After a long hour of deliberation, Roza was so exhausted she almost fell asleep multiple times.
"This is impossible," she groaned. "There are at least thirty members of the covert division we know about, and none of them are active operatives. Who knows how many suspects we actually have?"
Gwen patted her shoulder. "We do know that whoever delivered it does have access to this kind of stuff, so it eliminates half of our list, since they're just the financial bookkeepers. The only troubling bit is that everyone else here is a high-ranking officer," she sighed. "I don't want any of the people I know to turn out as traitors. I know every single person on this list and it would pain me to know they'd go to these lengths of betrayal."
After a bout of silence, Gwen continued. "I can't look at this list any more. Everything we've collected is starting to blur. Roza, darling, do you want to break into the archives with me?"
"Crimes after dawn while slightly intoxicated? Absolutely. How romantic." She immediately grabbed her coat, slinging one arm in and holding the coat up with the other.
"How are you slightly intoxicated? You can't keep alcohol in military offices!" Gwen exclaimed, mildly concerned.
Roza shook her head. "This is my office. I have my ways." she tossed Gwen's spare coat to her. "Let's get going. We have an archive to break into."
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Oddly enough, the archive building looked like an exact duplicate of the library inside the palace, just with an exterior.
There was no kind of special security, aside from the door lock itself and a couple of guards. While they could just talk to the guards and maybe persuade them to leave, it was unlikely they'd leave their posts without orders from higher above, like Constable Tang or any member of the cabinet. Unfortunately for the two of them, neither were members of the cabinet. In Roza's eyes, there really was only one obvious solution.
"Just in- weather says rain without shine." She lifted her fingers, her eyes no longer emitting the silver glow she was used to, but rather a rich emerald green shown through her pupils as they condensed to slits.
"I'm never going to get used to that." Gwen muttered, watching as the once clear skies turned muddled and the air turned damp.
Roza only turned her head slightly, enough for Gwen to see her eyes with the background of moonlight. "It has its benefits. They're apparently very scary to look at. The rebel I was interrogating seemed very afraid."
The rain was now starting to come down harder, but not on the two of them. Gwen focused her vision, allowing her power to come alive. She could see two of the guards shifting over to the side of the archives that were roofed, successfully providing a window of opportunity to sneak through the front door undetected. It would be pointless to try and get through a window; there were none, and all of these guards were senior members of the military. Convincing them that there was a problem with the documents was going to be difficult, since each and every one of the guards probably knew the two of them personally on some level. The easiest and only entrance was going to be the front door. After the guards, they only had to convince the one Cheng or Huang archivist on duty to let them look; keeping the air free from too much humidity was of utmost importance, in order to keep the books dry.
"You brought lockpicks?" Roza whispered.
Gwen nodded, and then they were off. With the cover of the rain and Gwen's naturally quieter footsteps, it was easy to get through the first bit of action. The harder part was actually picking the lock.
"Hurry up, the guards are going to rotate shifts soon!" Roza whisper-yelled.
"I'm trying!" Gwen replied, fiddling with the second pick. The lock wouldn't budge. The archives were locked up better than she thought.
Roza beckoned for the general to move over, and instantly took over. Locks like this were the same ones they used on the bedrooms in the palace, meaning it was the same one Roza had on her bedroom. Also meaning, she knew how to force it open, thanks to the practice she received from locking herself out by accident. Keys lifted cylindrical pieces of metals upwards at all the right times, and when every piece was moved out of the way, and the key was turned, the door would open.
She further examined the metal- silver, plated with gold. Conductible, but a bit malleable. Someone would notice if she zapped lightning through it, and it wouldn't do much anyway. But, if the wind was fast enough, and condensed enough...
"The other guards are leaving. Might want to hurry it up."
Roza nodded, then continued inspecting the lock. The cavity was big enough for her to blast air into, but she wasn't quite sure if she would be able to lift the metal pieces, or even turn the lock. She just had to hope that maybe the syzmeiskazki would help enough. Dwindling the rain so that she could concentrate more on the wind, she let a whisper of a breeze into the keyhole, just to feel how much wind she would need. After coming to an estimate, she increased the amount of wind funnelling through, and felt the first piece moving. But the guards would be coming back around soon- she didn't have time to open the lock manually like this.
Instead, she took a great step back, raised her arms, and summoned an enormous gust of wind, blowing the door right off its hinges. "Let's hope the guards feel like taking the scenic route," she stepped into the dry building. "We're gonna have to put the door back on. And fix the lock."
Gwen followed suit, and picked up the door. "Let's just put the door back, and fix the lock on our way out?"
"Yeah." They both heaved the door upwards, Roza providing air support and Gwen attaching it back onto the hinges.
"That... doesn't look quite right."
