The crickets chirped in the cold and moonless night. Crispy rustles came from the dead leaves stirred up by the wind breezing through the vast orchard. The snapping of twigs, heralded the arrival of a king, queen, two princesses, a butler and a handmaiden. They would be met with no applause. For the dead could not speak, nor could they clap.

“You should have told me earlier. I would have brought them flowers.” Vera whispered. “And would have at least tried to remember where the booby traps were.” She chuckled. “Stick close to me and on the path with red bricks—I don’t wanna wake the squirrels or the surrounding apartment blocks at this time of night.”

“We have a basket’s worth of orchids from the ceremony, Vera. We know.” Lady Fiona said, her tone changing. She spoke slower, but not calmer; remorseful.

“This is the place my mother wants her urn to be placed? It’s kinda’run down.” Eva remarked, looking closely at the ground for tripwires. “She should be in the Hall of Lords.”

“I mean, you’re welcome to do that. This place has no security.” Vera replied respectfully. “Though, there is nothing of value here. No graverobbers or vandals seek to come here. Only teenagers hoping for the thrill of a paranormal encounter.”

“She said to dig a hole near the altar and bury the urn in concrete.” Eva added.

“Good choice. A bomb being dropped here is very unlikely.” Vera said as bent down, unsheathing her combat knife, cutting a thin string of fishing wire that only she could see. “You guys can go ahead into church. I only booby trapped the orchard. Just mind your head. The ceiling is unstable and termites are rampant. The government refused to reimburse me on hiring the exterminators monthly, so I just ending up leaving it to rot. I’ll stay here and disarm the rest of the traps. Lady Fiona knows this place as much as I do. Follow her.”

“I’ll stay and help, Vee. I can see better than all of you in the dark you know.” Don, her eyes already glowing red, her knife already out.

Loud metal clangs came from inside the Mynah, alerting Vera and Belladonna.

Sebastian came out with a big portable grill set, a bag of chilled, but already-marinated meat along with a cooler. “Don’t mind me, I’m just setting up shop.”

“Damn, a barbeque?” Vera said, cutting another wire.

“Why, not interested?” Belladonna said, cutting a wire of her own.

“Aren’t you on a raw fish diet with that idol career of yours?”

“Tch, shut up. I eat ribeye steak every other Friday, okay.”

“How much trouble did I cause Victor by the way? The report said the Utama took a took a lot of damage trying to get into the correct firing position for the shots.”

“Not a lot. On top of the Uncle Gabriel’s words, my mother thanked him for saving me and Eva publicly. His father would be a fool to remove him as XO of the Utama now. If anything, he and the crew will be transferred to the Endeavour since the Utama’s repair time is expected to last over two to four years. She lacks manpower at the moment. The Big E took a direct hit to the bridge and fire direction centre.”

“It’s good he survived…” Vera paused, hesitating. “This person we’re going to negotiate with—she’s a little… sus? She killed a lot of knights and sailors. If Victor was on the KIA list, honestly, I’d preferred not to deal with her.”

“—but she has your briefcase.” Don paused too.

Vera bit her lip. “W-what briefcase?”

“She said if you wanted your briefcase back, you’d have to meet her in The Garden.”

“So, you remember…” Vera put down her knife.

“Me and Eva do. We were there. You went apeshit over it.”

“Right.” Vera picked the knife up.

“We haven’t told Uncle Gabriel or Granny Fiona…” Don continued, moving to other parts of the orchard and cutting more wires. “We know there’s something wrong with you…”

“The Vera you knew in the Vanguard is gone. Kingsworth hurt me.” Vera continued away from Belladonna, disarming the last few booby traps. “Every day after that, my mission was to prevent another Kingsworth. Seven years without rest, Don. I’m goddamned tired. They’re so afraid of a civil war. I want to quit. I want to retire.” Vera sighed. “I’m supposed to be a High Priestess by now, not doing… all this.” She lied as she snipped the last wire. “Good riddance that Meryl and Jessalyn died. They were incompetent in the field.”

