Gallus rode through the rain, cursing his luck. Just when he had begun to make his offensive, he had been recalled. He was to pull his army back from Aura, and retreat further into the Sapphire Empire where they would meet up with the rest of the world’s forces and…wait. Just hole up in their fortresses while they waited for the swarm to come to them.
Apparently, their research lab had failed, with all hands being presumed lost to the swarm. Gallus wasn’t sure how, after Septima’s betrayal the operation had gone off without a hitch and no one not directly involved with the lab knew where it was, so for it to be lost on the first day of operation was unthinkable.
Some part of himself was glad, in a twisted way; he wasn’t being recalled because of his failure, but because something entirely different had gone terribly wrong. It was a failure that may mean losing the war entirely, but at least it wasn’t his fault. And it’d likely put thoughts of Gallus’s demotion far from the mind of the emperor; they couldn’t afford unrest within the army at such a critical moment. He was likely safe for at least another year, maybe more if –
Gallus’s horse suddenly reared back in fear, cutting off Gallus’s train of thought. He struggled with the horse for a moment before managing to calm it, then cast his eyes about in search of the source of the usually fearless animal’s terror.
He didn’t have to look long. In front of them the clouds had parted to make room for the Scourge of the Skies, its nightmarish form twisting and undulating like some sort of sea serpent as it descended. Moments later, cries of fear erupted from his troops, and Gallus could hardly blame them. They had been high-strung ever since entering the swarm’s territory, and each day without a major engagement had only driven their tension higher.
They had begun to jump at shadows, each rustle in the bushes and each bird flying overhead a potential enemy. Nowhere felt safe, and by the end of it even the veterans had begun to get nervous, the unique nature of their opponent and the constant threat of attack being too much to bear.
The screams of his troops were drowned out by the Scourge’s own horrific shriek, metal scraping against metal overlapping with the fury of a dragon’s roar as the beast slowed to a stop in the sky in front of them. As the roar ended, Rose’s voice rang out over the area, drowning out Gallus’s orders to fire.
“Hello.” Rose said. “Before we begin this battle, I’m going to give you the chance to surrender. I would very much like this to be over with as little bloodshed as possible, and your leaders are well aware that this is a battle you are incapable of winning. They have almost certainly been keeping some rather critical information from you, so allow me to take a moment and show you what they don’t want you to see.”
An enormous image of the Goddess of Hearth flickered into existence in front of the Scourge of the Skies, and as Gallus urged his mages to do something about it, she began to speak, her voice drilling down deep into his soul and making it clear that it was the Goddess of Hearth speaking, not some sort of trick being played by the swarm.
Any attempts to counter the spell were stopped as the goddess’s words washed over the army, the mages not willing to interrupt the speech of a goddess. The speech and the video that followed was in the running for the most horrifying thing Gallus had ever seen; the goddess’s words had, in just a scant few moments, undone all of the hard work that had been done to assure the army that the swarm was lying about their policies, and, more importantly, about Rose.
To make matters worse, she aired the dirty laundry of the Sapphire Empire, the measures they had taken to understand conversion and the admittedly distasteful deeds necessary to do so. And the video of the raid that followed was as sure a morale-killer as could be; the max-level people within were people that many of the soldiers knew, either by name or by face. They were people to be respected and feared, and they were made fools of by Amelia and Rose.
Astrea’s announcement at the end was yet another blow; the knowledge that more gods supported the swarm than opposed it recontextualized the entire war. It was no longer the people attempting to defeat a great evil, but yet another mortal war, one in which the army’s own leadership had suddenly been portrayed in an unfairly negative way.
The video ended, and Rose began to speak once again. “The full might of the swarm is here today. Eleven max level people, Amelia and myself, and our greatest warriors have gathered to defeat you, and I think you all now understand that this is a fight you cannot win. Your superiors will no doubt order you forward and, as much of an advantage as we hold, we will not be able to take all of you without death. We would like to preserve your lives, but the lives of our own come first, and the further we are pushed, the rougher we will have to become.
