Shackled Exalted

There is an ancient story that tells of the origins of Ardair.

Before this kingdom was granted a name, this vast stretch of land was infamous for being cursed. Earth tremors. Floods. Eruption from the underground. Wildfire. Disasters and calamities afflicted this region like a plague. Without stability, civilization could not establish its foothold here.

Tormented by these afflictions, the natives of this land soon grew desperate.

They turned to esoteric arts and rituals.

They committed atrocities in hopes of appeasing the greater powers that held their lands in contempt.

They prayed.

To the blue skies. To the abyssal earth. To the vast seas. To the unknown wilds. To the towering mountains. To the ever expansive beyond from over the horizon.

Surely, someone would hear their pleads.

Surely, someone could free them from the curses seeped in these lands.

Surely, someone will come save them.

***

Emil

The lights within the theater suddenly dimmed. Soon, only a single beacon remained, illuminating a small spot at the center of the stage.

"When all appeared to be lost, Endora descended."

The airy voice echoed across the venue. Each word resounded with a strange, otherworldly quality—like a chime, but with authority. As though it had belonged to a divine being.

Emil felt a buzz down his spine. The beacon illuminating the stage suddenly brightened. A woman, adorned in a translucent veil, descended from the ceiling. Lights scattered and strobed off her dress, bestowing her with a sacred impression. Her hands were clasped in prayer. Her eyes closed. Her expression sullen yet majestic.

A collective gasp spread throughout the audience. It wasn't hard to see why. Emil had the fortune of meeting his fair share of beautiful people over the course of his tumultuous life, but even he had his breath stolen away.

The woman before him was the personification of beauty. The heavenly lights glistering upon her vessel. Her ethereal dress. The somber atmosphere. The weight of each word hanging on her lips. Truly, it appeared as if he had been greeted by the Goddess Endora herself.

"Children, I hear your pleads."

Kindness radiated from the stage. A gentle warmth seeped into the crowd. Endora beckoned her arms in an open embrace. A wisp of azure emerged into the air. It permeated the stage slowly—moving, flowing with a playful cadence, like a newborn child with boundless curiosity.

"I bestow you a gift of mana. Use it to overcome adversities. Use it to rebuild from calamities. Use it to help each other."

The wisps began to converge onto a single point above the stage. The motes of blue grew more intense as its concentration built—until it suddenly burst.

The audience collectively flinched.

Dazzling specks of azure slowly descended from the air, gleaming gently on the eyes. Emil felt the crowd relax while holding their breath at the awe-inspiring sight.

"But remember, a gift bestowed—" Endora suddenly opened their eyes. A stern glint in their gaze. "—is a gift that can always be taken away."

The lights switched off. Darkness enveloped the room. And the crowd stood up in thunderous applause.

***

"That was amazing!" Charlotte exclaimed, her voice somehow overpowering all of the excited chatters within the theater venue hallways. She removed her specs, revealing her shimmering eyes filled with passionate tears. Kai offered her a handcloth and brushed away the loose strands of her brown hair that had been shaken loose during her excitement.

"The last effect that they used to mimic mana, how do you think they created that?" Aoife asked, wearing a childish smile as she snuck an inquisitive glance at Kai and Charlotte, "That obviously wasn't real mana. The Ordinaries in the crowd wouldn't have been able to see it unless the concentration was dangerously high."

"The wisps themselves weren't mana, but I did detect hints of a Gift being used," Emil answered, "My guess is that there's an Exalted backstage who's capable of manipulating light in charge of the effect."

"The glimmering azure specks at the end were definitely real though," Anna added. Her eyes were distant as if recollecting the last moments of the theater play, "I think they were using powdered sapphire or lapis lazuli."

That earned a whistle from Kai.

"Quite expensive for a show that they put on every month. The gemstones are costly enough, but to employ an Exalted just for visual effects? The Isarelle Opera Company must be rich."

"Well, given this theater's proximity to the Noble's Quarter, it's obvious that most of their audience would be wealthy. They could afford to go all out. But yeah, the price of these tickets must have been absurd." Anna shot a knowing look at Emil. "Guess we better thank Liesel for getting us these seats."

