Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?
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So, hey!
Its been a while!
Anyways, don't really wanna talk too much.
Here comes the next chapter of Destiny: Infernal! I sincerely hope that you enjoy, let us begin!
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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That night... - Dragon's Trail - Alice's Point Of View...
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A vast expanse of cleared woodland stretched itself out before me as construction workers toiled all around, seemingly as immune to physical exhaustion as I was. The night may still be young, but people should have long since been asleep at this hour. Much of the work effort was being focused on building the foundations for what I can only assume will be considered my new city's nobility district. The high rise, climbing up the nearby mountains, foundations of stone, carved in stone.
To be honest, even at this early stage, it was sort of breathtaking. This scene is exactly why I was currently sitting at the forefront of my new carriage, having left my academy books and other necessities back inside, much to my drivers dismay. The driver in question was an elven slave, a man of dark elven descent.
He appeared to be very young for someone of his kind, possibly taken away into slavery while still a mere babe. Now, he is forced to serve me by the will of his master who has yet to be properly introduced to me, even as he is so very close to me.
... so many unknown people were around me right now, yet they all shared a certain... set, of bodily aspects, should I say? Bodily aspects which made them feel very, very familiar. Even... like family.
My current entourage, already pre-selected from my loyal soldiers by their equally loyal general, consisted of twenty five people in total. Ten heavily plated soldiers which consisted of seven humans and three dwarves, five orcish berserkers and five trackers carrying large war-bows and five.. others, people whose races I could not truly tell beneath their blackened leather armor. In fact, I was amazed that I could see them at all.
And while everyone present was on a mount of one kind or another, five of the heavily plated soldiers were clearly far more used to it, as even their horses were wearing plate armor, colored blue and gold, adorned with the bleeding sun and dragon that was my dynastic banner. A squadron of lancers, even as they dragged along heavy clay-mores on their backs, their lances kept unnervingly steady and ready for assault in their right hands as their left hands bore flags of my standard.
The dark blue of their plate armor made them just as difficult to notice as the shadowed figures surrounding us all.
All ten of the orcs were riding atop large wolf-like monsters, wargs I believe. Or maybe its worgs? The books I've read on them were never really exact on the subject. Five of the orcs were hauling around monstrously oversized weaponry, all of it still drenched in the blood of their previous battle. Has nobody ever told them that blood causes rust?
"Hey, you! Orc!" I suddenly exclaimed despite myself towards a large, hulking mass of scarred, pale grey skin and muscle. The thing turned towards me with a resounding crack of bone, causing its oversized weapon to move rapidly in its poorly-crafted leather handle and hit the warg/worg that the orc was riding."GROUGHL!"
The massive wolf-thing yelped, which would have been kind of adorable if the yelp hadn't been so terrifying that the nearby construction workers dropped whatever they were carrying and scurried off like maggots from a poisoned corpse."Ah!" The orc quickly stabilized his mount and turned towards me once more."Yes, boss-lady?"
"Why did you not clean your weapon of blood? Its gonna rust if you keep it like that." My question made the orc, and pretty much every other orc in earshot, offer me a dumbfounded gaze."W...wot? Blood make sword rust? Iz dis true?" The orcs then turned towards their human companions, who silently nodded in turn.
One of the orcs in the back then exclaimed."WELL DAT FUKIN' EXPLAINS A LOT, DON'T IT!?"
Grumbling and pathetic moaning ensued as everyone resumed normal positions and the orcs started borrowing cleaning tools from anyone close by, scraping the massive heaps of iron that they called weapons as clean as they possibly cloud. Shaking my head out of my stupor, I leaned back into the coachman seat next to the white haired dark elf slave.
Ah, that reminds me.
As you may have guessed by now, literally every person in this selective entourage, man, elf, orc, dwarf or otherwise undefined had two- or rather three, distinctive features that made it look like we were all distant relatives, as implausible and impossible as that sounded. We all had skin as pale as death, hair as white as snow and eyes glowing like gleaming gold.
Is... Chaos' influence in this world a lot stronger than I realize?
My scanning shows miniscule traces of Chaos Energy within the people around you... but the amount within them is basically nonexistent.
In fact, you could even call it "normal".
So I'm not surrounded by unknown siblings, then?
"My lady? You seem to be troubled by something?" One of my lancers, the heavily plated knights, approached me. I could not see his face from within the thick-metal helmet he had on, but I could tell his gender by body shape and tone of voice."Its nothing just... are pale skin, white hair and golden eyes common traits around here?"
