Chapter 39: High Queen of the Nox

“Is it worth it? Yes! What price did you pay? Everything, I gave everything to the Empire to her Empire. Even knowing we could not be together or the other three would band against us to hold onto their semblance of power. That is why there shall forever and always be only four dukes of the Empire. Of all the human lands and kingdoms four dukes hold the power to change humanity. Five if you are counting the Empress. Yet there is a six. A higher power. Do you think we had the ability to create magi-humans? Do you think we had the ability to create something so grand? To show humanity the right steps to take to regain our freedom?”

Apollo’s red eyes and hair glowed as he spoke.

A lost piece of history. A lost story in time.

“Why can’t you just give up? What is it? Is it for love? For the husband I consumed? The children I devoured? Or perhaps the last daughter who still holds onto some petty hope that the god who abandoned his people will return?”

“WHY.”

“CAN’T.”

“YOU.”

“GIVE.”

“UP!”

Noxlia screamed and her Nox responded in kind. Howls of rage tore their way towards the sky as they felt their High Queen’s anger. The roar blended in, and its effects began to shake the ground. The sky responded and Noxlia felt a sharp pain as many of her brethren were suddenly disconnected. No longer joined together with her. They no longer were together with her. Yet they would always live FOREVER through her.

Somehow somewhere on this gods’ forsaken continent and the world, a large number of her Nox had been taken from her. With her mind constantly battling with the previous owner of her body. The rage and pain Noxlia felt were enough to drive a mortal insane. Noxlia was still very much mortal.

Something in Noxlia snapped. Red eyes glared at blue ones in the cracked mirror. A red soul monstrous in its appearance yet with a strange beauty surrounding it glared at the human woman who refused to bend. Who refused to join and become one and something more. Something greater together. The soul who refused perfection.

The woman was tired Noxlia could see it and so could she. It was only a matter of time, time that was running out because if the world seed was not found within an ample amount of time the world would level up. Breaking past its tier. This allows greater beings to be born for its protection and allows its sapient inhabitants to break past the second shell of their mortality.

Noxlia growled. The sound reverberated through the castle that began to crumble its foundations stretched and torn over the years of no upkeep.

“Because. Because if I let go that means you win. Because if I let go that means she loses and she’s all I have left. You’ve taken everything else. Everyone else, if holding onto my semblance of self can halt you in any form or fashion then I will hold. I will never break, never bend, and never surrender.”

Outside of the former Artis Empire capital, the sky turned red mirroring the color of the High Queens eyes and it seemed as if it was set aflame. The remaining Nox that hadn’t marched to the lands of the Last Kingdom and their allies saw red. A raging inferno covered the sky, baking the land and setting parts of it aflame. The howls of the Nox fuel the inferno seeking, destroying, as the power of their bloodline activated at the slaying of the kin. They grew two sizes bigger and several broke through into the next tier of power.

While inside the features of the previous Queen of the Last Kingdom morphed carapace growing and covering the body. Armor-like in its appearance. Covering her hands, then making its way towards her chest. She watched as it spread from there to the rest of their body. No red veins showed themselves nor gold ones. Just a place carapace-like shell covering her from head to neck. The High Queen wanted perfection. So, she would have it.

“Then I will take it. Her spark of divinity. I will find the world seed and then together we shall watch this world burn into ashes. Its ascension fueling our own and together we shall make our way to the Insecrium.”

The previous queen of the Last Kingdom watched through her eyes and the eyes of her opposer. She looked at her hands, the hands that murdered her very own love and children. She smiled. It was not a happy smile but one of sadness and loss, but former queen Larra Artis would not give out. A piercing guttural cry escaped from her lips that shook the air around them. Her Nox responded in kind as the High Queen left her chambers. It was time to put an end to this war. Larra shook her head, she was not the High Queen of the Nox she was Larra Artis former queen of the Last Kingdom. She must remember and always hold that in her heart. The moment she acknowledges herself to be Noxlia was the moment she died.

It was the moment she joined together with her. She could be together with her. Nor did she want to live forever throughher. Strength returned to her soul, and it grew an even stronger resistance. She held enough power for one chance and one chance only. One chance to disrupt Noxlia and her hold over her people. Extensions of herself. One chance to let her daughter strike a critical blow in the final battle Larra knew was to come. She had one chance and she would not fail that opportunity. That last gift to her daughter who bore a burden no child should have had too so young.

***

Amaya paused in her steps, her cousin, and their Crimson Army right behind as the sky erupted in flames. A strange emotion overtook her, and she found herself wanting to take steps back. Several thousand members of their army did.

“HOLD.”

It was Aegis's voice that snapped her and many others out of the small trance that had taken place. Amaya looked down at her shaking hands. If not for her armor always keeping her in a perfect condition Amaya would have broken out into a cold sweat. It took several long seconds for Amaya to understand what she felt.