Emil felt the urge to groan. He was already apprehensive about receiving things from Liesel, knowing that it might put him at a disadvantage when it came time to discuss his potential future with House Belle. While Emil wasn't familiar with Liesel's father, he'd imagined him to be difficult to deal with given Liesel's domineering tendencies. The apple didn't fall far from the tree usually.

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"Oh please, House Belle is the duchy of this province and the head of the house is this city's current governor. She probably gets those tickets handed to her on a silver platter for free," Kai chimed in dismissively.

His harsh words earned him a poke on the cheeks from Charlotte. "It's not a sin to show gratitude, you know?" He clicked his tongue and pulled his head away, which only fueled Charlotte's mischievous behavior.

Emil didn't miss the conflicted reaction from Aoife when Liesel's name was mentioned.

While Vigil's raid on the Academy had overshadowed all other news for some time, once things had settled down, attention quickly switched towards Liesel's annulment with Prince Rory and its implications. Even if House Belle spun the event as the whims of their prodigious daughter, it was difficult to perceive the annulment as nothing less than a falling-out between the royal family and the second most powerful noble house in the kingdom.

Politically, the royal faction suffered a devastating blow. House Belle's estrangement from the royal family only placed more questions on its dwindling authority. Sensing blood in the waters, the ambitious elites of the kingdom were emboldened to build their power. That is, until House Nacht's brutal dismantling after they were found to be involved in human trafficking.

"I still can't used to the fact that he, out of all people, is now one of the princess's knights," Anna said, just quiet enough for his ears as they stepped out of the theater.

The skies were gloomy—the sun just barely showing itself amongst the dense clouds. Its overcast lights simmered gently against the cobblestone roads and the serene waters of the canal. Over the horizon, three giant stone structures were etched into the waterway. Floodgates, designed to control the flow of water from the nearby basin. This was the signature attraction of Isarelle, the capital city of the Rosales province, home to the estate of House Belle.

Emil was initially invited by Liesel who wanted to recruit him into the house. One thing led to another and somehow this solo journey had morphed into an impromptu trip to celebrate everyone passing the Academy exams. Emil suspected foul play from Liesel. She likely wanted to make sure that he couldn't reject her invitation by making use of an age-old technique—peer pressure from his friends.

"I'm a bit shocked as well," he replied, watching as Kai, Charlotte, and Aoife frolicked by the edge of the canal. The latter was in disguise, wearing a wig and a pair of specs that dulled the color of her emerald eyes. "But when I think about it, he makes perfect sense. He was a contender for the semi-finals of the Clash of Dawn. He's not affiliated with any of the political factions. And they're acquainted with each other."

If anything, Emil was surprised that Aoife had taken so long to recruit students into her retinue. While she was officially a part of the royal family on paper, there were still grumblings within the royal faction due to her commoner blood. With opposition on the inside, it would have been difficult for her to establish her footing amongst the aristocrats. As Ardair continued to grow more chaotic, what Aoife needed more than anything was a group of individuals that were only loyal to her.

It would certainly make my job easier.

"Still, it's Kai," Anna said with clear disdain, "Like. The Kai."

"Anna, he's our friend."

"Just try imagining that guy wearing a royal knight's suit of armor."

Emil narrowed his eyes. The man in question was in the middle of telling a story to Charlotte and Aoife. He had a conceited expression, sneering as he rambled animatedly about something nonsensical.

Emil caught himself making a face right at the same time that he overheard Anna scoff. "See? It just doesn't work. It's like dressing up a bandit in a nobleman's gown."

…Sorry, Kai. He couldn't help it. Even though Kai had been fairly amicable since he started dating Charlotte, his image as a conniving scoundrel was just too overwhelming. First impressions were like a pest—notoriously hard to shake off.

"Honestly, I thought you would have been first one she recruited," Anna said.

She might have tried if she didn't know about my association with Steiger.

In some ways, he was already serving her—just not directly. He worked for Steiger, and Steiger was one of the royal family's tools to maintain its authority within Ardair.

