AstralLein
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Keliandra sets off for Lotru. The manuscript of the fairy tale came together quickly, almost of its own accord. Rinze's song can inspire more than just that...
— Greetings! Here is your order!
*In a dark empire mired in vice and ambition, an emperor was born to both a son and a daughter. According to ancient tradition, the throne went to the youth, but he had no desire to shoulder such a heavy burden. On the contrary! He wanted to enjoy life, dreaming of happiness and peace. Had someone offered him the chance to be born anew, far from any nobility, he would have agreed without a second thought. The girl, however, had seen the troubles that afflicted the empire since her early years. Inequality, corruption, violence, injustice, filth, and the sinister shadow of a bleak future... All of this bred and multiplied, bringing the inevitable end closer. Brother and sister loved and valued one another, but alas, all the princess's attempts to force the young emperor to attend to his domains fell on deaf ears. In his soul, there was room only for simple pleasures. He dreamed of marrying a slave girl who helped him dress in the mornings, spent all his time on entertainment, and helped only the ministers—for with such an emperor, their hands were completely untied. To her sorrow, the princess realized that if things continued this way, the empire would perish. Whether she wanted to or not, the throne had to be taken from her brother.
The princess spent several years gathering a circle of supporters, which included the harshest and most promising people from all corners of the empire. With their poisonous speeches, these people convinced the emperor step by step to leave the throne to his sister, for the title only hindered him from following the path of pleasure and the search for happiness. One fine day, the emperor finally believed the princess and fled the palace with his chosen one. The latter hated her master with all her soul, for all his love was merely violence and total indifference to the opinions and fates of others. Upon learning of the escape, the princess immediately ascended the throne and ordered the execution of all who attempted to obstruct her. Soon, only the supporters of the new empress remained in the palace. The final act of her ascension was the order to kill her brother. The finest assassin in the entire empire readily carried it out, asking in return only a drop of the sovereign's blood.
Thus, neck-deep in corpses, the empire found its empress, cruel and ruthless, for as the experience of the previous ruler showed: weakness and naivety lead only to the abyss.
All the guilty received the only just punishment: death. Peace and order reigned in the empire. An era of prosperity began. Blood nourished it, and corpses fertilized it. The empress even believed in her success. For the next few years, she was pleased with the unfolding picture, but only until she discovered that there were enough corrupt people even within her inner circle, and that neighbors had attacked a state weakened by numerous sacrifices. Cowardly, pathetic puppets... The advisors who built the new world side by side with the empress had long since learned her nature and used it exactly as they had once used the emperor. Enemies poured in as an endless stream. From within and from without. The empire found itself unable to resist its former trading partners, the hordes of wild tribes, or even more so, its own authority. The end came eventually. Just in a different way.
Betrayed and thrown into a dungeon by her own comrades, the empress watched with hatred as they made peace with the enemies and bought them off with everything they could. In the end, she herself became a gift for the tribal chief, who had long admired her cruelty and decisiveness.
— I destroy nations, I ruin empires, I take everything to the last thread even from slaves, but I have never laid a finger on my own people, — the chief uttered when the gift fell into his hands.
— I only wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff...
— And did it help? I think not. Killing everyone is not a way out. Even slaves can be useful, can they not?
Deprived of all power, becoming nothing more than a toy in the hands of a tyrant, the former empress realized one truth: ignoring a problem kills a country, and solving it too zealously does as well... Balance is needed in all things, but is it even possible?
A few years later, the tribal chief was found dead in bed with his own wife. And only the former empress could recognize the bloody mark on his neck: the handwriting of the assassin who had vanished without a trace many years ago. Alas, she was still accused of murdering her husband. Soon, the woman who was no longer an empress was buried alive.
Thus, only the assassin remains alive. In his hands, a vial with the blood of countless rulers shimmers in the daylight.
— The blood of lords is equally red... Fools. As many as I have seen, so many mistakes I have witnessed. In this vial, their blood seems identical. No facets, no fractures. A perfect liquid; one would not say it was taken from hundreds of different bodies. The world will be saved only when it becomes just as unified, and not a moment sooner.
Thus, even the strongest fell into decay. The empire became nothing, the tribes mired in civil war for power... the others were destined to face such a fate a little later. And the assassin continued to wander in the hope of finding even one ruler who would not make such mistakes. He never found one, for as long as blood flows and enmity remains the engine of history, the era of unity will never come.*
Keliandra smirked. This is definitely missing a recipe for a cure. And it is so simple. Its name is Rinze.
