Lumeni: Ekpyrosis

Vol I: The Rogue Nation

TW: Violence/Gore

Eastern Scáth Continent

The 575th Solarian Year

7th of Maírs

Pirot Straight, Near the Shaded Isles

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The sun shimmered along the waves, with nothing in sight along all corners of the ship, which the crew dubbed the Imperatrix to honor their leader, since she is all that was left of their once great kingdom.

A scout stood upon the crows' nest of the vessel looking for signs of land, to only be met with their reflection along the waves. 

"What do you mean we forgot the maps?!" Empress Saisho shouted in annoyance at the highest rank guard among the ones that joined her. "We made sure to bring everything else, including the jewels of the country, and we somehow forgot the maps?!"

"I'm sorry Lady Kamakiri, but we were running out of time and we did not know there would be cloud cover obstructing our views." the guard said as calmly as possible, knowing how she could get when agitated. "The scout is looking for any sign of land and we will anchor within the hour after. I hope you can understand that this impacted us as much as it did you."

"You say that as if I act like some rich girl all of the time, corporal." Saisho responded, knowing she was going to get some standard response even with them being the last of the confederacy. "How about this, I'll let you all continue your search for land while I keep up with my writings. I need to pass down our docuents somehow to our future generations."

"Very well, Ms. Saisho, I shall be excused." the corporal said, beginning to walk off.

"Oh, and corporal?" Saisho called out since she was starting to walk back to her quarters, "It is just Saisho; I lost my land, no reason to keep up the title."

"I never thought of it as a title in the first place, I just used it out of respect. Trust me, it took 20 years of complaining to get your parents to finally hear their titles from me!" the corporal responded, giving a chuckle at the end, thinking of the memories he has of that time, which will probably never happen again in his life.

Saisho laughed along with him before going back to a more solemn expression while walking into her quarters and locking the door behind her. She hastily then walked over to her bed before she collapsed on the ground beside it.

"Why am I here why am I here why am I here why am I here?!" she whispered to herself, beginning to sob quietly. "They are all dead because of me, nobody is happy because of me, nobody wants me! Why do I live?! WHY WAS I THE ONE DESTINED FOR PEOPLE TO KILL THEMSELVES TO SAVE ME?! I SHOULD HAVE DIED! I DON'T DESERVE PRAISE! I DON'T DESERVE HAPPINESS! I DON'T-"

Her yelling and sobbing was cutoff when she heard a thump on the other side of her door.

"Okay, calm...calm. Hide your emotions, just smile and wave." Saisho whispered to herself while grabbing a dagger from inside her drawer, slowly walking up to the door and cracking it open. "Can I help you? Hello?"

Saisho slowly walked outside of her chambers into the cold silence. It was nighttime and there was nobody around. "I suppose I should tell somebody that I heard a noise." As she closed the door, she noticed a person right behind it, knife in hand. She quickly thrusted her dagger forward towards the hidden figure before it exploded into a purple mist. 

"We are all dead, because of your failures!" a figure in the mist yelled out, the general.

"Wha-what?! What is this!" Saisho stammered, freaking out that the mist was talking and showing her people she remembered.