MEMORY FRAGMENT

Nymph Capital Sorgente, Nymph’s Era

Three more kingdoms requested to join the empire. One of them even went so far as to sink their own capital. It had become standard for every conquered territory to go through this—an unequivocal sign that there was only one power to rule all cities.

Standing in the empty throne room, Giaccia sighed. With the era of the empire close at hand, her days as a warrior were numbered. Her throne, cherished and desired by so many, seemed like a cage.

“You really should live a little,” Tiallia said, appearing a step away.

Since passing the fifth gate, her magic had exceeded everyone’s expectations, capable of feats only described in legends. The only reason she hadn’t single-handedly destroyed the other nymph kingdoms was because of the laws of the Moons—while in their domains, domain rulers held more power than any mage, so it was up to Giaccia to do the conquering.

“Did the servants annoy you again?” The mage empress looked around.

The servants never annoyed me, Giaccia thought. It was other things that did. Most of all, though, it was the rise of politics. When no one particularly valued life in the kingdom, politics had been reduced to Giaccia’s uncle pestering the king about being made official heir. Now, things were different. The entire court was packed with schemers, trading favors for strength which they used to gain more favors. Tiallia seemed to thrive on that; not because she had to engage in it, but because she found it amusing.

“Three more asked to join,” Giaccia said, telling information her sister undoubtedly knew.

“Six,” Tiallia corrected.

“Six…” Giaccia repeated. “If there’s anyone left, they are running or hiding. Either way, there won’t be any more wars.”

“Aww, is that what’s bothering you?” Tiallia laughed. “That you can’t go fighting? Well, don’t worry. That will soon change.”

A patch of darkness appeared on the floor a few steps away. Instinctively, Giaccia drew her rapier, but her sister gave her a sign to calm down. The patch grew more and more until it was three feet in diameter. Then, it started trickling upwards forming the silhouette of a being. Once fully formed, the being gained texture, revealing it to be a male human. He seemed to be in his late thirties, although humans always looked older than they were, scarred and scruffy. His clothes were unlike anything Giaccia had ever seen, but definitely not something she found attractive.

“I’d like you to introduce you to someone,” Tiallia said. “He’s an otherworlder just like me.”

“Hi,” the human waved his hand, his expression as cheerful as if he was being strangled by an octopus.

“You have to forgive him. He’s not much for etiquette, but he can definitely help us. You see, he’s the Crying Star.”

“The Star?!” This time Giaccia fully drew her sword. She knew perfectly well what the Star was. Talking to him was bad enough, but bringing him to the throne room—that was disastrous.

The water around the Star’s feet rose up, instantly hardening. Without hesitation, Giaccia rushed forward, piercing the creature right through the chest. Before the Star could react, she continued with a multi-attack creating several dozen holes in his body, then went on to carve off his limbs and head. Body parts fell on the floor with a splash, reverting to black liquid again.

“Sis,” Tiallia said, casting a spell that made Giaccia freeze in place. “Don’t be so rude to our guest. As I said, he’s here to help us. Rather, he’s here to help you.”

Tia? Giaccia thought, unable to move her body. This wasn’t a spell she was familiar with. Of course, she could easily use her domain ruler powers to continue her attack, although was it going to do any good? Even now, the black blotches were merging back to the silhouette remains, rebuilding it as before.

“Forgive her for that,” Tiallia said in an apologetic tone. “She’s always been a bit hot blooded.”

“No prob,” the Star’s face reformed. “I get that a lot.”

“Giaccia, will you promise to behave?” Tiallia looked at her.

In her current condition, the nymph was incapable of moving her lips to reply.

I promise, she thought. That proved to be enough, for the spell was instantly loosened, returning her control of her body. Curious, Giaccia put her weapon away. She didn’t like this in the least, yet it was clear she was expected to go through with it.

“How?” she asked despite her reluctance. “How can you help us?”

“Simple,” the Star replied. “I’ll help you take over the world.”

The words felt like venom on lightning. They held just enough allure to make Giaccia feel intrigued and ignore the obvious threats. In all of history there had only been one attempt to conquer the world, ending in the banishment of an entire race. The scars left behind were so deep that no race even considered making another attempt. Although, if someone were to do so, now would be the perfect time. Of the six remaining races, the Moon of exceptions favored the nymphs.

“See?” Tiallia laughed. “I told you she’d be open to the idea.”

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“Doesn’t look that way to me.” the Star narrowed his eyes.

“She hasn’t tried to kill you a second time.”

“How?” Giaccia ended the suspense. “We don’t have enough mages to take on all remaining races.”

“You will if you take them one at a time.” The Star spat on the floor.

A black dot appeared there, quickly growing until it formed a map of the known world. Giaccia quickly recognized the empire’s territory. As impressive as it felt, it was nothing but a small sliver of what there was to offer.

“It’s said that there are four major kingdoms that rule the world,” the Star continued. “That’s a lie. The wilderness covers most of the world. But unlike you, I can’t conquer on my own.”

That much was true. All the teachings stated that Star could corrupt and contort, but never conquer outright.

“As long as I create a bit of panic on the continent all eyes will be focused there. That’s when you strike and take out your greatest threat.”

An interesting proposal. From personal experience, Giaccia would classify the furies as the nymphs greatest threat, but she hadn’t had any contact with the remaining races. The humans were weak, that much was obvious, but there was no telling how much of an obstacle the dryads and gorgons would be.

“Afterwards we pick one each and team up on the last one.”

“Just like that?” Giaccia looked at him.

“You want a ten-page PowerPoint?” he snapped at her.