— Greetings! Here is your order!
*In a dark empire mired in vice and ambition, an emperor was born to both a son and a daughter. According to ancient tradition, the throne went to the youth, but he had no desire to shoulder such a heavy burden. On the contrary! He wanted to enjoy life, dreaming of happiness and peace. Had someone offered him the chance to be born anew, far from any nobility, he would have agreed without a second thought. The girl, however, had seen the troubles that afflicted the empire since her early years. Inequality, corruption, violence, injustice, filth, and the sinister shadow of a bleak future... All of this bred and multiplied, bringing the inevitable end closer. Brother and sister loved and valued one another, but alas, all the princess's attempts to force the young emperor to attend to his domains fell on deaf ears. In his soul, there was room only for simple pleasures. He dreamed of marrying a slave girl who helped him dress in the mornings, spent all his time on entertainment, and helped only the ministers—for with such an emperor, their hands were completely untied. To her sorrow, the princess realized that if things continued this way, the empire would perish. Whether she wanted to or not, the throne had to be taken from her brother.
The princess spent several years gathering a circle of supporters, which included the harshest and most promising people from all corners of the empire. With their poisonous speeches, these people convinced the emperor step by step to leave the throne to his sister, for the title only hindered him from following the path of pleasure and the search for happiness. One fine day, the emperor finally believed the princess and fled the palace with his chosen one. The latter hated her master with all her soul, for all his love was merely violence and total indifference to the opinions and fates of others. Upon learning of the escape, the princess immediately ascended the throne and ordered the execution of all who attempted to obstruct her. Soon, only the supporters of the new empress remained in the palace. The final act of her ascension was the order to kill her brother. The finest assassin in the entire empire readily carried it out, asking in return only a drop of the sovereign's blood.
Thus, neck-deep in corpses, the empire found its empress, cruel and ruthless, for as the experience of the previous ruler showed: weakness and naivety lead only to the abyss.
All the guilty received the only just punishment: death. Peace and order reigned in the empire. An era of prosperity began. Blood nourished it, and corpses fertilized it. The empress even believed in her success. For the next few years, she was pleased with the unfolding picture, but only until she discovered that there were enough corrupt people even within her inner circle, and that neighbors had attacked a state weakened by numerous sacrifices. Cowardly, pathetic puppets... The advisors who built the new world side by side with the empress had long since learned her nature and used it exactly as they had once used the emperor. Enemies poured in as an endless stream. From within and from without. The empire found itself unable to resist its former trading partners, the hordes of wild tribes, or even more so, its own authority. The end came eventually. Just in a different way.
Betrayed and thrown into a dungeon by her own comrades, the empress watched with hatred as they made peace with the enemies and bought them off with everything they could. In the end, she herself became a gift for the tribal chief, who had long admired her cruelty and decisiveness.
— I destroy nations, I ruin empires, I take everything to the last thread even from slaves, but I have never laid a finger on my own people, — the chief uttered when the gift fell into his hands.
— I only wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff...
— And did it help? I think not. Killing everyone is not a way out. Even slaves can be useful, can they not?
Deprived of all power, becoming nothing more than a toy in the hands of a tyrant, the former empress realized one truth: ignoring a problem kills a country, and solving it too zealously does as well... Balance is needed in all things, but is it even possible?
A few years later, the tribal chief was found dead in bed with his own wife. And only the former empress could recognize the bloody mark on his neck: the handwriting of the assassin who had vanished without a trace many years ago. Alas, she was still accused of murdering her husband. Soon, the woman who was no longer an empress was buried alive.
Thus, only the assassin remains alive. In his hands, a vial with the blood of countless rulers shimmers in the daylight.
— The blood of lords is equally red... Fools. As many as I have seen, so many mistakes I have witnessed. In this vial, their blood seems identical. No facets, no fractures. A perfect liquid; one would not say it was taken from hundreds of different bodies. The world will be saved only when it becomes just as unified, and not a moment sooner.
Thus, even the strongest fell into decay. The empire became nothing, the tribes mired in civil war for power... the others were destined to face such a fate a little later. And the assassin continued to wander in the hope of finding even one ruler who would not make such mistakes. He never found one, for as long as blood flows and enmity remains the engine of history, the era of unity will never come.*
Keliandra smirked. This is definitely missing a recipe for a cure. And it is so simple. Its name is Rinze.