Paradise was but an illusion, the empire that strived for peace and zero conflicts now burned to ashes by flames of betrayal and anger. The sparks of vengeance.
The outside world made of only chaos as the three warring powers now had a new playmate...
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prologue
From where I stood, miles from the palace, I could see the glow of embers and flames dancing through the blackened night sky. I stared on in amusement as the once peaceful kingdom witnessed the birth of a new; the fall of the old bringing about anew. A cackling laugh bubbled and spewed from my lips as I failed to keep from giving voice to the joy that filled me. The sight before my very eyes, of the dancing flames and screams of carnage and loss, was but a distance away. The hood of my coat slipped from my crown as I threw my head back, filling the silent surrounding with my laughter.
"She really went and did it, who would have thought that such an innocent face could be capable of such carnage!" I commented to no one but the dark nothingness, the chaos that was the capital below now fueling the madness slumbering in my core. My cackles cut off with a sharp intake of breath and my head lulled to the side, my grin now a frown and crimson eyes fading into deep browns; void of their previous joy. "Such beauty, found in the bitterness housed in one's last moments of fleeting breaths." And with this, the scale has begun to shift. The balance was no more.
My mind flashed to the recent memory of our client approaching us. The dark cloak she wore did little to conceal her status, the cloak itself being lined in dyed silk and did little to hide the clean and well embroidered dress she wore underneath. Nobles were such naïve yet cunning folks, so out of touch with the rest of the world, yet so interlocked with every plain both known and unknown to them. The long silvery locks of hair peeking from her hood was the dead giveaway to who she really was. So young, yet already so hungry for death to make quick work of the paradise plagued with gilded words.
"I wonder, what kind of world have you envisioned, and how will you achieve such dream?" Arms of shadows reached from behind me, ghostly cold hands snaking their way across my body like a seductress to her prey. A voice of a bygone time dancing in my ear.
(Why not join in their little game? Embrace the madness you seek.)
The clouds parted and the moon's light broke away the shadows of my past; cleansing away the poison that raged war in my severed mind. With dark eyes, I watched as the night sky now painted with the glowing red of embers. Even the stars appeared to be picked by the flames that engulfed the palace. Reaching out, I clenched my hand as if I were trying to take hold of the distant sight before me; trying to take hold of the moment to preserve as mine and mine alone to view whenever I wished. As if I could pluck the scene out from reality and place it into the pages of a book to be written; read; enjoy; be read over and over again.
However, time was but a fleeting chase for even our kind, and my entertainment had come to an end the moment a rough hand rested on my crown; tangling and ruffling my raven locks. "Enough slacking off, Flare." A low voice addressed me in a stern, yet gentle, tone. "We're done here. Let's head back."
Looking up to meet their gaze, my brown eyes flashed a glowing red, to which the browns that locked my gaze also flashed a golden hue in response. My joyous grin fell into a grumbling pout. "Finished already?" I whined. "But the fun has only just begun! Can't we stay a little longer, Griff?"
"That so called 'fun' is the end of our mission. I'd like to head back before Loan chews our heads off." Griffin rolled his eyes as they faded back to their dark brown colour and he gave a harsh nudge to my head. "Now let's get going, you pyromaniac." Leaving no more room for me to object, the tall male I call a partner walked off.
Always the all work and no play guy, I mentally grumbled before voicing my thoughts to jab at him, "you'll never get a lover with that boring attitude, you know!" Getting up, I finally started following after him to start to journey back to the base.
"Funny coming from a psychopath!" He called back over his shoulder, the mockery practically oozing from his stupid grin.
"It's 'sociopath', Griff, get it right!"
「may our wings carry us to the false Gods of salvation」
