Fomoria awoke, covered in sweat, but feeling well.
As he sat up, Anon awoke and noticed her hair was slick.
“Shall we take a bath?”
“Yes.”
They slipped out of their clothes and into the bath, slimes quickly moved toward the disturbance in the water.
Anon pushed the slimes away from her.
“I dislike these things.”
“You get used to it.”
“I don’t like anything touching me when I’m without clothes.”
“When you were having to assassinate targets, did something happen?”
“Nearly many times, as I said once before when you asked if I had slept with anyone. I always killed my targets before they had the chance to do anything. Still, I can feel their cold hands, grabbing at my hips, my breasts, my face.”
She shivered even as her skin turned red from the hot water; she pulled her limbs closer to herself.
“Did your mother give you missions where she knew these things would happen?”
“You hate her, don’t you? I can already hear it in your voice.”
Fomoria hesitated to answer.
“You ask me to be honest, give me the same.”
“She was also a magical creature, their morality isn’t like ours, they live under natural laws rather-.”
She angrily splashed him.
“If I met her, we would clash, because I cannot imagine any good parent sending their child into those situations. How long have you been working as an assassin?”
“I was 12 when I started. I have killed 500 people, give or take. I didn’t track the number exactly.”
“I don’t believe that. You have a great memory.”
“I would rather not continue this line of questioning.”
“I’m not questioning you, I am just getting to know you better. If you don’t feel comfortable, then I won’t ask about this.”
“Good. I want your sigil.”
“Did you feign offense to make me feel bad so I’d give it to you without question?”
“No. I really don’t want to talk about my time as an assassin in any detail.”
“Why ask now then?”
“Amber had to be pulled off of me, if she wanted to seriously hurt me instead of sending a message, I would have no recourse. I am not strong in body or in magic, so I will need to continually train myself, but this would be a large boost immediately.”
“Would you like it now?”
“If my bones eject, it would be best that it happened here and now, so as to not make a mess.”
“Alright. I will use pain-lessening spells, but it still isn’t a pleasant experience.”
He expected her to recoil instinctively as he placed his hands on her, helping the sigil settle in her soul quickly, but she had no issues with his touching her.
It was the first time that he had the chance to really look at her soul, and it was flawed, aligned purely to darkness, but he saw scars in it like she had been gored beyond the physical, and that his sigil was starting to fill in these scars.
The water was stained red, and the slimes were having issues cleaning it all; his healing wasn’t as effective as it should be.
She didn’t scream, not because his spells had made her unable to feel pain, or because once it began to settle the sigil would lessen the pain as well, but because she refused to do so.
Anon breathed heavily as she stood up.
“What is wrong with your soul?”
“I don’t wish to speak of it.”
“Did you know how my sigil would react with your soul?”
“I said that I do not wish to speak of it.”
They sat there in silence for a time before she left.
Fomoria got up from the bath half an hour later than Anon had, and went to her room, finding a note requesting a book from Redhaven on the door.
She was inside, lying on the bed, but no strong feeling emanated from her.
He thought about knocking, but Anon was what she was, and Fomoria was who he was.
He wouldn’t push her on what was wrong, and if he had, she would’ve lied, nothing he could say would change her.
So, he went to get that book for her.
He couldn’t remember if he ever knew the librarian’s name if he had just forgotten it.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for a book, it is called The Spring and the Winter Soul.”
“For you or for another?”
“My fiance asked for it.”
“Then you intend to take it out of the library?”
“I don’t think she wants to leave today, so yes.”
“You may purchase a blank book and I will copy it, but the original may not leave.”
“Then I will add it to my collection.”
The librarian had another girl work the front desk while she led him to where the book was.
“King Fomoria, if you wouldn’t mind, we could go faster if you were to fly us there.”
She had been expecting it, but having only experienced flight in her bat form, the sudden lift and then lack of any feeling of motion was quite odd for her.
“He-here.”
She shivered as her feet touched the ground again.
“Magical flight isn’t the same as vamperic flight, the body feels it as just being normal, but this requires some getting used to. We can walk or take a cart next time.”
“Th-thank you.”
The section was not as well lit or maintained as some of the others, it saw rare use, being one of the oldest sections of the library, its shelves made of a different wood, darker in color with knots in the boards that almost looked like flesh wounds.
He had one of his Others learn the library code system while working in it, and this told him that the rows here were romance novels.
Perhaps she was trying to better understand human connections he hoped.
The woman used divination, searching for the book, but he could feel it, something wasn’t right.
“How strange. We have them enchanted to prevent wear and tear, to let them self-repair, but we wouldn’t ward them against divination, so somebody else must’ve done this. We’ll need to search the shelves by mundane sight.”