“Come on, Vee. No use mocking the dead.” Don got up walking over to Vera. “And besides, you said it yourself—you can’t heal; maybe you’re better off joining THI-PMC. A person with your skillset would be an invaluable asset in my company.”

“You’re gonna have to get in line then…” Vera murmured.

“What do you mean?” Don asked with a hint of suspicion. “Who on Aarde would even dare outbid the Thanatos Heavy Industries? –it’s the briefcase isn’t it?”

“It’s not always about money, Don—some things cannot be bought.” Vera replied. “Unless you can buy me into a position of great power in the church—I sleep.” She smiled, standing up. “Hmm, we’re done here. Let’s go see what the others are up to. I’m hungry.”

#

“Christe’Emman… do you think this is on purpose?” The Allfather cursed as the rugged laptop on the communion table blasted out the latest news report down the aisles of the church. “Dammit, Aunt Fiona, I need to go there—before the situation gets out of hand.”

“What’s going on?” Vera asked. Allfather Gabriel’s eyes glaring. The nerves on his temple pronounced and hard. “Is there a change in plans?”

“No, there is no change, Miss Sindile, just an additional factor none of us accounted for.” Lady Fiona replied, her eyes glued to the laptop. “We might need to deploy early. For all we know, the Three Queens have a rough suspicion on what we are about to do.”

“Belladonna, I’m borrowing your company chopper! Sebastian, keys!” Gabriel spoke fast and swift, barely comprehensible. Sebastian, who was on the grill with apron, tossed the keys from his pocket without a second thought. “I’ll be on the Endeavour; moving it to overlook Mermaid Bay Airport. The Crawfurd and the Marshall will remain and tighten formation over our heads. Eva! Call Andre, get him to deploy the Pixel Vanguard around this church by midnight. This is not a drill; we are being played. Expect a firefight at sunrise.”

“GRNA, Uncle Gabriel?” Evangeline asked, urn in one hand, phone in the other.

“RUK Special Forces—SAS!” Gabriel barked already sprinting for the chopper.

“The Special Attack Sorcerers?” Vera said, shocked, jogging over the laptop.

The Allfather stopped, yelling at the double doors before finally exiting the church. “Belladonna! I need two companies from THI! One to help with crowd control at the airport, and one stationed near here—covertly—as QRF! I need them within the hour! Double-pay.”

The live newsfeed was pure chaos.

A live aerial drone feed overlooking Mermaid Bay International Airport played out, its main runways now fully repaired with large military transport planes lining the taxiway. A reporter was giving an interview to a scholarly figure who was trying to explain the situation as a second live feed showcased multiple submarine aircraft carriers just off the shore.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Thousands upon thousands of people crowded at the gates of each of its seven terminals. Families, all fully loaded; babies in their arms, camping bags on their backs and luggage in tow. The police could barely keep up and a kilometre-long traffic jam on the main roads could be seen with people walking beside it—some were soldiers with rifles.

“They’re all Kanatans?” Vera squinted at the live feed.

While some Usseans had some mixed ancestry with their former colonial masters from centuries past, like Evangeline and her mother, their taller stature and harsh blue eyes, often gave them away. On top of that, there were men amongst them. Every Ussean male was already mobilised on the battlefronts in Northland and Staples.

“The Three Queens issued a decree. All Kanatans are to return home for their express safety in light of the imminent war with the GRNA.” Lady Fiona commented.

“NEO…?” Vera hissed. “It’s a good call given Ussea’s situation right now…”

“For them.” Lady Fiona hissed. “For us, it means torpedoing our economy—to the Allfather, it’s as good economic warfare. They didn’t consult us on the diplomatic lines before springing this on us. They’re plotting something definitely, and now there’s Kanatan troops on our soil for a good excuse—for all we know the SAS are among us.”

“Do you think they’ve taken a side, Aunt Fiona? They didn’t pull their people out during the Seven-Day War. Why now?” Eva asked, putting down her mother’s urn as Sebastian passed her a plate with five sticks of cooked mutton and a bottle of beer.

“They know something…” Vera said, thanking Sebastian as he handed her own plate of barbeque and beer. She watched as Don turned down the food and drink, busy with her phone pressed against her ear.

