Ariana
Ariana hovered in the air above Afrieal, looking at the shielded city with a frown. The Noble's district was mostly deserted, the buildings empty save for a few servants and their families.
On the way here, she had been full of rage and enthusiasm, ready to have her vengeance. But now… she wondered why she was doing it. The people responsible weren't there. The servants had clearly been left to die. What would she gain from burning these buildings to ash?
So she stood there, looking down at the city that had been her home for the last decade, her memories playing through her head.
Anita's first words down there in the Merchant's district, the classic selection of dagger as she stared at a broadsword. Ray looking at the sword, his eyes wide as he tried to figure out what his sister was talking about. Matilda shaking her head while looking at her as if she blamed her for Anita's violent tendencies. And the sound of her laughing.
The air had been stale, smelling of sweat and a mixture of many different kinds of food. The merchants were screaming their prices, and there was her daughter, calling a broadsword a dagger.
Ariana had witnessed them, her first words, her first steps, her first hunt, right here in this city. Afrieal, the conquered city, the jewel of the conquests. The city her daughter grew up in. The city she knew so well, because she'd spent so long chasing her daughter through the streets, trying to see what she and her brother were up to this time.
Ariana had been furious back then, but now she looked back at those memories fondly. A sole tear flowed down her cheek, leading to many more coming as Ariana kneeled right there in the air, crying onto the massive shield that shielded the Noble's district, and only the Noble's district.
The rest of the city was unshielded from her, the denizens of the other districts watching from their windows in fear as she cried in the air after bombarding Afrieal. Ariana hated it. Anita wouldn't have wanted people to fear her, but what was she to do? What could she do?
The Xnarthan would be here any minute, and she could perhaps take a few of them down with her, but the Xnarthan commanders were no joke, and then there was the Emperor himself. Ariana was ready to fight them, to battle one last time if it would bring Anita back.
But it wouldn't, would it? Not even the Emperor could reverse death. Magic could do much, but not this. The tears were flowing faster, she was literally bawling in the air. What Queen of the burning ash? What right had she to call herself such a grand name? What was she but a pathetic mother that couldn't even protect her daughter.
Not even move a finger to help her. Ray, her fifteen-year-old TIer 11 brother, had done more than her. The Dean who didn't want to be here had done more. The Satyr Elder who was just here to fulfill a debt had done more than her., Anita's mother, Marchioness Ariana Salazar.
The golden Marchioness. The richest Human on the Elven continent. The Tier 23, no Tier 28, fighter. The bonded of a phoenix. The ruler of an archipelago. The burner of entire noble families. The mother that could only look on helplessly when her daughter was lying on a bed dying.
The same daughter that had been the pride of her life. The Void princess, heir to the Mage Academy, one of the most talented children in the Empire, the envy of Dukes and Duchesses. The dead child back in the Treasury. The tears were flowing full force now as Ariana felt a hand lay on her shoulder. Trevor.
But she was far too occupied to pay him any attention. Crying took a surprising amount of energy from you. What was she going to do? Just sit there crying? Let the Xnarthan get away with it? What could she do?
The Emperor was too powerful for her to kill, even with her newfound power. The bastard was just too old, too talented, for her to have her revenge. And even if she did kill him. What then? Anita was still gone. The future was dark without her, empty of emotion and happiness.
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Po-rat landed on her shoulder, her beak stretching out, holding a single sword in her hand. Ariana recognized it, Now hope. Anita's new sword. The one she didn't get to use.
The tears flowed even faster, her sobs joined by Trevor's, and some weird whining sound from Po-rat. So the three of them stood there, sobbing in the air, as they wondered what they should do now that something so precious had left their life.
Antasia
Antasia looked at her council, a bunch of old men with dreams sitting around, wondering if a grieving mother was going to try to kill them. A few hours before, Antasia would've been sure that she could beat Ariana, but not now. Not when she had reached Tier 28…and was crying in the air after killing a Xnarthan lieutenant.
