The city had never looked so beautiful.
Or so fragile.
The Hydrangea Festival's third night had transformed Aethelberg into a sea of white. Across the sprawling capital, thousands upon thousands of citizens had poured out into the streets, turning the night into a sweeping river of pale ghost-lights.
Merchants closed their shops.
Fishermen left their boats.
Artisans abandoned their workshops.
Families carried children upon their shoulders.
The elderly walked slowly beside younger relatives.
Officials came without their usual displays of wealth.
Soldiers stood among civilians.
Priests moved through the crowd.
They came dressed entirely in stark, somber white—the traditional hue of mourning and unyielding faith. The color had become more than tradition.
It was solidarity.
A declaration that despite everything that had happened...
They were still here.
They had lost friends.
Homes.
Family.
Money.
Security.
Some had lost faith itself under the hardships of recent times.
Yet they had come, clinging to the fragile embers of hope. Even when the world seemed to be against them, they prayed to whatever gods might still be listening, begging for mercy, for bread, for a tomorrow.
Each person carried with them a paper lantern and a candle. The candle's flame was meant to symbolize their resolve.
At the head of the massive procession marched the Church, a stark reminder of divine authority amid human suffering. West Cardinal Ljudevit led the endless sea of humanity. He wore white and gold vestments on his blue robes, embroidered with the Sigil of the Sacred Orthodox Church, his heavy silver-plated staff striking the cobblestones in slow, metronomic rhythm. With every step, he swung a ornate bronze thurible, sending thick clouds of sweet, heavy incense billowing into the night sky to mingle with the smoke of thousands of handheld candles.
Frankincense.
Myrrh.
Herbs.
The scent drifted through the streets.
Accompanying him on either side were the twenty archbishops that served as the heads of the various orders acting as the alter servers for this mass.
Behind him, the faithful followed.
They sang hymns—old songs of hope and redemption, of light triumphing over darkness. Their voices rose and fell in waves, echoing off the stone buildings, filling the streets with a melody that was both mournful and defiant.
The procession wound through the city like a river of light, not only passing by the damaged buildings, past the scorch marks from the Revolutionary's attack, past the places where blood had been spilled, but also past buildings that were empty as the people who earned a living through them could no longer work in them. Past structures that were crumbling because the state of the nation put so much burden on the people. Past houses that could were no longer homes.
The people did not look away from the destruction. They acknowledged it. They carried their candles past it, a silent promise that they would not be broken.
Elias walked among them. He trudged along with the posture of a man carrying the weight of a dying planet. He was bone-deep exhausted, nursing a lingering irritation from the absolute circus of the afternoon banquet. He would have preferred to lock his doors, pull a blanket over his head, and sleep for a week. But of course, he didn't have Jamie's permission and she dragged him out into the night against his will.
Beside him, Jamie practically bounced, entirely captivated by the haunting beauty of the glowing streets, her eyes wide as she drank in the sea of lights. Elias sighed.
"This was a mistake."
Jamie looked at him.
"What was?"
"Coming."
"You said that an hour ago."
"I want to go home."
"I wont let you."
Elias groaned.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
Raileigh smiled faintly.
"If you are well enough to complain, you'll survive."
As they skirted the edge of the grand plaza, Elias spotted a familiar grouping in the crowd. Standing away from the noble procession, his father, Alaric Dukker, stood with quiet dignity, Gyan following a few steps behind him with her hands placed infront of her. Beside him were the Lords Heidi and Genji, their respective aides—Heidi's sharp-eyed male aide and Genji's composed female counterpart trailing just behind their masters.
The three aides were murmuring amongst themselves. Reading their intent, he could see that the group was enjoying whatever they were talking about. Still, Elias blinked in genuine surprise, noting how Gyan—the usually taciturn, ice-cold aide—seemed to be as she actually socialized, trading words with the others. He wouldn't have pegged her for the mingling type.
Jamie wanted to say something to him then noticed he was looking elsewhere. Following is gaze, she caught sight of Gyan and Heidi's aide, Ensu, and a sharp, mischievous grin split her face. She spun around, her gaze snapping to Raileigh.
"What's bringing you down so much, Rai?" she asked, poking his shoulder.
Elias glanced at him. The twelfth prince, usually a fountain of eccentric charisma and irrepressible plotting, was uncharacteristically quiet, wrapped in a heavy, melancholic stillness that felt entirely alien to him.
Raileigh glanced at her, offering a weak, ghost of a smile.
"It's nothing."
"Liar," Jamie said flatly. "Your moody intent is assaulting my senses. And Ellie's too, right?"
Elias nodded. Raileigh just sighed.
"You two are strange. I still find it hard to understand how you can sense peoples emotions without a Trait or artifact that lets you do so."
"Intent, not necessarily emotions." Jamie corrected.
"I don't see how that makes it any easier for me to understand." Raileigh said with a shrug.
"I'm fine. Really."
"Why are you being a liar?"
Raileigh laughed—a soft, sad sound. "I suppose I am."
They were walking fast and skirting through buildings and alleys. By this time, they reached the serene, open stretch of the southern beach, arriving well ahead of the massive crowds. The shore was quiet, washed in the pale, ethereal illumination of the stars and the distant, flickering glow of the city behind them. The sand stretched out smooth and dark, kissed by the gentle, rhythmic wash of the waves.
Raileigh kept walking and stopped at the water's edge, staring out into the vast, ink-black horizon. A long, shuddering breath escaped him.
"I never thought I'd come this far."
Elias and Jamie exchanged a glance, then turned to listen.
