Some feared the dark, flinching at the shadows it creates, cowering when the sun went down. Valerie Reine Ego was not one of those people, for she had learned to love the dark as a fugitive. The lack of light made her harder to identify, and it was when those who searched for her slept.
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The night would help her again now. The dockyards are high and loom grandly in the shadows. But the white and gold paint on the three airships stuck out like a sore thumb in the blackness. No one was around to see the rebels hauling large boxes up the ramps into the interior of the Firebrand-Class Heavy Cruisers Spark, Cinder, and Ember.
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They were magnificent craft. It would almost be a shame to blow them up. Never would the white and gold power through the skies like a majestic stallion. A stallion armed with unethical Thermobaric weapons, that is. They were huge and bristled with guns that would rain death and destruction down on anyone who defied Earl Malum.
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While the rebels were busy searching the airships for their ammo stores to set up the bombs in, Valerie was sneaking into the temporary Covenant Chapel on the site in the hope of finding High-Priest Aesop.
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The very senior cultist did not disappoint. A High-Priest or Priestess in the Covenant of the Void outranks the Initiates, the Acolytes, the Abbots of the Churches, and in matters relating to the management of the Covenant, the Inquisitors They were just below the Council of Ætharchs, with two of them serving each of the now nine Ætharchs. Though the ones assigned to Cerulea and Umbracrest were largely concerned with trying to cause trouble for both the Theocratic Confederacy of Cerulea in the Southwest of Empyrea, and the various factions in the Wastes of Umbracrest in the West.
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Aesop was in the midst of reading a passage from the Book of the Æbyss and praying alone. A sacrificial dagger lay nest to the book. Valerie did not let him reach for it, instead aiming her silenced steam-driven pistol at him.
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“Greetings, Viscountess Valerie, and glory to the three in the Æbyss.” Aesop said in a surprisingly normal voice.
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Valerie had her first look at the High-Priest of thevoidd up close. Unlike most cultists, he was not pale, gaunt, or at least partly mad. He was the epitome of normality, with a forgettable face complete with common brown eyes. He had the of the Southwest, but only just.
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“Did thou expect a malnourished lunatic with disfigured face? I am afraid I must disappoint, in that case.” Aesop had a kindly voice that did not sit well with the youngest child of Calliope and Pree. How had such a man wound up in the Covenant of the Void?
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“Thou...art a Cerulean, if I am not mistaken. How doth such a man become a cultist?” Valerie asked, unsure of herself. Confusion seasoned with the slightest hint of puzzlement flavoured her soft features.
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“Indeed, I was born in the southwest – Celestia in the third quadrant to be more specific – to a nameless family. I loved to hear about the fictional tales of the Directionals, Half-Winds, and the Quarter-Winds penned by a writer under the pseudonym Aesop. But I had suffered from seizures during my youth, and a group of older boys decided that I was being possessed by Suoiratsa, the Anti-Star, the evil sister of Astarious the Star of Cerulea. They beat me until I had more of these seizures, until one day I told my parents.” Aesop was calm despite recalling traumatic events in his childhood.
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“And what did they do?” Valerie asked, the weapon still pointed at his head.
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“I have no idea, but the next day, the boys were reported for not turning up to their school. I found what was left of them – all that remained was bloody chunks as if those boys had been ripped apart by a powerful storm later on and told the headmaster. That was the day that I was taken into the cellar and was told the tale of Æraxis the Great Maelstrom of the Æbyss, and my saviour. I was initiated into the Covenant of the Void under the servitude of the Triumvirate Goddess Æraxis by completing a task.” Aesop continued.
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“W-What sort of task, was it? And how old wer-“ Valerie began to ask.
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Aesop interrupted her, “ – Eleven moons, I was among the youngest initiatives in the Covenant's history. I had to do something simple: recite the phrase, 𐐢𐐯𐐻 𐑄 𐐣𐐮𐑅𐐻𐑉𐐮𐑅 𐐲𐑂 𐑄 𐐎𐐮𐑌𐐼𐑆 𐐸𐐲𐑉𐑊 𐐼𐐵𐑌 𐐸𐐲𐑉 𐐻𐐯𐑋𐐹𐐯𐑅𐐽𐐭𐐲𐑅 𐑉𐐰𐑃 𐐪𐑌𐐻𐐭 𐑄𐐬𐑆 𐑄𐐰𐐻 𐐶𐐳𐐼 𐐸𐐪𐑉𐑋 𐐸𐐲𐑉 𐑌𐐭 𐐽𐐴𐑊𐐼! and throw a coin into an electrically charged pool of blood dissolved in water.”
