Far from the prying eyes of Magi or mindful powers of clairvoyancy, a simple village located deep south of Rhy'Din stood burning at the rising dawn, scorched against the brightening sky that was filled with smoke that was enough to block out the sun.

The razed skeletons of homes, chapels and schools stood back lit by a flickering orange glow of a fire that still spread throughout the corpse filled streets, eating flesh, brick and wood like a virulent plague of embers that left little next to nothing but ruin and ash.

What defenders remained had taken up to surrendering to the black armored foes that rounded them up one by one in the town square; the only part of their homestead that remained intact, and where the creatures had appeared from that shifting portal that distorted the very fabric of reality itself.

It was there that they were forced to kneel, while those who resisted were simply murdered on the spot by a simple slit of the throat from odd, crystalline sickle like weapons. While panic was rife throughout the gathered mass; loved ones clinging to each other, while children wept and women sobbed, something stepped through the brink of the portal.

Before them a woman stood, dressed in an elegant frilled dress that did not befit the hand that had ordered the slaughter of innocents. Her hair was allowed to roam free about her shoulders, while the insidious red glow to her eyes surveyed the gathering, revealing little reaction to the armored man who leant in close to whisper something into her ear.

It was then that her eyes stopped upon a single man, who glared back up at her with so much hatred, that she could not help but break out a smile.

"You!" The man was brave enough to talk, even while holding his daughter close, "Who are you - and why have you come here?!" His words, filled with anger, was struck away from the armored back hand of one of those faceless soldiers, who wore helms in the guises of dragons, serpents and daemonic things.

The girl in his arm yelped out as her Father was struck down, and moved to shield him with her own body. Then, once she had comforted her Father's aching head with brushes of her fingertips against the offending spot, looked up at the soldier with a pleading sob, "Don't hurt Daddy!"

Either out of compassion or a shred of mercy within, the soldier stepped back, and turned its serpent helm to the lady in black. "The village is secure, and all the surviving occupants have been gathered here, God-Emperor. What are your orders?"

"Set up a perimeter, and bring some food and water for the prisoners." She lifted her clawed, metallic hand up to point to the man who had spoken out against her, "Take this one away, and execute him from the eyes of his daughter." She turned to a group of soldiers that approached, and then directed her hand out to them, "You. Collect the children. Section off the parents from their spawn, and if they resist, kill them without hesitation."

The rabble of peasants grew into an uproar as parents clung to their children. Throwing their pleas and promises of revenge right at the lady in black, who they still had yet the pleasure of having a reason for this invasion.

It took however one woman to break free from a soldier, and charge the lady in black for the others to see just what they were getting themselves into.

None of the soldiers moved to protect their so-called God-Emperor, and, as the woman approach, she grasped at the dress of the lady in black, and shook violently. "Who are you to think you can get away with this! Once the other villages - or Rhy'Din finds out! They'll..."

"... Be of no help. For none can stand against me. Not you, not them. Not, ever." Her lips curled into a smile, "For I am the God-Emperor of Zarcurgis. But you all once knew me as Renna, The Betrayer, and where I have paid for my sins, I once again have returned to commit them once again. Starting with your children."

Knowing the name, the woman paled. "For what ends... W-why our children..."

"Why," she spoke matter-of-fact, "I am going to make them perfect." With a draw back of her claw and violent thrust forward, coupled with a bear-tight hug with her free arm, the sharpened fingers plunged into the woman's chest, and wiggled to bury itself deeper still.

The woman screamed, thrashing about in the death grip, looking around for the others to help her. She was met with them all simply looking away, for they knew there was nothing that could be done now. She was as good as dead.

She raked her hands down her back, scaring red lines that drew trickles of blood, that curved and dribbled down a curvacious spine, to the very bump of a sweetly formed rear. Their lips were thrust tight together, and as they writhed and twisted in each others' illicit embrace, did the door open.

There in the tent ? so much grand for a merchant of Venice, did a flood of diminutive figures stood, their black cloaks concealing and their hoods drooped before smiling faces. Slowly one stood forward, taller than the rest.

?The barbarians flood against us. It seems the past sin against them have rekindled their hatred for you, Emperor.?

?Is that so?? The female atop of the other pants, turning her head just so that she could gaze drunk over the top of a bare shoulder, ?Don't worry, I have something in mind for them...?

The tallest girl stepped closer, ?Do you want us to mobilize??

?No,? she turned her attention to the figure below, ?I have someone else in mind.?

As the woman below lifted a hand up to touch the face of the one above, Tiana's azure loving eyes; void of malice or evil intent, were smiling. ?No, Sister,? the blonde haired woman uttered, ?Allow them mercy and life... There is nothing to be gained from their deaths.?

