Within a secluded room, Celia sifted through the holographic communicators inside of a large drawer lined against the wall. She had many: small iron ones to reach any of her business contacts throughout Kedra, copper ones for individual, long-distance calls to her executives, and larger silver ones for group calls. Her hand finally stopped on the only unique device, a golden bracelet with an obsidian snake coiled around it.
Picking up the artifact with care, she gently placed it on a stone pedestal with a circular indentation on it perfectly fitting the golden bracelet. Celia knelt before the pedestal and began pouring her mana into the metal.
*Ting* After a bit of time, a hum resounded from the circlet indicating it had been successfully activated. Slowly, a hologram emerged from the bracelet with the words “calling” in the center. A ringing sound buzzed three times before the message on the hologram switched to “connecting.”
A few seconds later, a woman with violet eyes, black hair, and an almond skin tone appeared in the hologram. She looked almost like Celia’s twin, the biggest differences between them were the slightly narrower face, hues of violet in her hair, and the jeweled crown over the woman in the hologram.
“Eloise, it’s been so long. T-thank you for answering my call.” Celia meekly looked up but realized her sister was looking down, presumably doing something else. “Has everything been well back home?”
Eloise sighed and answered coldly. “This is the emergency line. Do not waste my time.”
Realizing her sister had not hung up the call yet, Celia word vomited in excitement. “I understand, but this is the first time I’ve been able to talk to you in forever. You look stunning, sister. Being away from Propizio and you and father- how is he by the way- it’s all been very lonely. I just thought before I tell you the news maybe- ”
“I said do not waste my time.” Eloise spoke with the same flat affect as before, but the manner of her words had changed drastically. She had finally made eye-contact with Celia and the results were chilling. Despite being worlds away, the slit pupils brought a cold sweat to the back of Celia’s neck, as if she was facing her executioner.
“B-but of course. I am so sorry for taking up your time; I don’t know what got into me. The words of our sovereign Queen are too valuable to be wasted on someone like me. I only used the emergency line because I discovered a member of Frigg’s Clairvoyance division near my land.”
Eloise’s pupils rounded, returning to their regular shape. She brought her hand up to her chin and subtlest curve settled on her eyebrows. “Go on.”
Noticing her sister’s interest, Celia was giddy with excitement, but she took a moment to calm herself. It was important to maintain a level of self-control. “It was a young woman with a black cloth over her eyes. Just with that, I was positive this woman was a part of the higher echelon of the fate hearers. If you aren’t convinced yet, she also had a squadron of Emerald Warriors escorting her.”
“More than likely one of the Deliverers.” Eloise stared expressionlessly at Celia adding no other comment, but the arc in her eyebrow had become slightly more pronounced.
“I thought so, too, at first, but as I was battling with them, she did something completely unexpected.” Celia let her words hang in the air for a few seconds, building up her grand reveal. “She ripped off her cloth and used magic!”
This time, Eloise’s reaction was not at all subtle. A perfect smile adorned her face. Anyone watching would see a loving sister proud of her sibling’s accomplishments. “To use magic as a fate hearer, this is a powerful Elementalist. The only ones capable of such a feat would be the leadership of the Clairvoyance division. Tell me, which of the Augurs was it?”
“None of them, sister, for when this woman unveiled her eyes, she did not use simple telekinesis. Nor did she summon clones or use illusions. No, my sister, when this woman ripped the cloth away, she created a doorway to the world of Familiars.”
A short silence ensued, and Celia saw an expression she had rarely ever seen on her sister: surprise. Eloise’s eyes were wide as she processed Celia’s words. “The Spirit World, that’s quite the find. Unless there’s more to this story, it would appear you have found the current Venus. Very good, Celia.”
Happiness blossomed within Celia, and it was reflected in a toothy grin. “Yes, I am pretty sure it was the Frigg clan’s Venus.”
“Tell me everything.”
Celia proceeded to narrate the day’s events. From the enemy’s stealthy arrival through her mountain base gate to the treacherous chase through the mountains as the soldiers set fire to her land and assassinated many of her pirates, Celia unveiled everything she knew. “At the very end, when I had them cornered, the Venus opened the portal and unleashed a stampede of familiars who were able to occupy me long enough for the group to escape. Regardless, I know they are in Kedra now and can hunt them down."