But Emil kept that thought to himself. Feigning disinterest, he approached the rest of the group by the canals in silence. Anna got the hint and didn't press him any further. The two of them had an implicit understanding at this point not to discuss anything about Emil's nature and background. Anna still tried to probe occasionally from here and there, but those came mostly from a place of concern rather than curiosity.

I wonder if she made the connection.

News of House Nacht's downfall included an attack by an unidentified Exalted that could conjure flames. Anna knew about his unique nature, and she was involved with his destruction of the Professor Callum's Hidden Laboratory. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together, especially given how haggard he looked in the days following his attack on the Nacht estate. Still, Emil was deeply grateful that she hadn't asked him any questions about the incident.

Just how much longer can I keep this up?

The pensive thought barely registered in his head before Emil suddenly found himself drenched. Icy water splashed against his face. He blinked, confused. The chilling waters seeped into his clothes. He caught a shocked gasp from Charlotte and Aoife. He looked up. Kai was staring at him with an arrogant grin. His hands were extended, posturing as if daring him to retaliate.

True, they were in public, barely a block from the theater. Those who attended the show were still streaming out of the venue. Their surroundings weren't crowded, but it was bustling enough to make a scene.

A sensible person might have just swallowed their pride and endured the childish prank.

If that was Kai's plan to escape retaliation, then he thoroughly miscalculated Emil's spite.

As if I care about appearances.

Without warning, Emil launched himself forward with a burst of mana. Kai's composure immediately slipped—a horrified look engraved on his face as he realized Emil's intentions. He tried to retreat, but escape was futile.

"Ngh!"

Emil drove into him with a mean embrace. Carrying his momentum, he grappled his friend as the two of them plunged into the canal.

***

"Achoo!"

Emil sneezed, wincing as he changed out of his wet clothes. He was inside a room within a tavern where he would be staying for the duration of their trip in Isarelle. The Academy's Praxis, a period of practical training where students would be assigned to an institution to gain field experience, would start in just over a week. The witch had promised him a small vacation in the meantime and Emil was determined to make the most of it.

Maybe I went a bit overboard knocking him into the canal.

He smirked, recalling the stupid look on Kai's face when they resurfaced. His expression of utter disbelief made braving the freezing waters worth it. Clearly, Kai didn't know him well enough if he thought he could get away with clowning him in public.

Emil fastened a rope across the top of the window to the end of a wooden shelf. After wringing out most of the water into a bucket, he placed his damp clothes on the makeshift clothesline. For a moment, he considered using Blaze, but subjecting himself to self-immolation just to dry his clothes felt excessive. Although his heat tolerance had improved significantly thanks to his Exalted constitution, activating Blaze was still painful.

He leaned back onto his bed and sighed, thinking about how to navigate his visit tomorrow. Liesel framed it as a simple invitation from a friend, but it was obvious that House Belle would be trying their best to recruit him into their ranks.

His plan was to delay their offer further, but Emil had to be delicate in his process. Rejecting House Belle too firmly might imply that he was allied with the royal faction. That might have been true behind the scenes given his affiliation with Steiger, but publicly as Emil Milligan, he wanted to maintain a façade of neutrality.

Currently, his primary objective as a student of Exalted Academy was to unravel the Bestowed Project and the heinous experiments being conducted within the Council's Hidden Laboratories. Hortensia was currently analyzing the documents that he and Petra had procured before deciding on their next move.

He couldn't afford to get involved in the faction war that's brewing between the royal family and the nobility right now.

Plus, if the witch ever wanted him to switch focus and infiltrate the elites instead, not alienating House Belle would keep that path available to him.

"I really hate politics," he mumbled to himself, "Beating someone until they give in is so much easier." He scoffed, amused at his own violent thoughts.

Suddenly, there was a tapping on his window.

Emil felt his stomach sink.

Please tell me it's not what I think it is.

His terrible premonition came true as he reluctantly turned to the window. It was a carrier pigeon. The bottom of its legs was an imprint of Steiger's insignia.