Chapter Text
"I promise, with my own two hands I will take down the Abyss so I can see your smile amongst the flowers once more."
His words rang in her ears, reverberating; forcing her to remember.
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Once upon a time, he had loved her, and she had loved him.
But upon reaching their journey's end, after witnessing with her own eyes the doom that fell upon the land that she had learned to love along with the people it harbored within it, the Abyss became her solace.
The Seven, they called themselves.
Seven fierce warriors who fought tooth and nail in a war against Gods thousands of years ago, and won. They had rightfully earned their seats in Celestia, and then on ruled upon seven prosperous nations.
These warriors, Archons we now call them, allowed no other nation besides theirs to exist upon the land. And Khaenri'ah was one of them. Sweet, sweet Khaenri'ah was obliterated by these Gods as if it were simply weed in their majestic garden.
She had seen it with her own eyes. There was fire everywhere, spreading far and wide, eating away at everything it touched; unforgiving. Everything was burning away to embers.
The seven archons were ruthless. At their fingertips lie power beyond mortal comprehension, seemingly commanding not just their unrivaled elemental power but countless legions, ready to murder and destroy and ruin at their Archon's order.
And in the middle of that catastrophe stand Dainsleif, blood all over him, a testament to the countless lives he has taken.
Upon seeing the great Twilight Sword, a royal guard for the kingdom of Khaenri'ah, all wounded and clothes dripping red, her hands visibly shook. She had never felt so defeated without even having drawn her blade.
They were losing, their numbers drastically falling by the second. Most of their field tillers were unmoving, parts of their mechanical lives were scattered all over the battlefield. Their armies either had their heads blown off or buried under the weight of multiple arrows. And the enemy legions just keep taking ang taking and taking, leaving everything on their path a devastation, while their archons stood a distance away, simply watching, as if finding amusement in this mess. Unscathed.
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Khaenri'ah was once a great nation, a human civilization ruled by no Archon. And perhaps it was this greatness, shining so effervescently, that blinded these Archons to take and ruin and throw away. They allowed no such greatness and beauty, if not ruled by them.
They claim to be gods, and yet even they were swayed by such simple mortal frailness. Greed. And perhaps it was also for this sin that they took away her brother, having seen them as a threat; outlanders able to crush worlds with their hands.
And so in a single snap of a finger, they had taken away Aether and Khaenri'ah both.
In a single snap of a finger, she's lost a brother, a home, and a lover.
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She awoke in a land she once walked through with light dancing in her golden eyes, now wingless and weak, and without a brother by her side.
This revelation made everything hurt, made the world a little bit dimmer, but she did not cry.
Perhaps she was too broken and mangled that even tears dare not taint her further.
Time, then, did not matter. Whether a minute or an epoch had passed, it did not matter. All she had in mind was vengeance and destruction upon Celestia.
And simply, in another finger snap, she now sit on her throne, crowned as the Abyss Princess, and on her palm an army willing to throw their lives away for her. With this power, she had begun spreading the poison of the Abyss in the glorious garden of the Archons.
So now, the question is this: Why was Dainsleif, having witnessed everything she had, standing on the opposite side of the battlefield?
She would have tear down the hopes of seeing him again had she known she'd meet him by the sharp end of her blade.
"I promise, with my own two hands I will take down the Abyss so I can see your smile amongst the flowers once more." For the first time in what felt like eternity, her sword waivered ever so slightly upon hearing his words.
She did not need saving. She commanded this army.
All she wanted to do was reach out for Dainsleif, and ask him to stay by her side. Be her herald, command this army together, and make Celestia fall.
But he was too far now, her voice won't ever reach him.