Adeptus Animus
Author
Join Date: Jan 2007
Age: 36
|
*Cracks knuckles* Right, new thread, new start. Since I can't whip up a new fic in a few minutes, I'll start of with a repost. It's been months since I last worked on this story, so a little review of what happened might be a good idea.
Now, this story is intended to dive into Ancient Belka, which -being a non canonical setting- means that there will be OC's apearing next to the main cast. They will be introduced, though, and I'll make effort to keep them limited.
Legend of Ancient Belka: Fall of an Empire.
Spoiler for Prologue:
Carim sat down behind her desk with a sigh. Today had been a busy day; a group of Scrya’s had made an archeological discovery that had the potential to reveal much of the still hidden information on the history of Ancient Belka. She took a deep breath, and commed Schach.
“Can I help you, Knight Carim?”
“Yes, I was wondering if you could bring me some tea?”
“Ahh, long report to write?” Schach answered, half-guessing where this was going.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there right away.”
Carim smiled as the screen closed. She could always count on Schach in these things. She shifted in her seat slightly as a new screen popped up, and after marking the date, she began to type.
Scryan archeologists have made an astonishing discovery today. In the ruins of a faraway enclave, a small group of Scrya’s had discovered a library of sorts. Quick investigations pointed out that it used to be Belkan in origin. Though most of it was empty, and what was left was almost destroyed in decay, a few precious documents had been found reasonably intact. Among these was mention of something that has the potential to shake our known history of the Ancient Belka to the core.
The documents spoke of many legendary figures, but also a word that we have, to this record, rarely encountered. The document spoke of the Primarch.
The Primarch are figures shrouded in the veil of history to this day. Legends and stories about them are abundant, but we are not sure which to believe. If this document is true, it could a key to unraveling the mystery behind the Primarchs.
Among one particular file of the documents we found a picture of a young woman.
The picture is in remarkable condition, despite being damaged by the sands of time. It is to this point unsure what she has to do with the Primarchs, but from what little has been translated so far, it seems that she was of importance enough to be heavily weaved throughout the document. Some of our most talented linguists are working day and night to reveal the information that this young woman holds.
While we cannot be sure of anything, I am confident that this discovery will open the door to whole new realms of knowledge of the Ancient Belka.
Spoiler for Part 1 A burning vessel:
Part 1: A burning vessel.
Hot.
It was so incredibly hot.
Fires were burning all around her, flames tearing away at the controls of what was once the greatest weapon of the Belkan Empire, burning the bodies of the fallen that lay scattered throughout the room. Flames that dried her tears as fast as they flowed from her eyes.
And yet, the heat of the flames barely registered even in the back of her mind, her thoughts focused on the girl she held in her arms.
So much blood. She had never really paid attention to it before, but was it really possible for a human being to lose this much blood?
No, she already knew the answer. It was possible for a human being to lose this much blood, but it was not possible to survive losing it.
Even for one such as her.
“Why?”
The girl tilted her head upwards, meeting her eyes. The very motion seemed to strain her to the extreme as her entire body seemed to shudder while making the attempt. Blue eyes met her own pair of mismatched ones, one green, one red, as the blood covered girl curved her mouth in a small smile.
“Because I had to.”
The words were like a dagger to her heart. Renewed tears fell from her eyes as her grip on the girl tightened.
“Why? Why did you have to? Because of your duty!? Because of your oath!?”
“Heh.” The girl’s body shuddered as the small chuckle escaped her lips. “When did I ever do things I did not want to do myself?”
“But why?” She repeated again. She wanted an answer. No, she needed an answer. She would not be able to live with herself if she never found out why.
Why did people die around her?
“You’re probably blaming yourself for what happened here.” mismatched eyes widened as the girl spoke again.
“You always do. No matter how you try to hide it behind your harsh attitude, you always blame yourself. What happened here was my choice and mine alone.” The girl smiled. “I am a selfish girl after all.”
“If only you hadn’t been assigned this duty.” She lowered her head in sadness and shame. This was her fault. It was for her that this had happened. For her that she had sacrificed herself.
A shudder coming from the girl’s body startled her out of the path her thoughts were taking as her worried eyes resettled on the girl in her arms. Another shudder, and the girl’s eyes closed in a wince as she suppressed another chuckle.
“See? Once again, duty duty duty. But I didn’t die here protecting ‘her royal majesty’.” The girl said, reopening her eyes. “I died here protecting my sister.”
“I don’t want you to die.” She said, holding back a choking sob.
“Nor do I. But if I know you will live, I am all right with it.” The girl’s blue eyes traveled upwards again, seeking her mismatched ones. “Will you live?”
At that moment, she wanted nothing more then to lie. To deny that she could make it out alive easily. Anything to prevent what she feared.
