Her Majesty, a most beautiful and charming woman with long wavy golden hair, donning a silky white dress with golden neck straps and linings at the edges of her arm, wrists and body. It's extra length enough to cover the entirety of her feet and spray a short distance over the round golden platform beneath her.
She wore a golden choker necklace embedded with blue diamonds and a spiral gold bracelet on each hand, her throne was made of the purest gold and had a spherical upper body full of different inscriptions and it's edges edges were crafted to imitate the burning visage of the Sun but the very top sculpted to instead resemble a mountains.
The golden platform beneath her had a width of about of nearly two meters, two small eastern dragon statues made of pure gold were placed on both sides of her majesty just an inch beyond the platform and the illumination of the light crystals from above gave her Majesty the illusion of an almost divine glow, but with the unmatched elegance and charm she naturally possessed it might have as well also not been fair to attribute it all as an illusion.
To the sides of her majesty about five meters away was her court whom where seated in floating rows shaped in a semicircular fashion and moderately spaced, each row on both end had 16 lesser thrones made purely of black obsidian except for the seats which were made of a soft and comfortable black material.
The Queen smiled warmly looking at her subordinates before her "rise" she commanded and they did, her eyes were immediately drawn to the little boy standing beside her general of whom she had currently locked eyes with. Deciding to address it a more comfortable time she moved on to the important matters at hand;
"Congratulations on winning another war once again Raven, and with the least amount of losses just as always".
She took a small and curt bow at the acknowledgement "thank you".
"And Aaron".
"Yes your majesty?" He answered almost immediately.
She smiled "your efforts are appreciated also, rewards shall be in order the moment the Emperor has decided on them".
"Of course, I too shall be giving mine separately".
"Thank you your majesty" he took a bow, his was lower and a bit longer in comparison to the General's of earlier.
She gave a small nod "I'm sure you are aware of the new situation that just revealed itself to the world correct?".
"Yes your Majesty".
"Internal chaos is bound to unfold very soon, you'll be needed in controlling and offering assurance to my citizens".
"My magic is barely keeping the entire kingdom calm but fear is a much too powerful thing, especially when it concerns the type of threat the world faces now".
"At least until the time I'm ready to address them all just make sure not to let the fear mongers run loose".
"Tame their hearts but refrain from force, the last thing they need is that".
Aaron took a bow again and acknowledged the orders he was given then was unsummoned by the Queen with a slight wave of her hand.
The Queen also adjourned her discussion with her court and ordered them dismissed for now, the 32 seated members stood up and took a bow then teleported out of the throne room.
Silence for a few seconds of what seemed to have been an eternity, then out of nowhere the Queen shot out like a rocket towards her First General and hugged her with all her might while giggling like a child.
Maeve had the most defeated expression on her face watching her elder sister pet her head while squeezing her face in-between her bountiful bossom and the boy could do nothing but watch with vivid curiosity.
"Ah my sweet little sis, you have no idea how much I've missed you" she was nearly breaking down in tears of joy.
"It's only been a week".
"A week of constant and long meetings with those old men, having the fat bastard called the Emperor demand for me more often and without you to accompany me when I go meet him and so much more".
She gave her a little pat on the back as a small show of comfort to her sister's woes while fighting the terrible urge to eye roll at such petty laments.
She sighed and pulled her sister's face out of her bossom and smiled "Either way, I'm glad you're back".
"Lemme see, have you suffered any injuries" she spread her mana sense all over her sister's body and luckily found nothing wrong with her but still she could not resist giving a small pinch to the cheeks of her irresistibly adorable little sister.
Maeve was absolutely not a small woman by any metric, she stood at a height of 6'0 naturally and was 6'2 with her heels right now yet before her elder sister she was made to look small, her giantess of a sister who was 6'6 of course took advantage of her stature and Maeve's unwillingness to resist to tease and bully her with affection.
"Oh" Hestia realised.
"I'm sure I saw a....a boy".
She looked down but for a moment but there was no one but her sister's mangled opponent, after a bit of focus and looking around she found him sitting in front of the throne and looking up at it. Hestia turned back to her sister and had the most confused expression on her face.
"I'll tell you the details later".
She pulled the boy with her telekinesis which made the kid smile with joy, then the most surprising of events occurred in Hestia's vision, her sister smiled back at the boy and even pet him? Maeve had never smiled at anyone outside her family and even then it wasn't too often yet somehow this kid she brought from out of nowhere, she was smiling at him? Could he possibly...
"Whatever you're thinking right now drop it, the situation is nothing like that".