"Common?.. I would not call our shared features common, milady. It is just a trait exhibited by those who have lived through horrifying experiences. For some unknown reason, a great deal of such people gather within your county." I quirked an eyebrow at this."So this place attracts outcasts and troubled fellows?"
The knight laughed at me lightly."If you think that this county's bandit problem is caused by the maddening attraction this land exhibits to our sort, then you would be both correct and wrong at the same time."
With a nod, I urge the knight to continue."What do you mean by that?"
The knight pulled back, seemingly uncertain for some reason. Then, the orc I had spoken to before spoke up, still cleaning his oversized blade."Boss-lady, do ya ever git dis need ta kill tingz?" How incredibly blunt.
I shook my head in negative, much to the others surprise."I haven't ever felt a .. need, as you put it, but that may very well be simply because I've been continuously killing people ever since my hair went white."
Now, everybody stopped for a moment and the knight came back up front after what felt like an eternity of silence."Well, there's your answer, milady."
I blinked in momentary confusion."My answer?... my father used to kill a lot of bandits for... certain reasons. Are you saying that you kill them for those same reasons?"
My entourage nodded, yet I felt like they had no idea what exactly they were admitting to doing here."That still does not explain the sheer number of bandits in these lands."
"Lack of information, seeming prosperity despite a bad reputation, the constant absence of a rulling lord and general lack of security." An unknown female voice echoed from the back line, one of the black-covered skirmishers whose race I could not tell.
Going by the tone of her voice, I'd say she was a dark elf, much like my current coachman."You kill the bandits so quickly that they never learn whats really going on and while the threat of death does push some of the more cowardly ones away, such things are a constant within criminal society anyways so it does not deter them for long, especially since the lack of security around here ensures a constant supply of easy raiding targets."
Silence followed once more, echoing rebelliously into the nights sky. We were far away from the construction sites now, deep into the forest... everything was so, very.. silent.
Yet, I felt no danger around here."It be our aura, boss-lady."
"Aura?" I gave the berserker an inquisitive gaze."All o' us gol-eyez 'ave dis... weird air all 'round us. Wen lotu o' us are togetha, da air becomz 'ven weirder, if dat mak' any 'ense."
Milady, from the memories given to me by my parents, I can confirm that Chaos Energy grants its hosts an aura of madness and insanity. This aura serves a lot of invisible purposes, such as making the non-afflicted terrified or more easily swayed to your will.
You may think of it like a vampire's seduction, except swap lust for horror.
"I see." Muttering to myself as I turned my gaze to the sky and took in the pale full moon's shine, I felt myself smile. This... aura... this attraction of the troubled and the broken...
This county...
The place where Chaos was beaten back into the realm from whence it came... but the portal still exists somewhere, a gap of reality, a tear, an open wound in the world itself.
And it seems, that this wound... is bleeding."Care to share your enlightenment's, milady?" A mounted skirmisher approached me, lowering his face mask and offering me a knowing, wry smile."Hmm? Whatever do you mean?"
The man gave out a laugh, much like the plated knight before him."Milady, we of the gold-eyed know full well just how terrifying the realizations our brains can make truly are. Yet sometimes, the realizations we make can be rather... dramatic and ironic. We have an oath, you see, one which makes us share these particular enlightenment's with the rest of our kind, so that we may all experience the heart-rending gladness that they offer."
"Heart-rending.. gladness? Huh... that is a good way to describe what I'm feeling right now. How odd." I took in a deep breath and began my explanation."Very well. Tell me, how much do you know of my dynastic history?"
"You mean aside from your family's continuous exploits of conflict and war throughout the ages? Not much, truth be told. Your family is one shrouded in mystery, young lady." The female soldier from before joined back into the conversation. A nod was given as I continued."Well, my family was created over five thousand years ago so its not far-fetched to say that our history has been lost to time."
"Five thousand years ago?" One of the soldiers muttered in silence at this revelation as the others appeared to adopt faces of silent shock."Da time o' da Beast?... so our gud luks ar' tied to da Beast, den?" An orc suddenly spoke, surprising me with his apparent clarity.
How interesting...
My father Antioch, lived by a strong set of rules which dictated that the more one understands and comprehends Chaos, the more of its power they would be able to wield.
It appears he was correct; for the amount of Chaos Energy contained within your entourage's bodies is rising, milady.
"Wouldn't be too surprising... many of us live exactly as the Cosmic Beasts wants it, right? Free and as hedonistic as possible." An elf spoke.
