05-15-2019, 03:44 AM
The New World
----
The capital was in ruins. Primus Imperator, the personal weapon of the Emperor himself destroyed. Discarded like a cosmic toy no longer wanted. Mountainous it cast its shadow, but regardless it too was steadily being devoured by the ice and snow. It was cold and bodies were strewn everywhere. Pieces of them. Arms, legs, torsos and heads and organs and entrails splattered the ground. The blood around them a grotesquely dazzling Rorschach blot of red. My boots crunched in the snow, tendrils of blood stretching from them in a futile grip before snapping away in bloody footprints.
Spires of ice displayed impaled bodies and I gripped the sword I had found lying in the palace when all fell to the frenzy of a final battle. Buildings ransacked and pockmarked by the deeds of war. Others in total desolation. Hollow frames that held only fading memory of what was before. I continued walking. Past now vacant business, restaurants, bars and cafes and destroyed vendor stands. My boots crunched on broken glass. I spared it no notice beyond recognizing the sound. My eyes flitted to an impaled corpse, dripping blood solidified several feet above the ground. Morbidly reminiscent of stalactites.
My breath clouding in the chill and my beard forming traces of ice.
I knew that my general was out here. Somewhere. She had to be.
I stumbled back when a rebel soldier shot up from the ground. Eyes bulging in horrified and fruitless accusation, groping aimless at nothing for help. His throat cut so neat as if by a singular talon. So cold that his blood had begun to freeze to his exposed jugular and down his front. I lowered my defensive posture. In the blade's crystalline reflection I again bore witness to his last moments. Ghoulish in movement he lurched and loped away about twelve steps before plopping to his knees with brute finality. When his face met the snow's embrace I knew he would not rise and I did not look back.
Looking around the devastation held no meaningful impact on me. All I wanted to find was my Esdeath.
"Esdeath. Esdeath. Esdeath. Esdeath." The mantra of my heart and soul were in flawless synchronization. The wind whipped over the square. The water in the fountain had frozen solid and the foundation of the stone had cracked in several areas. From the interior a hand jutted out, fingers hooked and the manner with which the ice had frozen gave the impression he had claws made of the unrelenting element that ruled over the land.
Where was she?
"Esdeath!"
"Michael? Michael!"
Swiveling to her the sound of her voice with such speed my head felt a rush and my eyes held her in full. Her silky hair swayed with the wind, disheveled by the war. Uniform dashed with blood and dirtied by grime. She smiled. Sweetly.
Dropping the sword I sprinted to her and lept to her welcoming arms, doing my best to restrain tears and I shuddered a sob that expelled my once growing panic. My hands ran over her back, fingers gripped strands of blue hair. Her kisses lined my face and she squeezed me against her, my toes dangling over the stone.
"You're okay?" I peered into the face of my love, pale and beautiful. Even right now I could not resist putting my lips to hers. The warmth of her mouth startling when contrasted with the Empire's cold ruins.
Pulling away she laughed. "Of course I'm fine," she leaned into me, "tired. But alive."
"Night Raid?"
"Dead."
She looked back with a fierce, knowing smile. Victory was hers. By that extension, ours.
"Hey," with a feather touch she brushed away a tear. It dropped from her finger and froze while airborne to shatter on the stone into minuscule pieces. "Don't cry."
"I'm just...relieved your safe. I don't know what I'd do if-," she shushed me calmly, her fingers resting of my lips. I kissed them before they trailed down to tilt my gaze up into her ice blue eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere. We'll always be together Michael," she drew out the syllables of my name, delighting in it. "You belong to me," her cheeks becoming an endearing shade of pink, "just as I belong to you." Fingers stroked my beard and I leaned into her. Her nose in my hair breathing in my scent. My arms around her hips and I felt her hair brushing the backs of my hands.
"Where do we go now?"
"Anywhere."
We did not address the ruination around us. For that's what it was. Ruination. Dead remains of something old. In the distance Primus Imperator was a white and blue shadowy mountain. We looked ahead. The future held an absolution. Concrete and greater than any mountain. The road to get there was not entirely compassed by myself or Esdeath for that matter. But that was no reason to be afraid. The journey is part of our story and becomes a memory of the great whole.
She tapped my forehead, chuckling when I my focus recalibrated to the present. To her. She held my hand with a cheer that stood above the desolation. Smiling, genuinely. I smiled too.
