Hugh
Lillith of Endings. The Mage of Mourning. The serial killer hunting nobles. Her fiancé died in Satusmor, but I thought nothing of it. Lord Godfrey claimed his head after all. He was treated as a hero for it. Then the campus incident happened. And who should be arrested for it but Lillith of Endings? The woman found to be responsible for hundreds of noble deaths all across the country. I don't know how she did it. All anyone knows is she somehow lives in the Radiant Woods. The only thing that matters to me is the reality.
The reality I realized, when everything came out. She was always an uppity bitch. She hasn't known her place since I first met her. She has never known her responsibility. She would never have married Lord Baldwin. It's a short leap to realize that Godfrey would have killed him years earlier if he could. Godfrey didn't kill Baldwin. Lillith did. The monster wearing a woman's skin. I don't know how, but if she could kill the king, she could kill a city lord. And she could kill my father.
I spent years hating the Manticorps. Thugs my father hired who supposedly turned on him. But they were innocent. They were always innocent. Victims of the same bloodthirsty whore as my father. My life was upended. I was barely able to gather the mana I needed to attend Facinley Academy and what happened? I wasn't able to graduate. Because of Lillith's massacre. Of course, no one believed I'd had a relationship with her when I first made the claim. But once she was revealed for her bloodthirst? Everyone believed it then. Any reason to torment me.
And it all goes back to the death of my father. The murder of my father. The cold-blooded slaughter of the man who raised me. The man I so desperately wanted to be. The man I wanted to make proud. Murdered by a local guardsman's daughter. I am certain of this now. And I won't let it stand. I don't care about anything else. I just want to ruin her. To hurt her. To make her feel like I do. I don't know how I'll beat her, but I will, somehow. I have been one of the only people willing to leave their home more than necessary for weeks. All to catch a hint of Lillith. I knew she would come back, even if I haven't had much luck finding her. But finally, here she is. Causing enough of a commotion what with King Darian and almost a dozen priests sending their mana out everywhere.
She is broken. She is bloodied. She can't even stand without her mana anymore. She is an abomination. And she is still. Fucking. Joking. Still arrogant. Still not hurting like I am. I kneel just under the window, only daring the occasional peek at the group inside. "Wouldn't kill you to show a little respect. That was my good arm, you know," she quips at her older brother. Henry, I think. She is being flippant about her own dismembered arm.
"You're not seriously going to try and fight still, are you?" Autumn protests. She's the little twin bitch who always hung on Lillith's arm. I hold back a growl. That means she is still in fighting shape, somehow. I suppose with enough mana, granted by a Collector-damned Duke, anyone can. I want to try and ambush her somehow. To take advantage of her wounds to finally fucking kill her. But my breath catches. My legs won't move. My body knows what my mind wants to deny. Even in her current state, I will die if I try to fight her. I close my eyes and wait. It's not long before I hear a loud clang, open my eyes, and see Lillith escaping me again. I failed my father again. I never had the chance to make him proud, but maybe that's for the best. The man I became would never make him proud.
She is gone, and it's too late. "Well. Shit," Henry says inside, "What do we do now?" My breath catches. Maybe... Maybe it's not too late after all.
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Godfrey
There is fire in the sky. My grandson is a slave. And I am near death. It's wrong. It's all so wrong. Ansel betrayed me. He actually stabbed me in the back, the moment Dominic left. I creep through the palace, nursing my wounds. If it weren't for my space magic, I would be dead now. My chambers are quiet as I turn the lock. The case waits on my bed. Ready to be used. I laughed when it was offered to me but...
I am not fit to be king. I never was. I am a failure. A little commoner girl who organized my books is the only reason my home is anything more than ash and rubble. I glance at the book on my bedside table. Court the Court: Wenches Unsheathed Volume sixty-nine. I'm only halfway through. It was the deluxe edition, almost impossible to find. It had the fold-out... well it doesn't matter. I'd been so looking forward to finding out how Adeline avoided discovery by the prince. I suppose I'll never finish it now.
It was a silly thing to indulge in anyway. Unbefitting of a king. But I suppose that falls in line with my short rule very well. Unbefitting. Too weak for the crown on my head. I open the case and retrieve the elegant staff. I can feel its power, radiating off it. Nothing like mana. Real, tangible divine magic. More than any priest I have ever met. If I give it an order, the world will comply. All it will cost is my life.
