#to rule

[dironpolson-blog]

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[anonarat]

Malia entered Shel’s throne room.

“And what exciting adventure do you have for me today, my puppet?” asked Shel, as the thing that was Malia walked towards her seductively. Something was off, Shel’s smile turned to a frown.

“What’s going on here?”

Malia’s smile grew far wider than that of any human, the teeth more jagged. Shel wasted no time and exerted the desire to bring Malia into her domain. The more power she poured in, the more was devoured and Malia’s grin grew closer.

“I am the Beast, who was Malia. Your arrogance has grown deliciously and I hunger.”

[anonarat]

I’ve started trying to do some daily drabbles. Some I’ll share, some I won’t.

This one is based on my NaNo from a few years back:

After the raid, the group was waiting. Tarim had not yet left the city to investigate so the group was waiting.

Shel had taken the opportunity to wander the streets of the merchant district, something small and yet it seemed an indulgent luxury. She had seen old, tired, begging faces lining the streets. For the first time, she was the one doing the ignoring instead of being ignored.

She took a breath of rusty air and turned to look at the hunter’s moon. It felt a rather fitting sight as she walked back to the Temple of the Wandering God.

[erbdust-orira-blog]

A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.

[teabags]

this is my oc, andrie! shes a fighter and a blacksmith, and she’s half dragonbourne! she’s the protagonist of my upcoming webcomic, “To Rule”. please feel free to ask her things and i’ll make a post with her reply! the comic is coming to @to-rule

[anonarat]

Epilogue - Misery & Happiness

 Everything was wrong. Her nightmares had persisted, grown worse even as she recalled what had happened in Avere. Every time she made a decision, it always seemed to be the wrong one.

 Those poor she had helped by granting them access to the nobles residences were still miserable, but so too were the former nobility. Stryx was still recovering from what she tried to do with the gold, both the giving and removing thereof. Now Shel had to ensure that the guards roamed the streets in great numbers just to dissuade any trouble.

 Despite it having been months, those hollow facsimiles she called her friends were just as empty as when she began. She had even considered destroying them as mockeries of who her friends had been, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that. It would just be like killing them again, and that wasn’t something Shel could bring herself to do.

 And so she was left feeling lonely and shiftless, uncertain what to do, with only mechanical being to parrot praise of herself. She didn’t even have a goal, she had achieved what she had thought she wanted, but now she wasn’t sure where to go. It seemed as though she were incompetent at ruling, incompetent at being a friend.

 Just as she had told herself, she was too quick to anger or fear, but she hadn’t learned. What nice things she had, she quickly bored of. There really wasn’t any point to her continued existence.

  ...But she could make there be. She could. She could change herself. There could be joyous catharsis at the punishments she had meted out. There could be joy in seeing the havoc her playing with gold had caused.

 More than that, the sickening deaths she had felt as she had ground up Avere’s army might be the greatest delicacy. The sorrow and weeping in Avere as she conquered and killed as necessary might be beautiful music to her ears. All she needed to do was change what she thought.

 She could enjoy the company of her friends once more, their transgressions forgotten. No, even better, she could remember how she would want them to be, and then change them to fit her whims.

 The fear that she knew her citizens felt towards her, that could just bring her exquisite pleasure, all with a touch of power.

 Closing her eyes, Shel let her power wash through herself, cleanse her.

 Make her happy.

 And she was happy.

[anonarat]

Chapter 27 - War

 The next two weeks went by without any major crises for Shel to deal with. Taking the opportunity provided, she made all the changes she wanted made, as well as hiring a well respected tailor to look towards making her some more formal wear. Mostly though, Shel used the time provided to think.

 The takeover of the nobility’s property had gone relatively smoothly, though by accounts hadn’t actually improved many people’s living situation a great. Furthermore, the sudden lack of gold within the queendom meant that certain luxuries were harder for anyone to buy. Finally, the chaos of the whole gold bar debacle was settling down, most people returning to their old jobs, though some who had left in particularly violent or expressive fashion found themselves struggling.

 Even so, Shel felt somewhat immobile in what she could do. Everything she had tried to do to make things better left everything pretty much the same, or worse. There were a number of actions she could take, but all of them might lead to disaster, and she had started to second guess herself.

 The situation with her created friends was equally deteriorating, with none of them showing signs of improvement, and Roo was actually worsening. The whole thing felt sort of sick to Shel, she was a supremely powerful being, yet she couldn’t fix everyone’s problems even though she should be able to.

 Then a messenger arrived from the border.

 “My lady,” said the messenger bowing, “I come bearing urgent news.”

 “Yes, what is it?” asked Shel, sat within one of her reclining rooms, alone for once.

 “The city state of Avere has invaded our lands.”

 Shel’s eyes widened and she was on her feet in an instant.

 “What? They dare?” questioned Shel to the messenger.