“I would like to examine the ward, perhaps it is faster to break it than to search hundreds of books.”
“I don’t think that-”
He picked up one of the books, the ward was simple, almost childish compared to what he could do, but it also showed certain marks. Whoever put up these wards had been trained by him, and that made a very short list, and on the short list, he could only think of one person.
It took seconds to shatter the ward and create a spell tuned to break the rest of them across the section, at which point he easily divined the location of the book.
He walked with the librarian to the nearest copy room and asked him to wait outside while she did her work.
But then the woman came back out after just a few minutes.
The librarian couldn’t help but feel the strange tension from Fomoria; he hummed in an off tone as he waited.
When the librarian finally got him his copy, she had a questioning look on her face.
“What do you want to tell me?”
“I thought that I remembered that book, and I did read it once many years ago. Among us who do read, it has-”
“Please, explain another time, I wish to read it without expectations.”
It was thin, probably not more than a few thousand words, and it had a pattern of grass on one side, and ice on the other.
Fomoria left without another word, bringing the librarian back to her post with a void gate, signing himself out in the log book, and then leaving.
He had things he needed to do today.
He had missed breakfast, he hadn’t even realized that he was hungry; a side effect of his sigil dulling negative stimuli.
He sat at the table alone and started to eat when Mercedes came in; she told the maids to tell her when he returned.
“Is there something we need to talk about?”
“You missed breakfast, that is quite odd, and you did fight off three Fingers yesterday. I had some worry that you might be injured and still recovering.”
“No. I am recovering just fine. I had to run an errand for Anon, and it took more time than I expected.”
“I didn’t expect her to miss breakfast either, she always seems to stay close to you unless you are working.”
“Yes, she did. My list got to you last night and you had a chance to look it over I hope.”
“I did. I’m surprised that you compiled it so quickly.”
“I had it done two days ago.”
Mercedes lowered his fork, thinking on his statement and if he was joking or not.
“How?”
“I had a dream. I knew we had enemies on the way, and that now is the best time to put this into action.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
I didn’t have the exact details, so that is just a list of what we will need for a celebration without taking into account other factors. As there were no damages to the city itself and there were no casualties, I don’t see any reason to change anything. The people will have a day of food and alcohol on my coin and the blow will be softened.”
They ate in between bouncing ideas back and forth about what changes to make, guest lists, and so on and so forth.
Mercedes had noticed how he used past tense to refer to Anon, so she avoided the topic.
And so Fomoria was 19, and his day of proclamation was here.
He thought about Autumn’s offer, that he has a birthday party, an excuse for him to come back.
But now wasn’t the time, he had other things to do.
Anon hadn’t said a word to him or left her room in days, but she came out now, to sit behind him as he readied himself for his speech.
Fomoria was so confident in his ability to defend his capital that he almost wished that the Fingers tried to attack again so he could put them down as a show of strength.
The days felt like they went on for weeks leading up to this. For now though, he just waited on his dais in the festival grounds.
His intention was for people to come up to him and thank him for what he had done and for him to see if he couldn’t so minor problems.
Simple divination found dozens of lost items, healing magic fixed minor issues that people had never asked him to fix and didn’t want to go to a healer for something so small.
Around him stood Jake, Ur’Kel, and Nana, his prized stars, his exemplary students of magic and good moral standing.
Occasionally people would bring him food, his appetite was quite well known, and it had only gotten worse since he could no longer turn his sigil off, it remained as a constant boost to nearly every aspect of his self.
It was a nice gesture, and it meant that he didn’t need to go around the city to find food, but it also meant that he didn’t get to go around the city to find food.
When it was evening in Kor, but night had already fallen in Ragne’s capital, his most important guests began to arrive though his void gate.
“Rosewell, I am glad that you accepted my invitation.”
“You claimed that this would be a once in a lifetime speech, and right now there is nothing I am needed for.
I intend to stay for your speech and then leave however, since I may be needed again and being outside of amulet range is stressful.”
“Just think, 10 years ago, nobody had them, now it feels like everything would fall apart without them.”
“Please keep your ominous words to a minimum.”
Relly didn’t say anything at first, she just ran up and hugged him.
“I feel like it's been centuries, how are you?”
“I’m good. Why are you so sad?”
“No trouble with any boys? I don’t wish to talk about it.”
“Nope. Harlan is nearly a brother to me, so I think just that scares most of them away. I’m sorry that I mentioned it.”
“Yes, I imagine that would do it. It isn’t your fault, you are just trying to help, but this is a personal problem with me. I’m told you’ve become a competent archer?”
“Harlan taught me what he could, and mother has gotten me proper instructors. I wish we could talk more, I think she already knows that we have been going back and forth here.”
“Then how about a gift? Of course she does, but if she hasn’t stopped us, then she trusts you.”
