Dark Crow Rising

Moving my eyes off of the tablet and dropping it on the seat, I look out the cogship's window. Thrurstradtur is starting to burn with how the riots are behaving. It's bordering on civil war with how brutal it is turning out to be. The people are terrified and there is nothing I or anyone within the Gnomon can do to calm them.

More and more people are getting their own streams of footage and reels of photographs of the giant. Too many are suddenly stopping in their relaying of information and I don't have the men to spare. All these fools heading straight for their doom, we should be stopping them but we simply can't. It's all a feedback loop that encourages the violence in the streets.

The cogship makes an abrupt stop and the team of city guardsmen I had to hitch a ride with disembark. I shut the door quickly to lock out the sound of the city and barely make out the thunk of smoke canisters popping off. With the airship back on the path I want it to go on, the city seemingly starts to turn quiet. Ipannicano, the Ibenoroccon district is perhaps one of the only places still in order.

I guess the nature of our relationship with the Grand-Kingdom of Ibenorocco helps with that. Even from up high, I can see the presence of foreign soldiers keeping this vast gated community secure. My stomach jolts and the cogship heads to the embassy's main landing pad. Barely a second on the ground and my hands are already forcing the door aside so I can step out.

"Go join the others handling the city, do not wait for me." I order the pilot and he gestures in understanding, his aircraft taking off the moment I clear the gap. Lingering at watching it fly away, it doesn't take long for my eyes to light up with the signs of its weapon systems turning on. Warning shots are already firing off and I turn towards the somewhat familiar architecture of the embassy.

Like most things with involvement with the royal government of the Grand-Kingdom, this entire complex is built as one would build back there. Hidden waterworks fill in for the lack of useable rivers and defensive moats blend seamlessly with decorative ponds. A pair of colourful, pinkish fish leap into the air as their dress-like fins flutter. Looming trees with little trunks and flowers that lap up the water, lingering the taste of sweet nectar in the ripples.

Straightening myself out, I hold back the scoff I want to hand out to the few people I can see across the vast garden. For a people an ocean away from their home, they're certainly eager to provoke and taunt. No guards have come up to escort me and that's to say nothing of how the embassy expects my visits and not the other way around. Still, I have a job to do and I suppose I can be somewhat thankful for the embassy's foreign legion.

It at least keeps a notable segment of the city under control even if they reach no further than the confines of a single top-level district. I cross a little bridge ornamented with statues of the Great Slug. Under the nighttime shadow of this garden's pavilion, I take a closer look at the architecture. There's certainly a degree of pretentiousness about it.

Intentionally metallic pillars allow for the reminiscing of the Grand-Kingdom's fleet of walking cities. Walls that are cased in clear crystal and filled with magic-rich water on the lower half. All feeding into the careful arraying of grey brickwork shaped in a pyramid fashion with slight strips of varying shades of sea greens. Seaweed, seafoam, swamp and marshy colours.

The meaning is not lost on me but if I were to come here with any Jhermonikra, there'd certainly be a feeling of belittlement. All over the structure, built-in and painted are reminders of the worst time in this continent's history. Man-made, anyway. The Time of Liquid Mountains is evoked endlessly and the architects of this complex were efficient in fitting it all ceaselessly in.

The wood of the doors and the metal decorating them are all the triumphs of the Grand-Kingdom. Beyond their lightly locked lustre are paintings and mosaics that continue the humiliating tale. Only, ask anyone who works here and they'd likely tell me that the Grand-Kingdom swept in and saved the day at the Time's end. Rather than, well, march in on the fledgeling and resurgent people because of some divine mandate.

I sneer a little at the repeating phrase carved into much of the stonework and mind a servant as she passes by. Straightening myself out, I note the group wheeling a hefty meal off down a hallway. Following them, I thankfully make good use of my time and arrive at where the ambassador is having his dinner. The slightly plump, sand-toned man pays me no mind and instead finds almost childish delight in the deliverance of gravy to a breast of bird flesh and its nest of buttered vegetables.

"What is this about, Ambassador Aushbasih?" I ask, taking a seat regardless of what he has said to do or not. He's an ambassador, not a king or even the Stroke of High Noon. The man ignores me for a few tediously long minutes and only a slight portion of his meal vanishes. He rises to his feet with a glass of wine and makes quick work of it.

At the very least, he is kind enough to offer me a hand and I take it, joining him on a walk. I suppose despite my position and its temporary increase in authority, I am still a lady. Though, this is not particularly helpful and I would prefer some freedom of head movement. These Ibenoroccons and their ridiculous headwear...

We make it outside to another water garden, one with a thick glass panel for a floor. Below, a set of blunted triangular prisms made of a now moss-covered stone. Little aquatic insects dash about and between the three-sided gaps. The sounds of our steps change and we're back on a path of laid bricks, circling a monument to the current monarch of the Grand-Kingdom.