"When I was younger, becoming king sounded simple."
Jamie was about to remind him that he was still a little boy but Elias quickly put a hand on her mouth to quiet her. That didn't stop her from biting him but she did glare at him and not say anything else while Elias shook his hand in pain.
Raileigh continued, ignoring them.
"My mother died giving birth to me," Raileigh continued, his voice soft.
"First Queen Afriyie. The woman my father loved more than anything. I never knew her. But I've spent my whole life trying to make her death mean something."
He paused, his fingers curling into fists at his sides.
"My dream is to become king. To prove that I was worthy of her sacrifice. To make my father proud. I thought that if I could just take the throne, everything would make sense. Everything would be worth it."
He swallowed.
"I thought I needed power, then I thought I needed allies. Then I decided to meet you, the only person in the World I felt could understand me."
He looked at Elias.
"When I first tried recruiting you, I wasn't sure what I'd do if you refused."
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"You stabbed me."
"I was desperate."
"You were insane."
"That too."
Raileigh laughed softly.
"But somehow..."
He looked between them.
"It worked and now
I got a friend. Two friends, actually. Jamie was a bonus."
Jamie grinned. "I'm a bonus now?"
"The best kind."
He paused.
"Now I think I, no we have a shot at this."
Elias looked away and began pacing.
'This is becoming dangerously sentimental. Were kids always like this or is this once again an act of Ascension, forcing maturity and growth?' he sighed, his thoughts shifting.
Blackwave.
He had told them about his life as a pirate and all the things he did without feeling guilt or remorse. But when he had been captured they did something to him, An art had been used to sift through his mind while one of the inquisitors went through his memories. Elias remembered the lamp the pirate was sitting under. Or was probably a forbidden artifact the Inquisition was authorized to use. As for the one who went through his mind, it was definantly Layl's doing.
'So her Trait is Cognitive Class.' he had throught.
That notwithstanding, Blackwave had claimed that whatever they did to him had changed him. He still didn't regret the barbarities he had committed in the name of piracy but thinking about them made him feel...uncomfortable. Thus he wanted a means to discover himself as he didn't want to be associated with his past life. The problems then were that, he would be hunted down by the Red Maws foe mutiny while at the same time the ocean was the only home he knew and was unwilling to run off somewhere on land.
They had deliberated fiercely over what to do. Jamie had casually suggested he become a fisherman, a proposition Raileigh had immediately shot down with a horrified look. Raileigh had then offered him a secure, legitimate job as am officer in their royal fleet, but Jamie had pointed out the obvious flaw: he was a wanted man whose capture would compromise everything.
"He doesn't have to change who he is. He can still be a pirate—just one who operates in line with his new convictions." Elias had said.
Raileigh's eyes widened. "That's... actually brilliant."
Jamie nodded enthusiastically. "Way cooler than being a fisherman."
"The problem is leaving Aethelberg," Elias continued.
"The Rustmark warehouses are destroyed. Ships have been rerouted to Veridian. Once the warehouses are rebuilt, he can sneak aboard one and get back to sea. Until then," Raileigh said, "you should lay low. Help us if we need you. That will be the payment for our assistance. Do you agree?"
Blackwave nodded.
Raileigh smiled. "Then it's settled. I can arrange a small boat, it should be ready in a month, by the time the warehouses are rebuilt."
And then there was Jamie's terrifying, gravity-defying arrangement with LeFay.
Elias remembered the sheer, freezing shock that had rippled through him when Jamie had casually told him everything over a quiet moment. He had stared at her—his goofy, food-loving friend—and learned she was actually high nobility, a potential queen of Nordhelm. Raileigh had nearly stopped breathing as he listened to this too.
"You're going to be queen of Nordhelm?"
"Apparently."
Apparently that only made him fall deeper.
"I made an arrangement with her," she had said.
Elias raised an eyebrow. "An arrangement?"
"Her job is to make preparations for when I finally go ack there and Kick the queens ass for what she's done to me. I put a sigil on her soul. Its a combination of a Binding Array , my authority as the Prima Donna and a Transmutation array. If she defies me, she turns to stone."
Elias stared at her.
"What."
Raileigh's eyes went wide. "You can do that?"
Elias felt a chill run down his spine. "Jamie..."
She shrugged. "I know. It's scary. But its not going to activate unless it has to. Besides I wont be going north now so there's plenty of time."
Elias shook his head, his thoughts shifting in a different direction.
'Why does my life have an exhausting habit of exponential escalation?"
Somewhere amidst the sad contemplation, he remembered that the mysterious Oblivion Cube had multiple scattered components and when he had asked Raileigh about it earlier...
"There are twelve," Raileigh had answered absently that afternoon, still staring at Jamie.
Elias blinked. "What?"
"Twelve fragments. I know where the one in Aethelberg is."
Elias's eyes narrowed. "Where?"
"Not now. Later. We have a ceremony to attend."
That was before Jamie dragged him out of the house for the ceremony. Elias had mentally resolved to secure that specific piece above all else, just to have a tangible anchor in the approaching storm.
"Earlier..." Raileigh spoke softly bringing Elias ack from his recollections.
"You said you didn't understand why anyone wanted the throne."
"I still don't."
"What does it mean to be king?"
Elias shrugged.
"You're asking the wrong guy man."
Raileigh frowned.
"That answer isn't good enough. You are supporting two people who will, not might, take over too countries and you don't know what they hope to achieve."
Elias scratched the back of his head, wondering why the evening turned out like this.
'I should have put more effort into not coming for this stupid ritual.'