Chapter 38: Homecoming

When Shiori first learned Symphon’s true name and felt his power, she was overwhelmed by its vastness.

As Queen Shiori Kawamura, she understood what vast truly meant. She became aware of the power available to her as a Queen.

It wasn’t twice or a hundred times what Symphon had. Simple words or multiples failed to describe it.

Shiori didn’t have a lot of power. She had all of it.

She was vaguely aware of her body as she floated in a halo of light. The light scoured the Stain away as she rose first a meter, then higher than the keep’s walls.

The sun above shone true light in response to her presence and its weak light bowed to her majesty.

She felt the valley respond and rejoice at the return of its Queen. Dead trees revived, sprouting green branches. Dry springs flowed back to life with sweet water.

Everything underground vibrated and sang. The sky trembled at her homecoming to the Realms of Nyx.

The trees where she told Motohara to stop laughing suddenly regained their leaves and soaked up fresh sun.

Oh, yes, Motohara was trapped in the Deeps. That wouldn’t do.

With a wave of her hand, she opened a portal to the Deeps without using the Reverse Mirrors. It wasn’t the unstable hole in space that brought her here. This portal whispered open and Motohara fell through.

He covered his eyes to hide from the Queen’s brilliance.

Next, Shiori healed the scarred landscape where the Symphon had fought to protect her.

Ah, yes, Symphon. He was nearly dead. With a wave of her hand his wounds were healed. He awoke, gasping for air.

Finally, the Duke was emaciated and weak now that the Stain had been boiled from his body. The Queen’s light had burned away the darkness that sustained him.

Shiori wanted to land and talk to him, and it happened. It was more like the ground came up to meet her.

“Duke Praetor,” she said, considering the wretch before her. “You were among the Usurpers who tore down rightful rulers. You’ve survived by consuming your own.”

“Thou art,” the Duke said kneeling, “not a Princess, but a Queen. I had not trusted my memory of such power.” He groveled. “I beg you, spare me.”

The light from Shiori remained pure white. The amount of light didn’t change. But it became sharper and more threatening.

The Duke looked and she pointed his eyes toward the fallen blue crystal bottle.

“Duke Praetor, you must be thirsty.”

The Duke gasped. “Anything but that.”

“Drink,” Shiori commanded.

The Duke did. The pink dissolved Aqra slid down his throat. He convulsed in pain.

His eyes were wide with terror at what he was doing, but he could no more disobey a Spoken word from the Queen than crush this entire keep with a word.

Shiori did crush the keep with a word. “Fall!” she commanded.

The Duke tossed the bottle aside, trying to escape. The dungeons under the keep collapsed, stone and dirt falling like into a black hole.

Shiori waved herself back into the air, bringing her two knights, Motohara and Symphon, as the keep was consumed by the earth itself.

The Duke was caught in a river of falling rock and dirt, buried under a thousand tons of stone, dirt, and sand.

Shiori swept a hand forward, palm down, and the earth smoothed over as if no Praetor castle had marred this land. With a word, she summoned grass and flowers. Another word summoned trees that grew decades worth of time in seconds.

She turned to consider the soldiers Symphon had brought.

They had been fighting the Duke’s pathetic guards. Umbrae and ghouls and such. Those had disintegrated at the first touch of her light. The soldiers knelt in fear and reverence.

Then there was a rumbling.

“The Silence is coming. We have to get out of here, Shiori,” Motohara yelled from where she held him in the air nearby.

She glanced at him and he paled. “Princess Shiori.” He corrected himself.

“Queen,” Symphon said.

She looked at Symphon approvingly, but he looked back at her, worry on his face.

The rumbling started. She felt the Silence climbing, hungry to feed on everything she had made pure. It wanted to consume the light. The foul thing rose from the darkest hole of this Realm.

Soon she saw it, towering over the forests where the keep had once been.

It dared to approach her and cast its cursed unlight in her direction.

The massive thing resembled a cloud of billions of gnats imitating a human form. It swarmed forward, killing every plant and animal in its path.

Her plants. Her animals.

Shiori reached for the thing.

It howled in fury, rushing forward in unthinking rage and hunger.

Shiori Spoke: “Be. Gone.”

A flare of light erupted from her hand, tearing the sky open. The Silence was struck by the flare which gouged into the dark mist of its body.

Still it came forward as the light tore it apart. It withered and burned under her light, leaving only a small human form floating a hundred meters above the ground.

It tried regrowing the congealed darkness around itself, but Shiori refused.

With a flick of her fingers, she flung the cursed thing into the ground, through the ground, and deeper.

It fell from the small island of reality she inhabited. It tried to grab onto a nearby and lower island housing the city of Felthal.

With another motion she cast it down to the Deep itself.

Shiori landed. She placed her knights behind her, flanking her to either side.

The Felthal soldiers knelt to dedicate themselves to her, ready to worship Shiori, their Queen.

And why shouldn’t they worship? Shiori was flooded with memories that were not her own. Wars. Betrayals. Thrones. Battles.

She was the first true Royal to return. All the Realms would worship her...

“No,” Shiori whispered.

The flood of memories redoubled. The Usurpers had killed the last Royals, thrusting the Realms into darkness. She would reclaim their glory. She would conquer and dominate the Realms, as before!

“No,” Shiori said, louder.

It had to be. She was the Queen. It was her birthright, her honor, her calling.

The power in her demanded to be used. Shiori reached out and shattered the sky. The blue broke away like a dome of shattered glass. Instead of stars, there were islands floating above like continents in the sky.

The Realms of Nyx. Each Realm belonged to her. She could reach out and take them. She would smite all resistance. She would rebuild what had been lost.

“Shiori?”

It was Symphon’s voice. Who was he to question her?

She turned to look at him. He looked from the torn sky back to her. “Shiori, what are you going to do?”

Justice. Revenge. Restoration. The will behind the Royal memories assaulted Shiori.

But she had read her mother’s books. They hadn’t been a history. They had been preparing her for this. The Royals in the past had been consumed by their power. She knew where that path led. Genocide. War. Destruction.

“No,” Shiori said. It wasn’t loud or quiet, but final. She would not be what it wanted.

The Royal power tried to regain control, but she denied it.

The uncanny light faded, and then she was just Shiori again.

Soldiers knelt in the tense silence. Motohara didn’t dare to meet her eyes. He was terrified of her.

She didn’t dare to meet Symphon’s eyes. She didn’t want to know what he thought of her.

She walked to where The Last Word lay in the newly created grass, under a newly grown tree. In the chaos of destroying the castle she had kept this safe.

The instant she touched the book, her Royal power reacted. The book shone with Royal light borrowed from her power.

An image appeared, a woman not even ten years older than Shiori.

The Princess spoke in perfect Japanese. “If you’re hearing this message, then I’ve failed to save the Realms.”

“Mother?” Shiori said, stunned.

“I’ve,” the woman nearly sobbed, “I’ve tried to create a safe place for you. I’ve given you to a trusted friend in the old world. Please forgive me. I tried my best.”

Tears ran down Shiori’s cheeks.

“Know that I love you. Be safe.”

The image disappeared. A sparkling light ran over the cover, changing the writing.

“The Last Word,” Shiori read in amazement, “by Princess Ayami Kawamura.”

Her mother’s true name rang in her mouth. Shiori felt a connection open.

Her mother was alive.