Hestia was silent for a few seconds but what showed up on her face was even more confusion"how in the world is that supposed to make me feel better".
"Was not supposed to".
Hestia opened her mouth to offer a retort but caught a hold of herself and kept silent, she followed her sister out of the throne room and onto the platform of ascension which took them directly to her sister's wing of the palace with Maeve's mangled opponent was still dragged along with them carelessly.
"Hm, wait a minute. This guy.... shouldn't he be taken to the dungeons and not–
"Ahh, I forgot" Maeve stopped dragging him along and then looked around for a moment.
Hestia sighed and snapped her fingers "house imp".
A small devilish little creature with red skin and two little horns on it's head, a naturally wide grin with razor like sharp teeth, a long slender arrowhead tail and an impeccably stylish suit was summoned through a magic circle.
He took a bow at the Queen "you called?"
"Yes" she pointed down at the mangled and crippled general before her
"Take this man to the dungeons, he's an important captive so make sure he doesn't die".
It's devilish grin grew even wider "as you wish your majesty" a red mana rope bound him from head to toe and the general was lifted up in the air, just when it was about to leave the imp locked eyes with the little boy in Maeve's arms for a moment.
His eyes widened as a feeling of pure terror travelled through even inch of it's body causing to fall on it's back involuntarily as the feeling of breathlessness overtook him.
Hestia raised a brow in confusion as did Maeve also, the imp upon seeing their faces grew conscious of his currently disgraceful demeanor and stood up after a few deep breaths.
"Forgive my embarrassing display your majesty, I know not what came over me".
Hestia waved it off and smiled "it's okay, perhaps a bit of rest is in order for even you it seems".
"Heh, yeah, it would seem so ma'am".
"I shall be taking my leave now" he took a bow and snapped his fingers, he was gone along with the general and silence ensued for a few seconds.
"Weird was it not?"
"Mhm"
Hestia and Maeve continued their walk in the hall until they reached a particular door, Maeve's hand was engulfed in a thin film of mana before she held onto the doorknob and turned. Upon stepping inside they were greeted by an incredible spacious but much too moderate living room.
Having nothing but a rug, a centre table along with a violet blue bioluminescent scented flowers atop it, a completely marble floor, three soft and comfortable black couches, the light crystals illuminating the room and barely anything else.
"Not hearing it".
Hestia frowned a bit and sighed.
"Seriously, just let me touch up on this place a little. It's too dead even by your standards and I promise not to change much".
"Like it that way".
"Tsk, one of these days I might actually challenge you in an all out battle for it".
Maeve turned around and showed a little smug smile to her sister but Hestia scrunched her brows as she knew quite well what her sister was thinking.
"No, you won't force me to break it. I make sure to remain far greater than you are for this reason".
"Those days are numbered sister, one way or another I'll break you out of those shackles".
"Doubtful my sweet Maeve" Hestia traced her fingers down Maeve's cheek and showed her a smile filled with the most unshakable confidence.
Maeve scoffed softly "a promise of mine is not one to ever be broken".
She turned around and walked through a wall leaving both her sister and the little boy all to their lonesome for a bit, the little boy in question had been completely oblivious about the small situation that had just transpired between the sisters as his sole focus was on the flowers atop the table of which he had plucked out a petal and was now looking at it with a focused gaze.
The sight altogether made for a funny and adorable one in Hestia's eyes as it reminded her a bit about a particular group of people, she crouched down and gave the boy a little rub on his head, those big beautiful eyes were raised to meet hers and she smiled.
The boy tilted his head a little bit and raised his small little arms to her face, she helped the distance by bringing herself closer until it was within comfortable distance. He was curious and seemed to be squeezing her cheeks mindlessly with a smile on his face, Hestia couldn't help but giggle at this as she was reminded of her daughter being fond of doing the very same thing.
Unbeknownst to Hestia the starry bright spots in the boys eyes had come alive and was spiralling at a steady pace, soon enough she caught onto it and her curiosity was lit. The boys hand on her cheeks suddenly became incredibly cold and by motherly instinct she caught onto both of his hands and took a look at them out of worry while also placing a palm on his forehead.
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Then to her surprise she felt something being pulled out of her through the boys hands, her instincts were on high alert for a minute but upon finding the presence of an ill intent to be non-existent she dropped her guard a little and allowed her curiosity to take over in wonder of what the boy was doing.
And as the seconds went by she got her answer which put her in pure disbelief, Maeve was done with her task inside and was now stepping outside which startled Hestia causing her to withdraw her hands at lightning speed from the boy's.