But the words came, even though she did not want to.
“Yes, I will live.”
The girl’s face softened, as if a great burden had been lifted. “Then, this is goodbye.”
Her eyes widened.
“Goodbye… Vivio…”
The girl’s eyes closed, and her body went limp in her arms. A lock of red hair slowly fell in front of the now closed eyes. Saint king Vivio Sakurazaki’s eyes slowly widened as realized what had just happened.
“…Alistina?”
She shook the body in her hands, refusing to accept the truth.
“Alistina? ALISTINA!”
But the blue eyes never opened. The saint king collapsed on the body in tears, not believing that the one person who had been at her side forever was now gone.
How had it come to this?
Spoiler for Chapter 2: Playing with politics::
Chapter 02: Playing with politics
The Royal Palace, center of the Belkan Empire, its towers pointed high towards the sky. And at the moment, a field of battle.
Not a normal field of battle, oh no, many of the palace’s occupants knew how to handle a normal battle. This was a battle of a different kind, a battle where it does not matter how skilled you are with the sword, or how many enemies you have slain.
“This situation is unacceptable!”
This was a battle of words.
“According to your words, Lord Beckert.”
The council hall, possibly the biggest room in the palace itself. Surprisingly exotically decorated, and filled with one huge central table. Filling the table were politicians. Lords, ladies, senators, whichever ruled their respective territories. All were here in the council room to appeal their words the senate, and the king of Belka.
True, the Belkan Empire was an Empire, and as such the final say was made by the ruling person, but one person can only govern so much. The Belkan Empire stretched several worlds, which made the need for a bureaucracy apparent, though not any more liked.
“Do you not see?” A brown haired man with a short beard almost shouted through the great room. “We have finally taken the border country out of the hands of those wretched rebels. Many of our own have suffered severe financial difficulty thanks to that rebellious scum. The country should immediately start compensating us for our troubles.”
“But they had no choice; they were occupied by the enemy force. According to the reports their financial status is even worse then ours.” Another councilmember protested.
“They should be thankful that we even bothered to drive the rebels from their lands. I still say that we simply should have brought out the Cradle and-”
“That would be enough, Lord Beckert.”
All heads turned into the direction of the king, or rather the person next to the king. Long red hair flowing behind her, blue eyes piercing the lord in question.
“This talk on what could have been done is pointless. What has happened has happened, we have reclaimed a country that was taken away from us, that is all. To demand gratitude of them would be beyond stupidity.”
A different council member, a young long haired blonde man, decided to voice his opinion on the matter. “But lady Alistina, surely you agree that we cannot simply excuse them? From what I heard, they offered only little resistance against the rebel forces.”
“Would you do any different, councilor Torië, if your family was threatened to be killed on the spot? Regardless, to the people in that country, all that has happened is that they changed rule yet again. We must be sure to keep their loyalty, so that we have to station less forces to keep the place under control.”
Lord Beckert snorted. “If they have realized that their rule has changed, they should know that their laws have changed. That is all.”
“That would be like inviting the rebel forces back into the country. We need to gain their loyalty, Lord Beckert, not lose it.”
“And requesting compensation for rescuing them would do so?”
Lady Alistina shook her head. “Tell a conquered man he has a new master, and he'll shrug. Tell him his new master demands a fifth of his annual income, and he'll go and find his pitchfork.”
For a moment it seemed as if Lord Beckert would continue the argument, but to many of the room’s occupant’s surprise, he sat back down. Lord Beckert’s features changed little as he sat back down, save for a nigh undetectable twitch in his right eye.
A twitch that did not escape the king.
“Very well Lady Alistina, you have made your point. We shall give this country a while to catch its breath, and for us to gain their trust.”
The king’s decision was made, the debate was over. As it always went, the occupants in the room had been arguing back and forth for quite a while before the king finally made her decision.
Her decision.
One would expect a king to be a man, a proud man who would lead his people through the light and dark days that their lands faced. Who would take up the sword and smash any evil that opposed him and his subjects.
Perhaps that is why she was called a king.
The Belkan Empire was lead by a king, as it had always been. The Saint King of Belka. The royal blood of the empire. The current king had all the qualities of her predecessors, and also had a beautiful face. And until recently the Empire had flourished under her rule as it had always.
Therefore no one questioned the king’s gender.
~~~
Later that evening, the king and Lady Alistina were waking through the corridors of the grand palace.
“You played a dangerous game today, Alistina.”
Alistina sighed. “These are politics, Vivio. Every word you speak is a dangerous game.”
The king sighed. “How often must I tell you that I do not wish to be called by that name?”
“Why not? I’ve been calling you that since forever. Besides, it’s your name, isn’t it? Saint king Vivio Sakura Zaki, king of the Belkan Empire.” Alistina said dramatically.
