Ri-is had been in his mother's study, unable to rest after the High Council had left. Unfortunately, he had a rather long night ahead of him. The door to the study creaked open and in came Seibel.
"Your Highness, there's a problem."
"What's happening?"
"A riot has broken out in the village."
Ri-is stood from his seat so quickly that his chair fell to the ground. He expected something along these lines but he hadn't expected it to begin so soon after Baron Marsh and the others left.
"Where are Diana and Astrid?" He asked with urgency.
"Diana is in the village. She said she felt off so she was going to follow the council out. Princess Astrid left not too long ago to meet with Lord Albus to visit Princess Isabelle and her friend in the infirmary."
Ri-is bit his thumb absentmindedly. "We have to go deal with the riot."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
The village streets were filled with the angry shouts of nobles seeking to seize their chance to cause a ruckus. They had managed to make it quite a ways through the village by the time guards were able to report it back to the palace.
"Your greedy Empress has brought this upon you! You can blame her for your misfortune!"
The previously calm streets were now filled with debris and blood. Shops were destroyed and innocent people were dragged into the streets just to be beaten half to death by the rioters. A child caught in the chaos watched as her father was violently yanked away from her and thrown to the ground, The scorned nobles kicked and spat on him, shouting profanities all the way.
"This is what you people deserve! How dare you turn your nose up at us! You think just because you've gotten a taste of what it's like to live lavishly you're better than us now?"
With tears in her eyes and a tremble in her knees, the child ran out to her father, tugging desperately at the noble's legs to get them to stop.
"STOP! Please! My daddy didn't hurt anyone, why are you doing this!" She cried hopelessly, doing her best to save her father.
The noble looked down at the girl with disgust and without warning slapped the girl hard across her face. "You filthy fucking rat! Who gave you the right to touch me huh?" He grabbed the crying girl by her hair and pulled her towards him again causing her father to beg for her release.
"WAIT! Please don't hurt her, she's just a child! Please don't hurt my baby!"
Ignoring his pleas, the noble raised his hand to slap her again, but it never made contact. The painful crack of knuckles against a skull was replaced by a rather anticlimactic 'thud.' When realization sunk in, the noble sunk to his knees with a shrill scream. As he clutched the bleeding stub that took the place of his hand Diana shook the excess blood off of her sword.
"Hey there little one, come on, you're okay now." Diana picked up the little girl and handed her to her father. "Take the path up towards the old mines, villagers are gathering there to escape this madness. You'll be safe there."
The man thanked her profusely before leaving with his daughter, moving as fast as he could given the injuries he sustained from his beating. When Diana was sure they were alright, she turned her attention back to the rioting nobles.
"I wonder how many pests were able to make their way inside Solaria."
She could think of two things, either they bribed the guards at the Solarian borders, or the more likely scenario, some of the guards must have been friends with the exiled nobles and let them in. Either way, it would just be another head that would roll when this was all over.
"It's her! It's the bastard child of the Empress!"
Diana turned to see who was stupid enough to address her in such a way. When she locked eyes with the poor soul they flinched.
"I knew you people were stupid but I didn't think it was this bad." She began to approach the trembling noble only to be stopped in her tracks by a sudden chill down her back.
"I thought I made it clear you and your friends weren't welcome here?"
The sight of Ri-is looming over the crowd with his wings spread and eyes ablaze was enough to reduce everyone to hushed whispers.
"It hasn't even been a full day yet and you're already back. It seems I wasn't clear enough."
One noble mustered the courage to talk back to him, though his trembling voice betrayed his false confidence. "Y-You, You'll regret not listening to us!"
Ri-is didn't bother to respond. His glare was enough to shut them up. He flew down from the rooftops and took a step towards them. He could tell by the way they brazenly glared back that they believed they would be able to take him in a fight. It was no secret that he was easily overwhelmed at times. They probably assumed he would be easy to take if they could just back him in a corner. Unfortunately for them, he wouldn't give them the chance to test their theory.
The second his eyes began glowing in that familiar gleam the nobles rushed to cover their eyes. The ones that couldn't react in time were frozen in place, their eyes glazed over as Ri-is trapped them in his illusion. The nobles that thought to escape were hunted down by Diana, but she couldn't get all of them. Instead of pursuing the few stragglers that were already long gone, she chose to return to Ri-is.
Dark circles plagued his sunken eyes and his breathing was haggard and short.
"Are you okay?" Asked Diana, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm...fine. I just...never put that many people under an illusion at once. It took a lot out of me." Ri-is panted like he had just run a marathon. "I really don't have the stamina for this."
Diana chuckled, still holding onto him for fear of him falling over. "I can see that." She glanced over her shoulder at the frozen nobles. "What should we do with them."
"Lock them up first. I'll release the illusion once we've secured them. I can hazard a guess that we'll be facing another wave of enemies once their friends call for backup. Let's make sure we're ready for them."
Diana cracked her knuckles. "I'll go start with the guards at the gate then."
"Ri-is!"
Ri-is and Diana turned to see Dez making her way toward them.
"...something tells me this is going to be more bad news..." muttered Ri-is.91Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjyskPtWS7