But such an abrupt movement also affected the boy as he was pulled hard towards the floor with no control, both Hestia and Maeve reacted on instinct and caught the boy before he hit the ground.
"What did you do that for" queried Maeve who was looking at her sister with a slight hint of anger in her eyes as she pulled the boy up and into her arms.
"I...I was just startled buy your sudden appearance" she confessed.
But this only served to confuse Maeve a bit, deciding not to pursue the matter any further she let it go and sat down on the couch with the boy seated on her lap. At this moment it hit her a little bit that she might have worried for nothing as the boy's guardian existed so there was no way it would allow harm befall the boy, now confessing this would do no good so all she could do was sigh mentally and give the boy a little run on his head.
Hestia was already seated at the couch opposite hers and looking at her sister with expectant eyes "spill it".
Maeve groaned a little and then began recounting the entire story to her sis which left her flabbergasted but not in the way one would think, it left her flabbergasted because of just how simple this origin story was, simple and damn impulsive.
"I feel....greatly scammed for some reason right now".
"Glorious" taunted a deadpan sarcastic Maeve.
Hestia 'tsked' in annoyance.
"Still, such a reckless and impulsive action even from you is quite surprising".
"Though not as surprising as how quickly you became attached, what are you hiding Maeve".
Maeve gave no reply other than her silence prompting Hestia to sigh in defeat "fine, I'll just ask something else".
"Maeve, do you trust that your decision with this boy is not something you would come to regret".
The air around Hestia had taken a sharp turn, it was dignified, cold and dangerous, this was a question not being asked by Hestia the sister of Maeve but as Hestia the Queen of Garuda.
"Though I may trust and love you just as equally as I do my daughters I still have my duty as Queen".
"The lives and safety of my citizens ultimately fall on me so I must make sure not to do or allow anything that could possibly sabotage my kingdom especially with how delicate the situation just became for all life on this planet hence why I ask you this".
"Maeve.....do you trust your decision with this boy".
She looked down at the boy in her arms for a few good seconds then back up at her sister "yes" her tone was sure and definite.
Hestia heaved a small sigh "Then he shall be entrusted onto you, know now that whatever he does from this point onwards is all on you".
"If you wish for it then he shall also become part of our family and I will make sure he never lacks and neither shall he be allowed to be looked down upon".
Maeve bowed her head and thanked Hestia for her graciousness.
"Sister....."
Maeve lifted her head to meet hers, Hestia gracefully got up and walked over to her then placed a gentle kiss onto her forehead and then paused to take a final look at the boy before heading towards the exit and back into the palace to prepare for her public presentation before her citizens.
She went to her dressing room and ordered her maidservants to prepare a suitable attire for her presentation, in the meanwhile she was undressed fully and sat on the bed losing herself in thought.
"Your highness" a maidservant called to Hestia's attention and presented her with the chosen attire for her presentation but her mind was drawn shortly to a different matter altogether.
She thanked the maids and relieved requested they leave the room after, they bowed their heads and complied. Hestia closed her eyes for a moment and controlled her breath, her delicate hands balled into a firm fist as she opened her eyes.
"You must be incredibly stupid" she spoke with the softest voice.
Black shadow tendrils began growing out of the wall before her and it formed the shape of a man cloaked in shadows from the neck downwards, the man had a moderately handsome face, jet black hair and brown pupils. On his face was the creepiest smile know to man, he took a small bow.
"Do pardon my intrusion your highness...kek".
Even a mute and half blind person could spot the obvious levels of insincerity in his words and body language, those eyes of his which also shamelessly leered at her exposed breasts and body did nothing to lessen the weight of his transgressions either.
This man was the emperor's envoy and perhaps the most elusive being on the planet, even without this innate gift his position was also largely untouchable and as such he had a nearly unchecked amount of freedom to do what he wanted to whom he wanted unless it's either a direct attack on the Emperor's most important pieces or treason and slaughter.
How he was able to attain this much freedom from the Emperor is still something no one knows except those two themselves, Absalom was not a good man in the slightest and his reputation amongst the highest and lowest of the world's hierarchy was not something to sugarcoat.
Nobody liked cockroaches but what Absalom was not just a cockroach, he was worm, a rat and every other disgusting vermin you could think of combined.
"Relay your message to me and return swiftly".
Absalom smiled as he leaned off the wall and walked two steps closer to her "In an hours time the Emperor requests that his empires most important chess pieces be seated at his hall".
