Eternal
You get on your horse and make your way to the Empire capital.
You’re not doing it, plain and simple. The Emperor can deal with you as he sees fit, but you are not going to help Mistress for any reason. You made the attempt and it resulted in trickery again.
Besides, why the hell should you follow every little menial task? You’ve been instrumental in keeping the damn Empire together; you shouldn’t be subjugated to such indignities! Jacob just told you the Emperor is sick, well he better watch it if he wants to stick around long enough to get better.
You can’t believe you just thought such a thing. What the hell is wrong with you? The thoughts and acts of disobedience are bad enough, but to actually consider…
You can’t even think it again. Something must be seriously wrong with your mind. Maybe Mistress did something more to you. Maybe she did some sort of magic spell to your head to make you harbor thoughts of dissension. At least you hope that’s case, because if she didn’t then you’d have to come to grips that you thought about killing the Emperor all on your own. Whatever the reason, you’ll be keeping that one to yourself.
When you get to the Emperor’s chambers you hear him call for you immediately. Some coughing immediately follows his voice. You’ve definitely never heard him do that before
“There you are my son, I’m glad to see you. It’s been so long since we’ve talked face to face.” He says as he sits hunched over a desk. He almost looks like he’s struggling to prop himself up. Maybe he is as sick as Jacob says. He’s as pale as Jacob said and his eyes are starting to have a sunken in looking appearance. What used to look like a man in his fifties now looks more like a man in his seventies. In fact he almost looks a bit more like how you thought he was going to when you first met him.
You know he’s powerful. Certainly more powerful than you, but he looks so much frailer now. It makes you ashamed that you had thoughts about killing him; especially after all he’s done for you.
“Emperor! I was told you were sick, but I didn’t believe it! How?”
“Sick? (Cough cough) Well I suppose that’s one way of putting it. I’m guessing Jacob told you I was practically on my death bed or something. He still worries too much and you shouldn’t either. I’m not sick, I’m…well its complicated, but suffice to say, I’m not dying anytime soon. Trust me on that one. Now I’d (Cough cough) like a report on the Felkans. Have we finally destroyed them once and for all?”
“Yes, the capital has been taken and is in the process of being destroyed. The battle mages will be casting defilement spells to make sure nothing ever grows there again. The ruling royals from what we can tell all committed mass suicide.”
“Figures. But as long as everyone’s dead, it’s still good. So what about gnomes? Any in the capital?”
“None. I can only guess we got all of them at Gnome’s Home.”
“One can (cough cough) only hope. So have they all been sentenced to oblivion yet?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t been Gnome’s Home.”
“You haven’t? I thought you got here pretty quickly. Surely Jacob told you that I wanted you to go there.”
“Yes, he told me I was to go there to assist and I know that could only mean assisting Mistress with the destruction of gnome souls. It was with great regret that I disobeyed this order, but I simply cannot help that woman again, if ever. The last time I made the attempt was two years ago when I was assisting her at Gnome’s Home and there was some…unpleasantness.”
“Was there now? I hadn’t heard about this and I spoke to her about leaving you alone, as you well know. So what exactly happened? She try to kill you?”
“No, she (sigh) made unwanted advances on me. I turned her down, and later when I went back to my camp she magically disguised herself as Alison and slept with me that way. I of course didn’t now until afterwards.”
“”Is that all? Here I was thinking it was something serious.” the Emperor replies in a bored tone followed by more coughing. “However, I can see that this is something that was very serious to you so I will of course dismiss your transgression of not following orders…again. In the future I will also make sure that you and her are never to work together under any circumstances. I guess my attempt at being peacemaker didn’t work out. (cough cough) Doesn’t matter anyway, but tell me what are you exactly mad concerning that situation that occurred? I get the impression it’s more than just Mistress fucking with you as usual.”
He’s right. The fact that Mistress tricked you isn’t what bothered you the most; it’s the fact that you unwittingly betrayed Alison. The fact that Mistress cloaked herself as someone you have feelings for…no someone you LOVE to trick you just made it all the worse. You tell the Emperor as much, he nods in between another coughing fit.
“So, you do love this Alison girl then? It’s not just lust or perhaps a fleeting fancy. You actually love her?” the Emperor asks.