Fear.

Amaya felt fear, something that was foreign to her. Something that had been foreign to her. She felt fear before. Fear of disappointing her mother or aunt and uncle. She felt fear for not being able to live up to her expectations and keep in tandem with her cousin. Even now he was ahead. Having become a tier five mage and tier seven knight while her own body remained at tier three. Her mind had advanced to tier seven, expanding and being able to hold more complex spell constructs and increasing her mana pool. Yet she still fell behind, her cousin managing to find ways to increase both his mind and body at the same time.

Did she feel jealous? No, Amaya could truthfully say so knowing it was only a matter of time before she would advance, achieve rank one and focus on the other path to achieve rank two also known as Sky God. Amaya just wanted to always be able to say to herself that she stood on the same level as her cousin. As her friend and family.

Fear.

This wasn’t the fear of disappointment she felt but fear of the unknown. Fear of the monster in the darkness. A primal fear.

Then came anger. Anger at her body’s response to the flaming sky. Anger at herself, she may have stopped in her tracks and not faltered or taken a step back, but Amaya felt fear. Right here she promised to herself that it would not happen again.

“What is that?” Amaya found her voice and asked the question. Her mind already trying to go through what she knew about magical effects on a wide scale.

“Calm yourself cousin. Your scales are showing.”

An arm landed on her shoulder jostling her forward a bit. A pleasant laugh escaped her lips and the flames that began to surround her from her bloodline slowly receded.

“Thank you.”

“That is…”

“That is a widescale magical effect usually used by the high-tier beast.”

Princess Moriah came forward her eyes wide. Her white armor reflected red from the burning sky.

“To cover the entire sky? What type of strength do you need to have,” Aegis questioned looking at Princess Moriah for a response.

“Rank two… you usually only see this out of beast who have reached the second rank of power.”

“Impossible, it can’t be a rank two being here. This planet can only support up to rank one. I’ve checked,” Makanui Hukku said. The young man had taken a step back ever since he was introduced to aspects and the system in general. Mainly staying within his forces and rarely interacting with the nobles of the Empire. A strange device appeared in his hands.

“This is a Rewon Cane Core and shows the general level of the essence and mana in the area. As you can see it is not even partially filled. Showing that this world is of low origins. Anything strong enough to break it would have been kicked out.”

“The only thing I can think of for is the Nox somehow have a potent ability that can alter the terrain on a large scale.”

“That doesn’t change our initial plans. We will still make our way towards the front lines and scout the situation there. Before we go with either of the options we’ve planned out,” Amaya said. She had regained her cool and stood taller not letting the previous fear show in any part of her body language.

*

After making sure Amaya was ok, I turned my attention back to the sky. It was still blazing bright red and I wondered what effect it would have in the war and more importantly the Nox. The weather that was getting colder and turning into winter changed. The very air seemed to be heated and charged up.

It was only hours before that Fort Carrano fell. Gloria had been quiet ever since. Healing had been applied to her body but what she needed was a healer of the mind. Perhaps if she could go to the Crystal Temple and train with its monks, she would be ok in time. Yet the temples weren’t here but on Nia a world away.

“Let’s move.”

I said as I began to once again jog in the direction the burning red sky came from. If I was a religious man, I would have taken this as a sign or omen from one of the various gods. I was not a praying man but behind me the craftsmen who were carried on platforms following the Crimson Army as it marched to war all put their hands together. Praying towards the individual gods of their beliefs. The churches that followed alongside me accompanied them along with the host of refugees that made it out alive.

The deaths at Fort Carrano still weigh on my mind. Now that a few hours passed my body had returned to its peak. We had to march roughly an hour to avoid the damages and after-effects of the fallen fort. The impact area had been completely scorched. Appearing to be an arid wasteland on its last legs. There was fire and a roaring crater of lava. No signs of the previous fort anywhere nor of the Nox that we slew.

Was I upset at the damage and destruction we caused? I asked myself this as we marched headed for the front lines a day away. I searched myself for an answer. The shock from the event has long since worn off. The ends justify the means was what I quoted to myself. Quoting a long since dead philosopher from a world far out of my reach. As my thoughts drifted to earth, I wondered what my mother there would think of me now. Would she still recognize me? Or had I changed into someone completely different? Did it still matter to me?

The crunching of dirt and gravel continued underneath my boots and as the sky grew darker yet still glowing a light red and my people cleared an area out to set up camp an answer came to me.

No.

I was Young Lord Aegis Kan, and I would fulfill the expectations resting on my shoulders through any means. My family expected a conqueror return and so they shall have one. I then turned my attention to my aspects and perks. It was time to pick my final passive.