Eternal
The Emperor might decide to reassign you again if you return and you don’t want that now that you’re on a winning momentum. You’re going to push forward and keep the gnolls on the run.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean you did receive a message about returning to see the Emperor. I mean I know you’re in good with the man himself, but you’ve already technically disobeyed once, might be a good idea to explain things to him now.” Alison remarks.
“Our work isn’t finished yet, and I know the Emperor. He’s overprotective of me sometimes and I can’t allow that factor to get in the way of victory. I can’t afford to possibly get transferred now.”
“Oh you saying I couldn’t complete the job without you around?” Alison remarks. You’re about to defend what you meant when she smiles and gives you a gentle push to indicate she was joking and in usual fashion you didn’t catch it immediately.
“Of course I’d rather have him think I didn’t get the message at all rather than just ignoring it.” You remark.
“Well that might work to your advantage, but you already got it so what are you going to do?”
“This.” You say and tear up the letter, then you head in the direction that the messenger headed.
A few minutes later you return to Alison who notices fresh blood stains on your boots.
“Uh…I’m guessing there was no other way?” Alison asks.
“Not really. Besides, it’s a war zone, messengers are bound to get killed.”
“You do know when you don’t return another one will get sent right?”
“I know. And that’ll be unfortunate as well.”
“Okay then…yikes…” Alison quietly says not wishing to dwell on the matter any further.
You continue to make your push on the gnolls which goes fairly well. The gnolls begin to put up more of a challenge the closer you get to completely kicking them out of Felkan territory, but as you continue to liberate Felkan towns the more basic support you get to supply your troops.
In the meantime you get at least three more messengers which you dispatch in an effort to lose the orders that are demanding that your return. Alison begins to get nervous for you and on a couple of occasions urges that maybe you should report to the Emperor, but you’re still determined to gain your complete victory over the gnolls.
“Come on, we’ve got these mongrel bastards on the run!” you shout as you plunge your sword through another gnoll.
You take a brief moment to survey the closest threat, but there aren’t any more in sight. The battle isn’t quite over yet, but it surely is another victory. You turn around and see Alison in the distance and wave her over.
The closer she gets the more you think about how close you’re starting to get to her, or at least your feelings for her are stronger than they’ve been before. You aren’t sure if its what you’d call love and you’re not even sure if she feels the exact same way, but you do enjoy your time together.
And then suddenly the image of her approaching you disappears along with current surroundings.
You aren’t on the battlefield anymore. You aren’t even outside anymore. You’re in a very familiar place. You’re in the Emperor’s chambers and this time you haven’t been ordered here. You’ve been forcibly teleported, an ability you weren’t aware the Emperor had, but then you shouldn’t be surprised, he is the Emperor after all.
You hear footsteps walk into the room and see him. He doesn’t look happy. He doesn’t even look angry, but he does look distant. His eyes are looking right through you.
You say nothing, because you know why you’re here. Making an excuse would do you no good. You only hope that the Emperor will show you mercy.
He doesn’t.
Suddenly you feel a small pain in your chest, then that pain becomes worse and starts to spread across your body. Within a few minutes you’ve collapsed on the floor writhing in agony. You don’t cry out because you’re having trouble catching your breath. It feels like you’re on fire while being slowly crushed as someone is shoving long needles into your head and body. You’ve experienced some of the worst pain while under Mistresses’ tutelage and none of that is coming close to what you’re feeling right now. Your mental conditioning to ignore pain isn’t working either. Obviously whatever the Emperor is doing to you is impeding that normally useful ability.
As you start to lose consciousness, the pain suddenly disappears as quickly as it came. You manage to sit up in time to see the Emperor finally walking over to you.
“You know what grieves me the most my son? Its not that you disobeyed my orders, but its that you repeatedly ignored my requests for you to appear before me to explain why you disobeyed them in the first place.”
“I…I…” you start to say, but the Emperor waves a hand and you feel that pain again.
“No. I don’t want to hear it now. You had your chance. You had several chances. You may be my son, but nobody is above my orders. Nobody. Now you have to suffer the consequences like anyone else. I take no pleasure in this.”
The pain spreads all over your body again and this time three times worse. You twitch and convulse on the floor as the Emperor looks on at you.