Renna smiled down, and planted a kiss to the others' lips, ?Yes, there is. Little sister.?

The Captain cried out for the retreat as he limped after his fleeing platoon, while the barbarians in their hordes gave chase, bounding over logs and rocks like bounding, elegant deer, while the Black Militia in their bulky protective armours were having to move around objects.

Turning around, he slashed out at the throat of a barbarian that just got too close, decapitating the head with one single swipe of his crystalline blade. Panting, he moved his skeletal arm to grab up the fallen foe?s axe, and to continue chasing after his own men. The clearing was not far, he told himself.

It was there that this rebellion shall finally be put to rest. If he could get there alive.

?Shit, shit, shit?? He hissed every time he placed his injured foot onto the ground, ?I get my arm ripped off by the girl I love? And now I cut a toe off with my own fucking blade!? The Captain drew his skeletal hand into the air, ?What have I done to deserve this?!?

A crazed scream alerted him to a male barbarian that had sprung into the air from a nearby bush just beside him, with the enemy?s sword drawn down to stab right into the Captain?s head. Quickly the Captain hopped back, but could not fully evade the full weight as the sword went straight through his other, uninjured foot?

?You? You bastard? That was my dancing foot!? Screaming at the barbarian, he ripped his own helm off, revealing his fine, beautiful elfin features, and started punching the barbarian repeatedly in the face while he gained a hold of the man?s hair. Once the barbarian was no longer moving, and he himself no longer screaming, did he actually look down at his foot and the sword protruding out from it.

?Fuck!? He tried pulling it out. But it had firmly secured him to that ground, probably having ducked into a hidden tree root just under the surface.

The Captain?s eyes drew up around him, then to crowd of barbarians running his way. ?? He went that way!? He pointed behind them. ?No? Didn?t think so? Worth a shot? Well, babe, looks like I want be coming home after all.? He talked to the air, and held his sword ready to make his last stand, hurling the barbarian axe he picked up earlier, wedging it neatly into one of the many angry, bloodstained faces.

He dispatched several with counterattacks, after having deflecting their blades, and then pushed his sword into another, twisting it, and pulling it out just in time to halt an axe from taking off his head. ?Come on, then! Kill me already!?

He motioned to the barbarians that teetered around him, while he pushed back at the axe?s blade that inched closer to his neck.

However, the charging cries and bellow of horns behind him, caused him to turn his head to over his shoulder. Watching with the biggest smile he could ever muster, his troops came charging back, mixed together with?

Were those wolves?

Instantly, several wolves were upon the barbarians that surrounded him, mauling them to death. Then, as if out of nowhere, a blonde haired savour removed the sword from his foot.

In awe at the tall angelic woman next to him, his eyes moved down her body, and along that long golden hair that that cascaded down to her knees ?? Uh, who?re you??

?Tiana, your Emperor?s little sister.? She smiled sweetly at the elf, ?I?ve come to help.?

Out of the hundreds of children that fell prey to her experiments, only a mere ten percent of the total number made it through that hellish night to see a bright new morning. The population of those unworthy to bare the genetic code of Renna ? namely the elder of those captured, were put to work rebuilding the Den of Shadows, erecting the skeletal bones of a great chapel around the current ruins.

Slowly, it was beginning to take its shape, and thus her plans one step closer to final realization.

While many weeks were needed to complete the haven for her new underlings, the Emperor constructed several small crystalline huts, including a large command tent for herself to dwell within.

Even though the Emperor offered her prisoners plenty of food and water, she worked them to death through sleep deprivation, having spiked her merciful offerings with a mixture of mind altering and energy supplementing chemicals to keep them continuously active.

If they died, she brought them back to life to continue their arduous labour even in death, with their poor souls trapped within a corpse that decomposed away from under them.
Casually she surveyed the construction, from atop of a wooden guard tower that was one of many that encircled the camp, as a means of prisoner control rather than protection from outside forces.

Dressed in her signature black cloak, the Emperor watched the mixture of undead and living prisoners still at work at the very foundations of the construction, digging out tons upon tons of dirt, rock and clay, while many lay suspended amongst the intricately constructed wooden beams rising meters from above the ground on a series of leather pulley systems.

?Work,? she muttered with her sultry yet violent tone, speaking as if her words could be heard from her vantage point, ?Work quicker, worms.? It was then with but a single inclination of her head, that she felt the aura of someone close by.

?Tiana,? the Emperor announced, taking the blonde woman by surprise, ?I wouldn't recommend doing that.? She didn't even have to turn around and know that the very point of her own sword laid mere inches from the back of her neck.