He opened a gate and an Other brought out a bow.
The string was from his tendons, the two arms were made from his bones, and the strings were attached to wheels. It was unlike anything that she had seen before.
“Pull it back.”
She drew back, and found that it was much easier than she had expected.
“It’s… different. Don’t you mean that she trusts us?”
“I got the design from Xol. The bows in his world advanced beyond what we have. He called it a compound bow, because the design compounds the user's strength through a pulley system. She doesn’t trust me anymore, I showed that I am not Harlan, and my loyalty is not to Ragne any longer.”
Rosewell thought that their conversation had gone on long enough.
“Relly, why don’t we move up to our seats.”
Safira and Harlan both gave him side eyes as they walked past, not even sharing a word.
He had expected Harlan to be upset for a while, he knew how prideful they both were, and it was unlikely that he took his complete and total loss well.
Fomoria raised a podium from the ground in front of him and cleared his throat, the sound spread beyond just the city and across much of the stripe.
“I will keep this brief, because I don’t believe long speeches are the best way to deliver news.
From this point forward, Fomoria is not a kingdom, but an empire.”
He waited, just for a moment, then spoke again.
“I can already feel your confusion and worry, and that is exactly why I am doing this.
Right now, across the entire world outside the veil, when you hear about the empire, everyone knows you mean the Castian Empire.
In a hundred years, I want there to be a question of which empire they mean.
In two hundred years, I want the default assumption to be that they mean the Fomorian Empire.
In a thousand years, I want the Castian Empire to be nothing but a historical footnote mentioned in the creation of my empire. It isn’t enough that I defeat them, I must erase them, erase what they represent.
Slavery, rape, genocide, fear, child soldiers, these are what I must destroy, breaking them down into dust until they are scattered to the winds, until the idea of such savagery gives us all the same feeling of disgust as it does to me.”
The people muttered to one another, uncertain still.
“As it stands, with my passing out of my charter, directly or indirectly taking some form of control over nations, I have already been acting as an emperor, this is just making it official.
I have not changed or abandoned my original mission of ending slavery and the cruelty that comes with it. Tell me, have things gotten worse? Or have I always provided for you? Have I not given food, and clothes, and homes, and work, and even the entertainment that I disagree with, the casinos and brothels?”
There was silence.
“Answer me.”
The people screamed out YES, and Fomoria let it hang in the air for a time, using his arrays to echo it far and wide.
When he spoke again, he also waved Jake, Kel, and Nana to stand with him.
“Right now, I have with me the top three students in all of Fomoria, children who had no formal magical training, and faces that I believe many of you recognize. These children are our future, because if I am to call myself any sort of good ruler, I cannot just give you physical things as I have, I must give you knowledge and let you use this knowledge to improve your lives and the lives of your family, your neighbors, your city, your nation. It is said that kindness starts at home, and so I ask that all of you remember this, and raise your children to the best of your ability so they might be upstanding members of this nation, that they uphold our ethos with more than just words, that they have the drive and ability to put those ideas into action.
Jake and Kel have been using their magic to help their fellow citizens for months, not only do they ask for nothing in return, but each experience, each heart which they help to soothe, grows the joy of the empire, and in my own heart.
Nana lost her younger brother to the cowardly and vile poisoning by the Cast, it is my greatest failure.”
He hung his head and the crowd gasped. He disliked doing it, but manipulating people with a booming voice, choice words and a little theatrics was too easy and too useful.
“Still, she has not only forgiven me, she has let go of the hate in her heart. She dedicates herself to improving herself both physically and as a healer, so no one will suffer as she has, to lose a loved one to a poison or sickness that isn’t understood quickly enough. So I end this with a promise, within a single month, I will resume a full assault, conquering the stripe directly west of us. And within the the next five years, I will make a grand imperial academy worthy of training my citizens, young and old, in the ways of magic.”
He pointed towards the Spire of Other, and the ground began to fiercely shake, though preplaced dampeners made it shake just enough to not cause any real damage to any nearby towns or cities.
The Spire of Other, like an arm reaching into sky, let out a pulse of energy, and from its location over a dozen miles away from the city to just past the walls, everything became covered in verdant life.
Rose petals filled the air, the warm breeze cut the chill of winter away and the city smelled of summer.
“Now, drink and be merry to your heart’s content.”
A display of magical power, even one so wasteful and vain, always raised the spirits of those who didn’t understand them; the people cheered for their emperor.
He stepped back from his podium and pulled a scroll from his jacket, handing it to Rosewell.
“What is this?”
“My charter. I consider what is happening inside the veil as being lower priority, but I will get there eventually, even if it does take a few generations.”
Safira reached for her mace and Harlan his sword.