Those last moments you feel of disappointing him are actually worse than the pain you experience before you die. As several vessels in your brain burst at the same time you see the Emperor shed a single tear before your passing.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean you did receive a message about returning to see the Emperor. I mean I know you’re in good with the man himself, but you’ve already technically disobeyed once, might be a good idea to explain things to him now.” Alison remarks.
“Our work isn’t finished yet, and I know the Emperor. He’s overprotective of me sometimes and I can’t allow that factor to get in the way of victory. I can’t afford to possibly get transferred now.”
“Oh you saying I couldn’t complete the job without you around?” Alison remarks. You’re about to defend what you meant when she smiles and gives you a gentle push to indicate she was joking and in usual fashion you didn’t catch it immediately.
“Of course I’d rather have him think I didn’t get the message at all rather than just ignoring it.” You remark.
“Well that might work to your advantage, but you already got it so what are you going to do?”
“This.” You say and tear up the letter, then you head in the direction that the messenger headed.
A few minutes later you return to Alison who notices fresh blood stains on your boots.
“Uh…I’m guessing there was no other way?” Alison asks.
“Not really. Besides, it’s a war zone, messengers are bound to get killed.”
“You do know when you don’t return another one will get sent right?”
“I know. And that’ll be unfortunate as well.”
“Okay then…yikes…” Alison quietly says not wishing to dwell on the matter any further.
You continue to make your push on the gnolls which goes fairly well. The gnolls begin to put up more of a challenge the closer you get to completely kicking them out of Felkan territory, but as you continue to liberate Felkan towns the more basic support you get to supply your troops.
In the meantime you get at least three more messengers which you dispatch in an effort to lose the orders that are demanding that your return. Alison begins to get nervous for you and on a couple of occasions urges that maybe you should report to the Emperor, but you’re still determined to gain your complete victory over the gnolls.
“Come on, we’ve got these mongrel bastards on the run!” you shout as you plunge your sword through another gnoll.
You take a brief moment to survey the closest threat, but there aren’t any more in sight. The battle isn’t quite over yet, but it surely is another victory. You turn around and see Alison in the distance and wave her over.
The closer she gets the more you think about how close you’re starting to get to her, or at least your feelings for her are stronger than they’ve been before. You aren’t sure if its what you’d call love and you’re not even sure if she feels the exact same way, but you do enjoy your time together.
And then suddenly the image of her approaching you disappears along with current surroundings.
You aren’t on the battlefield anymore. You aren’t even outside anymore. You’re in a very familiar place. You’re in the Emperor’s chambers and this time you haven’t been ordered here. You’ve been forcibly teleported, an ability you weren’t aware the Emperor had, but then you shouldn’t be surprised, he is the Emperor after all.
You hear footsteps walk into the room and see him. He doesn’t look happy. He doesn’t even look angry, but he does look distant. His eyes are looking right through you.
You say nothing, because you know why you’re here. Making an excuse would do you no good. You only hope that the Emperor will show you mercy.
He doesn’t.
Suddenly you feel a small pain in your chest, then that pain becomes worse and starts to spread across your body. Within a few minutes you’ve collapsed on the floor writhing in agony. You don’t cry out because you’re having trouble catching your breath. It feels like you’re on fire while being slowly crushed as someone is shoving long needles into your head and body. You’ve experienced some of the worst pain while under Mistresses’ tutelage and none of that is coming close to what you’re feeling right now. Your mental conditioning to ignore pain isn’t working either. Obviously whatever the Emperor is doing to you is impeding that normally useful ability.
As you start to lose consciousness, the pain suddenly disappears as quickly as it came. You manage to sit up in time to see the Emperor finally walking over to you.
“You know what grieves me the most my son? Its not that you disobeyed my orders, but its that you repeatedly ignored my requests for you to appear before me to explain why you disobeyed them in the first place.”
“I…I…” you start to say, but the Emperor waves a hand and you feel that pain again.
“No. I don’t want to hear it now. You had your chance. You had several chances. You may be my son, but nobody is above my orders. Nobody. Now you have to suffer the consequences like anyone else. I take no pleasure in this.”
The pain spreads all over your body again and this time three times worse. You twitch and convulse on the floor as the Emperor looks on at you.
Those last moments you feel of disappointing him are actually worse than the pain you experience before you die. As several vessels in your brain burst at the same time you see the Emperor shed a single tear before your passing.