“Yes, mother. The companies are on their way as the Allfather requested.” Belladonna’s voice was different. It was stiffer. Rough. Less silky. “I won’t be here for much longer. Sebastian will have to act in my stead. Yes, I know. We underestimated them. Goodbye. May Great Rigel’s Fire Burn Within You.” She put her phone aside and took the food from Sebastian, nodding. “There’s been a leak at THI. It’s bad. We traced it to Kanata.” She ripped a whole piece of mutton off the stick and chewed angrily.

“How bad?” Vera asked, speaking with her mouth full.

“Look.” Eva said, also speaking with her own mouth full. “VIP Plane.”

A single white plane landed on the runway. Upon its tail, an orange crown. Kanatan soldiers lined up on the tarmac with a dozen rolling out an elaborate red carpet.

“Real shit?” Vera said, almost choking on her food, grabbing her beer and gulping.

As soon as the airstairs unfolded onto the tarmac, silence befell the airport.

Chaos turned into order as a lone lady of elegance came down to earth.

All the Kanatans who were pushing each other to get into the transport planes just moments ago, ceased their bickering and all took a knee. Only the foreign soldiers and news crew remained standing as they walked forward and handed her a microphone.

“My name is Morgan Lafayette. As of yesterday, I am one of the three newly-elected monarchs of Royal United Kanata.

I have come here personally to oversee the absolute safety and security of all Kanatan subjects, past, present and future.

The old monarchs have been removed from power in an emergency vote of no confidence from both the Kanatan Church and the Ministry of Military Magic.

While I understand that concern will come from both Ussea and our colonial partners in Tengahsi, that such an emergency vote requires a Declaration of War under the Constitution of the Three Queen Prophets of Royal United Kanata, I, on behalf of my other fellow monarchs will neither declare war on the Grand Republic of Northern Asiatica or support the United States of South Eastern Asiatica against the former like our predecessors during the Seven-Day War.

Instead, we have benevolently decided to amend that portion of the constitution to that of a ‘State of War’, that of which Kanata is now in, but without an adversary. This has not been an easy decision to make, however, the hardworking members of the Kanatan Secret Service have obtained substantial evidence from multiple anonymous sources, that during the GRNA’s raid on Mermaid Bay, several dozens of UDF God Particle Bombs were stolen from their weapons depots and warships prior to their withdrawal.”

The lone Queen of Kanata paused, swallowing her saliva.

“Thus, it is with great regret that I must say, that the Ussean Government, namely, the current Allfather, His Supremacy, Gabriel Milagros, Lord of Lords, has blatantly covered up this gross military failure by downplaying this entire attack as a mere assassination attempt on the great Lord General Vega Alexandra’s life and a crippling of one-seventh of Ussea’s Airborne Fleet; lying not just to my shortsighted predecessors, but beloved Kanatan expatriates working here now in Ussea, but to his own people now stationed in the battlefront of Northland on the mountain range of Dragon’s Teeth.

All of you here in Ussea are now under threat of humanity's greatest achievements by the deceased sinner known as Sun-Tzu von Riktofen.

And so, I say to my people, come home where it is safe, while you still can.”

She returned the mic to the reporter and proceeded to shake hands and mingle with the crowd, who was now cheering rather than arguing.

“Christe’Emman, how old is she…?” Vera said, trying to hide her smile. The speech was good. It was evil, but good in a political sense. “No teleprompter as well.” If she defected to Kanata right now, she would be led by such a person—and she would not mind it at all.

“Wipe that bloody smile of your face, Vera. The Kanatans are pulling the rug out from under us and you’re laughing?” Lady Fiona barked; her face red in anger.

“Twenty-seven this year, I believe. She spent three months in the Vanguard as a defence attaché when you were busy playing dead, Vera. She’s young. The old queens were about two-hundred plus years old.” Eva said, shaking her head. “And now she’s a Queen?” Eva closed her eyes in disbelief. “She was just a lowly priestess too. She had a crush on Andre… kept asking about him—whether he was single. Luckily, Andre was avoiding her like the plague. Did you know Lady Fiona? –that she was in-line to the throne?”