"That includes your sister of course so do not forget to relay his message to her your highness".
There was no surprise to be found on Hestia's face as this was something she had been expecting "Then you may inform him of our compliance, leave" a heavy emphasis was placed on that final word.
Absalom's grin grew wider "well...so you see your Majesty, before coming to meet you I made sure to meet every last one of the Emperor's most important chess pieces meaning you're the last one".
"Which means right now I am officially done with my order and have the freedom to rest as I please".
"Do you understand now... Queen Hestia" his grin had grown so wide that it was almost a wonder why his mouth had not been torn from it's roots.
Silence ensued in the room for a few good seconds and then in a flash a wave of golden flames rose up from Hestia's body and in that same instant Absalom had dissolved into shadows and reappeared at another side of the room panting heavily and laughing between breaths.
"Whoo! Haha. Oh man, that was dangerous *huu*, I almost killed you".
"Then you are an even greater fool than I had thought, you have not the slightest idea the depth of my powers".
Absalom showed a mocking smile "neither have you the depth of mine your highness".
Hestia's gaze was cold and her body ablaze with fire and her heart heavy with the ever rising rage inside her, but then in the next instant almost like it was an illusion her composure had returned and her gaze turned soft. The golden flames engulfing her body was withdrawn and Absalom now awake from his temporary daze, he groaned and dragged his palm down his face.
"goddammit woman! Just what were the gods thinking creating something like you" He cursed upon feeling his rising heat and trying his damnedest to suppress it.
Just then the doors burst open and in came two little golden bundles of joy whom shot straight at their mother while calling for her at the top of their lungs.
Hestia reacted quickly and embraced her two prides in her arms but still making sure to fall so as to provide more cushion, she laughed and smiled with them in her arms and gave each a kiss on their foreheads with the greedy youngest being given one both sides of her cheek.
"Did you miss me".
The nod their heads passionately and Hestia smiled "sorry you two, today is just the busiest mommy's been in a while".
"I promise to completely give myself to you when I'm done".
"No" her youngest retorted which surprised Hestia a bit.
"Leah...— she sighed "fine, an hour. Just an hour is all I need".
The little princess jumped up in joy and Hestia smiled.
"Mother, who is that?"
Hestia's attention was drawn to her eldest daughter whom was pointing towards the direction of her uninvited guest of whom she had forgotten was there for just a moment.
Leah too upon being made aware of the unfamiliar stranger in her mother's room got up and stood before her mother in a T-pose to shield her nakedness, Hestia smiled as she felt her heart melting seeing her youngest pride behave in such a beautiful and sweet way.
"Ah, Where are my manners" Absalom interjected and picked himself up off the ground then walked over and knelt down on one knee with a hand over his chest.
"My name is Absalom, I am....a friend of your mother's".
Her eyes visibly squinted at that and Absalom of course noticed that but was only amused as he shamelessly carried on.
"Might you be the genius princess Rachel I've heard so much about".
Rachel smiled as a small fire of curiosity lit up in her eyes "You've heard about me?".
"Well of course your highness, you're one of the Empire's greatest rising prospects and your day of awakening is still something so fresh in the hearts of many".
"As a future important pillar of both this kingdom and the Empire I'd be a fool not to have heard about you".
"I see" on her face was a most satisfied of looks and Absalom's smile grew a bit wider, the girl was really as the informants said she was, this was really a most pleasing turn of events indeed.
Hestia was no fool and could see straight through his barely hidden thoughts, her eyes burned with the ferocity of the Sun.
•Don't. You. Dare•
Absalom was taken a little aback at how a mental link could have been established without him knowing and laughed nervously, a whole new re-evaluation would have to be done on this woman.
•It's not my intentions you need to be wary of your highness but that of the Emperor's, it's always all up to him what to do with all the information I provide•
Hestia was silent for a few seconds then cut the mental link, barely half a second had passed in real time. She smiled and looked down at her kids;
"say your goodbyes little ones, Absalom here was just about to leave".
He smirked inwardly 'sneaky woman, fine. You win this one'.
Leah waved her goodbye enthusiastically "bye bye strange uncle".
'Eh' he thought inwardly but still showed a smile on the outside and bowed respectfully "goodbye princess Leah, may the goddess be with you as you grow".
He turned towards the eldest and bowed "and you too princess Rachel, may your potential bring a great surprise the world itself one day" and with that Absalom was gone from the palace.
Rachel dropped the smile on her face almost immediately and looked up at her mother "I do not like that man".