Dominic will be a better king than me. I have always known that. He is who I always lied to myself about being. I wrap the staff in my tattered, bloody cloak, and surround myself in space mana. They said I needed to go somewhere high up. It's not too late. I can still save this country.
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Edward
"Today is the last day we suffer a king in Potestia," Lily's voice announces over the sphere in Kallon's hand. A red glow shines through the shattered window as our stalemate holds. Kallon glares at me.
"Drop the spike, and let me through. I will let you live, for now, since it seems I am needed elsewhere," Kallon demands. He will let me live, if I let him hurt my sister. A traitorous part of me is tempted. I am afraid. I am so afraid. Part of me is in that alley with Henry. With an easy way to safety. I loathe that part of me. I hoped to kill what was left of it when I killed da- the other man. Apparently, I didn't. Not all the way. Maybe I never will. But I don't have to listen to him either. I look over my shoulder. I can see Lillith, in the sky over the city. Everywhere but here shadowed by the burning sky.
She is pushing back. She is pushing hard. The fire above the city is slowly turning to stone, being crushed between Darian's red mana and Lillith's invisible. Lighter red mana continuously regenerates it as swirls of Lily's bluish mana meet it to take its burn away. She is winning. I can't make out Darian, but I can hear her speaking over the whisper sphere. I set my jaw and grip the spike. "You're not going anywhere," I reply. I am not the boy that left his brother behind. I will show Lily. And someday, I'll show Henry too. Kallon rolls his eyes.
"Then I will walk around, you absolute moron. Ansel, kill him. Do your very best not to fuck this one up," he sighs, before standing. He looks at his captive in thought for a moment. Then towards the door, then back at the chained man. He groans. "Well, I see we have a problem. I have to kill one of you, don't I? I obviously can't take this to battle with your sister, not if she is capable of... that. And I can't leave him with you. Ansel just... doesn't have the history of follow-through I'd like. Well. I suppose he would be easier." He shrugs and begins to summon pink mana. I don't know what it is, but I know I don't have much time. I have to act. Whoever that man is, I am going to gamble on him.
I throw the spike as hard as I can toward Kallon, who immediately reacts with an actual explosion of mana in my direction. It dissipates the second it reaches the spike's sphere of influence, or rather, the second the spike reaches it. The stone shrapnel propelled by the explosion keeps flying, however, and cracks against the thick glass wall I began the moment I moved. "Ansel, kill him!" Kallon commands. His subordinate moves to obey immediately, fire rushing toward me as I dive for another of the scattered spikes. I don't get a chance to examine its size as I pour mana into it, creating another bubble of safety. Another smaller bubble. Shit. But I did manage to grab a couple of larger ones. I just have to deactivate this one to use it. "You are starting to get on my nerves," Kallon growls.
"Well, if there is one single thing I have always been good at," I reply. The thrown spike lies a few paces from him, but he is defenseless for the moment. Unable to attack. That still makes this a two-on-one, however, as Ansel and Kallon both eye me. Kallon also eyes the spike. We both move. I have to stop him before he moves it. He dives for the spike on the floor and I aim to close the distance when Ansel tackles me to the ground. I hear Lillith's voice over the still-connected sphere.
"We are not revolutionaries. We are insurrectionists. Every petty tyrant in Potestia has so much more to fear than a revolution. Because you will never kill one of us and remove the rest. You'll never kill ten of us and solve the problem. You can kill me. You can destroy this city. You can kill a thousand of us, and you will still never feel safe again. It's already too late. Potestia has already passed the point of no return," she says.
I swing an elbow back into Ansel's side. He grabs my hair and forces my head back, preparing to slam it into the marble floor. I release the energy in the spike and drill wind and glass shards into his side, forcing him off of me. I scramble to my feet and activate the spike again, only for stone shrapnel to collide with my side and tear into me. I'd moved enough to avoid most of the targeted blast but my injuries are accruing. It is still two-on-one, and my mouth is starting to taste like copper. At least I got a good hit in on that Ansel creep. A deep, sharp throbbing in my side complains of my need for rest and healing. A sharper voice reminds me why I can't.
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"How many more trades like that do you think you can survive?" Kallon asks.
"One more than you," I quip, fighting back a cough of blood. Lillith's voice keeps talking, motivating me to win.
