Can Empires fall?

Chapter 1

The elderly, grey-haired Elf glared at the dark-skinned female human sitting in a chair with a look of carelessness in her eyes, as he stood up. Only a small candle gave light to this small office, the walls of which were clustered with shelves overfilling with books, scripts, and loose papers. After a few seconds he started to speak, "Chiras", Tomtheros sighed, "Do you know what this vestment, this robe stands for?" He pointed at the remnants of her robe, which she cut down into a sleeveless crop top.

Before she could answer, his anger billowed voice filled the small office again: "This robe is a symbol of the defenders of the defenceless, a voice for the common folk, protector of the hopeless and observer of those who do not wish to be observed. We are a force of virtue, justice, and lawfulness. Do you understand why you cannot destroy this sacred robe? Do you understand the responsibility that comes with wearing it, Chiras?!" His voice echoed throughout the hallway. "You are acting irresponsibly. You do not attend the lessons, you need to attend, you do not read the books, you need to read. You are being a rebellious child, a disgrace!"

Without even a second of silence, Chiras answered quietly, "Then why am I still forced to be here?"

"You are only here because your parents pay us. That way you aren't bothering them at home!", screamed the elderly master. He realised the gravitas of what he just said. She saw it in his eyes, which turned from burning anger into a soft sadness with a hint of pity... unwanted pity. Silence befell the room. An unpleasant and painful silence.

"Shove that money up your ass!", she screamed back, storming out the open door, walking through the halls of the monastery at a brisk pace, her waist-long braided dark-green hair bouncing with every step. She wasn't sad, at least she would never really admit that to herself. She was angry. Angry at this order of monks, who thought they could change her against her own will. Angry at her parents who sent her to this stupid monastery so far away from her home. Not knowing if someone would try to follow her or stop her, she picked up the pace.

A cacophony of sounds greeted her as she left, empty-handed into the city, which was quite literally outside of the door. The city of Carran was one of the bigger cities at the eastern end of the Empire, which was mostly populated by humans. But Carran included a colourful mix of a lot of various beings. She loved it here, when she wasn't forced to study some bullshit book about history in the library.

A tavern was her first destination. Not only could she get a bed there but maybe she could get something to eat for cheap. The Hollow Glory Inn, what a weird name, she thought as she entered the rather full Inn. The interior was sparely lit because there were only two torches on the walls and candles lit on the tables. Directly next to the door was a set of stairs to the second floor. Each side was made up of three little alcoves, in which people already sat, loose tables were placed, seemingly at random, around the whole room, where people stood and seemed to try to enjoy their afterwork life. It was time for it as the sun just began to set over the city.

She picked a chair at the bar, where a dwarf with an untrimmed black beard and an eyepatch was barkeeping. The dwarf looked at her and said something she could just identify as gibberish. His accent was way too thick for her.
Capable of talking thoroughly, she answered: "hmm?"
The man lifted his eyepatch, revealing another fully functioning eye. Examining her and then letting it fall again. Through his teeth, he slowly repeated "What do you want to drink?"
"Ah, a whiskey please."

Once more, he squeezed his one visible eye to thoroughly check her over and then just nodded.
A few seconds later he already gave her the drinking glass. "That would make six coppers." She only had ten Silvers and twenty copper with her, but it was worth it, so she gave it to him directly.

"What does one night cost?" she asked the barkeep before he could leave with the money. Once more he seemed to think... a rather longer time than he should for just checking some prices.
"6 Silver pieces a night per person." She nodded and gave it to him. The barkeep grabbed a box with keys from under the bar and gave her one. Luckily, she only intended to stay one night.

