B9 - Chapter 26: Arkanheim I

The palace gates swung open.

For a moment, there was nothing. Then, the faint echo of footsteps drifted from somewhere deep within the corridor, followed by the appearance of a distant silhouette.

Viola's eyes widened in shock the moment she saw the figure. In all her life, she had only ever heard stories of this man.

Augustus Geistreich.

The number of people she knew who had actually met him could probably be counted on two hands. This was not a figure you met, but one you only ever talked about. But today, the mysterious ruler of Arkanheim had decided to step forward and reveal himself before his citizens.

His face was shrouded in darkness as he walked down the long corridor, but she could already make out his gleaming blond hair and tall stature. With every step he drew closer, Viola felt her breathing grow quieter. The plaza seemed to match her, as even the faint murmurs disappeared.

Despite the massive crowd, one could have heard a pin drop as they waited for the arrival of the Emperor.

Step. Step. Step.

Finally, the man emerged through the wide-open gates... and paused.

The light of day seemed to dance across his skin, making him appear to glow. For a moment, he simply stood there, surveying the scene with a neutral expression.

Viola felt her throat go dry as his gaze drew close. For a moment, his eyes rested on the figure of her grandfather beside her. Then, they moved past him... onto her.

The Emperor was looking directly at her.

Viola was certain of it because that was the exact moment she glanced up. She didn't know what had possessed her to make such a foolish choice, only that she had.

Their eyes met.

Blue, unending eyes looked directly at her, into her, through her. At once, every hair on her body stood on end, as if she had been struck by a shock spell. It felt as though she had been stripped naked and dropped into a lake of ice water.

The world ceased to exist.

There was only her—her weak, vulnerable self—and those two eternal eyes looking at her. She was trapped. Trapped in this icy world with a being so far above her that even the thought of resisting never occurred to her.

This man, this emperor, could do whatever he wanted, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. He was the ultimate being. The ultimate Mage. The ultimate ruler of all that was...

His eyes left her, and Viola broke out in a cold sweat, her breathing rough and heavy. She felt like she was freezing to death. Her eyes darted around wildly. She felt as if she had just survived a life-and-death struggle.

She had to... needed to...

A warm hand settled on her shoulder. Not to restrain her, but to steady her. Viola felt a bit of warmth return through that touch. And with that warmth, a measure of calm returned as well. Enough for her to realize where she was and who stood beside her.

It was her Grandfather, his hand now resting on her shoulder. Gradually, her memories returned. She remembered where she was, who she was, and what had happened.

She remained kneeling where she was, focusing on nothing but the sound of her breathing. She didn't look up again. She didn't dare to.

Yet no more than a few seconds could have passed before the hush that had fallen over the venue suddenly broke. First came a single man clapping his hands, then a second and a third, followed by a rising cheer that seemed to consume the earth and sky.

Stomping. Yelling. Cheering. Roaring.

"ARKANHEIM! ARKANHEIM! ARKANHEIM!"

It was a celebration so momentous that it became difficult to hear her own thoughts.

She could have sworn she had been trapped for hours in that strange state, but from what she could tell, no time at all had passed while the Emperor looked at her. His gaze hadn't even lingered on her as it had on her Grandfather.

And yet, she felt utterly incapable of standing, let alone meeting his eyes again.

The hand on her shoulder began to pull her, gently but firmly. Viola realized that everyone beside her had long since risen. She was the only one still kneeling. Under her Grandfather's urging, she also stood.

She couldn't bring herself to cheer, but she began to clap along, if for no other reason than not wanting to be the odd one out.

Then, just as the cheering reached a crescendo, it suddenly cut off. Viola didn't dare check, but she was certain the Emperor must have given some sort of signal to silence them.

It might as well have been a spell, judging by how effective it was. The plaza went from roaring chaos to deathly stillness in no more than a breath. Even the people several streets away had fallen silent at the same time.

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Viola heard the sound of her own still-ragged breathing as she waited for the Emperor to speak.

What would he say? What would his words be like? Would they be just as domineering as his gaze?

She wasn't sure she could endure it if they were.

"When I was a child..."

The voice was soft, warm, almost feeble, and seemed to come from right beside her ear. Viola nearly looked up, so great was her shock. This was clearly the Emperor speaking, yet it sounded as if he were standing right next to her, speaking only to her.

"When I was a child, the world was in chaos."

Viola closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. Unexpectedly, instead of darkness, vivid images appeared before her, clearer than even her most realistic dreams.

"Fire and Water consumed each other, and the Earth was at war with the Sky."

Before her eyes, a scene of endless battle unfolded.

Mages fought each other to the death. The seas burned, fields flooded, mountains collapsed, and endless storms plagued the land.

"All I could do was suffer. It was all anyone could do."

The images that followed were not of powerful Mages doing battle, but of the people. Regular people. Villages disappeared overnight. Fields were ravaged. Fleeing monster hordes ran rampant.

Even Viola, who had seen much during the Rukia campaign, found it difficult to watch these scenes. How harsh must those times have been? These poor people went to bed every night knowing they might never wake again, or that they might find everything they possessed destroyed by morning.

"We rose to stop that cycle."