 “Yes, your majesty. It seems they have heard about our recent instability and mobilized a force of mercenaries to claim this land as theirs.”

 “How do you know this?”

 “I saw those forces marching across the border. Many different colours flying below the flag of Avere. I recognised a few as the symbols of mercenary companies.”

 “Damn,” muttered Shel, chewing her lip, considering what to do. But then, it was actually very straightforward. For the first time since she had given her order to strip the nobility of their rank, she knew what was the right course of action. It would be to defend her land. First though, she would determine why they had dreamed they could get away with such a thing.

 Taking ownership of their commander was straightforward, and only required a small amount of power. When she had that ownership, Shel ransacked his memories until she found the one most relevant to the current situation.

 “Captain Nassar, you are to lead your company into war against Stryx. You shall also be in command of six mercenary companies to aid in your conquest.”

 “As you command potentate. Though, might I enquire why we are making such a move? Stryx’s military is stronger than ours, even bolstered by mercenaries. What shall be the goals of our campaign?”

 The kindly old man smiled. Shel wanted to grind his bones to dust for the casual ease with which he had ordered the conquest of her lands.

 “We are making such a move because presently Stryx is in the middle of political and economic instability. Sources from within have indicated that the previous king was deposed, and the current ruler is incompetent. Better yet, there has been a massive swing in the amount of gold available within Stryx, so they should not be able to hire any mercenaries of their own. Finally, there is word of their own people rising up, incapacitating the guardsmen.”

 “Above all things, my captain, this should be a simple conquest. They are now just scattered cities without cohesion, or any wealth to bring them power. You should be able to crush them with ease.”

 ‘Crush us with ease?’ thought Shel, ‘I’ll show you crushing with ease.’

 Finding all the foreign parts that were daring to tread upon her soil, Shel opened the earth beneath them. Then, like a giant maw, chewed them up with boulder as her teeth. In a matter of instants, all the forces sent to make war upon Stryx were destroyed, but Shel still burned with rage at their arrogance.

 She would end Avere.

***

 Her first instinct was to take over Avere as she had Stryx, but pushed the thought from her mind for two reasons. The first was that it would be too easy on the citizenry of Avere. The second was that whilst she did have a great deal of power, she doubted she could extend her ownership across the whole world, leaving her vulnerable.

 Therefore, she needed something that would place everything near it under her ownership. Certainly such ongoing magical effects could be created with sufficient magic, just as she would always regenerate, even when she had no power.

 Perhaps a person? No. A thing would be better, harder to kill and it could act as her symbol. More than just something that claimed objects for her, it should be a warrior, a great warrior to bolster her forces. And beholden directly to her, so that none could suborn them.

 With her creation in mind, Shel went out onto the castle grounds, certain there would be enough space to create the hundred champions she intended.

 Each champion stood six feet tall, and was made from solid gold. Their arms and legs were humanoid, but Shel left them without the head they did not need. Whenever they were damaged, the gold would run back to where it had been taken from. They could create and change whatever weapon or shield they desired in both hands. These champions would have all of Roo’s combat knowledge, layered on top of Silas’ skill with knives and her own mastery of swordsmanship.

 They would be unfeeling and indefatigable. Everything inanimate nearby was claimed as hers, the power to include living things was a little too costly. Shel added a hardness to their skins, making it difficult for anyone to even cut off a part. As for senses, despite the lack of eyes, they would see, and without ears, they would still hear. Finally she linked them all directly to herself.

 She would be able to see what her champions saw, and feel what they could feel whenever she wished without power. Equally, she could give all of them absolute directives without the need to spend power, either individually or to the whole. They were wonderful, they were perfect, they were hers. That was her last thought, as once more an emptiness within her slammed to a close.

***

 “Greetings my loyal soldiers,” said Shel addressing her army. She still felt nervous about addressing such a large crowd, but with her champions at her back she had nothing to fear.

 “As you are likely unaware, you should know that Avere dared to cross into the lands of Stryx less than three days ago. I, in my mighty power destroyed all their forces.” A great cheer went up.

 “But I shall not leave it there. They deserve to be punished heartily for their sin. So you all shall march on Avere, and break them. My champions shall join you in this conquest. Enslave any who do not resist and kill the rest. Let my champions walk their streets and let them become part of my glorious queendom!”

 There was a silence then. Slavery was unheard of in the modern world, with only nobility being captured and ransomed. The rest were simply made into subjects. In her ignorance, Shel did not know this, but wanted to ensure that those people who remained belonged to her.

 “Now, march!” Shel gave the order and observed as her three companies present departed the city, along with her champions. Naturally she had given such orders to the other commanders within Stryx, and already they should be advancing forth from their own cities to join with her forces.

***

 The war was bloody and brief. Avere had not stood a chance, especially once one of Shel’s champions neared the gate. It’s presence claiming the gate for Shel, allowing her to fling it open.