"It'd explain why Vytar's followers are so easy to seduce for us gold-eyes." A man threw in his fifty copper.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"And why we're all fukin' lunatics." A dwaft proudly exclaimed.
And an orc finished."An' woy we's all feelin' loik family."
I blinked."Wait, that last part, why we all feel like we're family... what does this have to do with the Cosmic Beast?"
"Don't you know, milady? The old books say how the Cosmic Beast was furious at Vytar for he believed her to be his family, his mate and wife. How the reason for its fury was solely due to Vytar's desire to murder their son and not because she betrayed him." So Chaos thinks highly of family? And this trait is exhibited by its children as well?
My father, who is a powerful child of Chaos, exhibits intense incestual tendencies as he has slept with just about every sister he could find and even infected my Grandmother, turning her into his twin before proceeding to sleep with her... on multiple occassions.
Taking that into account, I'd say your conclusion is absolutely correct.
Ah.
Here's to hope my father didn't have any bastard children... I'm not entirely sure that I want to fall in love with an older, or younger brother.
... or sister.
...
Ah gods dammit all, the more I think about this, the more appealing it becomes.
Wait, does that mean that if Antioch ever came into this world he would-.... Oh, my.
Oh, oh my.
I feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as I quickly shake my head out of my stupor and tear the image out of my mind.
There is no need to worry, my daughter. Your older brother is certainly perverted, but he is no pedophile.
The voice of Chaos thundered tonelessly inside of my mind as I felt a little bit better. But oh, mother dearest, I won't be nine years old forever.
Come to think of it."Oh hey, I'm gonna be ten years old next Saturday."
"That's a random thing to say out loud like that, milady." One of my soldiers chuckled at my antics, causing me to give him a shrug."Anyways, you didn't tell us what your enlightenment was? In fact, you seemed to experience even more dramatic realizations during the course of our conversation." That same soldier pointed out and I shrugged yet again."I have, though I am not sure that I wish to share what I've... realized?"
The female from before smirked at me, lowering her own mask to reveal, as I thought, a dark elven woman so pale that you'd think she was a High Elf from away... yet the distinctive crimson tattoos upon her flesh proved otherwise."Considering that we were talking about how we all felt like family and that adorable blush on your cheeks right afterwards.. oh my, does the young lady have an older sibling she'd like to... have read a story to her at night?" The she-elf caught herself in a blush of her own before finishing that sentence with as much R-18 content as she originally wanted to.
Wait.. R-18.. content?
What the fuck are those thoughts?...
R-18 is short for rated 18. 18 as in eighteen years of age is required to witness the "content", that which is included inside of whatever is "R-18".
These are words often used in my fathers world... perhaps, as our minds are linked, some of my memories are leaking into you, milady?
I don't know, Tius. Are French and Capiche also words in your fathers world?
Yes, milady.
Well that would explain a lot, though I've been using them long before I ever even met you.
Finally, I turned back towards the she-elf."No, not really. Though the thought of incestual relations does... intrigue me more, much more, than I'd ever like to admit."
"En, is it really incest if we aren't really related?" A dwaft, riding what looked like some kind of snow-furred mountain cougar, approached me and asked. I looked around me, reminding myself that this affected my entire entourage."Huh, so all of you are a lot closer than a normal squad of soldiers, eh?"
"Luvs, hugz an' kisses, woteva, whoeva. Wot's it matta if we loik each otha moar den othas?" What a conservative point of view, my orcish friend? Yet, I do not think that your *woteva* and *whoeva* would be quite accepted by seemingly like minded groups, which is ironic.
Libertarian conservatives, eh?
Ah, words I don't know yet use make yet another appearance.
And no Tius, I don't need an explanation for them this time.
... as you wish.
Aww, don't be sad.
Anyways, mother dearest, could you explain as to why you get so defensive whenever we talk about Antioch.
A mother always protects her children, especially those who hold so much potential like you and him.
I... hold potential?... What kind of potential?
... It is not yet time for you to learn that. And, it is also not something that should ever be explained to you by anyone other than yourself.
... as you wish as well, milady.
Eh, Tius? You can hear Chaos?!
I would not say that I "hear" anything... but such mortal senses have never applied to the "voice" of Chaos.
True enough, I suppose.
Suddenly, I felt very, very tired."Ah, I'm gonna go inside now to sleep. Wake me if anything interesting happens, please."
They each offered a salute in respect."As you wish, milady!"