Viola saw a secret meeting. Four people knelt before her.

"Feuerkranz. Windtänzer. Steiner. Wellenrufer."

Her eyes opened at those words, and she dared to glance at the stage, where the four Patriarchs—including her father—now knelt before the Emperor. The scene overlapped with the one she had just witnessed.

She closed her eyes again and found the four founders kneeling before her once more, just as their successors did today in the real world.

"Fire and Water and Earth and Wind. All had to surrender before us, for we were neither Fire nor Wind nor Water nor Earth, but all of them."

The scene shifted to reveal a grand army combining all four elements. The raging sea could not contain them, the storms could not stop them, the earth posed no hindrance, and the fire began to serve them.

"And from the ashes of that never-ending war, a new power rose..."

Viola was surprised by how eager she felt to hear him say the name. There was a pride there, an anticipation she had not known she possessed.

"Arkanheim..."

A shudder ran through her.

"A home for all Mages. A land in which the elements are made to serve the people, not oppress them."

The scenes before her eyes began to change. Instead of images of war and famine, they showed the land she knew today.

The capital city, Magusburg, in all its abundance and glory.

The flying city of Windspitz came next, towering above the highest peaks and surrounded by endless clouds. Even though Viola had grown up there, she felt a strange sense of pride at seeing her home presented in this way. Every nook and cranny seemed twice as marvelous as she remembered.

Next, she saw the sunken city of Meeresgrund, a marvel of Magic and engineering no less grand than her own home. Then came Flammenland, with its endless fires shining in all the colors of the rainbow. Lastly, the walking mountain of Erdrise appeared before her eyes, a marvel even the crafty dwarves had openly admired.

"I remember the day as if it were yesterday," Augustus continued. "The day I became Emperor."

Viola saw it then: a grandly decorated hall filled to the brim with guests. Their smiles were so bright they almost blinded her. ℴℴ𝘮

"They all came, then, to congratulate me."

A woman stepped forward first. Her hair was a radiant blonde, like the sun, and her golden eyes seemed capable of illuminating the darkness. Viola recognized her instantly from the many portraits she had seen. This was Seras Luminas, High Lord of Equinox.

"Seras called me the hope of the continent."

A man appeared next. His hair was the color of blood, and he had the eyes to match. This, too, was a familiar figure: the King of Valour.

"Vanis called me the most valiant young man he had ever seen."

Another woman appeared, one everyone on the continent would recognize. It was the eternal witch, Aurelia Aeternexus Thorsten.

"Aurelia called me a promising seedling."

One by one, the rulers of the continent appeared before Viola's eyes. She even saw the now-missing Queen of Rukia show up. Not a single one of them had a bad word to say. They appeared truly delighted as they offered their well wishes to the young Emperor.

"But even then, I could tell what they were truly thinking..."

Viola could hear it too: hushed words whispered to her like treasured secrets. They were the true thoughts hidden behind those smiling faces.

"...I hope the pup can last for at least a decade."

"...I should use this brief reprieve before those madmen begin fighting again."

"...If only he could last a few years longer, it might be enough to finish my preparations."

Contrary to what their smiling faces suggested, their minds were full of calculations. Not a single one of the guests believed Augustus would actually last. They had already begun counting down the days until his new empire fractured and the four elements began to rampage once more.

"They saw me—us—as a convenient reprieve from the endless war. Their goodwill was endless precisely because they never expected us to last."

There was a moment of silence.

"But we did last," the Emperor said.

Viola watched the rise of the Empire unfold before her eyes. Decades passed in seconds.

The once-devastated landscapes began to flourish. The elements were brought to heel, and the monsters were driven from the land. It was a time of peace and stability. A time now known as the Golden Age of Arkanheim.

"And with every decade we endured, the attitudes of our neighbors began to change. From jubilant, they became curious, and from curious, they turned wary. It wasn't long before these forces, once so eager for peace, began to turn hostile."

Viola felt her fist clench. Why did people have to be like this? So eager for conflict, so unwilling to see another prosper?

"The moment they saw us rise above them, their sentiment changed completely. That emotion eventually spilled over into what is now known as the Massacre of Grünstadt."

Viola saw the images before her. The moment the surrounding powers decided that the Empire had become a serious threat to them. The first time foreign armies invaded the young Empire of Arkanheim—a land that had never known nor prepared for an outside invasion.

The images were too horrendous to describe.

"I learned a lesson that day. One I carved into my very heart."

Viola squeezed her eyes shut, but she was unable to dispel the images.

"There can be no peace without strength. No negotiation without power."

Viola's breath hitched. The words affected her more than she cared to admit.

"And with those lessons came a promise."

The world seemed to hold its breath as it waited for Augustus's next words.

"Never again will we be powerless...

"Never again will we allow others to hold our fate in their hands...

"Never again!"

The words were followed by a moment of silence, which was then shattered by a cheer so deafening that the earlier celebration seemed like mild applause by comparison. Even Viola felt her blood begin to boil.

The powerful words, combined with the images she had witnessed, filled her with a surge of righteous fury that threatened to burn her if she tried to suppress it.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she had joined the cheering, yelling until her throat went dry.