"Nobody pays attention to the door. Come on, Gwen, we don't have all day."
They hurried towards the stairwell, like harried newborn birds frantically attempting to stay in the air while flying. As soon they made it to the military archives, they found exactly who they were looking for.
"Irena," Roza greeted. "They gave you this job?"
"Volunteer work," she clarified. "Have to do it to graduate from the academy. Forty hours of unpaid labour, I'm afraid." she sighed. "Is there anything you need?"
Roza let her eyes fade back to normal. While that meant the storm would meet its end, it also was imperative to keep her powers under lock and key for the time being. She was growing weary, and while she would never admit it, having the rain in the background gave her her own headache, worthy of comparison against Yue's. "We have to double check some papers I signed earlier. I was half-asleep, and I'm not sure if I filed all the signatures correctly."
Irena blinked, confused. "You're never sloppy with paperwork. Everyone sends it to you because you're so good at it. I can tell whose handwriting is whose."
Roza restrained an eye roll, before salvaging her lie. "Irena, I think we both know what half-asleep actually means." she said in a voice as close as she could to Ashlee's. If Irena thought she was in on some kind of secret, and that she would get some form of gossip, she may let them pass. That was the hope, at least. Ashlee and her friends were mostly unpredictable.
"And General Ng is with you because..?"
"She's my superior officer. She wanted to make sure I got the right papers."
Irena slowly moved out of the way. "Right. Of course. Nothing else."
They made their way into the sealed military archive room, and began searching for Ahran's files.
"It has to be here somewhere. Every single piece of paper handled by the military ends up here." Roza said, digging into a box labelled as confidential. There was nothing of relevance or interest in it- just the operations of the king's punishers, whoever those were. Apparently, from the files, two extremely powerful Elites codenamed Elegance and Petal.
"Here's one I don't recognize- it's labelled Anaconda." Gwen called from the otherside of the room.
"Nope. That's where all my father's mail goes. I perhaps purposely misspelled it for him."
"And just when I thought we had it."
Roza suppressed a smile, before turning back to her half of the room. Most of the names she recognized- all comrades or people she knew from the military academy. All of them had found place under various divisions of the army, with the exception of those who endured too much injury during the school year or otherwise. What was most infuriating was that none of the boxes had any sense of order; it had the semblance of some kind of organization, but when it came down to it, was completely random. It wasn't sorted by division, first name, family name, house, ranking, age...
"I know where the box is."
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When Roza had first enlisted into the military academy, she consulted her father and Katya, as was customary.
"Father," she began the night before enrollment applications were due, "I want to enroll in the military academy, not the history academy."
Katya looked worried, but hid it behind a bright smile. "That's wonderful to hear, solnishko. You are aware of the danger though, right?"
"I am well aware, yes. But I am one of the most powerful Elites of my generation, and I feel my talents would be better used to serve my country as a soldier, not a scholar."
Her father pitched in as well. "Roza, the military academy is dangerous and unsuited for you. You are descended from one of the highest of houses. If you wanted to complete military service, you could've entered as an officer. There's no point in enrolling there when you can act as a teacher and leader for the next generation."
"The military academy," she set down the fish fork she was holding. "Is on the eastern isles, protected by water. It is not as dangerous as you make it out to be. And, I know plenty of history. Ask me about any Yan king or queen, and I will tell you what you want to know."
He narrowed his eyes. "King Leonard II."
"Second born Yan prince after the second Ardish war, inherited the throne at nineteen after his brother, Edmund, died in battle on the eastern isles reclaiming territory from Arden. He was cremated and currently sits in the display case of the thirteenth-era vase in the Lai estate."
Katya definitely noticed Roza's smug look, but her father persisted.
"Suyin Yoshida."
"A powerful concubine who rose to power after the death of the seventh old Liyuan emperor, Chun Shuiyuan, of the Qing dynasty. Her rule is considered that of a tyrant, until she was executed by Dao Leung Yan, the first king of emperors. He assigned each province a shogun to counteract the effects of Suyin Yoshida's rule, and combat the beginning of the night curse. Dao Leung Yan is noted as the father of the houses, and orders along with his shoguns."
"Somi Cheng."
"Disgraced and first disinherited descendant of any house. She died of Red Fever during the first outbreak."
Katya placed a hand on her husband's shoulder. "You have to let her go. She will continue spouting out history until the end of time. Let her train on the Eastern Isles."
Her father considered this. "Roza," he turned back to her. "Be sure that this is the path you want to choose. I will not make it easy for you. The moment you fall below the top ten performers at the academy, I'm hauling you back here."
Roza arched a brow. "You make this far too easy."
"I wasn't done. In addition, you must defeat me in a duel, before I give my permission for you to go." he declared, rising from his chair.
