RE: Monarch

Kilvius and Nethtari arrived first, Kilvius in a ceremonial robe—the most dressed up I’d ever seen him, and Nethtari in a modest white dress. She leaned against him and laughed as Casikas regaled them with exaggerated stories of failed experiments.

Ralakos, ever the gracious host, circled the room, ensuring everyone had enough to drink. From the corner of my eye, I saw Erdos watching us, a puzzled look on his face.

One of Ralakos’s butlers was managing Agarin, slightly flustered with the hyperactive child.

Jorra chased one of Ralakos’s nephews around the furniture, nearly tripping over the unfamiliar fancy robe.

Nethtari snorted at something Kilvius whispered in her ear, then held a hand to her face in embarrassment.

I drank, perhaps more than was wise, but less than was needed.

I smacked Jorra on the back of the head as he passed, and sidled up next to Nethtari and Kilvius.

“Have a good time?”

“Yes, thank you. It’s been too long since we all got out of the house.” Nethtari’s monotone voice had a slightly drunken lilt.

“I always work too hard.”

“My point stands.”

As always when it came to food—Ralakos had gone above and beyond. There was raw fish served on eel-paper, various spicy delicacies, and a desert carousel. Jorra picked at the food constantly until Nethtari pushed him away.

Once everyone had eaten, I stood and clapped my hands.

“Bard!” I clapped my hands. The infernal scampered down from the podium to my side.

“Yes, my lord?”

I smiled at him and held my glass high. “I require accompaniment.”

“Are there chords you prefer?” He asked.

“Something upbeat.”

The bard began to play. I stood on my chair to give myself more height, and surveyed the room.

“You know, your daughter said something to me.” I inclined my glass to Kilvius and Nethtari. “A warning, really. She told me I would have no friends in the Enclave. And I’m happy to report that though she is almost always right, in this small thing, she was wrong. There aren’t many, but they are as precious as they are few. And I am pleased to have each and every one of them in this room with me tonight.”

The bard picked up on the tone of my voice immediately, and switched to something dulcet and smooth.

“Casikas!” I raised my glass to him. “Now, I know that recent transaction have colored your bias—“ I paused as the man laughed, “—but I have to be the worst employee to ever grace your shop. Thank you for your never-ending patience, and my never ending tab.”

There was a smattering of applause and laughter.

“Jorra.” I turned to him and he grinned. “We’ve gotten up to more shit than I can list on one hand. As my training partner, and partner in crime, I look forward to seeing what fresh hell we can raise. The sanctum is right around the corner.”

Jorra thumped one hand against the table. I hoped he wouldn’t hold it against me if I broke that promise.

“Ralakos. You’ve had my back since day one. Even when I didn’t have yours. Thank you for feeding me—“ I waved an arm at the spread, “—teaching me, and always looking out for me.”

Finally I turned to Nethtari and Kilvius. Kilvius was smiling, but Nethtari’s expression had slipped. She studied me quietly.

“Kilvius, Nethtari. You took me into your home. Before you’d even spoken to me, despite the litany of responsibilities, you defended and fought for me. You took your daughter at her word, certainly, but I will never forget that debt. Thank you for accepting me into your family.”

“To all of you. May the frost always wane in your waking.” I held my glass out in front of me and drained it.

----

I’d stepped outside to clear my head. The scrape of gravel gave away quiet footsteps. I jumped and turned around to see Nethtari coming my way. She’d continued to drink throughout the night and was slightly buzzed

“Hi,” I said.

“Hello Cairn,” She sank down on the step next to me. “So, what happened?” Her voice was as monotone as always. “Decide to say goodbye before you left?”

I flinched. There was an accusation in the statement, though not a mean-spirited one. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Nethtari rolled her eyes. “I was walking home yesterday when, lo and behold, I see my pasty pink child running like a bat out of hell towards the front gate.”

I frowned. “Alright, pasty is a little mean.”

“I’m sorry. This is why I don’t drink.” Nethtari drew circles on her knee. “But you were saying goodbye. I heard you, even if no one else did.”

“I was.” There was no point in denying it. Nethtari had proven time and time again she could read me like a book.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“Hopefully, nowhere. It wasn’t a ‘goodbye,’ goodbye. I thought I was being subtle,” I groused.

“Where are you going?” Nethtari repeated. She was pushy when she was drunk.

“I was going to talk to you about this in the morning.”

“Well, we’re here. Talk to me about it now.”

“Alright! Elphion.” I rubbed my head. “I need your help.”

Nethtari absorbed that and seemed to sober up.

“Tell me.”

----

The boat navigated through the tunnel, water sloshing against the sides. Compared to the group I’d gone in with the first time, this selection was tiny. There were four of us. Theros provided the light, while Urish propelled the boat through increasingly tight passages.