Eloise had listened closely to the story, her face returning to a neutral expression towards the conclusion. “So you failed and have no idea where the Venus currently is.”
“My reinforcements took too long to reach me, but she must still be in Kedra. I can spread my pirates to cover the entire island. I-I’ll find her. I’ll bring glory to Jupiter- to you.” Celia looked on at her sister hoping to see the smile again, or even just the tiny furl in her eyebrow. Instead, she saw Eloise return her gaze downwards, a pen bobbing in and out of view indicating she was writing something.
“Failure, Celia, is unacceptable in our family. I moved you to that island so that you would not defile our family name, yet somehow, you still found a way to do that. Just go back to playing pirate. Clearly you cannot handle anything above your little charades.”
“Eloise, please! I can find her. I’ll bring her head to you.” A desperate tone made its way into Celia’s voice.
“I am the Empress to you.” Eloise sharply reproached Celia. “And how exactly do you plan on capturing the Venus? She is an Elementalist highly in tune with not just fate but also the psychic element. Catching a fate hearer by surprise is a lucky coincidence that cannot be repeated, especially not with the Venus. By now, she is likely completing whatever mission they were sent to do and returning to Anima through one of the other gates in the planet.”
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“But perhaps I can scour the land before she has a chance to leave it. If you were to send me some additional soldiers, I could forcibly take the gates from those pests in the north and set a trap for the Venus.”
“You think I would send my men on a wild goose chase? We have enough to do in Derapen as it is. I suspect the Venus only used the gate in your dump of a hideout to take a more roundabout route to the mainland of Derapen. There is no reason to promote more failures, and I certainly would not appoint a weakling like you to supervise a mission like this.”
“I-”
“That’s enough, Celia. You have given me enough disappointments as it is. Do whatever it is you do in your little island. I don’t care. But do not waste my time any longer.” Without giving Celia any time to object, Eloise hung up the call.
Reverently, she lifted the golden bracelet and returned to its place within the drawer. Celia moved mechanically out of the room and through the villa she was currently in. I can’t believe I wasted my sister’s time like that. How deluded of me to bring her such half-baked news! She looked so graceful in that crown, though. With a blank look on her face, she stepped out of the villa and walked through a stone pathway leading to her favorite place on the mountain: her little canopy.
A blonde, well-built man was currently kneeling beneath the canopy. As soon as Celia laid eyes upon him, emotions began rushing to her face. From a frown to a scowl, to finally a fuming and belligerent gaze, Celia rushed the man and grabbed him by the throat.
“Do you have any idea what you cost me, Damond? My sister smiled at me! At me!! For a few brief seconds, she graced me with the greatest gift before it all came tumbling down. And do you know why that is?” The man looked at her quietly. “IT’S BECAUSE YOU WERE LATE!”
Slamming him on the ground, Celia roared. Several punches and kicks landed on the man, but they seemed to be doing little damage. In fact, the most severe injuries were being accumulated in the unfortunate waiters and waitresses who happened to be nearby. Celia’s wrath was causing residual lightning to release out of her body and inflict severe burns on passerby.
Celia did not care, however. She was in the middle of an anger-driven outburst and was blind to her surroundings. “You’re supposed to be my guard, supposed to be close always. So why is it that when I needed you the most, you were away from the base?!”
Damond knew better than to answer Celia when she got like this. He had been assigned to guard Celia ever since she was born all those years ago and was tasked with being by her side no matter where that took him. Rather than pointing out it had been Celia who sent him to get some payments from nearby merchants, he chose to bear with the pain. Eloise was a touchy subject for his mistress.
Soon, Celia’s anger moved from Damond into the surroundings. She shattered her canopy and all the decorations and seating in it before setting fire to the greenery, screaming through it all. Only when the area had turned barren, did Celia begin to calm down. Huffing loudly, she stepped over the shattered glass on the ground and placed her foot on Damond. “I want you to set up a perimeter around our gate. One that won’t be broken through so easily.”
From the ground, Damond answered quickly. “Absolutely, my liege.”
“We are also sending an army to the North and East. I want guards blocking off any gate or port someone could use to leave Kedra.”
“Pirate Empress, the portal up in the north is not under our control.”
