, it should have been my older sister, Crown Princess Deirdre, who would have been heir to the throne. However, many of you are aware that my sister died years ago, leaving me as the only remaining child of the Tal Yin family. So it is with a heavy heart that I take up the honour and responsibility of the crown."

Eleanor paused to choke back imaginary tears before continuing. "I…I owe it to the good people of Exon to make this kingdom great. For generations past, we have remained an oppressed people, trodden over and forgotten by countless other kingdoms. We have been humiliated, looked down upon and despised. The peace treaty my grandfather signed with the Confederation of the North leaves our people free from war, but at a disadvantage. The rulers of times past prioritised the political situation over economics, which leaves us where we are today.

"With all due respect to those who have come before me, our kingdom has been left in economic shambles, and as the new Queen of Exon, I'm making it my first priority to make our name great and save our great kingdom. We now possess the means to take back what is rightfully ours, with the greatest army this continent has ever seen. It is the fire in the hearts of these dedicated Exonian soldiers that will bring us the ultimate victory. It is now our time in history to triumph and claim what we have been denied for decades!

"But," Eleanor paused. "I cannot do this without the agreement of the very flesh and blood of Exon. So as one of you, I'm begging you to stand with me. To join me in saving Exon and making our great kingdom rise from the ashes where we were laid and forgotten. Join me in establishing the Continental Empire of Exon!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and thunderous applause, with chants of "establish the Empire" growing louder and more in unison, till they were one loud voice roaring through the courtyard with utmost conviction.

Eleanor smirked. Let the campaign begin.

Author's Commentary:

After having the Warriors go up against Kane and The Pilgrim, I was asking myself what the next big villain should be like. Then I got to thinking: what if the villain has Anna's resolve and determination, and powers as deadly as Elsa's? Wouldn't she be near unstoppable?

And I got to evaluating Anna and Elsa's relationship. What if things had turned out the wrong way and they ended up hating each other? Well that's the basis for the relationship between Eleanor and Deirdre from Book 2.

Eleanor is a force of nature, she's powerful, volatile and very determined to see her vision through. She may be the most dangerous villain of the lot yet, and I can't wait for you all to see our heroes go up against Eleanor, The Empress of Exon.