A man picked his way through the mountain of rubble, treading along the fallen stones.
The man’s body was a ss, his bare torso was riddled with countless bleeding gashes and deep, jagged wounds, yet he surveyed the wreckage with an impassive expression.
His once regal golden hair was now a matted, tangled ss, but his piercing blue eyes remained perfectly clear.
It was Cassian Von Valenheart, the emperor of the Northern continent, walking amongst the ruins of the royal castle.
Three days passed since the incident, and only now did the emperor return, appearing in such a broken state that no one would recognise him.
"Haa..." He let out a small sigh, rubbing his forehead, then gave a casual flick with his wrists.
Thup
The remains of a man hit the dust beside him, it was a grueso sight, only an upper torso and the legs completely missing, the hair, however, was familiar, a tallic grey colour.
Draxel lay motionless with his arms sprawled out and eyes sealed shut, he looked every bit like a corpse, given the fact he was missing half of his body.
Cassian sighed again, his knees buckling as he lowered himself to the ground, he rested his back against a cracked stone pillar.
He silently stared out into the horizon, overseeing the smouldering state of the capital.
The silence was heavy, only broken by the whistling wind through the hollow ruins.
"How long are you going to play dead?" Cassian asked, his voice raspy and devoid of any emotion. "Or do I need to bury what’s left of you?"
A slow cough rattled through Draxel’s chest, his eyelids flickered, then slid open to reveal his dull copper eyes. "Half a body... and you expect ... to talk...?"
"You’re talking right now, so what’s the problem?"
Ignoring him, Draxel turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on the massive craters where the castle’s foundations used to be.
"We lost." Draxel whispered, it wasn’t a question.
Cassian didn’t respond, he ran his hand through the dust, falling silent once more.
"Oh shit, he’s coming." Draxel broke the small silence. "Act like I’m dead."
"Hmm?" Cassian tilted his head, before he could ask why.
Flash
A streak of light cut through the settling dust, forming into the figure of a man with vibrant red hair and a pair of golden eyes, his clothes were shredded and bloodied, but he was grinning ear to ear.
"What’s up, Cas!" Zale yelled, waving his blood-slick hand.
"Zale." Cassian replied, his voice flat.
"Oh my!" Zale’s eyes shifted, landing on the mangled, legless remains of Draxel. "Drax is here too!"
"He is... uh, dead?" Cassian tried covering for Draxel.
"Yo Drax!" It didn’t work, Zale marched over and stood directly over the fallen man. "Wake up!"
"..."
"Drax! Wake up!"
"..."
"I know you’re awake!"
"..."
"Buddy, if you don’t wake up right now..." Zale slowly smirked. "I’ll tell everyone what I found under your bed—"
"Silence, fool, I was rely taking a brief nap." Draxel instantly opened his eyes and lifted his head.
"Yay!" Zale cheered.
Ignoring the two’s bickering, Cassian looked around before finally asking. "Where is Alaric?"
"Ah, him?" Zale looked behind, peering down at the collapsed first district. "He’s looking for his family."
"The Zevrils?" Cassian nodded slowly. "I didn’t take him for a family man."
"Well, believe it or not, he actually cares a lot about his family." Zale shrugged.
"Really?" Cassian’s brow furrowed. "The sa man who drafted his eldest son to war at age thirteen?"
"Uh... well... Alvin wanted that, didn’t he?"
"Then what about the illegitimate child he produced and neglected for years?"
"Oh please." Zale scoffed. "You and I both know that the kid nad Alan isn’t who he appears to be."
"Hmm, I suppose, considering the child is indeed ’his’ brother after all..." Cassian humd but frowned again. "Then what about the things Alaric did to the boy’s mother?"
"...Oh, yeah nah, that’s just really uncalled for..." Zale paused and scowled at Cassian. "But why are you even talking?"
"What?"
"You failed your duties as a father." Zale said, the humour vanishing from his voice. "Even more as an emperor."
Cassian went still.
"Take a look around you." Zale spread his arms apart, gesturing to the dilapidated capital. "This is the result of your actions, and yours alone."
"..."
"Do you see the state of the place? Do you?"
"...It was for the greater good." Cassian responded.
"The greater good?" Zale burst into a sharp, mocking laugh that ended as quickly as it started, he stared at Cassian with a hollow, expressionless face. "Can you really say that?"
"..."
"How many people do you think died? Hmm?" Zale asked. "Just how many people do you think perished? How many families turned to ash? How many lives lost just because of you?"
