The Ruler of Ruin

The conference room went silent when I entered holding the hand of Amaranthine. Claire nearly fell on her knees, her face scrunched in pain. Miyuki and Remy both stayed standing, but their own faces showed a potent strain. Chrys curtsied to Amaranthine, but even her hands seemed to tremble. Only one person in the room seemed completely unfazed by the full power of Amaranthine’s glamour.

“So, that’s a glamour,” Xian said with a chuckle. He then made a small roar, barely audible, and all of our companions overcame the powerful presence of Amaranthine with the help of our lion friend.

“Displaying your true power upon first contact with others is considered a sign of respect in some cultures. In others, you are expected to not hinder others. The Stellarae Enclave preferred shows of strength such that others knew precisely where they stand. Now that you have done sone, please restrain your glamour while amongst others, Amaranthine.” Arx Maxima phrased it politely as a request, but also had the tone of a mother annoyed her children forgot to wash their hands before dinner.

“Of course. I merely sought to give each of Emery’s companions the chance to face a powerful glamour and overcome it, as I have given him on each of our meetings. I intended no harm,” Amaranthine explained, but did not apologize.

“For those of you who don’t know her, this is Amaranthine Sadow, Marchioness of the Black Sun, Keeper of the Evernight Rose, Harbinger of the Ebon Gale. She will be joining us on our attack on Havenstone.”

“You forgot betrothed to the Storm Dragon,” Amaranthine added with a smirk.

“What? That was a joke, you moron!” Claire spouted without thinking, while Amaranthine’s meaning sank into the rest of the party.

“Congratulations. Welcome to the family?” Remy seemed to be uncertain of how to respond, but he seemed to be caught somewhere between laughing and swearing.

“May your future union be blessed by the nine moons,” Miyuki said with a smile. She seemed to be sincere, although nursing a grudge for being embarrassed by the display of Amaranthine’s glamour. Or maybe Miyuki was hiding the admiring glances she directed towards the much taller fey.

“Though we have but recently become Blood Brothers, I welcome you with open arms. To your happiness,” Xian toasted with a glass of water. He was the only one who had a drink of any kind, I noticed.

“Congratulations, be good to him.” Claire demanded of the fey, but it seemed half-hearted, the way she kept breaking her eyes away from Amaranthine’s. The power of a full glamour must have shook Claire’s foundations more than the others.

“As part of Emery’s retinue, I look forward to assisting you as well, Marchioness Sadow,” Chrys answered formally.

“There’s no need for formality, in private like this you may address me as Amaranthine.” Sadow graciously smiled and bowed her head fractionally to all of my companions.

“Oh, uh. Introductions. This is my Uncle Remy, and his associate Miyuki. Claire is our Mistwalker, Xian is our newest recruit fresh from the Plains of Valor, and of course, Chrys has been with me since I stumbled into one of the Gneissling cities.”

Everyone muttered awkward greetings, and I wondered if I had handled this well. Amaranthine still held my hand, and my hearts still hammered a pounding song of fire and destruction in my ears. At least when Amaranthine concealed her glamour the absolute longing, the dire need for her, abated. Even without the glamour I didn’t want to let go of her hand.

“So, we’re actually attacking Havenstone?” Remy broke the awkward small talk with a question.

“Yes,” I answered.

“The loose coalition of Mist Lords who tire of Mithras’s antics have contributed a task force to prevent consolidation of forces at any one Castle, but it is still likely that the Church of Mithras will push their most powerful defenders to Havenstone if that is where the new avatar of Mithras dwells. I intend to keep three Marsh Hydras and a Sylvan Wyrm for the attack on Havenstone.” Amaranthine spoke of legendary monsters as if they were toys, but I was surprised she kept any given her self-confidence.

“Are they able to avoid as many innocent lives as possible?” Remy asked with hints of concern.

“All four are capable of understanding speech and following orders,” Amaranthine answered reassuringly. “The Sylvan Wyrm is their leader and has no interest in extermination of life that is not imposing upon its territory. So long as the civilians flee, they will not be engaged.”

“Why don’t you take Havenstone down alone, like you did Edgehold?” Claire asked with a bit of venom.

“I could,” Amaranthine said lightly. “That would result in the total destruction of Havenstone, which is counter to the wishes of my betrothed. My role is to defeat the foes you cannot, such as the Grand Pyroclast or the Knight-Commander.”

“Okay, but how are you going to do that? Isn’t Mithras more powerful than you in Solarias?” Claire asked a valid question, but she seemed to be a bit too happy to ask it.

Amaranthine, shockingly, seemed amused by the attitude from Claire and smiled at the sour scout.

“Yes. A Mist Lord, in their own realm, is nigh undefeatable. Unless you’re me,” Amaranthine smiled intensified, and a look I could only describe as malicious lurked behind her eyes. Not towards Claire, but towards her enemies.

“No hints?” Remy asked hopefully.

“Rules are tricky things,” Amaranthine answered evasively.

“Why are you helping us?” Claire decided to press her luck.

“Corvie hates Mithras, while I only mildly detest him. The deluded moron can rot in his realm for all I care. However, my betrothed asked for my help.” Amaranthine’s blunt answers were a shock to all of us, who expected fey double talk.

“Why do you want Emery?” Claire doubled down, pressing her luck. I’ll admit, I wanted to hear the answer to this pretty badly. Was it my handsomeness? My keen intellect? My charming.. charm?