"We already know it is possible to fight back. Even if we lose ten times and win once, we still fucking won once. And the surface cracks. Your mask of invulnerability falls. You bleed, just a little. It was too late for all of you the moment the first one bled. Because everyone. Every single person in the country has seen you bleed. Has seen you learn to fear. Even if you kill me, and every person by my side, they will still have seen you bleed. That scar is proof you can be fought. And once people know they can fight you? It's too late."
She is right. I just have to make him bleed. I grit my teeth. His pink mana explodes again, firing sharp stones at me, and I am forced to both drop and release the spike so I can defend myself. I successfully block the attack again, but it seems it wasn't his primary focus as stone walls surround the room when I get my bearings again, trapping us all inside. Fine with me. It will only slow him down if he decides to leave. I look around for Ansel, expecting him to come down on me at any time. All I see is a bloody pool where we previously fought. Again my sister's voice rings through the room.
"We know you can bleed. We know you can die. We know you can fall from your towers and crawl through the mud with the rest of us. And that's the thing, Darian. Any noble listening to this, actually. You don't have your mind control anymore. You don't have your infallible and uncracked armor. You are no longer pristine and untouchable. And a new world? A better world? That is a dream that has been fostered in minds across Potestia since long before I was born. Long before I ever drew blood. It is the sweetest, kindest, and most pervasive dream in the world. It's like honey and warm milk. Ambrosia of the heart. People have always wanted to fight for a better world."
Kallon's plan becomes clear as the room fills with water. He plans to drown me. I continue to look around for Ansel. The water reaches my ankles. It's at the chained man's knees. I run. I fill the room with glass walls to defend myself as I propel myself with wind. After a burst of wind throws me forward, I fill a spike with mana and drop it in the water. His explosions propel projectiles. I escape the sphere, propel myself, and fill another spike. Again I drop it in the water. I have one left. The water is up to my knees when I land, and up to the chained man's waist. Lillith continues her speech.
"The problem was, they couldn't. They had no hope. They didn't have control of their own mind, and when they did all they saw was an ivory wall they could never breach. That's not true anymore. The wall is cracked. It can be climbed, breached, and brought low. Everyone who has ever dreamed of a better world can now see its light shining through your little wall. And it's worth it. It is so worth it. All the pain and fear and death you threaten them with. It has always been fucking worth it! They have always been willing to face it, the moment they had any hope that it would lead somewhere."
Ansel descends on me. I have no idea where he came from. He wraps his arms around my throat as I fill my final spike with mana. He has one arm around my neck, gripping his other arm which he uses to hold my head. He squeezes, and I struggle to breathe. Water fills the room even faster. Kallon, standing unconcerned in a pillar of air, untouched by his own water, gathers a huge amount of earth and pink mana. I realize he plans to kill us both and panic, releasing the spike's effect and allowing my legs to give out beneath me. Ansel and I both fall into the water where I press against the ground, rolling and forcing his body between me and Kallon. Meanwhile, I try to build even thicker glass to protect us, and send wind mana out into the water around me. Lily's voice grows more and more passionate, more and more angry as she continues to speak.
"Well, there is hope now. So even if any of you manage to survive without surrendering power, all you'll have won is a few decades. A few years. Weeks. Hours. Breaths. Even if you kill or enslave every rioter in the country. Even if you get your foot back on our throats and grind your heel, it will be too late. Because this is not revolution. This is insurrection. If ten people still want a better world, they will fight for it, and you won't be safe. If five people still want a better world, you won't be safe. If one person is willing to fight. You. Will. Not. Be. Safe. Don't you understand? Everyone knows they can hurt you, and everyone is one cruelty away from deciding it is worth it. And you should be afraid. You should all be afraid. Because it will only take one wrong move. One mistake. And you will burn with all your wealth and power and little thrones in your little mountains. One false move, and you are dead."
Kallon's spell goes off. Glass shatters and fills the water. Stone cuts into Ansel, and into me as it tears through him. My wind mana starts to create whirlpools. The water around me is filled with misty red. The pain is almost muted by the water, like my skin is asleep as the stone ravages my body. It still hurts. As the whirlpools grow in strength, my own glass begins to shred my flesh as well. Ansel releases me and drifts away. And then... the plan works. The powerful swirling water catches the activated spikes and glass, momentum carrying the water as the wind mana dissipates. One of them gets just close enough. Kallon's perfect sanctuary collapses around him.