"Please, Anatoly, let us finish dinner first. The servants did not spend two hours cooking just to have you scurry off and leave the food cold." Katya beckoned him to sit down, but she was ignored.
Roza rose to the challenge immediately, her eyes glowing as her power started to come alive.
It was not a long fight.
The next week, Roza was packing her bags, and the servants were still cleaning up the dining room after their inevitable fight. It was damp everywhere, shards of glass and porcelain were strewn around, and candle wax practically fused to the floor and walls.
She was given a military mailbox, where all her mail would now arrive. The eastern isles had a vast amount of unused land, perfect for storage. Roza remembered seeing towers of pure mailboxes on the smaller islands. One of which housed every single mailbox dedicated to the newly created covert unit.
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"Well, where is it?" Gwen closed the door to one of the cabinets.
Roza shuffled the papers she was holding back into the box. "There's good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
"Just how we can get the document, please."
"You're no fun. Alright, the bad news is that the mailbox is on the eastern isles, on a separate tiny island away from the military academy. The good news is, since the documents have to be hand-delivered, and there are log books for trips to the isle, we don't have to get the physical document. Whoever is delivering the document probably wrote the note, and if we're lucky, is carrying it with them>"
"So, theoretically..."
"We can literally just head to the docks and ask who chartered a ferry tonight."
They hurried out of the archives, not bothering to shut the door or avoid the guards. In the distance from the archives to where they were now, they could hear shouting, but it didn't matter any more. The guards weren't allowed to leave their posts.
As soon as they were out of the forest, Roza stopped to catch her breath. "We have to slow down. Those stupid night monsters are going to catch us otherwise."
"We're sure that it's not because you're tired?" Gwen mocked. She was far better suited to outdoor running, especially since she wasn't wearing heels.
"Very funny. And no, look around. We're right at the edge of the forest. That means the monsters are in this town. We didn't see any within the trees."
"Let's just get to the docks, while not causing some kind of kerfuffle. I don't want to wake up the whole town."
Gwen was right. The easiest way to prove they'd been sneaking around was an army of witnesses, and if every townsperson saw them heading for the docks in the middle of the night, only the gods knew what kind of implications that might create.
They both crept their way through the roughly paved limestone streets, only stopping once in a while to make sure they weren't being followed. At last, they reached the docks.
The docks were situated on the edge of the fishing town, complete with long wooden planks for a miserable imitation of a boardwalk, and a small hut on the side containing various fishing equipment; rods, bait, buckets, and everything in between, aside from an actual boat. All of those were in the water, tied to the boardwalk with a thick piece of burly rope. One would be lucky to see them- the water was so shrouded in mist, it seemed almost unnatural. Thankfully, the full moon provided enough light to see around the docks, and just like Roza had suspected, there was the log book.
A round, rough, vaguely cylindrical lump of dead tree, complete with branches arching and spiraling in the air around the docks. The log book was very literally, a log. And inside this magical log, was a book, built in with a code nobody quite knew how to crack but definitely knew how to use. The log book was originally a relic used to track visitors inside the palace, before being repurposed as a safety tool for the eastern isles, where the king kept all the toys of war and his soldiers in training, varien and Elite alike. While more log books were definitely more convenient, there was only one in known existence, sitting right at the docks in a quaint fishing town miles away from the palace. A king wanted records of all the people going to his military sanctuary, and so he got it. The log book tracked everything that went past its set boundaries, There was no going around it; the magic of the log book was a mystery in itself.
Roza quietly stepped towards the log, peering inside to see where the book was. Right in the center, it seemed, as she stuck her face right into a tiny hole in the log. Gwen hovered nearby, watching for unwanted visitors.
It was hard to read, but through the hole, she could barely make out the tiny writing. Gods, why did the book's writing have to be in old Liyuanese? It was an annoying language to read, but with old relics come old languages, she supposed. Whoever had enchanted this sad excuse of a log to be the gatekeeper of relics, she did not know why they didn't also make it so the language was adapted to the reader's eye.
"Gwen," she said cautiously. "You might want to come over and read this." she switched to Nebesan, distress evident in her voice.
Gwen walked over, and Roza gestured for her to look through the same hole she just did.
"Oh gods," she switched to Nebesan too, matching Roza's tone. "It's Feiyi."
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BONUS: the canon of the ROTS universe!
Since we've reached the end of the 3-chapter premiere (yes I'm so sorry chapter 23 was so short...), here's some canon bonus content, + a mini Q&A!