"Let's go."
----
The capital was in ruins. Primus Imperator, the personal weapon of the Emperor himself destroyed. Discarded like a cosmic toy no longer wanted. Mountainous it cast its shadow, but regardless it too was steadily being devoured by the ice and snow. It was cold and bodies were strewn everywhere. Pieces of them. Arms, legs, torsos and heads and organs and entrails splattered the ground. The blood around them a grotesquely dazzling Rorschach blot of red. My boots crunched in the snow, tendrils of blood stretching from them in a futile grip before snapping away in bloody footprints.
Spires of ice displayed impaled bodies and I gripped the sword I had found lying in the palace when all fell to the frenzy of a final battle. Buildings ransacked and pockmarked by the deeds of war. Others in total desolation. Hollow frames that held only fading memory of what was before. I continued walking. Past now vacant business, restaurants, bars and cafes and destroyed vendor stands. My boots crunched on broken glass. I spared it no notice beyond recognizing the sound. My eyes flitted to an impaled corpse, dripping blood solidified several feet above the ground. Morbidly reminiscent of stalactites.
My breath clouding in the chill and my beard forming traces of ice.
I knew that my general was out here. Somewhere. She had to be.
I stumbled back when a rebel soldier shot up from the ground. Eyes bulging in horrified and fruitless accusation, groping aimless at nothing for help. His throat cut so neat as if by a singular talon. So cold that his blood had begun to freeze to his exposed jugular and down his front. I lowered my defensive posture. In the blade's crystalline reflection I again bore witness to his last moments. Ghoulish in movement he lurched and loped away about twelve steps before plopping to his knees with brute finality. When his face met the snow's embrace I knew he would not rise and I did not look back.
Looking around the devastation held no meaningful impact on me. All I wanted to find was my Esdeath.
"Esdeath. Esdeath. Esdeath. Esdeath." The mantra of my heart and soul were in flawless synchronization. The wind whipped over the square. The water in the fountain had frozen solid and the foundation of the stone had cracked in several areas. From the interior a hand jutted out, fingers hooked and the manner with which the ice had frozen gave the impression he had claws made of the unrelenting element that ruled over the land.
Where was she?
"Esdeath!"
"Michael? Michael!"
Swiveling to her the sound of her voice with such speed my head felt a rush and my eyes held her in full. Her silky hair swayed with the wind, disheveled by the war. Uniform dashed with blood and dirtied by grime. She smiled. Sweetly.
Dropping the sword I sprinted to her and lept to her welcoming arms, doing my best to restrain tears and I shuddered a sob that expelled my once growing panic. My hands ran over her back, fingers gripped strands of blue hair. Her kisses lined my face and she squeezed me against her, my toes dangling over the stone.
"You're okay?" I peered into the face of my love, pale and beautiful. Even right now I could not resist putting my lips to hers. The warmth of her mouth startling when contrasted with the Empire's cold ruins.
Pulling away she laughed. "Of course I'm fine," she leaned into me, "tired. But alive."
"Night Raid?"
"Dead."
She looked back with a fierce, knowing smile. Victory was hers. By that extension, ours.
"Hey," with a feather touch she brushed away a tear. It dropped from her finger and froze while airborne to shatter on the stone into minuscule pieces. "Don't cry."
"I'm just...relieved your safe. I don't know what I'd do if-," she shushed me calmly, her fingers resting of my lips. I kissed them before they trailed down to tilt my gaze up into her ice blue eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere. We'll always be together Michael," she drew out the syllables of my name, delighting in it. "You belong to me," her cheeks becoming an endearing shade of pink, "just as I belong to you." Fingers stroked my beard and I leaned into her. Her nose in my hair breathing in my scent. My arms around her hips and I felt her hair brushing the backs of my hands.
"Where do we go now?"
"Anywhere."
We did not address the ruination around us. For that's what it was. Ruination. Dead remains of something old. In the distance Primus Imperator was a white and blue shadowy mountain. We looked ahead. The future held an absolution. Concrete and greater than any mountain. The road to get there was not entirely compassed by myself or Esdeath for that matter. But that was no reason to be afraid. The journey is part of our story and becomes a memory of the great whole.
She tapped my forehead, chuckling when I my focus recalibrated to the present. To her. She held my hand with a cheer that stood above the desolation. Smiling, genuinely. I smiled too.
"Let's go."