The Ruler's Rift

Heiress

Fresh air felt like ice on the demon's skin. She appeared upon Nova's glamorous porch beneath the early daylight. All night she'd spent exploring Mystearlia's innards. Yet brimming with ambition and vengeance, ready to claim her crown, she felt not a drop of drowsiness.

A butler opened up, to whom Celeste demanded Nova. They bickered momentarily but the sharklike butler gave in and fetched the fox.

"I was writing an important letter, Travis," complained the snobbish voice. When she saw white hair through the door, she shoved the butler aside. "Oh! Miss Superbia!"

"Nova," Celeste greeted. "I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly last night."

The fox snickered and waved her hands. "Never a problem, Miss Superbia."

"Mhm, well..." Celeste looked aside, then she fixed her gaze on Travis. "I need to speak with you, privately."

"Certainly, certainly," laughed the fox. She ushered the Mystearlian inside then shooed off her butler. "Travis, go clean the dishes again! I don't pay you to stand around!"

With the butler gone, Nova led Celeste to the same cozy room they'd occupied the night before. Daylight high in the sky, the fireplace had no need to burn. Nova nudged the door shut with her paw, then folded her hands and smiled. "So, what can I do for you?"

Celeste's fingers trembled so she hid her hands in her cloak. Her eyes drifted to the dry, charred fireplace. "I remember everything," she whispered.

Fluffy ears stood tall. Nova rubbed Celeste's arm. "Then you finally accept it." Nova brushed aside the heir's bangs and admired the marking behind them.

"I gave my old troupe what they deserve..." Celeste continued, aggression rising in the undertones of her sultry voice. "Then I started hearing things. This strange language that I'm not familiar with, but...I understood it anyway."

"Right, right."

"And it reminded me of things. It's like I suddenly knew things I never knew before. But I also...always knew them. I can't explain it."

"Have you seen your proxy yet?"

"You mean whatever's on my back?" Celeste muttered. "No."

A nervous smile split Nova's face. "You may want to keep it that way," she warned. She struggled to meet Celeste's gaze. "The greater potential for evil, the larger a Mystearlian's horns - and the larger a Mystearlian's horns...the more horrifying and disfigured their proxy is."

Celeste shut her eyes and sighed, hiding her shudder from the fox. "I don't care about that," she insisted. "Right now, I want my mother's throne."

"Excellent, your majesty..." Nova hummed. The phrase sent a chill up Celeste's spine. "You already have many followers...The Order of the Encaustum Eye is not so much mine as it is yours. I'll inform them immediately."

"I'm coming with you."

"Definitely," Nova assured. She led the princess down a stairwell guarded with several locks. It circled underground into a network of passages lit by candles and gold lamps. Creaky wood echoed each step. Nova and Celeste entered a shabby room with a large candle at its center. Nova's eyes sparked with embers and the wax ignited. Its smoke, orange like the sunset, trailed up a chimney. The fox explained, "My most loyal followers, and a few others, are stationed here on Sharcandia. They know to check for this smoke signal several times daily."

Celeste inferred, "Then it's only a matter of time before they show up."

As the demon presumed and the fox confirmed, their wait soon ended. Before long, a group of twenty or so individuals met with the pair in a large, creaky room. Among them stood Lucian, who exchanged glares with Celeste.