How To Save The Endangered Empire

This Observation Of Me

A cloaked figure stood with their back turned facing the window. The room is cast in an eerie darkness, with only dimly lit corner lamps struggling to fend off the encroaching shadows. The air was thick with an unsettling stillness as if the very walls dared not make a sound.

Two men approached the figure with a caution that would prevent their throats from being sliced. Knees stuck to the wood floors, they bowed their head in shame while mumbling gibberish words, unable to admit to their bloodthirsty master that they failed.

"...You failed, didn't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't be trembling like a baby calf before me." The voice of the hypnotic song sounded maturely sweet, compared to aged wine or a siren's melodic tunes that would lead sailors astray.

Both men flinched, their eyes shot with goosebumps and their legs becoming jelly; they bent over, pleading for forgiveness to at least gain light punishment for their crimes. "Forgive us, master! We were ignorant and allowed that wench to live another day though you ordered her death; we are undeserving of forgiveness; please punish us!"

"It's admirable that you admit your mistakes, for this alone I will spare your lives. However, the results of this experiment have proven ever so effective. The cold-hearted Emperor, said to feel no remorse, saved the life of an insignificant woman who had nothing to do with him. How amusing."

"Perhaps it's the perfect time to set things into motion." From the creaking drawer of the desk, the well-taken care of hand, free of callouses, reached inside to pull out a vial of red powder filled halfway of its hand-sized bottle. A knife was dragged out of their sleeve and used to slash the tender skin of their palm through each layer of skin until blood poured like a stream into the vial.

"...Get out, the both of you." With the notion of their tilting head, they scurried along like mice running from a predating serpent. Once the room was left with only their presence, they removed the hood of their cloak to reveal glinting reddish-orange eyes sharp like a blade and waved hair stained the color of garnet crystals.

A sickening smile chiseled into her defined face. After shaking the bottle to mix the blood and powder, she shattered it with a specialized hammer, reverberating the glass until the smoke and blood turned into a demonic spirit enslaved into service of their caller.

"Hello, Master. Have you called for another of my services?" The itty bitty spirit sizing to her palm hovered in the air with invisible wings. Its fading red and white jelly skin became obscure from the dimmed lamps.

"Yes, as before, it's time again to weave a special dream for my dear colleague. We've been idle too long." With a menacing grin that stretched from ear to ear, her lips curled upward to form a smile that sent chills down the spine.

A wicked expression of satisfaction and anticipation, as if relishing the sequence of events, she put into motion like dominos aligned to fall to a light touch.

***

The carriage wheels were covered in every inch of mud from the wet dirt of the passage to Moon Hollow. Finally, they creaked and carefully stopped in front of the enormous mansion, still fully lit from every area.

Two hours passed, and Emris and Ashton had remained asleep by each other's side, her head resting on his leaning shoulder and his near her head, in the area where the sweet aroma of her hair still lingered despite falling into the water.

"We've arrived, My Lady, Your Majesty." The horseman hollered from outside the carriage, startling the two stiff knights on guard with the mention of the Emperor.

Reinfrid popped his head from the window and awkwardly smiled because of the problem he encountered. "Please give us a moment." Reinfrid retracted his head back inside the carriage and fretted, unsure of what to do with the unconscious pair in front of him.