“I do.”
“And this girl, she feels the same way?”
“I believe she does.”
“Hmm, you better be sure son.”
“Yes, I know she does.”
“I see… well do you want some advice?”
“From you, of course.”
“ (cough cough) Shit. (cough) Okay, here it is then, you’ll save yourself some pain if you end this relationship altogether. Now just listen. I know you’re an intelligent person and an excellent strategist in the matters of war, but on the matters of love you’re…and I don’t mean this as an insult…but you’re a little inexperienced. It’s okay though, even after several centuries I still haven’t figured it all out yet. But I still know more than you and I’m telling you that you’ll be better off not getting deeply involved with such things. Why do you think I’ve never had an Empress by my side? It complicates things to a whole new level and that’s complications YOU don’t need.”
You’re speechless for a moment. You can’t think of anything to say except…
“Is this an order?”
“An order? No, I’d never give such an order concerning matters of the heart; it is merely advice. You may do as you wish. In fact you may do as you wish for quite some time. I’m giving you some down time in light of our glorious victory over the Felkans. We’ll of course be having some celebrations going on here in the capital so if you get the chance you should probably (cough cough) join in the (cough cough) festivities. When you’re needed to return to duty, I’ll send for you as usual. I also want you to know, I’m proud of you son and for all you’ve done for the Empire and know you’ll continue to serve the Empire loyally (cough cough) and with dedication in the future.”
The Emperor at this point slowly gets up and heads off towards his bedroom area coughing the whole time. You almost ask him if he needs help, but you’d rather not insult him. Besides you’re too busy pondering his advice to you about Alison.
Even you thought about how being in a relationship with Alison put you in a position to fall for Mistress’ trickery. You think about Roldan and how he’s married and it doesn’t seem to affect his judgment, but it’s different for him. He’s married to another Eternal and he doesn’t have the responsibilities you have.
But as they say, the heart wants what the heart wants and you’ve wanted to spend time with Alison ever since you were split up from her. And now that this war is finally over you have the time to do it. Should you break up with her just because of some potential problems in the future with Mistress or anything else?
You’re not doing it, plain and simple. The Emperor can deal with you as he sees fit, but you are not going to help Mistress for any reason. You made the attempt and it resulted in trickery again.
Besides, why the hell should you follow every little menial task? You’ve been instrumental in keeping the damn Empire together; you shouldn’t be subjugated to such indignities! Jacob just told you the Emperor is sick, well he better watch it if he wants to stick around long enough to get better.
You can’t believe you just thought such a thing. What the hell is wrong with you? The thoughts and acts of disobedience are bad enough, but to actually consider…
You can’t even think it again. Something must be seriously wrong with your mind. Maybe Mistress did something more to you. Maybe she did some sort of magic spell to your head to make you harbor thoughts of dissension. At least you hope that’s case, because if she didn’t then you’d have to come to grips that you thought about killing the Emperor all on your own. Whatever the reason, you’ll be keeping that one to yourself.
When you get to the Emperor’s chambers you hear him call for you immediately. Some coughing immediately follows his voice. You’ve definitely never heard him do that before
“There you are my son, I’m glad to see you. It’s been so long since we’ve talked face to face.” He says as he sits hunched over a desk. He almost looks like he’s struggling to prop himself up. Maybe he is as sick as Jacob says. He’s as pale as Jacob said and his eyes are starting to have a sunken in looking appearance. What used to look like a man in his fifties now looks more like a man in his seventies. In fact he almost looks a bit more like how you thought he was going to when you first met him.
You know he’s powerful. Certainly more powerful than you, but he looks so much frailer now. It makes you ashamed that you had thoughts about killing him; especially after all he’s done for you.
“Emperor! I was told you were sick, but I didn’t believe it! How?”
“Sick? (Cough cough) Well I suppose that’s one way of putting it. I’m guessing Jacob told you I was practically on my death bed or something. He still worries too much and you shouldn’t either. I’m not sick, I’m…well its complicated, but suffice to say, I’m not dying anytime soon. Trust me on that one. Now I’d (Cough cough) like a report on the Felkans. Have we finally destroyed them once and for all?”