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“What doth that mean?”
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“May the Mistress of the Winds hurl down her tempestuous wrath onto those that would harm her new child.” Aesop declared proudly.
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“I found that my schools headmaster had been caught out in a thunderstorm and had been struck by lighting when the establishment was closed for a week.”
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“Thou will not be leaving this place alive, as thou will know.” Valerie said, wanting the High-Priests stories of eleven year old boys indirectly murdering people to stop.
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“Of course, I understand.” Aesop said with a smile before breaking into laughter.
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“What exactly is there to find amusing here?”
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“I know about thy friends putting bombs in the half-empty ammo stores of those Heavy Cruisers, they art leaving now as the fuse has been lit and will burn out in twenty minutes. Thou honours Æraxis by destroying these airships with a Firestorm after killing off her servant. Do it now, Viscountess Valerie, and I will be seeing thou in the Æby-“
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CRACK
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Aesop fell to the ground, bleeding from a hole in his throat.
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Grand-General Rainer popped his head out from outside the chapel. “Jolly good show, I thought that he would never stop talking!”
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“Rainer, now is not the time.” Valerie scolded him angrily.
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They both snuck out and reached the spot she had picked to watch the bombs go off with plenty of time to spare.
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“Aright then, since her radiance is dying to know why I am her, I will reveal it.”
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“Go on then.” She said impatiently.
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“I am to watch Blackwings airships go boom and have a little chuckle at his expense.” He was jovial as he spoke frankly.
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“That cannot be all!”
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“Aww, did the ickle Visquntess think I was here to see her?” He mocked her playfully.
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The fugitive – actually, terrorist may be more apt now – turned bright red, either from blushing, anger, or an interesting fusion of the two.
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“Yes that is it. Blackwing has been diverting attention from the army onto himself so that he can get new powers from the Earl and Countess to order all the ground forces about. The relationship between the Grand Narcissian Army and Fleet uses to be one of good natured competition, especially during the Coalition War – where the soldiers were grateful for aerial support and got along well with the naval officers, mariners, and Aerospecialists – now it is constant rivalry because Blackwing has ruined the balance.”
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“Fine! Now, why did you kiss me last time we met?” Now she really was blushing at the memory.
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There was a painfully bright flash of light followed by an eardrum shattering boom. The drydockss that had housed the GNA Spark, Cinder, and Ember had been engulfed by a ravenous firestorm that covered the entire area. Fortunately, there was no work going on during the night that day as the rebels had chosen a holiday to blow up the airships. The blast radius would not have reached the closest settlement – the Luxequinoxian Town of Alumne.
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Like most destructive things, the fireball was beautiful.
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“It was only to say goodbye...” Rainer said in a husky voice poisoned by disappointment.
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Valerie Reine Ego thought to herself for a moment before she got much closer to the Grand-General. She had never been this close to him before and now could see that Rainer was almost a full head taller than her. She needed Rainer to win, and if he was upset, he would likely not.
Her face was flushed as she looked up at him. She slowly reached up to cup his face, standing on the tips of her toes to bring her up higher.
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“What art thou doing?”
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“Giving thou incentive....” She replied sweetly.
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And then she went in for it. Valerie’s lips brushed against Rainer’s, sending tingles down her back. It was a soft, gentle kiss, but it was filled with a depth of emotion that took her breath away and made her feel dizzy, as if she was intoxicated on emotions.
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Drunk on love, even if it was used for selfish reasons.
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The rest of Empyrea melted away to leave the Viscountess and the General suspended in a moment of time, near a bombsite.
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Rainer pulled back and tried to regain his composur or what remained of it.
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“I have to go find the rest of the rebels, so do thy disappearing trick and begone. I will see thou soon.”
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Rainer did not have to be told twice; in less than ten seconds, he was out of her line sight.
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