"Are we sure we shouldn't launch a preemptive attack?" one of her councilors asked hesitantly, looking like he was afraid of her reaction. Antasia turned towards him slowly, keeping a calm facade as she said in an even tone. "What makes you think that would be a wise idea, General Serel?"
"Marchioness Ariana has clearly experienced a deep loss and is weak, if we were to strike now…" he said, making a cutting motion at his neck.
"Yes, let's kill a grieving mother, that will end well." Antasia said, practically oozing sarcasm.
At times, she wondered why they were such fools. But she knew it wasn't their fault, this was just how the Empire operated, how they were taught the world worked. The Academy taught threat assessment, killing enemies before they matured, removing threats while they were weak, not sympathy, kindness and simple empathy.
A basic function of the Human brain, but so many struggled with it. Not just within the nobility, but throughout the Empire. A consequence of what they were taught. The only stories children grew up hearing were about how people that helped end up getting betrayed.
But those that were ruthless, calculative and merciless ended up getting ahead in life. And so the society changed, the brainwashing sneakily seeping through the society as Humans formed the opinion: empathy was a weakness. Magic itself morphed, becoming less and less reliant on emotions, more calculative, scientific, mechanical.
The Empire wouldn’t change like this. A greater event was needed, one that shook the very foundation of this Empire.
"I think we should at least talk to the Marchioness, your majesty." another one said. Antasia looked at him, reading the morose expression on his face. The frown on her face relaxed as she looked towards the sky, towards where Ariana was floating in the air, and back towards the council.
A bunch of faces, some afraid, some eager, some sad. And behind them stood their assistants, the rebellion soldiers, and further than even that, the rest of the rebel base, ready to go to war with the Xnarthan they thought were coming for them. The same ones that ran the moment the Marchioness killed their leader.
Perhaps the event didn’t need to be so far away. Perhaps the Empire was finally ready to experience that shock that crumbled its pillars. And maybe, just maybe, she would be the one to do it.
"No, senior Mel, today we will not fight. " Antasia stood up, activating her skills as she let her aura spread across the base. "I declare Ariana Salazar and her family a friend of the rebellion, today we will not fight. The Marchioness has shown us one very important thing today. Afrieal is spent, and so is our time in the dark. The fires in the shadow shall burn bright below the sun today. "
Antasia began walking, circling past the round table as she levitated the building above the ceiling. "Call the Satyrs, call the teleporters, call the entire rebellion! Tell them to open portals to our backup bases, we’re moving."
"The Xnarthan have gone too far! Hundreds, thousands have died to their madness! I cannot take it anymore" she said, propelling her voice to the ends of the city as the ceiling cracked, showering dust onto the floor.
Mana rolled around her as she levitated the council room too, carefully moving it out from the ground. The residents clutched the furniture, trying to keep their balance as the ground beneath their feet began to rise into the air.
Antasia ignored it, taking a deep breath as she concentrated on what she was about to do. An ill-advised action, taken without asking her advisors, councilors or other staff. But in her heart, she knew. The time had come. The feeling was in the air, along with tears and ash it wandered around, making the mana spin in anticipation. Or maybe that was just her magic. Antasia didn't care.
Mana collected in her throat as her eyes began to glow, billions of mana rolling off her as she announced to the entire Elven continent.
"So today, I, Queen Antasia, declare open rebellion against the Empire of Humanity!" she said, her voice carried by the wind to the far corners of the continent. To the mother crying in the air, to the Elven Queen in her green palace.
On the warm winds it flew, to the burned husks of soldiers in the Ranger camp. To the Fae cackling as he flew off. On the cold gusts it woke the daughter sleeping in a hidden Treasury, her brother just arriving by her side.
The vibration told even the brothers laughing in space. And the mana flew, rolling about as leaders across the world looked towards the Elven continent. And then they saw.
The Emperor had weakened. A Queen stood in the air challenging him as portals appeared around her, millions moving at her command as they looked at the buildings floating in the sky, wondering if they would be killed for saying no.