"..."
"Thousands, the body count is in the tens of thousands, Cassian." Zale answered. "They all believed in you, every last one of them lived here, believing and trusting the emperor to protect them, and what did you do when the ti actually ca?
"...I abandoned them." Cassian whispered.
"...At least you’re not shaless." Zale sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "And none of us could have predicted this kind of outco."
"Still." Cassian looked up, his blue eyes locking onto Zale’s gold ones. "The plan worked, even at the cost of everything."
Zale held the gaze for a long mont before finally letting out a deep breath. "Fine..."
"You know, the title of failing as a father would never be placed on ." Draxel spoke up just before a place fell into a silence.
"Shut up, you gay faggot." Zale snapped.
"These allegations are baseless." Draxel protested. "Just because I lack a wife and child does not an I fancy n—"
"Oh yeah? Then how are you going to explain what I found under your bed?"
"Shut that mouth of yours this instant!"
Cassian looked up at the sky, allowing the half corpse and man to bicker aimlessly with one another, then he noticed sothing in the air, a bird.
The bird circled in the air above, dropping bundles of paper that fluttered down towards them, he caught one out of the air.
"Oh, the newspaper." Zale muttered, snatching one for himself. "I guess three days are enough for the presses to start printing."
A third bundle of newspaper fell, landing squarely on Draxel’s nose, but he didn’t even bother to move it.
Cassian looked at the front-page headline.
[The Fall of Elera!]
An article giving a detailed recount of the massacre and attack on the Northern continent.
He flipped to the next page.
[Return of the Abyss!]
An article speculating what the reappearance of abyssal creatures could an and how they returned after five hundred years.
The next page made him pause.
[Is the emperor unworthy of the throne?]
An article filled with harsh criticisms of the emperor, of his neglect of the capital, even conspiring that the emperor was the one behind the attack.
"I didn’t do it because I wanted to..." Cassian muttered, but it didn’t matter what his response was, the public opinion was a tide he couldn’t turn just by whispering.
He turned the pages, scanning through the recorded events and announcents, until he froze at one of the pages.
There was a printed photograph that took up about a third of the page, an image that portrayed a young man with a black silk wrapped around his eyes, looking down at a soot-covered boy.
Behind the young man stood a blue dragon, perched atop it were three figures, two won and one man, all wearing an individual pair of blindfolds.
Cassian recognised them instantly, well of course he did, one was his daughter, the other was the only heir of the Caelis grand duchy, and then there was the neglected child of Alaric and his friend.
But that wasn’t what made him stop.
"What the..." Zale let out a strange, baffled sound, possibly looking at the sa thing he was.
Because, the title of the page was.
[The Saviours of Elera: The Bondage Bastards]
"What the fuck...?" The great emperor of the north cursed for the first ti in decades.
...
anwhile, over at the grand duchy of the Zevril family.
"Hmm~" Miya humd a little tune as she leaned back on her comfy sofa.
"My lady, you seem to be in a pleasant mood?" Lana, the personal maid of Miya, asked.
"Hmm? Ah yes, yes." Miya smiled. "I just feel like sothing good happened today."
"Is that so..." Lana awkwardly replied, thinking of every possibility of what could have happened.
You see, her lady, Miya, did not have a great track record, everyti she would be in a great mood and state, ’Sothing good happened today’ a disaster would unfold sowhere.
One ti Miya woke up and humd a little tune and said, ’Sothing good is going to happen today’, the very sa day her restaurant burnt down.
Over the past two months of Alan’s absence, Miya would occasionally start humming suddenly, saying, ’Sothing good happened to Alan’, causing Lana to seriously pray for Alan’s wellbeing.
What could have possibly happened this ti? As she was praying for Alan, the door to the restaurant burst open.
"My lady!" In ca Edward, panting with wide eyes.
"Ah, Edward?" Miya tilted her head. "It’s not ti for lunch, how co you’re here?"
"There’s news of Alan!" Edward yelled.
"What?!" Miya shot up from her seat. "Where?!"
"Here." Edward promptly kneeled and handed over a bundle of newspaper to Miya, the pages already open.
"Alan!" Miya grinned the mont she saw the photograph, although Alan was wearing a blindfold, she instantly recognised him.
"What...?" Then her jaws dropped the mont she lifted her gaze.
[The Bondage Bastards]
"My...my son had such a preference...?" Miya’s face crumbled instantly, falling into pure, utter despair.
’What in the world?’ Even Lana was montarily at a loss for words.
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