Nethtari sat glued to me. She was furious. Her whole body trembled, shivering in the cold even as the anger radiated off her in hot waves. I’d tried to explain it, tried to make her see, but in the end she’d called me a fool.

Still, she insisted to accompany me, if only to keep things from being worse than they already were.

Sweat formed a ring around my neck, soaking my clothes. Every muscle in my body ached, every cell of my skin quivered in fear.

After a certain amount of time, Theros’s illumination spell would go out.

And in the momentary darkness, I’d see an image.

Embers in the dark.

A knife along my face.

A claw sliding beneath my knee-cap.

The whimper escaped my lips and I pressed a hand to my mouth. I chose this. I’d known it had to be now.

I’d known there wasn’t time for the inscription to set.

I chose this.

So why was it so hard?

Something grabbed my hand and I started. Nethtari refused to look at me, but her hand was wrapped around mine. Her lips were pressed together, tight and invisible.

----

I walked through the Twilight Chambers alone, my crackling torch lighting the gloom-filled caves. Up ahead, I saw light. Only the torches were red instead of orange.

This was it.

A shadow prowled to my left, the blurry outlined form of a minor demon. It nipped at my heels, and I swatted it away. Another joined it, and another. My heart twisted in my chest. They surrounded me, boxing me in.

The red glow grew brighter. Something swiped my torch out of my hand. I saw a dozen of Ephira’s men, in their frilly green armor, posted outside the tunnel entrance. They reached for their weapons and it looked for a moment as if they might stop me, but thought better of it once my demonic escort came into view.

It was unbearably hot. The entire front of my robe was soaked.

I cleared the antechamber and saw them. Red torches decorated the walls. A host of demons, swirling and black. Ozra was sitting in what I can only describe as a stone throne, his massive gauntlets resting on the arms. His gaze flicked to me, and an immense pressure settled down over my head, my shoulders. The black aura around him intensified.

“Who trespasses in this place?” Ozra’s voice was a cold rumble. The skin around his chest seemed to glisten red in the light.

Ephira spun. She stared at me in visible disbelief. Then her face grew hard. “Well then. He’s the one. And he’s just saved you some time. Take him.”

Two greater demons grabbed me by the arms and began to drag me away.

“Wait!” I shouted.

Ozra held up a clawed hand, and the demons paused.

“Ephira please!”

“What?” Ephira snapped at me, irritated at the timing. “So you can pump me for information? It’s too late. Your visions are worthless now.”

I balled up my hands into fists, then released them. “It’s not about the visions. It’s about all of us.”

Her robe swirled behind her in an angry torrent as she descended from the stage. An arc of lightning passed through my upheld hands into my chest.

I yelped and fell to the ground.

She lorded over me, staring down.

“Why?” I croaked.

No answer

“Fucking tell me why!” I screamed at her.

Slowly, she bent down. “How could you possibly understand? There is no negotiation to be had. There is no common ground. No compromise that could possibly bring us to equity.”

“Please,” I said, desperation creeping into my voice. “It doesn’t cost you anything. It doesn’t matter what I know. Because of him.” I pointed to Ozra, who sat, perfectly still. “It doesn’t matter who I tell or how hard I try. It doesn’t matter. You always win.”

“So why drag this out?”

“I came to you in good faith!” I roared. ”I came to you to build a foundation for the future. If you are to send me to the great beyond, at least have the decency to tell. me. why!”

Ephira backhanded me across the face and I fell to the ground. I tasted iron. The demons around me cackled.

“The foundation was already here.” Ephira said. Her voice was quiet now, resentful. “It was here long before your kind arrived with their ships, and their collars, and their tyranny. And it will be here long after you have passed away to nothing.”

“So that’s it then?” I struggled to my feet. “We’re doomed to repeat history, and never amend it? To repay violence with violence until there’s no one left to fight?” My voice broke.

“Do not speak to me of violence.”

“I want it to end!”

“Yes, just like your father.” Ephira rolled her eyes. “The violence ends when you pay what you are due. Such charity.”

“And you judge from your dragon’s hoard of riches.” I snapped bitterly. This time I saw the blow coming and turned my head with it.

Ephira trembled with rage. “I have given more to the enclave than you can ever imagine. How dare you judge me. From the first moment you saw me, you thought you could manipulate me with promises of wealth. That is what your kind does. They probe for a weakness, and manipulate, and drain, until there is nothing left.”

“Why slaughter your own people?” The confusion in my voice was as real as it got.

“Because that is the cost of deliverance,” Ephira snarled. “I have tried to do things the proper way for years. I have tried to show them that the humans will not release us until they have sucked away every last thing that makes us unique, but they are happy to pay their taxes, even as the boot clamps down on their throats.”