“Yes, the capital has been taken and is in the process of being destroyed. The battle mages will be casting defilement spells to make sure nothing ever grows there again. The ruling royals from what we can tell all committed mass suicide.”
“Figures. But as long as everyone’s dead, it’s still good. So what about gnomes? Any in the capital?”
“None. I can only guess we got all of them at Gnome’s Home.”
“One can (cough cough) only hope. So have they all been sentenced to oblivion yet?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t been Gnome’s Home.”
“You haven’t? I thought you got here pretty quickly. Surely Jacob told you that I wanted you to go there.”
“Yes, he told me I was to go there to assist and I know that could only mean assisting Mistress with the destruction of gnome souls. It was with great regret that I disobeyed this order, but I simply cannot help that woman again, if ever. The last time I made the attempt was two years ago when I was assisting her at Gnome’s Home and there was some…unpleasantness.”
“Was there now? I hadn’t heard about this and I spoke to her about leaving you alone, as you well know. So what exactly happened? She try to kill you?”
“No, she (sigh) made unwanted advances on me. I turned her down, and later when I went back to my camp she magically disguised herself as Alison and slept with me that way. I of course didn’t now until afterwards.”
“”Is that all? Here I was thinking it was something serious.” the Emperor replies in a bored tone followed by more coughing. “However, I can see that this is something that was very serious to you so I will of course dismiss your transgression of not following orders…again. In the future I will also make sure that you and her are never to work together under any circumstances. I guess my attempt at being peacemaker didn’t work out. (cough cough) Doesn’t matter anyway, but tell me what are you exactly mad concerning that situation that occurred? I get the impression it’s more than just Mistress fucking with you as usual.”
He’s right. The fact that Mistress tricked you isn’t what bothered you the most; it’s the fact that you unwittingly betrayed Alison. The fact that Mistress cloaked herself as someone you have feelings for…no someone you LOVE to trick you just made it all the worse. You tell the Emperor as much, he nods in between another coughing fit.
“So, you do love this Alison girl then? It’s not just lust or perhaps a fleeting fancy. You actually love her?” the Emperor asks.
“I do.”
“And this girl, she feels the same way?”
“I believe she does.”
“Hmm, you better be sure son.”
“Yes, I know she does.”
“I see… well do you want some advice?”
“From you, of course.”
“ (cough cough) Shit. (cough) Okay, here it is then, you’ll save yourself some pain if you end this relationship altogether. Now just listen. I know you’re an intelligent person and an excellent strategist in the matters of war, but on the matters of love you’re…and I don’t mean this as an insult…but you’re a little inexperienced. It’s okay though, even after several centuries I still haven’t figured it all out yet. But I still know more than you and I’m telling you that you’ll be better off not getting deeply involved with such things. Why do you think I’ve never had an Empress by my side? It complicates things to a whole new level and that’s complications YOU don’t need.”
You’re speechless for a moment. You can’t think of anything to say except…
“Is this an order?”
“An order? No, I’d never give such an order concerning matters of the heart; it is merely advice. You may do as you wish. In fact you may do as you wish for quite some time. I’m giving you some down time in light of our glorious victory over the Felkans. We’ll of course be having some celebrations going on here in the capital so if you get the chance you should probably (cough cough) join in the (cough cough) festivities. When you’re needed to return to duty, I’ll send for you as usual. I also want you to know, I’m proud of you son and for all you’ve done for the Empire and know you’ll continue to serve the Empire loyally (cough cough) and with dedication in the future.”
The Emperor at this point slowly gets up and heads off towards his bedroom area coughing the whole time. You almost ask him if he needs help, but you’d rather not insult him. Besides you’re too busy pondering his advice to you about Alison.
Even you thought about how being in a relationship with Alison put you in a position to fall for Mistress’ trickery. You think about Roldan and how he’s married and it doesn’t seem to affect his judgment, but it’s different for him. He’s married to another Eternal and he doesn’t have the responsibilities you have.
But as they say, the heart wants what the heart wants and you’ve wanted to spend time with Alison ever since you were split up from her. And now that this war is finally over you have the time to do it. Should you break up with her just because of some potential problems in the future with Mistress or anything else?