Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

Men. Warriors. Supplies. Ammunition. Maps. Orders. Reports. Budgets. Secrecy. Strategies. Doctrines. And objectives.

That has been my life for the better part of twelve weeks now. But I do not falter, nor do I rest. For I am returned to my true element.

The world is once again alight with the flames of war, and empires have once more remembered their true selves, constructs of human predation; hewn from the endless ambition of greater men, winning their wealth, earning their dominion, and buying their rule with blood.

The great cardinal empires of the world, the other three pillars of the current status quo. The greatest barriers of advancement, have all thrown themselves into war. The greatest changer in existence, for whether you emerge victorious or not, the simple act of it will invite a gambling transformation, for better or for worse.

An opportunity and a threat, for I know that the northern giant will undoubtedly stand stronger still after their war. I can not rest on my laurels. Not yet. Not before Nicholas is purged from the world. So I prepare to once again invite the harbinger of change into my lands, as I deem it the perfect time to end the four year long war in the south. To finally, and unequivocally end the threat of the House of Prosperity forever.

So I soldier on, cleaving through my tedious work with ink and parchment in hand, when my doors are opened yet again, and in enter my mother and brother.

"Mother?" I ask, surprised by her presence, as she rarely ever comes to me when I am working.

"Hello my dear." She says, half smiling. "We have a matter with an urgent need to be addressed."

I look to both of them with undisguised intrigue, questioning what manner of thing could invite such exigency within them.

"Brother." Nizam began. "I would like your permission to send a squad of the Shade Corps to the east."

"We already have many members of the Shade Corps in the east brother. You know this." I replied, since he’s been my unofficial aide for many years now.

"Yes, but not where we need them most." He answered, his tone undeniably resolute, yet with a sliver of hesitancy still harboured within.

"And where is that?" I ask, finding my curiosity peeked.

"The imperial palace of the Yue Dynasty." He says after a long breath, now purging the last of hesitancy from himself.

"What has brought this about?" I ask.

Nizam gives me the letter I had seen him receive not a few minutes ago, and I quickly go through it’s already brief context.

"I admit it is odd..." I said looking into the similar eyes that were almost identical of my brother and mother. "Isaac, have our informants in the capital reported any oddities that might be occurring within the imperial palace of the eastern emperor?" I ask the old assassin.

"...A few sire." He answered, though by his tone I could tell that they were all fairly mundane, inconsequential, and most likely utterly removed from the topic at hand.

"Sort through them, and hand me the report by the day’s end." I pause for a moment then. "Give a copy of it to Nizam as well."

"Yes sire." He said, bowing.

"Thank you brother!" Nizam nearly leapt for joy, but I could still see a kaleidoscopic array of worry and fear in the pits of his eyes masked away behind momentary glee, as he and my mother took their leave.

There was something eating away at the corner of his mind. A concern he had not fully articulated to me. Or maybe he couldn’t, for he had no confidence in doing so. Whatever the case may be, I should get to the bottom of this, if only to ease his mind.

"My emperor, this might be a fool’s errand." The ancient assassin softly said as soon as they were gone. "There is a reason why we have no spies in the eastern palace itself. It is nigh impossible to infiltrate. The old Guardians of the Emerald Throne make sure of this. And the Shade Corps has very little wiggle room for further manoeuvring and tasks at the moment."

"No excuses Isaac. Find a way." I commanded, picking up yet another paper from my desk.

"Yes my liege." He replied with a repressed sigh.

I knew I had placed my loyal retainer in an utterly unenviable conundrum. The Shade Corps was stretched thin, I knew this just as much as he did, for there were too many things to keep an eye for these days, but I had reason to. And it wasn’t mere familial love and care. No it was trust in a talent Nizam had yet to fully bloom into. In this life at least.

For all his wonderous wit and his many gifts for the sorcerous arts, particularly in the school of water magic, I knew his true to genius to lay in the domain of politics. In my past life, and before his fall, he would be among the first to spot a cunning scheme, from what seemed to most as thin air. One misspoken word, momentary lapse in judgement or unconscious act was enough to alert his keen eyes to any foulness at play.

That is why I never opposed, but instead encouraged him to stay by my and Darius’ side and learn the dance of politics and the ways of statecraft. So that latent talent of his would find the most opportune soil to flourish in.

And even if this were a mere dud of a warning on his part, it would still be worth it in my eyes, for failure would become just another whetstone for him to sharpen his ways.

