Help! My Moms Are Overpowered Tyrants, and I’m Stuck as Their Baby!

The next morning dawned with a deceptive, golden clarity the sort of day when the castle's towers caught fire with sunlight and the hedges in the garden seemed more sculpted, more alive, as if magic itself were humming beneath the surface. I should have felt hope, or at least relief, after so much effort and reconciliation. But the air tasted strange. Heavy. A storm in disguise.

I awoke to find Mara's latest peace treaty taped to my bedroom door ("NO SPELLS BEFORE COFFEE," it read, in ink that shimmered between royal blue and a distinct shade of chaos). I grinned, then caught my own reflection in the glass: hair wild, eyes a little too tired, a princess pretending to be fearless. The illusion worked better in daylight, with an army of friends behind me.

By the time I reached the breakfast hall, the palace was already bustling advisors delivering news of minor revolts, Elira organizing volunteers for soup kitchens, Riven composing an epic poem about marmalade as a tool of peace. The twins staged a parade with their latest invention: enchanted socks that played the anthem whenever anyone tiptoed. The world, briefly, felt fixable.

Velka was waiting in the garden, as promised. She leaned against the sundial, her usual irreverent calm gone soft around the edges. I could see she was struggling with something her hands kept fidgeting, her smile too careful.

"You're up early," I said, forcing cheer.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied. "Too many nightmares. Or…maybe not enough."

She handed me a daisy chain, its links neat and perfect. I took it, awkwardly, touched in spite of my nerves.

"You're not yourself," I said, gently. "What's wrong?"

For a moment, I thought she'd tell me. Instead, Velka looked past me, eyes darkening, as if watching something I couldn't see. When she finally met my gaze, her voice was brittle as glass.

"Nothing. Just…tired. There's always another crisis, isn't there?"

Before I could answer, the system flickered a warning, jagged and sharp.

[Warning. Magical influence detected. Proximity: Immediate.]

I stiffened. The air between us seemed to snap.

"What did you say?" I asked, heart pounding.

But Velka didn't answer. Her eyes glazed for a heartbeat. Then she lunged.

I barely dodged as shadows whipped from her fingers cold, hungry, and wild, nothing like her usual magic. The daisy chain scattered across the grass. I stumbled, the system blaring in my mind.

[Enemy spell detected: Compulsion/Corruption. Target: Velka Nightthorn. Source: Unknown. Risk: Extreme.]

My world narrowed to a blur of movement Velka's shadow magic slamming into me, the courtyard echoing with sudden, shocked cries as Elira and Mara rushed from the colonnade. I tried to call out, tried to reach her with my words, but whatever held Velka's mind was stronger than fear or memory.

She moved like a puppet graceful, lethal, her eyes empty but for a storm of confusion and pain. She hurled me back with a flick of her wrist; the grass caught fire with black flame, and I rolled, winded and scared. Around us, the castle's alarms rose a peal of bells, a surge of magic as the wards struggled to adapt.

"Elira!" I shouted, voice shaking. "She's not herself don't hurt her!"

Elira, blade drawn, slid between us, voice cold as steel. "We need to contain her not kill her."

Mara circled from behind, fingers weaving a net of spell-light. "This is bad. I can't break the compulsion not without hurting her more."

The system was a pulse of static in my mind:

[Suggested action: Emotional anchor. Remind subject of shared history. Warning: Magic of this class is unpredictable. Risk of backlash: High.]

I forced myself upright, heart hammering, and tried to meet Velka's eyes. "Velka! It's me! Elyzara! Remember the gnomes, the scones, our first date this isn't you!"

For a moment, her hand wavered, the shadows rippling. Something someone fought to the surface.

But a whisper, too faint for anyone else to hear, snaked from the hedge: "Obey."

Velka flinched, agony flickering across her face. She hurled a bolt of dark energy at Mara, who barely deflected it with a shield of honey-gold light.

"Velka!" I cried, stepping forward. "You're stronger than this please, come back!"

She gasped, fighting herself. "I , I don't want to Elyzara, run "

But then her face twisted again, all warmth gone. She lashed out, and I felt the sting of cold magic along my arm.

I held my ground. "I won't leave you!"

Elira grabbed my shoulder, dragging me back. "We have to retreat!"

But I shook my head. "No. I can reach her. I have to."

The courtyard was chaos: the twins crying in the distance, Mara trying to trap Velka in a net of starlight, Elira defending us with a wall of shimmering blades. And Velka my Velka at the center of it all, trapped in a magic not her own.

I pushed forward, ignoring the pain in my arm, the warning bells, the desperate pleas of my friends.

[Emotional anchor. Now,] the system urged, its tone almost…pleading.

I knelt, hands open, voice breaking. "Velka, you promised. You said you'd always choose impossible, as long as it was with me. So choose me now. Please. Remember who you are."

Time seemed to stop.