“Even without concepts his soul screamed a secret that touched me to the core. His affinities greatly resemble my own. When he allowed his spirit to soar and he chose his last concept, he picked one which he shared perfect affinity for. He climbed higher upon the echelons of chaos than even I, and tamed Katrina. I could not grasp the Nothing Storm when I tried, I caught only the Ebon Gale.”

Those red faceted eyes focused upon me, and I experienced warmth flooding my body. I felt seen. I felt… desired, but not in a strictly sexual manner. It transcended words in a way I had never experienced with another person, which I could only attribute to Amaranthine being a fey or maybe a Mist Lord. I don’t know if I felt loved, the complex emotion could certainly be there in multiple forms, but all of the other emotions that churned in me when Amaranthine looked at me were potent, overwhelming in their own way.

Katrina had bonded tightly to me, and within my frame raged the grandmother of chaos storms. I could feel the paradoxical powers of chaos in Amaranthine, powers that went beyond the mere entropic effects of Corvusol, and my betrothed had bound the winds of madness, the Ebon Gale, an aspect of Katrina, to her agility in the same way I had bound Katrina to my agility. We resonated with one another, two maelstroms of madness drawn into one another’s orbit. Incapable, and unwilling, to leave the other.

The rational voice, the one that had been crying that Amaranthine only sought this or that, quieted in the face of the bond we already shared. How had I missed it before? Our mutual draw to one another made perfect sense, now. It had nothing to do with power, social standing, and only a little bit to deal with how either of us even looked. The essence of who we were, beneath all the quirks of physiology, environment, intellect and education, was the same.

Amaranthine noticed the comprehension in my eyes and laughed softly.

“Finally overcame your lust to see the truth?” Only a small amount of venom accompanied the words, enough to remind me that she was more than a warm body. I wondered how many people survived such dimwitted mistakes.

“Thank you,” Amaranthine nodded to Miyuki.

“Err.. Well. Consider it my wedding present?” Miyuki answered slightly bashfully, especially as everyone in the room looked at her in confusion. I noticed she seemed surprised by not just my reaction, but Amaranthine’s. As if she’d thought something else would happen.

“I lent Emery a touch of Celestial Vision to navigate his current situation,” Miyuki explained bashfully. I didn’t know what Celestial Vision was, but it did explain the suddenly clear shift in my observations around me. If Miyuki saw like that, all of the time, I wondered how she had ever wronged Remy the way she had. Perhaps she hadn’t possessed it then, or it required being active?

“Ahem,” I coughed to gather the attention of everyone. Sparks and small tongues of lightning licked hungrily at the air.

“If we’re all done questioning my engagement, how do we attack Havenstone?” I turned my gaze to Amaranthine.

“We will slip in while the Wyrm and Hydras occupy the front gate,” Amaranthine said with a vicious, crafty look.

“You can’t teleport past the gates, the power of the Castle prevents that.” Claire grumbled.

“We don’t need to teleport past it, climb it, or even fly over it. I or Emery will cut a hole through the exterior wall and make our own door.” Amaranthine waved her black gloved hand casually, dismissing the concern Claire had about the plan not working.

“Them walls are over ten feet deep, contain hunks of EternaStone, cold iron, and spell reinforcements. You’re certain?” Remy clarified with his own knowledge of the walls.

“Nothing can withstand the touch of Delirium of Ruin,” Arx Maxima boasted proudly.

“Rapture of Oblivion is close in power, test it’s destructive capabilities at your own peril,” Corvusol cackled challengingly. I glanced at the black gloves on Amaranthine’s hands and studied them closer. They looked similar in style to my spear.

“Rapture of Oblivion belonged to the Stellarae Enclave, yes.” Amaranthine responded to my unspoken thoughts as if she could read my mind.

“So, we go in, we hunt down Etienne, force Mithras out, then what? Kidnap your parents and brother, and anyone else that might be in danger, before we flee back here?” Remy stared at my eyes, seeking some answers.

“That’s all I could come up with. If we leave Etienne in Solarias Mithras will figure out how to re-enkindle him and we’ll be back at square one.”

“What if we invite the other adventurers here? They’re only tolerated in Solarias, and it’s Mithras’s own doing that makes it so hard for us to return to Solarias in the first place.” Claire asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“That’ll work for a few, sure. But their families? A lot of them are devout. Like Coralie, Em’s mother. She isn’t going to come willingly, and she is terrified of Fey. You might not even be able to convince her you’re her son, looking like that.” Remy eyed Amaranthine next to me, then me, and sighed at the end.

“We will deal with Mom and the others when it becomes a problem. There’s a good chance we’ll have to subdue them and make an escape. Does anyone have that kind of capability?” I looked from face to face.

“I do,” Miyuki said softly. “I can seal them to a sub-space. If they aren’t at least Citrine, I will be able to hold them indefinitely without harm.”

Xian pursed his lips at my questioning, and at Miyuki’s answer.

“The strands of fate will not entangle your wishes, Blood Brother,” Xian promised.

I had no idea what the hell he meant, but he sounded so confident, so gruff, so manly, that I grinned back at him and nodded.

“Thanks Xian,” I said sincerely. Images of Telos danced slightly through my mind, with her warning that only one supreme power existed—hers. I should have asked her more questions, but that ship sailed when I scared the fish away from her dock. I would have to trust in Xian and Amaranthine if I were to trust in any ‘higher powers’…. and Arx Maxima and Corvusol. Maybe just Arx Maxima.

“I have a question,” Chrys said. All the eyes around the room shifted to her, expectantly.

“What happens to Mithras after you evict him from Etienne, or if you cannot?”