Tiana shook under her dear sibling's voice. ?You lied to me. You said you would spare them if I fought against their army...? She choked back her sobs, but her tears flowed free. Her shaky grip on the sword sloppily held at best, with little or no intent to kill her own blood. ?Please, let them go.?

?You're not really in a position to bargain, are you?? The Emperor turned around to fully confront the blade, and leaned gently against its deadly tip in her arrogance. ?Put the sword down.?

?With Mother's sword, I can kill you. Please, set those poor people free, and put to rest those abominations you turned their dead into!?

The Emperor laughed at the demand, defiantly inclining her head, ?You couldn't hurt a fly let alone kill me,? her clawed, metallic hand shot up from under her cloak, and wrapped around the deadly blade, clenching it tight so Tiana could neither attack with it, or pull it away. ?I will overlook this, since we are blood. But if you do this again, Tiana...? Her face darkened, ?I will not show mercy a second time.?

Terror grew around Tiana's face. ?Renna...? She closed her eyes, ?Can't you see? You're becoming more unstable ? you're not yourself, I can feel your soul in turmoil! As if two minds are battling for control over one body. Please, if you would just let me look at you... I can heal the problem if it is spiritual... Maybe your forced possession with Auntie has done damage to you in some way.?

She could listen no more. The Emperor could forgive betrayal. But to insinuate she was not perfect? That she was damaged... It was...

?BLASTPHEMY!? Enraged, The Emperor ripped the sword from Tiana's hand, allowing it to imbed itself into the wood of the floor just beside her foot, and to grasp around her sibling's throat. Lifting Tiana into the air, she violently thrust the woman through the wooden railing that was supposed to prevent people from falling over.

Tiana dangled there, too terrified, and too upset to resist. Her loving sapphire eyes were drenched in her pain, as she gazed into those cold, unfeeling blood reds.

?... I think I misheard, did you just say I was... Damaged?? She released her sibling, allowing her to fall to the ground below.

With barely any time to reveal her wings and avoid hitting the ground any harder than she did, Tiana struck the cold hard dirt with a sickening crack. The Emperor followed closely behind, though come to a more elegant landing.

Bruised and broken, Tiana turned onto her side, and cried down at the twisted shape her leg was in. It had completely snapped the other way, and the broken halves of the bone were sticking straight out of her shin. Tears flooded down her face, her howling mixed with her injured words, ?You're insane!?

Soundlessly the Emperor lowered her head, and turned to address the crowd that ceased their work to watch the terrible sight with a pointed finger, ?Someone remove this filth I call a sister from my sight. And someone send for a healer. She is of no use to me...? She paused, and smirked down to Tiana, ?Damaged."

It's amazing how once a peaceful race of Wood Elves had been manipulated for a darker, more sinister cause. Almost like the Drow, but far more compassionate towards their own, the Ssr'kesir' as they were renamed by their great dark God and Emperor many moons ago, are a sophisicated and high strung religious gathering of citizens where all thoughts were trainned on the service towards their named celestial Duality.

The God Emperor, of course, played them like the perfect puppets. Often she would throw fesitivals in their name, where of course she could strengthen their fate through speeches and promises of riches and war. All for them for the taking.

Here in Rhy'Din, upon her old staging ground, she allowed for such an event to take place as to mark their first month of imhibitance and to welcome the newly recruited Children into her growing cross-realm empire, while the workers provided the entertainment at their own expense.

The women were forced to dance for various gatherings of the Black Militia, while the men served like simple slaves, offering platters of food and drink far more extravagant and exotic than they themselves were allowed to consume. While the Children played like any other child would, but without laughter, or squabbling.

The God Emperor sat amongst the crowd like she were one of them, with little guards about her other than the pale, and vacant eyed brunette that laid curled over the Emperor's lap. Softly, the Emperor stroke the woman's hair, while her metallic claw attended to the head of her sister, who laid curled also just beside her.

Tiana's leg had healed somewhat thanks to the only Priestess healer they had brought with them upon the expedition. But her heart was far from sticthed back together. Despite her seeming obidence, she softly wept and shook under that claw's tender caress.

The expression upon the Emperor's face was one of complete serenity, and as beautiful was it was, her eyes looked lost upon the music and bustle that was going on around her. She ignored blatant offerings of food and drink, and merely entertained a few with a nod to certain requests she could not quite give a crap about.

Breaking herself out of her thoughts, blood red eyes fell to her sister's head. "You've still not forgiven me, have you?"

Tiana tensed.

