Ryan 1

Duchess Partha had ordered her men not to engage the Demon Emperor’s forces when they’d approached.

By chance, she and her thirteen-year-old son, Ryan, had been spared from the massacre at Themis for one simple reason - Ryan had fallen ill the day before they were meant to head to the capital with their army.

“I’m fine, mother,” he’d insisted. “You should go on without me.”

His mother had refused, and that decision had saved her life, and that of her soldiers.

When word reached them of the Demon Emperor, Duchess Partha decided it’d be best to not antagonise their new lord and master. There was no point in resisting a much superior force, especially one that had taken down an entire empire singlehandedly.

Her army was six thousand strong; at best, they could eliminate four times that number before being wiped out.

Jennifer Partha wasn’t prepared to follow such a course of action, especially not when she saw the potential for a meaningful strike later in the Demon Emperor’s reign.

“Patience is our ally,” she’d told her advisors. “A martyr’s death won’t save Themis. If the Demon Emperor’s army approaches, surrender and offer your loyalty. Tell them that you work for Duchess Partha and send them to me.”

An outpost at the edge of her territory had been the first to fall without bloodshed.

True to her word, her men conveyed her message, and the Demon Emperor sent an envoy - two thousand armoured skeletons and a hundred demons, escorting a man wearing a wooden demonic mask in a cloak.

With a polite curtsey, Jennifer greeted her guest. “Thank you for coming all this way, my lord.”

“You are most kind, Lady Partha.” He bowed back. “I am the newly appointed Voice of the Demon Emperor.”

“How should I address you, my lord?”

“Lord Voice is fine, Lady Partha.”

“Then, Lord Voice, might I ask what you wish of me and my household?”

While she couldn’t see it, she knew he was smiling beneath his mask. “Your fealty to the Demon Emperor.”

“…Is that all?”

“Would you prefer that we demanded more from you?”

“…I would happily offer everything I have to the new emperor.”

The voice laughed. “Of course you would.” He leant forward and removed his mask. “Duchess Partha, you have far more sense and wisdom than most other lords of the Holy Empire. Working for the Demon Empire, you would continue to help make it prosper and flourish. Against us.” He frowned. “You would be a vicious foe.”

Jennifer said nothing but continued to meet the voice’s gaze.

“Of course, I’m not suspecting you of anything treasonous. You know as well as I do that the Holy Empire has fallen. What is left of the Holy Legion is being swept away as we speak and will soon be nothing more than a memory in the hearts of the elderly. The Satyr Skull flies above the walls of every part of the south-east and soon it will encompass the north.

“Duchess Jennifer Partha, surely you know it’d be in your best interest to side with the winners.”

***

“We should’ve been there.”

“If we had, we’d be dead.”

“Better that than cowards.”

“Ryan! Never say such things again!”

“How could you just accept everything they ask of you like that?!” He bellowed. “Increases in taxes, more food being levied from us to feed our oppressors and now we must pledge the knights and soldiers of our family to the tyrant that rules over us! How can I not say such things?!”

“And if you had been there at Themis, what would have changed?” The duchess hissed. “What difference would a few thousand more bodies make? What could we have done other than beg for mercy as our friends die around us? Ryan, we have only a single life to live in this world. Once it ends, it’s over. There is something noble about dying for the right cause or to ensure a better future, but there is nothing noble about throwing away our lives for nothing.

“The Demon Emperor’s position is strong, but not invincible. It’s a castle built upon a sinking swamp, but if that swampland should become firm ground, then nothing we would do would matter. Right now, there are other places in the Holy Empire where troops survived the slaughter at Themis. Our house was lucky, as were others, and no doubt there are surviving paladins and Holy Legion members throughout the empire.

“We use the illusion of servitude to hide our true intentions - eventually, we shall bring down the Demon Emperor, but it is no easy task. We have allies, both in and outside of Themis, and working with them, we shall bring about the Demon Emperor’s end!”

***

In chains, Ryan Partha had been brought before his mother’s corpse.

The duchess lay on a table, her eyes closed, her arms crossed and a blood stain on her dress where a jagged dagger had been thrust into her heart.

When he was three, Ryan’s father had been killed by bandits.

When he was seven, his uncle had died in a horse racing accident.

Now, at the age of thirteen, his last remaining family member, his mother who had loved him the most in the entire world was dead.

“Based on his reaction, that’s definitely her,” a Raven said, then lent down next to Ryan. “The Demon Emperor has permitted you to keep your life. Do not waste it.”

The chains were released, and Ryan was left in that place, his home, all alone.

No servants, no guards, no soldiers.

Just him and his mother’s corpse.