“That is why I said we are sending armies. Whatever the cost, I don’t give a shit. If all the pirates die, fine. If all the people living in the north die, I still couldn’t care less. We are capturing the Venus, Damond. My sister WILL praise me again.”
Looking at his master, Damond saw how unhinged she appeared at this moment. Her bouts of anger had grown throughout the years in Kedra. The violence and savagery had followed. She hadn’t always been like this, though. It had all started when she was abandoned on the island 17 years ago, with only Damond beside her. Well, that’s not my problem, though. “Your wish is my command. I will tell Bison and the Bucko to take more aggressive measures in the North, and Isaac and the flamingo can take care of the ports in the East.”
“Good. Gabriel is also in the East currently. Use him, too. I want every nook and cranny covered, Damond.”
“So it shall be.”
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A tall man with a well-trimmed, gray beard and a head of mostly black hair stood beside a roaring river. He was currently holding a silver communicator, using its calling functions as opposed to the video. “You convinced me it would be okay, but according to the Frigg clan’s latest prophecies, the Saint of the Deep is in Derapen working out some sort of deal with the Hunters. I can still send some soldiers to recover Thomas before it becomes too dangerous over there.”
A female voice came through the communicator. “You worry too much, Richie. I told you. Thomas is more than likely gonna be with Nidra, so he’ll definitely be safe. It’s much safer there than here right now anyways.”
“I know Mother, but I only know where one of my kids is right now. I’d rather have him nearby than risk his capture.”
“We’ll get Phillip back, Richie, but don’t project your fear onto Thomas. He’s a strong kid. This experience will only make him stronger. Focus on Mesto’s current situation instead. How’s the gate over on Vida?”
“My troops and I managed to arrive on time, and I successively drove Agni’s army away from Vida, back to the islands they’ve captured. What about on your end?”
“I flew through the Yoro sea, attacking Agni, Geb, and Jupiter clansmen on site, but it seems the information we received was correct. Their numbers have thinned greatly, mostly pooling off-planet or to you. I didn’t even encounter anyone above the Lord-tier.”
“Yes, at Vida, I fought one of Jupiter’s Lords along with Agni’s Duke of the South. That’s not even taking into account the sheer amount of Elementalists they had brought. Had I not come with the Saint of the Frigid, Vida would have surely fallen into enemy hands. They were definitely blitzing the gate to Pacifico.”
“Should we send some of our troops into Pacifico itself?”
“I don’t know Mother. It’s a difficult situation. On the one hand, there is clearly something they want at Pacifico, desperately. Frigg and Kukulkan have reported more and more sightings of Agni, Geb, and Jupiter in the forests near the center of Pacifico, but it’s not like we can just up and leave. This months-long siege of Mesto has no end in sight. I fear for what may happen to my citizens if ever I am unable to reach an island in time when one of the enemy commanders is leading an attack.”
“You know I am here to act as one of the last lines of defense.”
A deep voice sounded for the first time in the call. “And I am also here to protect our people.”
“I appreciate the both of you, but it just isn’t realistic. Mother, you were never exactly combat oriented, and I would rather not pit you against the leaders of Agni, Geb, or Jupiter. As for you, Unda, you’re our hidden card. The longer we keep you hidden, the more effective you will be once you actually step into the battlefield. Right now, they fear your reputation and the power you’ve displayed in the past. They can’t know your current state, brother. If they found out how your power works, it wouldn’t just be the clans we would need to worry about. The Hunters would swarm our planet, too.”
Unda growled. “Worry not, brother. Whenever I do fight, I have more than enough in me to exterminate the wretches who seek to endanger our people.”
The Lady of the Sea spoke again. “Stop this talk of final battles at once. We won’t be getting there. Now, how about you call the leaders of Frigg and Kukulkan, Richie. Maybe we can’t afford to send our strongest Elementalists, but surely, we can spare some soldiers. I have a bad feeling about their sudden rampant desire to reach Pacifico.”
“Okay, Mother. I’ll do that, but only once I finish ensuring Vida is safe. Goodbye to you both.” Putting the communicator into one of his pockets, Richard fished out a picture. It showed a much younger him hugging a toddler and a child. I am so sorry, Philip. I swear, once I find where they are keeping you, I will go through anything or anyone to get you back. Focusing on the toddler in the picture, he smiled. And you stay safe, Thomas. Please don’t get yourself into anything dangerous.