Chapter 1

Zha’nadir, the capital city of the sun empire, was celebrating the anniversary of Na'khala's ascension. Holiday of all, humans and elves, demons and monsters, angels and gods. All shall pay their respect to the sun empress. Streets were crowded with people dancing, singing, and drinking. The whole city was submerged into a dreamlike state of festivities. That day no one shall be left alone, as all were equally blessed by the goddess.

Midst the fervor one could find a rather out of place individual. Well, at first glance he might have seemed a regular young lad, if not a little stylish. He wore long black hair. His face was decorated with deep azure eyes, and on his ear hung a small hourglass with azure sand inside. He was clothed with long black boots, pants, and azure embellished shirt. He danced, sang, and drank along with people of the streets. But those with keen eyes could observe peculiar irregularities.

First, he was not from here. Not here in the sense of the city. No, he was an outsider to the empire. The empire, that under Na'khala's rule conquered the whole universe. There was not much outside of it. Though the empire was not culturally identical on every planet, there were still many cultural indicators that were commonly present throughout its whole existence. Prayers, societal roles and expectations, pantheon, and many more were known to every citizen. And with all that in mind, he still behaved like a tourist. He asked for the names of gods as if he never had entered a church. He did not know the songs that were sung every year during every holiday. He was bewildered by the societal hierarchy as if he first witnessed it.

The second and even more important peculiarity was the fact he could completely hide his aura. A rare feat, most of those who could pull this off were the ascended, immortal rulers of the world.

“You are a good lad, Allec. It's rare to meet a traveler, especially a fellow human. Where do you come from? Drink one more and tell me your story”.

“Korynt. Small planet on the peripheries of the empire. It has been a long travel to get to the capital”. As Allec wanted to expand on his travels, he had been interrupted.

“DAD, stop pestering our guest, he surely must be tired by his excursion. Go torment neighbors. And also, that was the last beer you had this night”.

“I’ve barely started tonight. And it is still early…”

“DAD”

“OKAY, okay. Gonna leave you alone, and out of your sight.”

As the old man left, Annie the tavern keeper, started apologizing for him.

"Sorry for the trouble. I know he can be a lot sometimes. And also thanks. He has been lonely lately. A conversation with you must have been great entertainment".

Amused by the situation Allec replied.

"No worries, Always happy to be helpful. Before I go, I must ask for directions. I really can not leave the city without laying my eyes on the imperial palace. Do you perhaps know of a place where I can take a good look?"

“Afraid not, city is mostly flat, there are not many places as such. My best bet would be the plaza.”

“Thanks, I will try asking people there for directions then. Oh, before I forget, your stake is delicious. By far the best one I had in ages. Bye”.

After Allec left the Inn, he wandered the streets of the lively city. He chatted with passing by people, asking for directions or any interesting enough aspects of their tradition. At last, he arrived at the plaza. In the middle stood a statue of tall, even for elves' standards, women. One of her hands held a levitating sun. The other held a spear. She stood on a pedestal bravely, ready to slaughter all opposing her will. All of it was made of gold, adding grandeur to the image. Behind the plaza was located an entrance to the palace, the most imposing building of Zha'nadir. It emanated might, power, and divinity. As Allec stood among the crowd, he was slowly coming up with a plan. A bold, unhinged, and maybe a little careless one.

***

Khavka left the ballroom and headed towards the terraces. The elvish exhausted from the party woman wore black suit pants, a white shirt, and a blue trench coat with golden ornaments. She despised the lavishness, ignorance, and strictness of the place. She needed a breather and if she was lucky, no one would interrupt her. She knew hallways well enough. After a few turns, secret corridors, and too old doors that were in immediate need of renovation she finally reached her destination. A quiet balcony, with possibly the best view of the city. A place to relax and sit idly. As far as Khavka was concerned, very few knew how to reach this place. Mainly the older staff of the palace and a few of her close friends who were not present in the palace.