Going inside of my carriage revealed it to be a near exact copy of my previous one, with rich crimson silk seats and blackened ebonwood furniture. There was even a small cabinet with a heating rune and a stock of tea leaves as well as all the porcelain cups and silverware required to make use of it. Hm, I could go for some tea now... if only I knew how to make some.
If I remember correctly, you just like... heat up the water and then put the leaves inside? That sounds right?... okay, not really but hey, I'm gonna try anyways.
After doing this, I finally noticed a rather sizable brown bag on the seat opposite of my own, where the maids and butlers usually sat. Taking the bag into my hands revealed a note beneath it.
"Since you left before I could give this to you, I've decided to leave it all inside of your new carriage and hope to the heavens, or the Cosmic Beast, that nobody steals it or pockets some of its contents. There should be roughly over four hundred and thirty gold coins contained within the bag, this month's collective tax from your county. I've been collecting this for a while which is most likely why the other lords hold me in such contempt, as collecting taxes during a regency is highly illegal, but their ire dispersed after the council meeting which meant that I could finally offer this to you.
I only hope that the bag found you with its contents full, Alice.
Signed; your faithful mayor.
P.S: Yes, this is my way of firmly planting myself into the positions of both Treasurer and Tax Collector at the same time. I trust you have nothing against it, right? *wink wink*"
As I finished the letter, I found myself struggling not to laugh."Oh Yvain, you sly fox. That's probably how he managed to buy a ring to propose in the first place. Oh well, he's been great help so far so I might as well let him play his game."
Then I noticed that there was something written on the backside of the letter."Hail's End: twenty five gold, lowest of all the cities, mainly due to the special tax exemption law for soldiers." Huh, this kind of law existed in my county? No wonder my soldiers are so damn loyal, forgiving and dismissive of my apparent lunacy.
"Yarrin: highest profit, estimated to be around two hundred and fifty gold coin and this is with one of its gates permanently occupied for construction purposes." Hmm, that's a lot of gold per month into my pockets and the city isn't even at its full strength. Now, I begin to understand the sacrifices that Yvain has made in my name so far... I wonder if I'm worth it?
I hope that mother dearest has rewarded him for it somehow. With something more valuable than marriage.
Maybe it is you who should reward him.
Ah. Right.
Point taken."Verdia: estimated taxation value is around one hundred gold total, but I am certain that less was collected due to rabid, uncooperative farmers and their rebellious land owners. Milady, I must advise you to invest administrative and potentially military effort into this part of the county as we cannot afford to have our breadbasket turn into the staging grounds for a rebellion." On that, we agree, as with many other things.
I'm certain that the fucking Granny won't make things any easier on us. Hell, shes probably the fire-starter in this case. Here's to hope my construction efforts may placate her long enough for me to find a suitable replacement."Marrowdorf: estimated taxation value is over one hundred gold, however due to inefficiency and a general lack of education of the city populace, that value has dropped to only around seventy-five gold instead. Milady, we should consider diverting some of the construction effort to Marrowdorf and build a local school nearby... half of the people I met were unable to count beyond ten; and yes, that means beyond their fingers."
Oh my good lord. This...
This is a priority number one, if I've ever seen one. That said, where would I find enough willing tea- Oh. I'm going to a city filled with Academies. I guess I could go ask around Sorcierre for potential employees?
.. wait, I just remembered something.
Mister Merriel asked me to seek out potential apprentices and workers for his tailoring machine. Ah, fuck. Well, I hope he can wait a few more days. Gotta make sure to mention this in my next letter to Yva-.. no wait, Lady Cognat said that I should ask the mean Granny about this rather than anyone else. Hmm, perhaps I could make good use of this?
Write a letter with good intentions to smooth out our relationship even quicker and get Master Merriel the working force he requires. This would result in double-no, TRIPLE the benefit for me!
... oh.
I just remembered that I never quite went to witness the massacre of Dirkhaven. Ah fuck it, who cares? I've had much better and more urgent things to do that go meet some old man in a withered robe who thinks he can stand against me.
"Kilnchapel; estimated taxation value is over three hundred gold. However, the city's current sad state combined with the ratman infestation has served to severely diminish that value down to only a maximum of hundred gold. Milady, perhaps we should place arranging the creation of an Adventurers Guild in this city above the construction of the road between Castle Pendragon and Hails End?" Cancel a road... no, this is just a play on words in case someone ever steals these letters from me. What Yvain is asking of me is to postpone the building of the secret outpost between these two locations.
Hm...