“If you wish to ensure your safety, don’t resist. You will be treated well; you won’t be forced to fight in our armies and you will be given food and board with no strings attached. When your hometowns are taken, we will allow you to move back and give you the freedom to do whatever you wish there. Furthermore, if you come willingly, we will work with you in your conversion to make you into whatever you wish, something that won’t be that easy once you’ve already been converted.
“We will give you five minutes before we begin our assault. If your leaders attempt to force you to fight, I would urge you to fight back against them; as you have seen, your wellbeing is not their priority. They are more than willing to sacrifice you to hold on to their power, and, in the end, all they will accomplish is wasting more of your lives. You are rational men and women, I trust that you realize that fighting this fight is a fool’s errand, and that running will only delay the inevitable. Your five minutes start now.”
Gallus’s aides looked to him. “Did you know about this, sir?” One asked.
“About what?” Gallus said guardedly. “That we were going to be attacked? Of course not, I wouldn’t have let us get caught out like this if I had.”
“Sir, everyone here knows that’s not what Jason was referring to.” Another aide replied. “Did you know about the lab?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Only as much as was required to give orders.” Gallus lied. “You know information security is strict regarding these things, and even I am not exempt from that.”
“This is why we were called back, isn’t it?” Yet another aide accused. “After this disaster they knew we wouldn’t be winning any offensive engagements, and that we’ve probably lost the war, too.”
“That’s quitter talk.” Gallus said sharply. “There’s still a chance.”
“It’s realistic talk.” The aide snapped back. “This is why Captain Lucretius and Captain Septima defected, isn’t it? Captain Septima probably got orders to carry out that atrocity, and Captain Lucretius realized something was up and followed her in defecting. And don’t pretend they were captured, at this point we all know the truth.”
The aide paused, glancing at the other aides. “I’ll be advising my troops to surrender.” He said. “We’re not winning this fight, and I’m not letting them get killed for the sake of the empire’s ego. We purport to follow in the footsteps of the Ruby Emperor, and if she thinks this is best for the world, than who are we to argue?”
Gallus drew his bow, nocking an arrow at the aide. “That’s treason.” He said icily, focused intently on the traitorous aide. “You, head mage, deal with him; we need to restrain him before he does any more damage.”
Instead of the acknowledgement Gallus was hoping to hear, Gallus was met with a blow to his side, knocking him clean off of his horse. “What are you playing at!?” He yelled. “I’ll have you hanged for this!”
“And who’ll be listening to you once we’re part of the swarm?” The first aide asked, walking over and putting a boot on Gallus’s side, halting Gallus’s attempt to stumble to his feet. Though Gallus was nearing level three hundred, his aides were likewise amongst the highest-level people in the army, and were some of the only people in the army capable of doing something like this to him. “They were clear that if our superiors tried to stop us, that fighting back was the best we could do. They won’t hang us for this.”
“And what of your families?!” Gallus yelled, activating a Skill and bucking the aide off of him. “How will they live knowing that the people they’re so proud of are cowards who surrendered to the enemy?! They’ll be ostracized from their communities, living in shame!”
The head mage hit Gallus with a restraining spell. “They won’t know. Outgoing communication is being jammed, if anyone even feels like trying to get word out. It’s over, Gallus. Help isn’t coming, and we can’t win. Romulus, knock him out.”
“Way ahead of you.” The second aide who had spoken said, walking over and giving Gallus a dismissive look. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time. But…to satisfy my own curiosity, tell me my full name and I won’t knock you out.”
Gallus’s mind raced. He hadn’t bothered learning the names of any but the most competent or noteworthy people, and this man wasn’t one of them. His first name was…Romulus, according to what the head mage had said, so…”Romulus Caesar?”
“Wrong answer.” The second aide swung down a fist, and everything went dark.