“It is a child’s name, at least call me Sakura.”
“Never.” Alistina replied with a grin.
‘Vivio’ surpressed a frustrated cry, and decided to shift the subject. “Back to the matter of the council, you were taunting them the entire time, what will you do if Lord Beckert decides to retaliate?”
“You’re worried about Beckert? He’s the least of our worries. He’s a warrior through and through, strong and opposing, and he obviously knew when to back down, but he lacks the skill with words. He can do little more then bark in the council hall. No, I’m far more worried about Torië.”
“Councilor Torië? I do not see why you are worried about him; he has been quite helpful these last few weeks.”
Alistina shook her head. “Vivio, you are a great knights, and a great leader, but you are just as bad as Beckert when it comes to politics.”
“What do you mean?” Vivio asked, slightly upset at her skills being put down like that.
“Not counting me, Torië is one of the youngest members of the council. He holds no prestigious lineage, and he has no title to speak off. For someone like him to have reached a post as important like this at such an age means that he knows every trick, every flaw, and every exploit in the world of politics. Someone like him would literally go over corpses to gain more power.” Alistina explained.
“Alistina, you do realize that that is a very serious accusation?” Vivio queried.
“But a very accurate one.” Alistina responded. “You noticed what he said in the council hall today? It sounded very polite, but it was actually him probing how far he could push things around in a serious situation.”
“I see…” Vivio responded thoughtfully. “So how do you suggest we handle him?”
“Dump a potato sack over his head, tie him up and kick him into the deepest hole we can find.”
Vivio jerked to a halt and turned to observe the red haired girl’s face with incredulous eyes. To her credit, Alistina actually managed to keep her face straight for a few seconds before she broke down in a laughing fit.
“Oh this is great. You should have seen the incredulous look on your face.”
Vivio’s eyes settled in a glare as she placed her hands on her hips. “This is a serious matter Alistina, it is not something to joke around with.”
“Duty, duty, duty. Relax, we’re not in the council hall anymore. Besides, there is nothing we can do about him at the moment.”
Vivio tried to keep the glare on her face, but soon she sighed and let her hands slump to her side. “At times like I find it very hard to believe we actually share the same genes.”
Alistina grinned. “Genes don’t make the person. Now come on, let’s go get some rest. My brothers should be returning tomorrow, and I doubt they will be the bringers of good news.”
Next chapter, Meetings and brothers.
Edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by krisslanza
We... We can post right? I just noticed bad things went down last night and... Well er. Moving along.
This was posted in the (I guess old) thread but since it is locked and all. I'll like to remind people of something here: I didn't write this. This is written by my friend that is helping me with my little project here. I'll pass along all comments and such to him though of course.
Spoiler for Arc-en-Ciel:
Beauty on the Pyre
An Arc-en-Ciel teaser
Chapter One
Riding on the Winds of Change
There was something unsettling about this woman. The way she simply sighed and stared; gazing out the great glass window into the starlit sky. Of course, her circumstances were far from enviable…but that didn’t mean she had to be a bitch about it. “More wine?” Erika offered with a cheerful smile – as best as she could manage. She was torn, really, between hating the Erika von Cale she knew for being reduced to mollycoddling their honoured guest and relishing the challenge of finding out what made her tick. Erika bit on her thumb, wide eyed in anticipation of such a simple answer. The pause was insufferably pregnant.
“No…thanks.” She spoke! Erika’s eye twitched ever so slightly. For once, the Inquisitor had met her apparent match. With practiced habit, she brushed her dusty blonde hair out of her eyes and made to relax. It was…well, it was hard. You could almost feel the power coursing from her – backed up by a confidence that simply oozed from every pore in her body. Even here, effectively a prisoner like this woman was, and surrounded by the most impressive security features known to the Emperor she remained undaunted.
To tell the honest truth, Erika did not feel entirely safe. Years of instinct were screaming at her to run or fight or something! Anything but sit here and sip expensive drinks (though, Erika mused, the red was particularly fine). She licked her lips and poured herself another glass, raising it to her mouth. Fate Testarossa…what a unique, talented, arrogant, prideful little minx she was. Erika smiled to herself. She hated her.
I also finished the 2nd chapter of School of Lyrical and will be updating it on Fanfiction.net once I get back from my English class in a few hours.
And err... If we weren't meant to post like this. Sorry. *Flee*
|
Fate imprissoned? Empreror? Questions are raised, none are answered. As a hint, it would be handy to make sure the next chapter caries a more detailed introduction on Erika, perhaps only the basics (apearance) but maybe more detailed (apearance, short past, personallity). That way we get a better feel of the character.
Last edited by Keroko; 2008-07-07 at 15:39.
|