As the guests enter the room, the door behind them closes and the darkness begins to creep towards. The air feels more suffocating and the weaker of the members start to feel a headache. Not fazed by the display of raw dark magic, Elise starts to walk forward. With poise, she waves her hand and an explosion of light covers the room, driving the darkness away and revealing a man sitting on a black throne with his head resting on a hand smiling at them.
As he stands up to walk toward Elise, his tall frame becomes oblivious. His similarities to Elise are clear to see for any observer. He has the starless night sky black hair, piercing and ethereal violet and an unusually tall frame. But while they share many similarities, their demeanour cannot be more different. Elise carries herself with the regal and stoic aura of a ruler, when people see they cannot help but obey and listen to her. Emile however doesn’t walk or stand with the same disciplined posture that royalty and nobility have instilled in them. The smile on his face is also more childlike and less restrained and polite than the smile of other nobles.
He walks up to Elise and they stand there for a moment staring at each. However, before long the mask of Elise’s face slips away and she jumps to hug him.
“How have you been, you hermit?” She says as she squeezes him tight.
“Not bad sister, I think I’ve had an easier time recently than you.” He replied as he pulled her in closer. “I hope that fucking flock of pigeons you call a court haven’t made your life a misery, have they?”
“No, there are still enough of the old fogeys left to make them behave themselves. Some of those who retired came back to ensure that nothing went wrong. I’ll send you a video later of how scared stiff the loudmouths were when their elders arrived in the court. “
Emile laughed “Good, some of them forget that it's their family name that gives them power and not them. Maybe in a hundred years, they could last for a few seconds against your light beams”
“We don’t do trial by combat here, so I’ve no reason to fight them,” Elise says as her gaze hardened for a moment. “and if they attack me or force my hand, I’ll not hesitate to make an example of them.
“Let's not waste time talking about that stuff, are you staying for dinner” Emile asked hopefully. “Renard, go and tell the staff to prepare some food. You can also stay overnight, nothing and nobody will harass you. It’s been a while since we had a nice chat in person.”
“Sorry, I really wish that I could stay for a while. But there is already an uproar about me coming here, if I stay for a while some of the more orthodox elders might start arriving in court, and I don’t need hours or days of debate and interrogation about ‘What this means for relations with Erebus’.”
She lets him go and says, “I came here today for 2 reasons, the first one is to do with your master.”
“Oh, what did the old woman do now? I thought she handled all her business before she went to seclusion.” Emile says as he walks back to his throne.
“Well, actually she didn’t finish everything off. She actually left a big mess for you and for us.”
“For you?”
“Well, more like Avalyn itself but because of my recent ascension it mostly falls to me, the council and the Department of Foreign Affairs.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“You are beginning to scare me Elise” says Emile with mock horror on his face.
“Laugh now while you still have the chance, but do you remember when master became the lord of this island and the troubles she had.”
“Yes, the mana crystal veins deep within the island had not been mined and cultivated properly. This led to a massive excess of dark mana in the region that opened rifts to other dimensions.” Emile sits up as those events caused a lot of casualties and damage to the island. His master has made sure that he knows everything about the Right Invasion so that he can make sure it will never happen again.
“Exactly, and while most of the corrupted beasts and the eldritch horrors were not individually tough, their volume and strange abilities caused devastating damage to the island.”
Elise summons chairs made of light for herself and her companions to sit in. “The bigger problems were the most powerful beings that couldn’t be killed permanently since they don’t exist in this realm.”
One of the knights starts to pour a glass of wine for both Elise and Emile. “To stop the never-ending horde of monsters and to banish them for good your master had to owe a lot of favours. She had to borrow unique legendary artefacts and hire people with exclusive contracts and allegiances.”
“She never mentioned any of this,” Emile says with an expression that becomes more dour with every second. “the way she told the story it seemed like people came because of their good relationship with the island.”
“Some did help because of their close relationship with your master and the previous lords, but some of the help came from people who are traditionally not friends of this island.”
“Like who?”
“The elven sword sage came because his sword and his techniques are incredibly effective against eldritch beings. And he was recruited in the final mission to push them back and seal them”
“Fuck, the elves can’t stand us.”
“They aren’t the worst”
Emile put his hand to face. “What do you mean.”
“Well, here are some examples” Elise began to count with her fingers.
“There is an elder dragon.”
“Fuck.”
“A fae princess.”
“Oh, Fuck off !“
“And the President of our mage association”
“Not that the old fool!” Emile gets up and begins pacing around the room, having too much restless energy to sit still.
“Yes, and many of them are very angry that your master decided to back up her bags and go into seclusion. They are now demanding that you take responsibility for her actions.”
“Or what? What will they do if I refuse to take the blame.”
“Some of them are our allies and have in no uncertain ways said that they would reconsider helping us, and by us I mean Avalyn, in the future.”
Elise stands up and walks closer to Emile. When she is close to him, she starts to whisper.
“Some have threatened to break ties and help our enemies. Their representatives are vocal and clear that if we had to give an acceptable solution. Since Erebus is official under Avalyn’s banner that means we are also implicated.”
She goes back to her chair and sits down. “I’m sorry to ask this of you Emile but as the Queen of Avalyn, I have to put my kingdom first. I’m asking you to accept the burden of your master.”
Emile stands there a while and considers the predicament. While Erebus has both the defence and firepower to defend itself against any force or individual, the fact that Avalyn and his sister are now implicated makes rejection, not an option,
He looks at his sister and sighs. “Fine, I’ll do my best to pay off those debts.” He goes back to his chair and sits down.
“How is this going to work? Do I have to meet with these people individually, because I’m not visiting a fae princess in her home and I doubt she will come here.”
“Actually, the council and I will take the requests and negotiate on your behalf to ensure that you don’t start a war when someone asks you for your sperm.” Elise says with a smile, the situation might not be great but to see her brother looking uncomfortable for once was a delight for her.
“We will send you a liaison official, who will communicate with the council about your availability and any issues that you have. Don’t worry we will ensure that the requests are proportional to the initial help provided.”
“Good, at least I don’t have to do more admin.” Emile downs the wine that he received from the knight.
“Okay, so that’s not great but at least I know about it now. If a dragon turned up and demanded an audience with me, I think some of the monsters in the city would kill it before I could come outside.”
“Wait, you said there are two reasons why you came here. What’s the second one?”
Elise turns to face the girl who came with her.
“I’ve brought you a new disciple.”