“You, you already know you can’t fight me. And you, unless you intend to sail back home, you will stand down. Rosewell, I do love you, you are like an aunt that I never had, and that piece of paper isn’t a threat, it is just simple instructions. There isn’t anything in there that you don’t already agree with, but if you die, if someone else becomes the ruler of Ragne, then they should look at that paper as a promise that any mistakes they make won’t be overlooked when the time comes.”
He held his arms out, and she stood up to hug him.
Fomoria felt warmth from her, and she from him, they understood one another; he could feel Anon’s eyes on him, her gaze was cold, curious.
“I know that you have the best of intentions-”
“But so did many of the worst criminals in history. I hope that we never have to fight against one another.”
“Shall we go then?”
“Of course, but I do wish you could stay a while, try the local delicacies.”
“As I said, I don’t like being out here, away from my people, surely you understand.”
“I do, all too well.”
He opened a void gate, watched all of them step though, and then went through himself.
“What are you doing?”
“I figured if there was an immediate danger I could handle it, nothing more.”
Rosewell checked her amulet, but nobody was currently trying to contact her.
“I believe things are fine as they are. You can go.”
“Of course, good night.”
He hadn’t been gone for more than handful of seconds, but Anon was gone when he returned.
Fomoria returned to Kor and celebrated with the people for just a few minutes before Carmilla pulled him aside and put up a veil when they were out of sight.
“What exactly are you doing?”
“Rallying the people, getting them ready for when I announce that I will begin using soldiers beyond my golems and Others. I imagine that one in four able-bodied men below 30 and half of all elderly men will enlist once they hear that they can regain their youth and gain body enhancement.”
“Meat for the slaughter?”
“No, not at all. If they have my sigil in them and they are enhanced according to their rank, I expect that the Castian forces won’t stand a chance. Not to mention that every army will have an Other watching over them, ready to step in to take down the real heavy hitters we are going to face. The golems are good for holding a city, but I have seen the results in my testing, people don’t respond well to them.
They are a faceless invading army, living weapons, but put a face to them, a name, a person, and suddenly they will become far more likely to peacefully submit in a shorter time.”
“Your testing?”
“I used different control methods in different cities across this stripe in the one to the south.
I have meticulously gathered data if you would like to look it over.”
Carmilla felt a chill run down her spine.
She had avoided war for this exact reason, she had never been enough of a threat that it was worth risking multiple Fingers or a Hand actually dying just to kill her, the Cast were willing to wait out the centuries until she died of old age.
Now she was too far in, she had officially pledged support for her war, directly attacked three Fingers, she couldn’t say that her alliance was one of convenience or that she was just after his magic, she was now known to be friendly with Fomoria personally.
“No, I don’t need to look at your data.”
“Then why don’t we return to the party, I’d love to see Camilla again.”
“Why?”
“Can a man not want to see a beautiful young woman?”
“What about Anon?”
“She left me moments ago, she never intended to stay, she just wanted my sigil to fix something wrong with her soul. She has void gate, she could be quite literally anywhere in the world, inside the veil or out here. I don’t think that she is going to come back.”
He patted her on the shoulder and left her veil.
She had never found him quite as frightening as he was in that moment, when she had no idea about what he could know, how far into the future he had seen, if he had been playing a fool but was really a genius manipulator from the start.
----------------------------------------
Sholl hit the ground, but he was unharmed, unlike his two companions.
Carmilla’s blood blades had split them both down the center.
He was already feeling a little lightheaded from overusing his prayers without rest, but he knew that his normal magic wouldn’t be enough to save them due to the damage to their brains.
“MY EMPEROR, REVERT DYING TIME, UNDUE THIS UNJUST CRIME.”
Everything froze, and suddenly a horned man in jet black was stood in front of him.
His first thought was that somehow Fomoria had followed him, but then he got a second look.
This man was well over 12 feet tall, and unlike the horns of the Dague which Fomoria wore, these were ribbed like those of the Ibexians, and they curled into a square before going outward.
The staff in his hand had a black hole on its head.
He looked at Sholl with his yellow squared eye and slammed the ground with the butt of his staff.
Time resumed and the other Fingers were pieced back together as if nothing had happened, even their memory of being cut was gone.
But on Sholl’s every essence, every fiber of his being, every cell in his body, a warning was written, Time forgave the breaking of his law once, and never again; there was no evading his judgment.
“SHOLL, WHERE DID YOU BRING US.”
Baoth grabbed him by the collar, but Sholl’s eyes drooped and his body went limp.
Yalda understood the situation faster than his superior.
“He must’ve saved us, and it must’ve cost him. Sholl would not flee without reason. Now, we must find out where we are and report back to the Hands, we gathered the information we needed and we all survived.”