Canon character heights:
Solarie: 5'10"
Sylas: 5'11"
Roza: 6'1"
Gwen: 6'2"
Yue: 5'5"
Nicholas: 6'1"
Jin: 5'9"
Canon character zodiac signs/birthdays:
Roza: Sagittarius (December 2nd)
Gwen: Sagittarius (November 23rd)
Solarie: Capricorn (January 17th)
Sylas: Scorpio (October 24th)
Yue: Pisces (March 7th)
Nicholas: Cancer (July 2nd)
Jin: Libra (September 30th)
Canon character ages:
Solarie: 18
Sylas: 18
Roza: 21
Gwen: 21
Nicholas: 20
Jin: 18
Yue: 18
Q&A:
Q: How many parts/chapters does ROTS have?
A: currently projected to have 5 parts, but things definitely change! So far, parts 1 and 2 have 13/9 chapters each, so if each part has ~11 chapters, that would make for 55 chapters... which does scare me a bit, but again, things definitely change!
Q: Which ships are (definitely, most certainly) canon/endgame?
A: (SPOILER WARNING) If you skipped some chapters you might be missing context (and I know I accidentally ordered the parts wrong, whoops but it's fixed now!), but my current list of solid, romantic endgame ships that aren't involved in future subplots are Gwen/Roza, Sylas/Solarie, and... well, any more and I might spill too much tea.
Q: Sequels, spinoffs?
A: So. Sequels? I would really like to in the future, but it mostly depends on how Realm of the Sun pans out. It could end up as a standalone, duology, trilogy, full-blown series... who knows? One thing I do know for sure: Solarie's story doesn't stop at the end of ROTS, and other characters' stories are just beginning. As for spinoffs, unironically I'd love to do one on Ashlee, albeit she'd definitely be older (probably set 3-4 years after ROTS, making her 18-19 like the cast here). I do have some idea about the setting and plot and whatnot, but again, I'll wait and see how I feel about this in the future. (SPOILER WARNING) It'd be set mainly in Vivace, which I haven't had a chance to full explore yet, but I'd definitely include the other nations. Ashlee WILL get a love interest, and my current cast list consists of 5 NEW characters + Ashlee for the spinoff, and probably an actual villain. We explore a lot of Liyuan and Nebesa in ROTS, as well as a bit of Arden, so next stop is Vivace, North/South Zeva, and possibly the Hidden Isle??
Q: Favourite character(s)?
A: Just like how parents always say they don't have a favourite child, I pretend I don't out loud but in reality, I hold my own biases. Hypothetically, my character ranking would go:
1. Roza
2. Sylas
3. Yue
4. Nicholas
5. Ashlee
6. Gwen/Solarie (tied)
7. Grace/Irena/Aiko/Mariko
8. Jin (i'm so sorry i still love you)
Hypothetically. Of course.
Q: what's up with the gods, goddesses, deities, saints, and other stuff??
A: I realize now I haven't really clearly defined how things work, so here's some insight into the magic system of Liyuan specifically.
The gods and goddesses are basically like the gods and goddesses of Greek Mythology, with a lot less inbreeding and 10x the jealousy. They pick sides, they pick fights, and they all HATE each other, with the exception of some creating fragile alliances. It's sort of a... big bang kind of thing happening here. They just appeared. Deities are the first of their MORTAL descendants, after they created humans and decided to fuck with them. They have the most power of all, and are responsible for creating relics, like Nicholas' sword.
So what's up with the derivatives of houses?
Let's make an example.
House Nymphs: water. House Crysallo: ice.
the basic, oversimplified version of this is that some members of House Nymphs were only using ice, in majority of power use. Over time, those members lost the ability to manipulate/create other forms of water, therefore, the old rulers of Liyuan simply made a new house. The house is named after one of the many children of Nymphs, Crysallo.
Saints are a Nebesa and Vivace thing. Wizards are a North/South Zeva issue, and witches, warlocks, sorcerers, sorceresses, fae, pixies, etc are from Arden. Oraque and the Hidden Isle do NOT have magic systems.
One day I might write little bonus stories about the gods and goddesses' interactions with each other (like the creation of hell, a traditionally christian concept), but for the foreseeable future, it's just Realm of the Sun.
Q: are there any non-ROTS related stories coming?
A: after I finish ROTS, and if I end up writing the Ashlee spinoff, my next endeavor would be more magic, pirates, and a lot more adventure. The magic system and universe is completely separate and different from ROTS, and there is a planning document for this, but for now, it's just a dream... And, in the end, they will be connected through another, even bigger story involving a lot more stories, a lot more chaos, and a lot more magic + libraries. Can't reveal too many details, but I'm super excited :D
Q: will you ever write steamy/spicy scenes?
A: I've always found it odd that we consider grown adults writing steamy YA characters having sex socially acceptable?? I'm not much older than the characters of ROTS, but writing steamy scenes of 18-year olds gives me the ick. Fade-to-black, or implying that it was a thing I think I'd be more comfortable with, but I'm also an asexual with not much knowledge on the area. How do you even study how to write scenes like that??
That's all for now! Thank you for reading :D