Lady Cognat wont be happy if she hears about this, but the faster we can improve our income, the faster we can build ourselves up. I will have to consider this in more stable circumstances."Milady! We've reached the city of Yarrin!" A voice could be heard from the outside as I rose from my seat and opened my silver-inlaid window. The city that formed itself into my vision was a very lively place, even at this time of the night. People and animals alike were rushing everywhere almost as if it was morning and everyone was going to work. Goods were being carried and transported around, merchants were bartering their goods, little girls were selling flowers and boys were playing in the field.
A part of me wanted to join them, the boys I mean, but I quickly shook myself out of those thoughts.
Tailors and leather-workers were grouped together just next to a spree of blacksmiths, all of whom were working hard. The resounding echoes of tools, everything from slamming hammers to slicing knives, could be heard from far, far away."HALT!"
Suddenly, a guard exclaimed and rushed over to us, a myriad of other men in armor pointed their pointy sticks at my entourage."State your names and your business here, mercenaries!" Their leader, an older man with a sergeants medal over his shoulder, walked forward to parley. When none of my soldiers stepped forwards, I realized that they expected me to deal with this.
And quickly, or they might just decide to *deal with it*, by themselves."I am Lady Pendragon, High Lady of this county and your rightful liege. Now step aside and let us pass." I yelled somewhat uncharacteristically from the inside of my carriage, causing the old man to scoff."Bullshit! The young lady has a special coachman with white hair and gold ey- Oh wait, this one also has white hair and gold eyes."
The dark elf slave in question merely scoffed in annoyance."The man you are describing is sadly dead. My carriage was attacked and he was butchered alive, but let us not talk of the dead." I promptly exited my carriage, eliciting a multitude of hushed whispers and whimpers alike from the collected crowd.
"By Vytar, she looks loik death came ta loif!"
"Wait, wasn't she asleep for months?"
"Hey... all of her guards look like she does!"
"Sumtin's fookin' fishy 'ere, mates..."
I shook my head as I ignored the gossiping crowd."Whatever. Can you let us pass now that you've seen me outside?"
The old man nodded and his men scattered, yet he appeared to rise a finger up before we could go which made my soldiers rather uneasy."Milady, if I may, the people of this city... your subjects, have some questions we'd like answered, if your ladyship is willing?"
Shrugging, I waved my hand downwards, causing the soldiers to ease up and said."Sure, why not? Ask away."
"For what reason is the front gate occupied!?" A man from the crowd exclaimed with a tone of anger."Because we are building a new city on the grounds in front of my castle. Funded by yours truly and the mayors of the cities."
"People say that there be orc settlers at this new city! Is this true?" A woman questioned me, a beastkin at that."Is this racism I sense? I assure you that such bullshit will not be tolerated. The orcs who serve under me are equals to everyone else that serves under me."
This caused the crowd to burst into murmurs and minor chaos."Milady... do you even realize that the orcs from the Edgelands are constantly raiding your territory, killing and raping and butchering people, YOUR PEOPLE!" The guard captain screamed in outrage.
I let out a massive sigh and answered with steel in my voice."Have you ever asked yourself this: why do the orcs raid?"
"Because they are filthy savages that deserve extermination!" A fool exclaimed, much to the agreement of the crowd. The orcs in my group seemed disinterested in this and only gazed at my back, seemingly expecting... something, from me."So they're savages, huh?"
I let out a small chuckle before continuing."Alrighty then... lets say that you lived in a land where Winter never ends, where nothing grows and prey is scarce while your children starve and die, slowly, painfully, with bodies riddled with disease and living rot."
My words quieted both the fool and the crowd in general."Now, imagine that you also have this... neighbor, whose pastures are grand and the soil rich, the forests plentiful and children happy, energetic and sometimes even fat."
I turned to face the fool who claimed that the orcs were savages and asked."What would you do if you were in the orcs place? What if this land was theirs and we all lived beyond the Edgelands?"
My smirk could not go higher as the crowd went silent, not even breathing could be heard for a few ethereal moments."You see, my dear subjects, I believe that it is not the orcs who are savage. It is the land that they are forced to survive upon that is savage. I assure you that the orcs who come here with the intent of finding easy prey will be dealt with just as any other criminal would be, but those who come here with the intent to survive under my rule will either adapt and become *civilized* or they will be forced back from whence they came."
I rose my hand upward and faced the crowd with all the fury and pride I could muster as I closed my eyes."This, ..."
My closed eyes opened to reveal golden, glowing orbs filled with power."... I swear."
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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Decided not to ruin the moment and end the chapter here.
More to come, hopefully soon!
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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!