From the shores of the Sea, to the source of all life, our right over all... The royal slogan.

"You will prioritise His Grand-Majesty's people in these trying times." Aushbasih orders with that dripping noise Ibenoroccons call an accent. I blink and turn to face the man who is not even offering me a second glance. Freeing myself of his grip, I take a few steps forward, arms behind my back and I turn. His hands come together and he nods with a slight smile as if that is everything.

"Excuse me? I assume, most naturally that you have been keeping up with the news as I most certainly know you've not been reading my reports." I ask and point out, narrowing my gaze as the act continues with him.

"His Grand-Majesty's people are in the most gravest of dangers. As his representative within this... Country... I am obligated to remind you of our treaties of preferential treatment. Especially with all that we are doing to ensure the government of this city remains connected to the world at large." the man explains with the same kind of attitude I'd expect from the great slime-trailer these people all look up to.

"This entire country is in the 'gravest of dangers', need I remind you? The giant is on, what is right now, an unstoppable advance. I cannot be setting aside spiral-trains, airships, wagons and other forms of transport for such an insignificant... Merchant demographic!" I point out and the ambassador starts to tut. A flower enters one hand and magic glows from another. An orb of water swallows the picked plant and it orbits the chubby man.

The water starts to eat away at the flower until all that is left of its memory is the stained liquid's colour.

"If what I am hearing is the willing abandonment of the subjects of His Grand-Majesty, then, I suppose I have a document to fill out." he warns and I frown, the topic of that paper only vaguely clear to me.

"What document?" I ask, just to be sure. He drops the destroyed flower into the water and it trails like blood.

"Why, a declaration of war, of course! The ineptitude of the Thrurstradtur-Suhurlodst government and your leadership, Grandguard Inerish. It will not only mean the loss of so many fellow Ibenorccon brothers and sisters, but we will also lose so much investment. If you and your government cannot ensure the safety of the Grand-Kingdom's efforts in this part of the continent, we will step in ourselves. I'm sure there are more than enough blessed All-Coast feeding rivers for us to embark up." the Ambassador warns like it's something he says with a heavy heart.

"Assuming the giant's power doesn't reach that far down..." I mutter in response, my mind already made up at this point. If war is what I get for saying no, then all I can do is pull what men I can to hurry these Ibenoroccons out of the country so we can get back to what matters. A lone Worm Rider was enough to leave us paralyzed five years ago, to have an army of them coming...

"Now, with the circumstances clear, do I have your understanding that His Grand-Majesty's subjects shall receive priority?" he asks, a smile on his face.

"You, of course, will be supplying men to fill in for this, yes?" I ask, trying at least this one avenue to extract some ease for my men. Those who will be incapacitated due to the Ibenorccon fiddling will be able to move on to riot duties. It shouldn't cause too much of a disruption, but, I can only hope.

Too often these days, it's all I have...

"Naturally, in order to ensure that His Grand-Majesty's subjects are truly being prioritised in the evacuations. As you likely saw on your way here, we have this situation far more under control than you do. We'll be more than happy to spare the needed men and I will get the word out to my subsidiaries to lend what men they can too. If need be, I will send for further aid by cont-"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Ambassador." I warn. My dark-fire magic interrupts him with pricks of light-eating heat that's all too eager to boil the fat beneath his skin. Him making his threats is one thing, but I will not have an army be allowed into this country right as we are left reeling.

"Forgive me, I only mean for the best of intentions." he remarks, smirking as he walks off back to his meal most likely.

"This threat will not be taken lightly, Ambassador Aushbasih." I speak loud enough for him to hear and not have an excuse. He stops and turns back my way, his hands slightly raised with a sense of mockery pinched along with the air.

"Oh, I know, but, well, with what little you now have on hand, it might as well be." he says with the doors closing behind him shortly after. Straightening myself out, I put my hands behind my back and tense up with a clenched jaw. So, this is how it's going to be... These are my circumstances.

Easing up on my posture, a sword burns to life and I take a few practice swings on the decorations of the garden. A fallen branch crunches under my heel just before the last of it turns to ash. Making my way back to the landing pad I came here on, I let my magic maintain its overbearing nature. Lights break and pop within the building and Ibenoroccon women shriek in their native tongue.

I'd sooner let the Seven-Peaks Union invade uncontested before I allowed the Grand-Kingdom to lurch further under their false pretenses. While they have no interest in my homeland of Errakurd, the land one needs to traverse to get there is all too often within sight of their battleships. The greatest navy in the world is a mark of praise they are all too unwilling to give up.

"I suppose it would be wise of me to simply join the fray my men are experiencing on my way back to the Gnomon." I contemplate as I note the lack of contactable cogships.