She stared at her drink, trying to avoid any eye contact with anyone passing by, as a deeper feminine voice drew her eyes onto the person speaking: "Now, that's a drink, mind if I join you with that one?" They looked expectantly at her, but she was lost for words as the Tiefling looked stunning. They had clear, light-red skin, jet-black, shoulder-long hair, two dark red horns pointing downwards from their head and blue eyes. Wearing a gown which had almost every colour she knew in it. Having a Talwar, which was a bent sword, strapped on their back. They had a thin, more feminine-type, slender body and looked like they were taller than her, which wasn't that often the case, since she was 1,9m tall. "Sweetie", the Tiefling flirtatiously reminded her under their breath, "You haven't answered my question."
She shook her head. "Uhm- sure, have a seat."
"Great, now I can admire your beauty even closer." Blood rushed into her head. She hadn't been flirted with for years.
"S-same", she stuttered and immediately regretted it. But they just smiled at her and laughed.
"What is your name, beautiful stranger?", their blue eyes almost piercing through her chest.
"Chiras... what's yours?" She couldn't think of a good reply to them calling her a beautiful stranger. Words weren't hers.
"Chiras is... quite unique, in a cute way. My Name is Ezra." They smiled at her as she once again got flustered. "So, tell me, Chiras, what is one of you fancy monks doing in such a shady overcrowded bar?", they asked and pointed at her top, which was still in the colours of the monastery.
"I just quit out of the order, so I just want to enjoy my freedom.", she replied.
"Oh, a rebellious one... Want to enjoy at least one night of your freedom with me?", they whispered. Her cheeks with freckles were full of redness. "Is that a, yes?" Everything went so fast right now, the room felt for a short second like it was just spinning for her.
She chucked down the remnants of her drink to get a little courage and just nodded. Tomorrow she could start to think about the future, this night she would just think about them.

The next morning, she woke up laying on their chest. It was a quite weird feeling, but a welcome one. A feeling she couldn't get enough of. A feeling she hadn't really felt for years. They began to speak: "So, darling, what are your plans now?"
"I think I am going to join a mercenary group in the King's Hall." The King's Hall was the main meeting point for mercenaries who wanted to work for the crown.
"Darling today must be your lucky day," they whispered, while their fingers wandered over her body up to her head, which they then gently lifted, to kiss her softly. After releasing the lips, they continued to speak, "because, I am the leader of a small mercenary group... and we could use somebody who can fight, especially in close combat, and I heard you fancy people at the monastery are good at that."
A bright smile glowed up on her face: "Yeah, I am good at punching things. Like real good. The only thing, in fact, I was good at in the monk training."
They chuckled and looked her in the eyes. With a sense of seriousness. "Are you sure you want to join us?"
"Yes. I don't have anywhere else where I would want to be." She said smiling, which caused them to smile too.
"Let's call it a deal then, shall we?", Ezra concluded, while straightening their back, "I'll introduce you to the others later then."
"Are you sure they are going to accept me? I mean... they don't know me even one bit unlike you.", she hesitated and looked up at them, while nestling on their chest.
"Yeah, I am fairly certain, my dear. We are all misfits in this group, that is what unites us, and you are one too, aren't you?", they reassured her while chuckling.
"Yeah", she chuckled, "Why are you being so nice to me though?"
They smiled brightly. "Why should I not? You are good-looking and as I now learned a, hopefully great, fighter."
She chuckled "I saw the Talwar on your back last night... so you are a swordfighter?"
"She even knows the type of sword I fight with, can she get even more perfect?", Ezra replied, "But kind of I guess, I fight with my sword mostly but I am also capable of some magical tricks."

Once again, she looked up at them. "Can you show me some of your magic tricks?", she asked with eyes glowing with joy.
"Later, sweetie", they kissed Chiras softly, which made her whole body tingle, especially as the hands of the Tiefling strafed over her lower body "but now, we have some business to attend."
Filled with the excitement of having found a job on her real first day of freedom, she stood up. While they got dressed, she realised that the gown on its back was just purple with a golden, opened eye on it. It was quite a beautiful thing to look at.

They both walked in complete silence the long walk to the King's Hall as it was placed near the centre of the city, as opposed to the Inn and the monastery she stayed in, which were on the far northern side of the big city. But the silence wasn't an embarrassing, unpleasant one for her, it was just silence in which she enjoyed the presence of Ezra, who seemed to do the same. After more than an hour's worth of walking, they arrived at their destination.