----------------------------------------
Priscilla was able to make it to the army in time to see the Scourge of the Skies descend. From the moment the broadcast became public, she had known that her place in the war was here, on the front lines. Fortunately, as a max level Psychic, she had the ability to travel at extraordinary speeds, and the long trip had taken her only a couple of days.
As the broadcast began to play to the camp, Priscilla turned her attention towards the people within, probing the area to find the strongest people. She wanted to get right to the heart of the matter, and she knew that Gallus, fool as he was, would likely be surrounded by the strongest in the army.
It took longer than she would have liked; Amelia and Rose’s presences were like magnets, drawing the attention of her searches again and again and forcing her to restart. Eventually, however, she located what she was sure was where Gallus was hiding.
She didn’t waste any time, launching herself into the air to get a better viewpoint on the area and then blinking down into the small clearing that had formed around the group. As she landed, she took stock of the situation; Gallus was knocked out on the ground, and his advisors were clearly the ones responsible.
“L-Lady Priscilla?!” One of them stammered. “What are you doing here?! I thought you were away on important business!”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Priscilla asked. “I got godly confirmation that my mentor is back, and under no mental alteration whatsoever. That being the case, I came to join up with her once again; she believes this to be for the betterment of society, and I trust her judgement. It looks like the rest of you came to a similar conclusion; you don’t look like people ready to fight, and Gallus isn’t the type to surrender, even when it’s blindly obvious that he should.”
“That’s correct, Ma’am.” Another of the advisors said, visibly relaxing. “We were about to go oversee the rest of our troops to make sure their immediate superiors weren’t giving anyone who wishes to surrender trouble.”
“Carry on, then.” Priscilla instructed. “I’m going to go try to make a public display of my defection, hopefully that’ll convince anyone who is wavering that surrender is the correct option.”
She didn’t bother to wait for their reply, propelling herself into the air once again, this time maneuvering so she was in front of the Scourge of the Skies. “While these people deliberate, may I have a moment to talk?” She called out. “Face to face out here, preferably, but I understand if you don’t want to risk that.”
There was a moment of tense stillness, and then Amelia and Rose appeared in the air in front of her, hovering with a perfect stillness that was almost unthinkable for normal anti-gravity magic. “Priscilla?” Rose asked guardedly. “I was under the impression that you were with the rest of the max level people. What are you doing here?”
Priscilla manipulated her body into a kneeling position. “I wish to serve you once again, my liege. When I saw the broadcast and got confirmation that it was truly you, I came here as fast as I could.”
Rose’s face bloomed into a radiant smile, the expression of pure joy suiting her in a way Priscilla had never expected it to suit the almost emotionless ruler she had known. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” Rose said happily. “Seeing my old pupils and working with them again is one of my greatest joys. And, before you ask, yes, I’m different than you remember; as the Ruby Emperor, I was forced into acting emotionless in order to better help keep order. This is the real me, and I think you’ll find that I’m far better than the empty shell of a man I once was.”
“I…had wondered.” Priscilla admitted. “Was I that obvious?”
Rose smiled fondly at her. “Everyone who knew me in my past life, and even some who didn’t, thought the same.” She explained. “It was an educated guess. That aside…how would you like to handle this? I’m afraid I can’t leave you unsupervised as you are now; while I personally trust you, it’s a security risk that we can’t afford.”
“Do whatever you wish, my liege.” Priscilla said. “I’ll follow your orders.”
“Would it be alright if I cocoon you now, and then free you when we get back to the capital so we can talk about what you’d like to be converted into?” Rose asked.
“If that’s what you think is best, then I’ll do it.” Priscilla replied.
Rose beamed at her, thorns growing out from her and gently poking Priscilla, a smooth substance flowing from them. “It is.” Rose said. “And…thank you, Priscilla. This really made my day.”
Priscilla gave Rose a smile in return, then slipped into unconsciousness as the cocoon finished forming around her.