"I too!" Leah raised her hand in agreement with her sister, Hestia smiled and held both her daughters close in her embrace then sighed peacefully.
"Neither do I my little ones, but he's someone we're going to have to bear with" she gently ran her fingers through her daughter's hair.
Rachel understood and accepted her mother's words but Leah being the curious little thing she was could not help but ask "whyyy?".
"Hmmm" Hestia pondered playfully "welll, because the Emperor favours him quite a bit sweetheart".
"Whyyyy?".
She couldn't help but chuckle and give her daughter a rub on the head "to that I do not know the answer to unfortunately".
Fortunately it would seem Leah's questions had come to an end here as there was none further, she just lay silently in her mother's embrace, but the peaceful situation was short lived as her mother began getting up off the bed.
"Mommy needs to attend a few urgent matters now, I promise it won't be long" she gave each a peck and then began dressing up for her presentation.
Her attire looked quite simple at a casual glance, a silky smooth ankle length dress with straps and seemingly nothing else. But the materials her attire was made out of was to be the selling point of this outfit, one look and it is forever engrained into the hearts and soul of all whom were fortunate enough to lay there eyes on it.
The unmistakable feeling of divinity, the ultimate power above all others and like this she was set. Hestia walked out of the room and flew straight through the palace walls right to the very top and then transformed, this effect when absorbed into the power of her already near divine transformation would make the effects even more potent.
[A few moments prior].
A bottle containing a sizable portion of it's contents was smashed into Aaron's head prompting him to close his eyes as the liquid ran down his face, the Knights almost made a move to suppress the crowd but he signaled that they stop in their tracks.
"DO YOU THINK WE'RE ALL STUPID!?"
"PROTECT US!?? YOU!?".
Many insults were hurled towards Aaron but his mind was full of nothing but white noise, he clasped his hands together and whispered.
«Recovery»
The bottles and all other items that had been thrown by the crowd were rebuilt in a way that seemed like time had been reversed, the items were all returned to whomever had thrown then via telekinesis.
"Please understand that loitering is not allowed in her majesty's kingdom, continuous disregard of this rule shall be met with the adequate punishment".
The crowd was silent for a bit due to such unexpected words from Aaron, one from the crowd grit his teeth in anger and stepped forward to hold Aaron by the collar.
"You bastard, is this how her majesty's subordinate is to provide reassurance to her subjects!?"
"By threatening to punish them for being rightfully fearful for their lives and THAT of THEIR LOVED ONES!!?"
"Where is her majesty even, why is it only her dog that she has sent for us" he pulled Aaron's collar even tighter and brought his face closer.
"It seems that's all her majesty thinks we're worthy of right? Oh how blind we've been, the Queen is a cowa—
Aaron grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him off the ground with a single hand, his eyes were ripe with killing intent and it was taking every last bit of his will not to crush his windpipe and snap the neck of this insect here and now for his blasphemous words against the Queen.
His mana flared up and the crowd was instantly brought to it's knees, their voices were taken away from them and terror filled every inch of their souls.
"Sir!" His Knights yelled out to him and as luck would have it their voices reached Aaron whom had awoken from his murderous daze and dropped the man to the ground, his mana was retracted and the crowd finally regained their ability to speak once more.
His Knights came forward in worry for him, Aaron's gaze was filled with a deep sorrowful regret at his shameful actions, he ran his gaze through the entirety of the crowd and saw the eyes which gazed back at him, eyes that showed betrayal and fear.
"M-m-monster! He's a monster, everyone saw! We all saw, just how little the Queen and her subordinates think of us".
"We're NOTHING to them!" the man screamed out at the top of his lungs.
The Knights grit their teeth, this was not how this situation was supposed to go, both her majesty's kingdom and their commanders soul was crumbling before their eyes and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
And just then it happened, a bright flash of light accompanied by the earth shaking majestic roar of a phoenix that could be heard even far beyond the borders of her majesty's kingdom.
Everyone in the kingdom had stopped what they were doing and looked up to the skies to bear witness to the fiery flame bird of rebirth as great as the skies, their mouths grew agape and their knees knew nothing but the ground in this moment, their eyes bearing witness to such divinity could do nothing but shed it's tears, their hearts beat with the utmost joy and their arms spread wide open at such glorious magnificence.
The fiery embers from the phoenix fell over the entire kingdom, to each person and creature it touched it enveloped in it's warm embrace and they all knew, everyone knew. It was a promise, a promise that they shall cherish until the end of their days for generations and generations to come.
EnD.