Velka's shadow magic faltered, swirling and flickering like candlelight in a storm. Her eyes locked onto mine, wild and terrified.

"Elyzara," she whispered, "don't let go."

And then, with a final, desperate shudder, she crumpled, the shadows receding, her body limp in the grass. Mara and Elira rushed forward, shielding us as the last of the compulsion magic faded from the air.

I gathered Velka in my arms, tears streaking my cheeks. She blinked up at me, dazed, her voice hoarse.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No," I lied, holding her tighter. "You're safe now. I've got you."

But the world, it turned out, still had teeth. The silence that followed my words was not relief, but a pause—a drawn breath before the knife falls.

Velka's body stiffened against mine. Her eyes, cloudy with confusion a moment ago, narrowed to slits of winter storm. Her hand, trembling, slid to my side. I felt her magic pulse through her veins like a storm about to break.

[Warning,] the system blared, but too late her fingers closed around a blade of pure shadow, cold and sharp, conjured from the edge of her palm.

My mind tried to deny what was happening even as I felt the pain, bright and searing, in my side. I gasped, shock and betrayal sharper than the wound itself. I tried to say her name, tried to anchor her again with words and memories, but all that escaped was a breathless, "Velka…"

She did not meet my eyes as the blade vanished into mist, but her lips trembled. "Forgive me," she whispered except the voice was not hers, not quite, threaded through with a sinister echo, a puppet's apology.

My knees buckled. The courtyard spun wildly, grass tilting beneath me, Mara's voice somewhere in the distance: "No! Elyzara!" Elira was already running, her swords drawn, but Velka caught my wrist in an iron grip no longer friend or lover, but jailor.

A fissure of magic split the air, tearing the world open. Shadows poured from Velka's hands, spiraling around us, pulling tight like a noose. I tried to fight I called for my own magic, reached for the core of Abyssal Requiem, but my power was scattered, the system sputtering uselessly in my mind.

[System error. Magical authority override. You are not alone ]

The spell collapsed inward, space folding, colors bleeding to black.

And then sudden silence.

We landed hard on stone, the air instantly colder. My ears rang. Velka and I crashed to the ground, tangled and breathless. Blood soaked my uniform; the shadowy wound ached with something more than pain, as if the knife had split reality itself.

I tried to rise, but my limbs wouldn't answer. I could only turn my head, dizzy, and see where we were: a chamber carved from black glass and bone, etched with runes that twisted if you looked too long. A single silver lamp flickered overhead, its flame burning blue.

Velka stood above me, swaying, torn between agony and obedience. Her eyes flickered—once, twice before going blank again. The control had not loosened. I reached for her, the gesture weak, desperate. "Fight it," I croaked. "Velka, please…"

A door slid open at the far end of the chamber, light spilling in, and with it a figure in gray: tall, androgynous, with a smile that flickered and twitched like a glitching illusion. S.

Their magic prickled along my skin, sharp as vinegar. "Welcome," S said, their voice as smooth as oil. "You brought me such a pretty gift, Nightthorn. And such a broken one, too."

Velka shuddered, her face twisting. I saw a war behind her eyes a flash of old Velka, jaws clenched, fighting the compulsion with everything she had. But S snapped their fingers, and the shadows snapped her upright again.

"Leave her alone!" I shouted, summoning what little strength I had. "Take me, just let Velka go "

S tutted, stepping forward. "But you see, Princess, this was always meant to be. You and your little band of misfits have meddled quite enough. The revolution needs a new story, and you two well. You're so much more interesting as symbols."

Their gaze flicked to Velka. "Finish it."

Velka's hands shook as she conjured another blade this one longer, trembling, the edge refracting memory and moonlight. I tried to crawl away, but the pain blossomed, hot and wet, and my vision blurred.

But then her eyes met mine. For a heartbeat, Velka's will surged. She flung the blade aside, screaming, "No! I won't hurt her! I won't "

S's smile faded. They raised a hand, magic crackling. "You don't get to choose, little shadow."

A pulse of energy slammed Velka to her knees. I saw her clutch her head, teeth bared in defiance, blood trickling from her nose. "Elyzara run "

I tried, dragging myself across the cold floor, but the room itself rebelled runes flared, the very stones becoming a cage. The system tried to rally in my mind, only to flicker and die: [System integrity compromised. User protection: suspended.]

S turned their gaze on me. "You'll both learn your place. The kingdom's future isn't built on childish hope and scones, princess. It's built on power, on sacrifice on loss."

Velka, face streaked with tears, staggered upright. Her fingers twitched, fighting the compulsion even as the shadows snapped and coiled at S's command. But she managed, in a brief spark of lucidity, to choke out, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

And then she was gone again, a shadow-puppet, forced to kneel beside me.

S crouched, meeting my gaze, their eyes as cold as the void. "Let's begin, shall we?"

The door slammed shut behind them, locking us into the dark. I reached for Velka, barely brushing her sleeve.