“No. If I’d known, I would have warned Gabriel about her—maybe sent another Parapriestess to be her bodyguard instead of you. This was planned.” Lady Fiona hissed. “Everything has been planned. A great game is in motion, the pieces are moving, but I do not know what they want—Kanata, or the GRNA—and I do not have the time to find out.”

She got off the old chairs around the communion table and exhaled loudly.

“You have to go… Now! All of you. The formalities are postponed. I know it's rude, Vera, to disturb this place without a proper blessing and ceremony, but if she—that Queen—comes here, personally, and catches us in the act, it’s all over. She’ll be looking to meet with me and the Allfather. You three need to disappear now. I’ll make up some excuse—that you’re all in Northland, but right now, you need to go. I’ll open the portal now. Gear up.”

“The portal…?” Vera said, slightly confused. She thought she was here for a briefing. “We have a portal that goes into GRNA territory? From here? In Bakkanal?”

“Vera, don’t play dumb. Not now. Not today.” Lady Fiona hissed as she grabbed the familiar looking super claymore wrapped in a brown cloth. “This will be both your weapon if things get hairy, and your symbol of authority if all else fails. There are no guns in The Afterlife. They are still outlawed. Get used to melee and recall your basic attack spells.”

“Bye, Mom…” Evangeline said, setting her mother’s urn down on the communion table as she picked up her lance and shield that had been leaning on it all this while.

“I’ll be seeing you Mister Sebastian. Do let mother know of my departure.”

“Will do, Young Mistress. May Rigel’s fire ever eternal burn within you.”

Vera watched as Lady Fiona unsheathed a dagger concealed within her robes, slitting her left palm. In her right, she pulled out a long, straight branch from her boot startling her.

“A wand? Isn’t that sacrilege, Milady?” In her many years of training and service under her, she had never seen her wield a wand, let alone admit to owning one. Usseans took pride in adorning their necks with a cross; to wield a wand to be like their former masters—the ones they once hated and rebelled against long ago.

“Vera, don’t be naïve. Magic is not bound by rules or doctrine. It only serves to limit the talented—or control them. Only Will’en is—the human will; mind and spirit combined. Everything else are just tools.” Lady Fiona said as she coated the wand with her blood. “Eva, you’ll go first, followed by Don—Vera will be last. I need to brief her. When you get to the other side, wait for her. Do not stray to venture off without her or you will die.”

With her wand, she drew an upside-down triangle similar to what Chrysah had done. The blood stayed suspended in the air for but a moment before turning white and glowing, ripping a hole in reality as it was seen.

“You two! Go, now! Godspeed!”

Eva marched forward into the portal, and then Don.

Two flashes of light engulfed the church.

Vera stepped forward with her ONI on, but was stopped short by a firm grip on her shoulder, followed by a strong pull. “Vera… I say again, Lady Chrysah asked for the Demon of Bakkanal, not Parapriestess Six of the Ussean Church, and not Veralisa Sindile of Ussea. Do you understand what that means—what she truly means?”

Lady Fiona turned her around, and asked again: “Do you understand?”

“Why are you telling me this for the second time?!” Vera asked, annoyed. “We agreed that I would not give in to that unholy beast—to be tempted by the Province of Wrath.”

“The Afterlife is a timeless and poetic place. Everything there is romanticised. Both good and evil are treated as entertainment, like tragedy and comedy.” Lady Fiona’s turquoise gaze stared into Vera’s soul where that person hid. “Here you may be feared, but there, you might be revered; respected even.” She drew Vera closed speaking into her ear. “Beware, Veralisa… control your ego. Because of this, certain types of people may attempt to flatter you—seduce you into staying. Do not give in to their offers of paradise. I beg of you.”

Lady Fiona hugged Vera for the second time in her life.

“I am not as powerful as Chrysah. This is a one-way trip for all of you. You will have to find your own way back, but worry not, child, you have returned from this place before.”

Lady Fiona departed with her warm embrace and shoved Vera into the portal.

All was white.

And then all was black.