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It was already well past midnight, yet the city was celebrating the most important day of the calendar. Zha'nadir, illuminated with lamps and torches, and decorated with carnival garlands and statues, was truly a beautiful sight to behold. It reminded Khavka that though unjust as it was, imperial hierarchy still gave people time to clear their minds and just be happy. Sadly this moment of respite quickly came to a halt as a young human lad climbed onto the balcony and fell flat on the floor. Her first thought was of a thief, but she instantly dismissed it. The man before her was ascended just as she was. Though Khavka was one the strongest warriors in the universe, she needed to stay calm and cautious. Dealings with the ascended always demanded caution. Especially when she does not recognize one, which brought further questions. Khavka was part of the imperial aristocracy. She knew every ascended that was active in at least the last hundred thousand years. There was no reason to be afraid, she thought. If a fight broke between them, other ascended of the palace would react, especially Na'khala's presence gave her the most assurance. She would not tolerate any infighting at her ball. Considering the above, she decided to be a little confrontational, not too much, just enough to get answers from the man.

“Who are you? What brings you here? If you mean trouble, know that the palace is full of ascended ready to strike you down.”

The man ignored her at first. He stood up and seated himself at the edge of the balcony. Only then, after a couple of seconds, he answered.

“You have a great view here, why are you so stingy to share?”

Before, now bewildered, Khavka could follow up with some retort, the man interrupted her. "You can call me Allec by the way". Which took the elven ascended off guard. Allec visibly did not care in the slightest about the whole situation, as if breaking into the imperial palace was a common occurrence. It seemed that using common sense with him was not an optimal tactic, so Khavka eased up and decided to play the game he wanted.

“Khavka, and yes it’s arguably one the best spots in the city”.

After a while of staring into the night, Allec broke the silence.

“Amazing, isn't it? How quickly the world changes, especially for us. You take a little nap and wake up in a universe you barely recognize. You see, it's not a bad thing, far from it actually. If I had to name one good thing in the world, it be a change. The progress that people make, the betterment of self. That I would call the ultimate good. A virtue all should pursue. Now a question I must ask is whether the world that I see right now is a world of change or rather stagnation?”

After a moment of consideration, Khavka answered the question.

"If you would call a world of stability and hierarchy a world of stagnation, then yes it will be stagnation. But what will you do about it? Na'khala's power is unrivaled even among the ascended. As long she is the empress nothing will change. I have tried to loosen some strictness a bit, but not much could be done."

“You have been alone, now we can partner up.”

“Partner up and what?” Khavka retorted. “I disagree with her on plentiful topics, but I fancy not being killed by her a lot.”

“I am strong, and if we are smart about it she won’t be able to act as freely as she would want to.”

“Then tell me of your plan, oh master of schemes and conspiracies”.

“Well, first we find those oppressed by the current rule. We will side with them and organize a rebellion”.

“She will retaliate. She will scorch everyone who would show a hint of disobedience. If need be, she will destroy a planet, and then rebuild it from scratch, resulting in many dead.”

“Not really, we will protect them. Just trust me on this one, when I and her will be fighting, she won’t have time to target mortals. Though I doubt it will come to it. She has so much more to lose than us. She will not be eager to wage a war among ascended. And even then if she does kill some mortals. It will be good for our narrative. We could present her as a monster that kills the innocent.”

“She would call us heretics, tell the story of the demonic rebellion that needed to be purged”.

“And so be it. She can call me evil god, blasphemer, or anything if she wants, all the better. She will throw her anger at some planet. We will save it, show the universe that those opposing her tyranny do have an ally and are not alone”.

“Most will take her side. She is their goddess, her word is sacred to most of the population whether we like it or not.”

“It will be like that at the beginning. But we don't need the whole universe on our side. We need a foundation on which we can build upon. Those oppressed, discriminated against, and with no prospect for the future will turn toward us. Some of them know of the oppression some are yet to realize it.”

“So to sum up, you want to incise rebellion on some planet. Na'khala retaliates, but then you show up, play a hero, stop her advances and from that position play politics of class struggle”.

“Yes, that would be it”.

“All of this assumes that you can handle her one on one, if you can’t she will scorch us”.

“I am stronger than her, if you think that I can’t handle some upstart of an empress then I feel offended. You in or not?”

“I …, I need time to think. Give me some a week”.

“Good, when you decide follow your instincts and you will find me”.

After the final reply, Allec jumped off the building, never to be seen again that night.