APRIL SYLKRANA IS DETERMINED TO RISE. After the devastating news of her mother, the Imperial High Queen's, death, she only has one job before she can take what is rightfully hers: kill her half-brother, June. Not only is he elusive and serious about...
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2412, Crescin 12, Kindreth
The branch creaked under April's weight when she settled on it. Sitting this high up reminded her of the times she sat on the edge of Falkirta, overlooking the rest of Umazure spread below her boots. Now, her vision was limited, encompassing only the chaotic undergrowth and the occasional critter flitting through the spaces between branches and leaves. The sun, while it shone without hindrance in Falkirta, dappled through the space, plunging the forest floor in a darkness even a pixie couldn't fight.
A sigh tore off her lips as her mind played the recent memories she retained inside the Ice Capital. After scoring an inevitable win against the Heiress in Thenaserine, April whisked everyone off back to the Sovereign, leaving a near-empty city waiting for June. And when he arrived, not only did she get the news that someone called the Virtakios was her new assignment, June sauntered inside the city with her in tow.
Her plan of getting to June alone was hindered once more, but she had to work with what she had. So, knowing there were other soldiers with her, she ambushed him in that dilapidated house, saying lines she didn't mean, and getting any onlooker and eavesdropper to believe she meant to kill her brother and retrieve the Virtakios.
It's a shock, certainly, to meet the same girl who throttled April in Komery now limp as a withered flower in June's arms. She only ever read it from the reports, but the Virtakios' description matched each of the girl's features. But one thing nipped at the back of her mind. The bond those two shared—it's also something April didn't understand, nor would she ever.
But, not only did she fail in tearing the Virtakios off her brother's grip, she lost her brother to the city's border without initiating the talk she prepared. Would he even agree? April would never know.
She remembered trudging back to the Sovereign after that, demanding to be freed from the responsibility of rehabilitating Thenaserine as the new Synketrian camp. After the numerous infiltrations and the Heiress appearing to make the Earth Potentate give in to her whims, the Sovereign simply refused to remain in Akaron and put her people in danger.
The Sovereign was surprisingly lenient, telling her to keep pursuing the Virtakios and her brother. She even went as far as providing April updates on June's whereabouts. It's the Virtakios' appeal, and the Sovereign was willing to use April to retrieve such a power rather than find another...more loyal but less capable one to carry out her will.
In this game of using and being used, April had no idea which one remained at the top.
Then, it all came together in the Ice Capital. After finding a temporary truce with Cardovic agents with the likes of Kymalin and Marin, they attacked the unsuspecting race who had built a life underground. It was like Thenaserine all over again, only this time, she and the black-clad individuals have the common enemy that's not each other.
Marin's face flashed in April's memory. At first, she's surprised the Heiress thought of sending a child into dangerous missions, but seeing how Marin moved, planned, and wielded what little authority the Heiress gambled on giving her, April was certain the girl had the potential. However, it all came crashing when the girl started having doubts. They were the enemy to one's potential, and in Marin's case, April couldn't deny the girl had a point.
