On a hunt for the heirlooms of power, Forte takes an extended leave from the academy to hunt down Sinclair's ring. He tears through nobles and slave traders alike, looking for any signs of the ring passing ownership. With his Motley family's blood amulet aroud his neck, Forte becomes an unstoppable harbringer of death as he ignites the Motley blood running through his veins as fuel for destructive black magic. He has become what his family bloodline once was-- fiery tempered, violent, and destructive wielders of some of the most powerful magical artifacts to have ever existed.
And then there is Nightmare, the black dragon. A physical symbol of Forte's ever growing power. The haughty black dragon, once about as long as Forte's arm, has grown into a terrifying, handsome tower of a draconian monstrosity. His signature black fire, able to burn even in the rain and snow, becomes the ultimate show of force as Forte takes on his original enemy, the King.
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Vaun's true identity. As Forte was revealed to be a Motley, and the last living blood heir of the Motley heirlooms including the Amulet, Vaun is revealed to be a Sinclair much later on and heir to Sinclair's Ring. The two, once blood brothers, drifted apart due to circumstances even before Vaun discovers his true heritage.
This eventually leads to another bloody Motley-Sinclair war, as history repeats itself for the final time, with Forte Motley representing the Motley bloodline of fire and blood magic, and Vaun Sinclair representing the Sinclair bloodline of wind and darkness magic. Forte forges a war path using his city Avalon as a base for his operations, mining vast amounts of mithril to arm a budding army.
Vaun finally takes vengeance on his father for abandoning him, seizing his father's merchant dynasty and control of the Merchant's Guild. With vast amounts of silver at his disposal and a fear invoking last name, Sinclair, he raises a terrifying mercenary and conscript army to face Forte. He also awakens the slumbering Golden phoenix, who was born centuries ago during the last Sinclair dynasty.
The two brothers bitterly battle it out for a veritable eternity. Avalon versus the Merchant Guild. Fire versus Wind. Blood versus Darkness. Black dragon versus Golden phoenix.
As the war rages on, the Great Storm finally reaches the center of the continent. Monsters spill into humanity's final bastions of territory, as the rain and thunder brought by the Great Storm allow all sorts of monsters to penetrate through the empire's defenses.
Despite all this chaos, Forte simply disappears one day, to resolve a personal matter.
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The waiter in the tower scene. The first scene that was envisioned from the moment this story began. Forte is hired at the royal kitchen while disguised as a cook. He works at the kitchen as a grunt for months, with only on purpose in mind. One day, things fall into place. He's given the order to send a dish up to the princess' quarters, in the highest tower of the imperial palace.
This was the situation he carefully manufactured through months of masquerading as a cook. This was when he would finally strike back at the King, who had his entire family murdered when he was still a child. He would kidnap the King's daughter, Princess Scarlett, a beautiful girl that was his classmate at the academy and was a childhood acquaintance back when the King frequented his family's household on diplomatic terms. It is later revealed that Princess Scarlett's birth mother, the Queen, was half elf. This was one of the King's most closely guarded secrets.
Disguised as a cook, Forte enters the Princess' chambers with her favorite late night dish, an exquisite mango pudding. The Princess thanks Forte for delivering the dish, unable to see through his disguise and recognize him as her classmate and childhood acquaintance. This was the moment he had been preparing for since the day he joined the royal kitchen. Forte grabs the Princess and ties her wrists together, then slings her slender body over his shoulder as he walks to the balcony of the tower.
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As the highest tower in the palace, the view is absolutely breathtaking, from the jagged mountainside to the river and moat surrounding the castle. Forte's next move is surprising. He steps precariously onto the ledge of the balcony as the princess struggles, believing that she's about to be thrown off.
And just like that, with Scarlett on his shoulder, Forte dives off the balcony and plummets towards the ground, which was hundreds of feet away.
At that moment, Nightmare swoops in and catches the falling duo on his back. Scarlett is flown back to an old abandoned castle that Forte previously claimed as his own, and she is taken prisoner. Forte wears a mask to hide his identity, and gives Scarlett instructions for her imprisonment. He treats her well as a diplomatic prisoner, granting her freedom to explore the castle while he is gone, but informing her of the magic wards that prevented any escape.
Scarlett attempts to escape every day in the first week, only to be foiled every time, as Forte spent the days sending threats and forcing negotiations with the King, using his daughter as the source of his threats. Scarlett goes through phases of several emotions.
First was fear, fear of the horrible things that her captor could do to her in her current defenseless state. Next was curiosity, at why her captor was so adamant on being mute and not trying to do anything to her besides feed her and force her to stay within the castle. In fact, her captor slept in his own chambers, while Scarlett slept in the guest room. And the final stage that sets in is boredom, when she realizes that she's being treated quite well, there's no threat, but there's also nothing to do in the castle besides explore the rooms and read from the library.
This finally leads to the thunder and bed scene. This is the second and last scene that was envisioned from the very beginning. One particular night, a storm was brewing. Scarlett is deathly afraid of thunder and can't sleep. Her body is shivering from fear from under the covers, as she's unable to decide what to do trapped in this massive castle without any source of comfort.
After much internal conflict, she gets up and walks to Forte's bed chambers, creeping into his bed. It's strange to see a kidnapped captive willingly get closer to her captor, but that's what happens in this situation. Even in his sleep, Forte is still wearing his mask that concealed his identity. Scarlett was surprised by how lax Forte was with his own defenses, as if he didn't consider that she could hurt him in his sleep. She considers attacking Forte while he's still sleeping, but the mask on his face was just too tempting. Her curiosity got the better of her--she wanted to know what her captor looked like.
Scarlett lifts the mask from Forte's face, and she swallows as she recognizes him. He's much older now, in his twenties, compared to when they were teenagers in academy. His face was more refined and mature than before, and his body was muscular. Scarlett lays her head on his slowly breathing chest, and falls asleep with her arm and leg wrapped around Forte. His body gives her a sense of security, as she lets her guard down in this strange situation.
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Months later, Forte returns to Avalon with the captive princess in tow. Because of Nightmare's presence in Avalon, the city repelled a full on assault from Vaun and the Merchant Guild's full force.
The two resume their war, both sides seemingly oblivious of the fact that the Great Storm was painting a path of monster destruction straight through the empire, as civilians and imperial soldiers alike were torn apart by all sorts of monsters. At Forte's castle, which was a completely sheltered existence from the horrors outside, Princess Scarlett was now visiting Forte's bed chambers to curl up next to him every night. She even began to cook for him, but Forte still did not acknowledge her in any way.
The final Motley-Sinclair war was written into the history textbooks. It never technically ended. Forte pushed Vaun back to the south, where Vaun established a new nation called Leonis. Meanwhile, Forte seized control of a collapsing empire and established himself as Prince Motley, taking Scarlett as his wife and Princess. Scarlett Motley became a terrifying Princess, cunning and calculating at every turn, as well as a powerful sorceress with the heirloom brooch Forte gifted her. As for the king... Forte kept the king alive, but held him captive and stripped him of all his power. Forte was now King, in all but name.
With the full military might of Avalon and Nightmare, monsters were killed on sight. It was impossible to push them back because the Great Storm had become a permanent weather fixture, and so it became a deadly but necessary job for the army to repel monsters as they showed up.
And so a new era of relative prosperity began under Forte and Scarlett's rule, although there always was the imminent threat of raptors on the horizon.