"... You don't need to fear me any more, sister. I was angry, and I was wrong to hurt you..." The claw moved to stroke her sister's cheek, but found herself a little disappointed when Tiana turned cheek away. Slowly she drew her hand away, and frowned down to the brunette girled in her lap.

One of the slaved men upon passing bowed his head and offered a plate of berried to the Emperor, which quickly took her blood red eyes up to the platter, selecting but only the reddest of the berries there, and ate it.

"Oh... Juicy..." She licked her lips, "So very juicy. Here," she plucked another up for the brunette, and fed her.

"There we go. Isn't that yummy, my sweet?"

The woman nodded silently.

"You may leave now," she spoke to the man, who left little time to escape the pressence of his new Master. "... As much as my subjects are enjoying this gathering..." she looked about the smiling Elfin faces of men and women alike, as they intereacted with onenone other. Like one big happy family.

But something caught here eye. Something over the barricade that surrounded the camp. It looked like movement in the trees, but it could had simply been the sways of the branches upon the gentle breeze, or perhaps even an animal.

The Emperor narrowed her eyes some, but quickly drew her attention to the Captain as he limped her way. He lifted a skeletal arm to cross over his chest, and to bow his head. "Ah! Captain, how is the foot?"

"Fine, my Emperor. A little sore, but nothing I cannot endure..." He trailed off as he looked to Tiana, who stared up at him with tears. Sympathy crossed his eyes, as he smiled at her. Her did owe her for saving his life that day against the barbarians, so to see her like this was... Painful.

The Emperor sighed as she closed her eyes, both of her hands stroking the brunette's head. "Is there some business you wish to speak of?"

Captain nodded, "There is." He lowered his arm to his side, "A report on the chapel. While the innards are stable, and near completion, the entireity of the project will take another month, providing the workforce holds out that long."

"... Are the risen corpses not performing well?"

"They are, Emperor, but there are complications when... Limbs fall off..."

She laughed heartlessly, "Of course. So be it. Bring the undead that are of no use to me and I will change them as full Black Monks. That surely should speed things up."

"But these people are mere savages, Emperor. To bless them with a Black Monk's power would only..." He paused his retort, and bowed his head again, "Forgive me Emperor. I spoke out of line."

Waving a claw about, she laughed further, "Oh no, Captain, speak your mind. I see what you mean. To become a Black Monk is to become closer to me, and to become the empitome of everything that I embody in the Black Militia doctrines. But Captain," she smiled softly upon him, "To become Black Monk, can also be punishment to those who resist it."

The Captain agreed silently. He merely closed his eyes.

"Besides, Captain, you are part Black Monk, are you not?" She pointed to his skeletal arm, "Of course it is highly unothordox for me to extend my powers to saving a limb, but in your case, it was a request from my daughter."

A blush grew across his face. "A-ah... Emperor the rumours about me and the Princess are complete-"

"Rumours." Cut in the Emperor with an all knowing smirk. Going back to petting her sister's head, she looked down to the Captain's plated boots, "Thank you Captain, now stop with your duties and return to the festival. Relax. For once..."

A smile broke out across his face. "Thank you, Emperor but I shall return to my practices with the glaive." He bowed again, "Please excuse me." Turning, he moved his way through the crowds, feeling his Emperor's glaring eyes upon the back of his head.

He knew deep down that his Emperor; his Goddess of the Dark, deep down despised him for taking away her daughter from under her watchful eye. Sighing, Captain ran his hands through his head of short spiky black hair, and shook his head, "I suppose I'll take on her advice and go lay down somewhere..."

As he moved to his tent, he was just about to enter when the entire procession started to erupt into chaos. Weapons were drawn, and slaves and dancers were slaughtered upon sight by the Black Militia. Confused, he grabbed his crystal sword from the sheath, and bounded towards the Emperor's location.

His prime urge to defend her.

Through the slaughter and screams of the barbarians, he turned his eyes long enough from his goal's direction to spy some of the barbarian men weilding the tools they were using to build the chapel.

It was a rebellion. And so soon into the game, too.

Kicking a human woman out of the way as she tried to slice open his neck with a pickaxe, he pushed past his fellow men to spy the cause of the sudden carnage.

The Emperor laid there immobile, her fingers still clutching at her neck... While the brunette to laid in the Emperor's lap in a similar fashion, with no visible wounds to be seen on either.

Tiana, who was very much alive, sat over her sister shaking her vigoursly. "Sister! Sister!" Despite the pain the Emperor had given her, she still remained loyal to her dark sibling.

"... The humans have poisoned the Emperor!" The Captain called, his eyes full of rage and bloodlust as he swung his sword into the air, "Hack them all to pieces!"