“A what?”

“There's no need to get agitated,” Tiallia intervened in a calm but firm fashion. “We all share the same goals.”

“Do we?” Giaccia’s fingers itched for the rapier. “The Star is the bane of existence. Why would we trust anything he says? Why would he offer to help us with nothing in return?”

“Oh, but there is something he wants. Two things, rather.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Go ahead.” He waved his hand. “You’ll say it better.”

“In exchange for his assistance, we’ll stop destroying cracklings and other void creatures,” Tiallia said. “I have assurances that they won’t cause any trouble.”

The Star shrugged, hardly interested. For someone who was looking forward to this alliance, he wasn’t selling it.

“And the second?” Giaccia turned to her sister.

“If you manage to take over the world you release me from my chains.” The Star suddenly decided to take the initiative. “You get what you want, I get to do anything I wish. No more Moon laws, no more restrictions.”

“How exactly do you think we can manage that?” Giaccia crossed her arms. “We’re not Moons.”

“If you conquer the world, you will be.” A crooked smile formed on the human’s face. “Have you ever wondered how the Moons became the Moons? Even they follow the laws of awakening. They look all over the races, granting them powers, yet even they cannot do anything they want.”

“The sixth gate,” Tiallia spelled it out. “He’s talking about the sixth gate.”

“Once you grow your domain to cover the entire world, you’ll have enough to reach the sixth awakening gate. Walk through that, and the eighth Moon will be born.”

That was it? Giaccia had indeed wondered whether there was a sixth gate. The scholars claimed that there was, the Order of the Seven Moons insisted that it was unreachable by mortals. If the Star wasn’t lying, no wonder that the copyettes had made an attempt. If one were to become a Moon, their power would be unimaginable.

“You’re not tempted to become a Moon yourself?”

“I told you.” The star Snorted. “I can’t conquer. Besides, there’s no participation prize in world conquest. If you fail, you get banished along with the rest of your race.”

“And you get to ask the next awakened with ambitions.”

The Star’s angle was clear—he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Even so, Giaccia didn’t trust him. The proper thing was to refuse the offer and have nothing to do with him. Even better, she could try to kill him before her sister intervened. Sadly, the seed of temptation had already been planted.

There were no debates, no discussions. A few minutes later, the deal was struck. The Star was going to support them from the shadows, while the nymph empire gobbled up all remaining cities in the world. There was only one minor detail—in order to reach the level required, only one could rule over the world. Given her war experience, Giaccia was the reasonable choice. She had the will and combat experience. Her sister, despite her magic skill, was a more behind-the-scenes person.

Both expected Giaccia to take on the role. Both expected her to, but in the very last moment she chose differently, swearing loyalty to her sister. From that moment, the decision was made.

One month later, the nymph empire went inland. The recent chainling sightings had caused a minor dryad kingdom to divert its attention elsewhere, so they were completely off guard. It wasn’t a grand victory, but allowed the nymphs to move inland. Each following month, their territory would expand more and more until the remaining powers in the world were forced to form a union in an attempt to stop the upcoming threat. Then, just as the nymphs’ victory seemed assured, a human envoy came to visit, directly from the Order’s grand citadel.

No one knew what the bishop wanted, nor how he had managed to get to Sorgente. He didn’t fight, didn’t even try to resist when the guards cast containment spells on him. The only thing he did was to say he wanted to talk to the empress and her sister. An hour later, he was brought to the imperial throne room.

“Two thrones,” the man said. He was rather plump, dark-skinned, with enough scars to make it clear he had seen a fair share of combat. “I never expected it to be true.”

“You’re a long way from home, bishop.” Tiallia took the initiative. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” The man looked around.

“You said you wanted to talk to both of us.”

“That’s true, majesties. Both of you, no one else.”

Giaccia could feel the tension in the room rise. There were over a hundred guards and servants present—far more than their parents kept during their reign. Every soldier had sworn to give their life protecting the empress and her sister. It was also true that the pair were arguably the strongest beings in the awakened world.

“Go,” Tiallia ordered.

Within seconds, all other nymphs sunk into the floor. Only three people were left in the throne room.

“Now, say what you’ve come to say.”

“With pleasure.” The bishop took a deep breath. “The archbishop has prophesied that the Star will betray you. Two weeks from now, when you need him to create a distraction against the fury mountain stronghold, he won’t appear.”

“Is that so?” Tiallia narrowed her eyes.

“Most definitely. The resulting defeat will be rather significant, causing you to lose the initiative and start your slow defeat. Eleven months later, in your desperation, you’ll make one final attempt to gain what you’ve lost. The attempt will be unsuccessful. You and your entire race will be banished, just like the copyettes were.”

Giaccia felt chills through her body. Her first reaction was to dismiss it as a lie. Even if they weren’t able to conquer the rest of the world, there was hardly a reason for them to be banished. Or was there? Tiallia had assured her that she’d taken every precaution. The nymphs rarely were the ones to initiate any attack, they left others to do it for them. Yet, there wasn’t a note of deceit in the bishop’s words.

“An interesting story.” Tiallia retained her composure. “It reminds me of the Order’s assurances that my brother would recover.”

“The archbishop is aware of your situation, but the facts remain.”

“Facts?” Giaccia struggled not to shout. “You haven’t said any facts! Just a lot of nonsense you claim are prophecies.”

“In that case, let me give a specific one for you. Tonight, just as all seven Moons have filled the sky, one of the human kingdoms will offer you an alliance. Their only request will be that you spare their lives now and in future. Oh, and they would have already made a Moon vow to serve you.”