Yet if I hoped, no matter how foolishly, that a conclusion to this would come quickly, then I was gravely mistaken. For as the days passed into weeks without word, and my dear brother became more isolated in his quest to prove his instincts correct, and that his betrothed was indeed not simply growing distant but was in true danger, I found myself almost regretting my decision.

"News will come my love." My Eve whispered in my ear, as she sat across my lap one moonlit night. "Even I would have trouble making my way into the eastern emperor’s home, let alone your mortal servants. You must be patient. Just as your brother must."

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. Even with my divine constitution I found myself uncharacteristically fatigued these days. "I know. But it is difficult to do so when he’s condemned himself to self imposed imprisonment."

"You exaggerate."

"Do I?" I asked. "He’s only ever in the library or his room these days. I just don’t know what has happened to him. I’ve literally never seen him like this. Not in this life or the last."

"Your mother forced him to face his own feelings." She then said, seemingly out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked, looking at her smiling face illuminated by the seeping moonlight.

"Your mother asked him if he loved the eastern princess." She answered me.

"And what did he say?" I immediately asked.

"Isn’t obvious?" She giggled. "She told him in such circumstances it is wiser to err on the side of caution, for it is far better to be presently wrong than eternally regretful."

"As always, my mother is wise." I said, stroking her fair cheek as my eyes darkened with ancient memory and mournful obsession.

She lightly smiled, taking my hand in hers in a reassuring gesture, knowing what had just crossed through my mind.

"How did you know all of this?" I asked a moment later, breaking the heavy silence between us.

"There is very little that happens in this palace that escapes my ears these days." She smugly replied, as her amethyst eyes darkened, and her pale blonde hair lost some of it’s lustre in the moonlight, while wisps of shadow all around us twisted to her command.

Yet before we could say anything more, the voice of the old assassin of the empire resounded in our ears from beyond the door. "My emperor."

She and I looked to each for a moment, before I yelled out "Enter Isaac."

"To what do we owe this very late visit Grand Chamberlin?" My Eve asked as the old man closed the door behind him, and she tightened her arms around my neck, unmoving from her position.

"My deepest apologies your imperial majesties, but a matter of grave importance has just arrived." He quickly said, bowing.

"What is it now Isaac?" I asked, tiredness already crawling it’s way back into my bones.

"News from the east my liege. Ten servants have been dismissed from the Yue Dynasty’s imperial Palace. Among them is the Head Maid, sire." He immediately declared, rising from his bow.

"Why?" I swiftly asked.

"Rumours are a plenty, but so far none seem to know for certain." He said. "But there is more sire. My Shade Corps agents in the east have tried to find the ten, but they have so far come empty handed."

"Nothing?" I asked, my tone sharpening to a razor’s edge.

"As though they had vanished from the face of the earth." He nodded grimly.

The insinuation was not lost on any of us. When one vanishes in the imperial palaces of the cardinal empires it more often than not meant a grim and grizzly fate.

But then another’s voice echoed through the halls of the sleeping palace, as my brother, looking haggard and dishevelled, burst into my room.

"Brother! I found it!" He declared, in his hand two pieces of parchment and some book I didn’t recognize.

"Found what?" I asked.

"This!" He says, striding forth and thrusting the two letters at me. "Do you notice something in common between the two?" He asked excitedly.

I look to him in confusion for a moment, before I then read the two pieces of paper, who I discovered then to be two letters of correspondence he’s shared with the Yue princess. One was written a mere two days ago, and the other was from a few months back, just a few days after the Ulgan and Kusuri rebellions.

"The mention of monkshood?" I unconfidently answer him a minute later, after having perused the two, ordinary looking letters for any obvious similarities.

"Exactly!" He exclaimed, but when he failed to see the proper reaction from me, he very loudly said. "Do you not see brother?! It’s wolfsbane!"

"What is wolfsbane?" I ask, my confusion multiplied. As I then see both Isaac and Eve’s expressions turn utterly ice cold.

"Monkshood!" He yells, returning my attention back to him. "Monkshood is the other name for wolfbane! Now brother ask yourself why would she mention helping her father in planting these specific herbs in the imperial gardens just a few days after the rebellion of the two kingdoms? And have you ever heard of a princess and emperor handling such an extremely dangerous and poisonous plant like wolfsbane for mere fun brother? Especially when the two involved have never shown much interest in the hobby of gardening? Look brother. Look! Wolfsbane is a plant that is known to be toxic to wolves, which is where it got it’s name sake! So then why did she specifically call it by it’s lesser known name in her letter? Can’t you see brother?! And now look at her final letter she wrote most recently!" He pointed to a specific line in her latest letter.

The wolfsbane father and I had been planting are wilting.

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