He was only watching me. Only watching my spike. Now water, glass, and blood close in on him, a perfectly mortal man. He killed his own ally. And I can still move. I grip the spike as I swim through the glass and the pain, letting the water's current carry me to my target. He is still reacting to the water, now up to his chest and cutting him with the moving shards of glass, when I make it to him, and stab my remaining spike into his back, activating it as well. The next few moments are pain and confusion as the whirlpools tangle us together, assault us, and separate us. Finally, I gain my feet as the water slows, no longer fed by mana.
I don't hesitate. I move. I move to my new target before Kallon can recover. The chained man. I fill the keyhole at his neck with glass and turn, freeing him just as a massive explosion knocks me off my feet. "I'll fucking kill you! No more of this shit! I am not playing your fucking game! This whole palace is fucking going down!" He shouts. There is screaming from another source. I guess he got the spike out more quickly than I thought. But it's too late. The man I freed has a royal aura, and his mana is already surrounding Kallon. The water around Kallon freezes in an instant, holding him in place as heavy wood spears materialize and impale him from all directions. Just like that. He is dead. I look back at the man I freed, to see he is still screaming. Still summoning spears. Still impaling the corpse of our enemy.
I reach one hand out cautiously, when a loud crack of thunder draws both our attention to the shattered window. The man grimaces, then sends a razor-sharp blade of wind to decapitate the already dead prince. Then we hear the smack of thunder again, and are compelled to wade through the remaining water to the window. The man easily dismantles the stone wall in our way with more wind blades, and the water begins to drain like a fall. Thunder strikes again, and again, and again. As we look outside, it becomes clear why. The sky is black and grey with crumbling stone, held up with thick, oppressive, invisible mana. The stone ceiling is marred with holes and scorch marks, leaving red wounds that still glow with dwindling heat.
In the center of it all is a woman. A woman that I can barely make out, but she is an icon of fury, and terror, and grief. Lightning explodes from her at a rapid-fire pace as her mana disassembles the ominous stone above her. Again and again, angry bolts of electricity light the city, tearing through the stone at enemies beyond it. Counter-attacks of red mana and lava try to rain down on her but she bats them away like flies, all the while tearing away at the destructive cover around her. She is like an artist, painting the sky with carnage. It should have been death and horror, but as it flows across the sky like a brush stroke, lit with flashes of red and white light, it is instead beautiful.
After one strike of lightning, a body falls, hitting the stone in the sky, getting caught, and joining the flow. Then another, and another, and another. Five in total. Corpses, swimming in a river of fire and grief in the heavens. The attacks from above slow, and Lily directs the stones out of the city, slowly revealing the clouds above, and her final opponent. The remaining man seems to be struggling. All his mana concentrates to one point and he begins a desperate charge. But it compresses around him, and finally collapses. Then both descend slowly until I can't see them anymore.
Lillith's voice, which I had stopped listening to, speaks again, this time more quietly. "But you are not going to kill us all. You are going to lose. Today. You are never going to crush a city under your heel again. And I am going to show the entire city what happens to men who rule with fear." The sky then illuminates again, this time with a show of light mana. Two people slowly take shape in a massive replication of a scene on the ground. Darian. Beaten. Burnt. Convulsing with blood running out of his mouth. And my little sister. She is... a horror. Strips of loose flesh hang from her right shoulder. The blood has mixed with enough dirt to look solid. Her right leg has been replaced with twisted, spiked steel in a strange curve. Even her left foot seems to be summoned steel. Thick blood leaks around the brace that holds it in place.
Her shirt is a bloody rag, right over her magic circle. I wonder if it has been permanently damaged. Her face, on the other hand. Her face is cold rage. She has tear streaks down the dirt of her cheeks. That old scar that always reminds me of my failures can be seen by the entire city. Darian is on the ground, twitching and writhing. Lillith grabs his hair and drags him. Her makeshift feet scrape silently against the stone as she marches toward a fountain, which appears in the sky as she approaches it. The whisper sphere floats behind her. As she reaches the fountain, she throws Darian against it, summoning steel to hold his hands and head in an elevated position against the stone.
"No King will ever rule over us again. No king will crush us beneath his arrogance. No Kings. The people grieve under the weight of your crowns, and we will do it no longer." She summons a heavy steel crown and catches it in her remaining hand before fixing it on Darian's head. Finally, she creates a massive axe, one any man would need two hands to wield. She raises it over her head as she stands to Darian's side.
"All hail the last king of Potestia." She swings and the country is finally free. The man next to me falls to his knees with no care for the glass that he lands in. He simply starts sobbing as the vision in the sky fades.