A servant dares to step forward to straighten out my clothes after my fidgeting messes it up. I have to shoot a hand up to stop a guard from running them through and I only cause more servants to come up to help. Crying on the inside, I try my hardest to keep myself as straight and upright as I can. I learned all of this when I was young and I can only wish that it is my time away from home that has caused my knowledge to dull.
How did this even happen!?
All I wanted to do was save Mother and prove that my magic wasn't this foul product of matrimonial malice. Instead, I have somehow alerted the whole country to something that is entirely unnecessary! The Emperor and his family have come to the palace I made for only show, the Senate and the heads of all the houses. All in one place, surrounded by what might as well now be my anointed guard in the form of migrating thunder-shoguns...
I'm terrified, absolutely terrified and I do not know what to do. I've been asked to wait back here for the moment as everyone else fills out the throne room in their designated spots and the highest religious orders of the land are preparing. The incense is breaking through the cracks in the door like the smoke in a raging house fire. If only.
Mother steps to my side as does the still confused and now hastily dressed Brewbrt, both have been asked to walk me down the aisle. On her honour as the one who birthed the woman who brought Lightning to the land of the same and on his honour as my guardian and shepherd. Both of their grips tighten in a nurturing manner and I switch my eyes between them erratically. I choke on the razor-sharp diamond going down my throat and open my mouth to breathe wildly.
"Shhhh... It's ok." Mother whispers close to my ear and I nod, straightening my back as the first sounds of a door moving reach the other ear. The lighting of this already bright hallway change and even the sky turns quiet as the army of eyes look upon me. At the very end of the opening guarded by the noblest-blooded warriors in the land, the Emperor himself. At any other time in my life, he'd be the purest being I'd ever meet, yet, now, having seen my reflection and heard the still heart-swelling praise, he seems almost pale.
A man whose visage would've once commanded this room is not here. Everyone is looking at me as if I am the Messiah, the definition of the word and its original inspiration, a demi-goddess made real. All I did was scream a name in front of a sham trial and make something out of the land and now all of this. Somehow, somehow... It's easier to keep my eyes on the throne I made just for show but now I want to look at the ground.
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No one has dared to step close to my seat, not even His Imperial Majesty. Thunder seems to echo through the grand chamber but the corner of my eyes show me something else. With each step I take down the aisle, Lightning sprawling above my head like an ape, the grand crowd kneel. The resounding strike of their knees and bowing heads screaming the most loyal of oaths and fealty.
I stop as the arms around mine slip away, I look to them both as they step off to the side. I try to smile at Brewbrt's continued bafflement but it only serves to have him hurried away. I turn to my throne as someone ahead of me steps closer. His Imperial Majesty.
I step back but his hand taking mine stops me from doing it fully, my overly complex kimono doing the rest.
"Beauty of Heaven, on my noble blood and impeachable honour as the Emperor of the Eusorochii and their lands, allow me to aid in your ascension to stand amongst the heroes and the gods above them." he explains, a handsome face letting out words of calming silk. I nod slowly and each step takes more breath out of me than it should. The air is thinning and by the time I find my throne, I nearly collapse.
My eyes remain shut tight, not even air is allowed through my eyelids until a soothing presence conducts itself into me. Opening one fully, the other follows suit and I smile at the friend who has allowed me to finally put to rest the terror keeping me up at night. My home is safe as is my family, although, things have escalated a little too much for me.
"Do not worry, Einervaene, I am here." Lightning speaks openly for the room to hear clearly. I gulp and nod and his powers come to life with the Power of Creation even giving me that strange habit he calls a wink he has developed. The ceiling opens up as if it was always meant to and he shoots off into the sky.
Thunder roars louder than the greatest of dragons and a shape starts to form in the sky, that of an armoured man holding a great hammer. Lightning's imitative puppet descends a staircase of rumbling stormclouds and most if not all the room steps back in shock. The fake Thurnmourer walks up to me, the finest crown I have ever seen in his hands and the one that was actually made for me has hurried away, shame hiding it. My neck nearly breaks from the great weight and I close my eyes as I adjust to the immense, psychological pressure.
"Rise, Thunderess." Lightning commands through his puppet and I do so, taking his hand as my pedestal grows and all I see bow. The lords and ladies, the Senate, the temples and their excellencies, the Imperial Family, Brewbrt... Even Mother. All of them are bowing with the utmost respect that their bodies can give.
Lightning's show ends and his puppet disappears in a mass of volts, a single great gold bolt filling the sky.
"HONOUR TO YOU, THUNDERESS!" all the thunder in the sky roars for a great distance that rebounds on itself and the people echo it for even more miles as I keep only my body stable.