There she was. Her.
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She stood on a stage clutching the staff of office given to her as a prize for loyalty. A prize for betraying her kin was more accurate, thought Valerie.
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A large crowd of murmuring people had gathered to lend their ears to a speech from Earl Malum. Except Malum was not there, he never was. Instead, he sent his sister – Viscountess Victorine Elizabeth Ego of Valerium – turned Grand Vizier to read it out. Victorine had been a blushing young lass with a soft temperament from her birth in 42 YAP all the way up to 76 YAP, the year everything had changed.
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For the worst.
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Malum was the oldest of the five siblings and was therefore the Heir to the Earldom of Narciss. And he did not buck the trend seen in most of the previous rulers: Earl Emeric was smothered in his sleep by his daughter, Countess Seraphina the Wise. Her son, Earl Aurum, was stabbed by his Ætharchs with the assistance of his hieress, Countess Icaria the Fair. Earl Ignatius was posioned by his Heir, Earl Bigot the Golden. And Bigot was shot through the heart by Earl Preen.Sixty-sixx years ago, Earl Preen and Countess Calliope had met a violent end at the hands of Earl Malum.
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Very few rulers of the Northeast had escaped this fate. The legendary Earl Ego had suffered a stroke. Earl Magnus the Mad had, to the surprise of many, died from a heart attack as his heiress, Countess Nyctra, was fartooo gentle to plot his death. Nyctra succumbs to an extremely rare disease known as Progressive Ossifying Fibrodysplasia twenty-two years into her reign. Two Countesses that married into the House of Ego outlived their husbands and died of age related causes after living long enough to become Dowager Countesses, Cosminè and Valerie, had also avoided the blade.
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Valerie – who was named after the fiery, Estrin born Countess – had joined the crowd in the hope of taking out the sister that had stayed silent as her brother had torn asunder the siblings by sending Celeste to the Dominion and Lyra to the executioner. Another tempting target was present: High Priest Aesop of the Void. Malum had before an Ætharch and had been blessed by Æonex the Tormentor to never age as long as he served as an anchor to the oldest of the Æbyssal Triumvirate, this extended to his siblings. This was why Valerie and Victorine looked young despite having been born in 42 and 41 YAP respectively, and therefore, they were both just over the age of 100.
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The Era of the Æbyss had not been met with open arms by everyone in Empyrea. The resistance movement in the Eternal Earldom of Narciss was by far the most largest and most powerful cell not associated with CATAE.
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Earl Malum used 185 year old Thermobaric Shells from the Coalition War on suspected rebel strongholds and then on anyone that disagreed with him from a Dreadnought class airship called the GNA Firestorm (ND-2). The waves of arson attacks paired with deadly infernos and shockwaves has shown that Eternal Earl Malum Ego was more than willing to use fire to purify his region, encouraged by that dammed High-Priest of the Void whispering venom into his ear. CATAE had watched the Nigh of the Ashes happen and did nothing to help the rebels, Valerie trusted the North about as far as she could pick up and hurl Malum's Dreadnought.
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And so Valerie blended into the crowd with her copper coloured hair and high cheekbones hidden by a hood so that she may find a chance to take some pot shots at a Grand Vizier and puffed up cultist like a common hired gun from the Verber-Eclipse, or Eclipse-Verbrechersyndikat, or indeed whatever the scum-filled crime alliance called itself in 65 AE.
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Two Æther Pistols quivered in their holsters – something that Valerie Reine Ego did not understand nor liked – as if excited to kill.
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Grand Vizier Victorine tapped her microphone with a pale hand elegantly. Her voice was formal, and even fools would recognise the prominent Narcissian accent and High Empyrean dialect her tones carried.
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“Brothers and sisters, we gather today to address the threat posed the Narcissian security by the rebels. These misguided individuals, driven by their desperate efforts, have caused untold suffering and chaos throughout our great community. They have sought to undermine the authority of the Triumvirate, disrupt our worship, and to destroy the very foundations of Earl Malum’s Eternal Earldom of Narciss.” She said grandly.
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Valerie inched closer to the side – she had joined the crowd at its edge so that she could hide the Æther pistol in her sleeve to avoid suspicion.
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Victorine continued to read out the speech.
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“We have seen the destruction they have wrought, the innocent lives they have ruined, and the families they have torn asunder! We have seen the desperation in their eyes, the blind ambition that drives them to act against their own best interests. And we have seen the pain they have brought upon themselves, as they art consumed by a meaningless cause that is a mincing contraption to its followers.”
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It's better to die fighting, thought Valerie. It was twaddle, all of it, everything that came from her sisters mouth was a lie.
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“But we will not be deterred by their futile attempts. The Covenant of the Void searches day and night for the fugitive, a treacherous woman who is not worthy of her house, and who has the audacity to refuse enlightenment while running away from the plans laid out by the rightful ruler of the Northeast. The faithful shalt not rest until Valerie Reine Ego is brought to justice, and the rebels are punished.”
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Grand Vizier Victorine motions at High-Priest Aesop, an action that does not escape the fugitive Viscountess.
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Aesop has a deep and soothing bass voice. The cultist turned clergyman seems near to tears while he spoke. That deep voice threatened to crack.
“It pains us to see that so many of our people refuse to embrace the Æbyss, the great and wondrous power that lies at the heart of our society. They art blind to its beauty, and they art deaf to its necessity. They do not see that it is the only way to bring true order and harmony to our world. They fail to grasp that without the Æbyss, we would be at the mercy of the void itself, consumed by rot that even the glorious three would be unable to protect us from. They do not see that with the Faith of the Æbyss as our guide, we art given the power to shape our own destiny, to forge a new Empyrea from the decaying remnants of the old.”
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“The faithful shalt not hesitate to order the GNA Firestorm to sear and burn away the rot that has taken hold in this region. We purify this land, no matter how steep the cost will be.” Aesop snapped sharply, catching many by surprise. The jaws of many older people in the crowd drop at the veild threat of a second Night of the Ashes – which actually lasted a week.
Aesop backs off from the microphone.
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“The strong and wise Earl Malum Ego – twelfth ruler of the Earldom – has decreed that the people of the Northeast shalt turn in any insurgents immediately or thee shalt face the executioner. Grand-General Rainer and the Earl's 5th shalt be deployed here in Chalcrystis as an extra precaution against any rebel activity in the subregion. No matter if they art hiding in the city of Alphendora the towns of Ludere, Sonque, Amore, and Euphau, or even here in the Subregional Capital of Chalcrystis, Aurea Urbis....We shalt find them here, and if they lurk in a different subregion, they shall be met with one hundred thousand soldiers belonging to the Earl's five Armies no matter where they hide!” Victorine had been too busy talking to have noticed the arm of the hooded person slowly rising, but nor had anyone else spotted it.
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Valerie smiled to herself. The Viscountess of Valerium had played right into her hand by coming to Chalcrystis. Grand-General Rainer would pose no challenge to her. She had, after all, managed to evade the Inquisitors of the Covenant for decades now.
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She squeezed the trigger.
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Click.
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