“So you trigger a war,” I said slowly. “You slaughter your own folk. And then you open the dimensional gate and point the finger at my father, who promptly scatters you to dust.”

Her surprise faded into grim resolve. “I was right to take so many precautions.”

“Surely you can see how foolish that is. How wasteful. They’re your people, Ephira!”

“I will spend the rest of my life making amends, and beyond.” She said quietly. “My soul is no longer mine. I will never leave hades. I will never live another life. But if I must dirty myself, to emancipate my people from greed, I am happy to make that sacrifice.”

“You’re—“ Insane. I stopped myself before the word could slip out. It was a word I often used to describe someone else. Only, I’d come to realize he wasn’t insane. Just brutal and calculating.

I started again. “The way you’re talking. The insistence that violence is the only answer. That’s the same rationale the king you hate uses to justify every atrocity.”

Ephira stiffened.

“We can fix this together.” I insisted. “Let me open the dimensional gate. After I am crowned, I will give the Enclave its freedom. We can coexist. We can thrive.”

Ephira’s expression finally thawed, and she no longer looked raving and mad. Instead she looked tired. Exhausted.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Why?”

“Maybe you can stave off your baser nature. But it’s not you I worry about, Cairn. It’s the one that comes after you. And the one that comes after him. And the one after him. Kings wield too much power. Power is inevitably abused.”

I said three words I never thought I’d say. “I’ll absolve it.”

“What?” Ephira’s head snapped up.

“I’ve never really cared about the crown.” I said, the idea taking root in my mind. “The monarchy is a means to an end. A great darkness is coming.” Thoth’s twisted, snarling face flashed in before me in vivid detail. “You may not like me, Ephira, but I promise you. The one who is coming is worse. A monster that will strip us of everything that makes us decent folk.” I looked around at the demons, who had fallen silent. “And it will make this genocide you intend to carry out pale in comparison.”

Ephira’s expression told me she wasn’t convinced. “This is hardly the first time the ruling class has used an existential threat to excuse grabbing for resources and power. Even if the threat is real, the promises made before the war comes to pass are rarely held to afterward.”

I took a step forward. “My name is Cairn of House Valen. Son of King Gil, the Tyrant. Heir to the throne. And I swear this to the Elder gods” I held out my hand. “If you join with me now, once the threat has been dealt with, I will absolve the monarchy.”

She considered it. Weighed the possibilities in her head.

“And them?” She indicated the demons around us.

“Let me worry about the asmodials. I’ll speak at your trial, ensure a lighter sentence. And eventually, I will convince the enclave to commute your sentence and have you sent to me as an advisor.” I thought of the carefully planned brilliance that everything she’d accomplished had required. “I could use someone like you at my side.”

The room was so quiet I could hear the demons breathing. After what felt like hours, Ephira finally spoke.

“The trouble is, Cairn, I have no idea if anything you’re saying is true. In fact, it’s likely exactly what you think I need to hear. And power is never quite so easy to cede.”

I prayed to all the gods.

”Please.”

“I admit that I judged you too harshly.” Ephira said. Her voice was sad. “But there is too much blood. Even if I wasn’t already committed, I could never trust you, just as you could never trust me.”

I gnashed my teeth together and stared down at the ground. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t who I was supposed to be.

I’d failed.

“Take him. Don’t torture him. Just kill him quickly.” Ephira commanded.

The greater demon didn’t move to take my arms. A demon with long claws stroked my cheek, her sharp dagger-like finger scraping against my skin. When she spoke, it was like her voice was being inhaled, rather than exhaled, words thick and raspy.

”What a performance.”

The demons began to laugh, and titter, and cackle.

“What a wonderful, wonderful lie.”

“What does that mean? What does she mean?” Ephira turned towards Ozra, whose face was stoic. “Kill him!”

The demon stroked my head and stared deep into my eyes in wonder.

I cringed away.

”He does not mourn for himself, infernal. He mourns for you.”

Ephira turned from side to side, panicking. Her guards were grabbed and forced to their knees.

Ozra rose from his throne and descended.

They pushed me forward towards him in a writhing black mass, claws rustling my hair, my clothes. Ozra led me up to the throne and held out an arm, inviting me to sit.

“I told you it was pointless.” He said.

Ephira’s mouth was agape in horror. “What did you promise them? Cairn? What the fuck did you promise them?”

A greater demon placed a twisted black circlet of ivy around my head in the mockery of a crown. I stared down at her, my chest clenching, overcome with grief. For what I had lost and what was required of me now.

For the world my mother had dreamed of.

“What did you promise them, Cairn?” The despair in Ephira’s voice was palpable.

“The same thing you did,” I said.

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