Emilia: A Tale Of Two Sisters

The skies of the Demon Realm were flushed with a never-ending, perpetual redness, mixed with occasional dark, swirling clouds. Below, thousands of creatures lived together in a fragile harmony, from vampires to werewolves, imps, hellhounds, wraiths, and succubi, and finally, the ruling class, the demons.

Emilia Valacora, of the great and diabolical House Gorgora Astaroth, suddenly emerged from a large, bright white portal that had appeared in the midst of a barren wasteland. Her silver boot stepped onto the red sand, crushing a nine-legged desert spider beneath her heel.

She turned around and glanced back at her border commanders.

"Ruger. Fox. Jumaha. Luba. The war against the humans continues on the eastern front. Keep an eye on our troops' movements. Carry out the orders I have left you. Understood?"

"Yes, General Valacora. Your wishes are our command."

The commanders bowed their heads, turned, and moved back toward the battle.

"As for the three of you," she said to the remaining commanders, "follow me."

At her command, demonic wings spread from her back, generated from her demonic aura. She took to the sky, flying in the direction of the castle, the absolute seat of the Demon Empire.

For a lower-ranking demon traveling on foot, the journey would last roughly three days. But as a high-ranking demon, Emilia would make the trip in under three hours. The rest of her commanders would have to meet up with her later.

When she arrived at the castle grounds, she descended into the center of the courtyard. She glanced over at her right arm, the same one that had been sliced off by her half-sister.

She scoffed in annoyance.

Although the appendage was quickly regenerating, it wouldn't fully return for another week. Right now, only her shoulder and forearm had grown back. A good portion of her hand was still missing.

She hated that she would have to go into the presence of her uncle like this.

It would be a disgrace.

A sign of weakness.

That wretched half-sister of mine, Emilia thought, her lip curling in disgust.

She hacked and spat a glob of mucus to the side as she made her way into the castle.

Emilia had been eyeing the throne ever since her half-sister left. Well, technically, everybody in every high house had been eyeing it just like her.

But she truly believed she had a good shot, given her recent promotion to general of the eastern front, as well as the fact that she had come in fifth place during the Candidate Games three years ago.

The Candidate Games, she thought. Of course. How did I forget? They're are other strong players in this court. Stronger than me even.

"Lady Valacora. Welcome."

The guards stationed at the castle doors announced Emilia's arrival.

"Yeah, yeah. Get back to your posts," she said as she walked past them.

"Thank you, my lady."

When Emilia stepped into the main hall, she was struck by an all-too-familiar sight.

The place was busy with activity, as members of the extended royal bloodline were attended to by their servants.

Even amongst her fellow demons, Emilia stood out like a sore thumb. She was the only one wearing battle armor, while the others were dressed in finer suits and dresses befitting the noble houses. The fact that her right arm was still missing also drew some unwanted attention.

"Oh, my. What do we have here?"

Emilia shifted her gaze toward the voice.

At the center of the main hall, seated around a table and being attended to by their servants, were the other Demon Queen candidates, numbers two, three, and four.

Dravena, Vexia, and Cassandra, respectively.

"Oh my, looks like our dear Emilia has gone and gotten herself castrated," Cassandra laughed as she raised a fan to her lips.

She was number four, a step above Emilia, and always found opportunities to make fun of her rival.

Emilia's jaw tightened.

She turned and began heading upstairs to her room, not even bothering to speak to anyone.

"Don't be hard on the girl," Emilia heard Dravena say. "Ever since that betrayer of a sister of hers was exiled, she's been trying to gather enough points to seize the throne, just like all of us."

"Yeah," Vexia chimed in. "I'm sure the injury is from a holy blade. She's never really been able to be as strong as her sister."

Emilia frowned and stormed the rest of the way upstairs.

When she reached her room, she slammed the door hard enough for the entire castle to hear, then she began throwing things about the space in a fit of frustration.

"Why must they do that?!"

She picked up a flower vase and slammed it against the wall.

"Why must they compare me to that wretched snake of a turncoat?!"

She drew her sword and sliced the center table in half.

"Why must they say such things about her in front of me?!"

She flung her sword aside and stepped in front of the mirror, catching a glimpse of a pair of bright-blue eyes and short blonde hair reflected back at her.

"I don't even look like her."

Emilia briefly had a flashback to when they were younger.

At the time, all she wanted to do was impress her big sister. She admired her. She idolized her. She saw her as the perfect example of everything she wanted to become.

However, no matter what she did, she was never good enough.

"And then she just leaves me! Not even a goodbye!"

Emilia briefly snapped out of her recollection and punched the mirror with her armored fist, shattering it into pieces.

"My lady, are you all right?"

Maids quickly rushed into the room following all the noise she was making.

Emilia did not answer.

Instead, she proceeded to take off her armor and clothes before stepping into the bath to clear her head.

By the time she stepped back out, the room was nearly as spotless as it had been when she first entered. There was no sign of the debris. Everything had been quickly gathered up, cleaned, and replaced.

She went to her wardrobe and selected some casual clothes. After putting them on, she simply went over to her bed and slept for the next four hours, until it was time for the meeting her uncle had organized.

Not surprisingly, the man didn't even show up for the meeting.

"King Regent Valar is unable to join us for tonight's council meeting," Zevinar, one of Valar's right-hand demons, announced.

At the table were several high-ranking demons, as well as Emilia's rivals from earlier, the remaining four Demon Queen candidates.

"And where is my uncle, Zevinar?" Emilia asked.

To tell the truth, she was almost relieved that he wasn't here. She wouldn't want him to see her in such an embarrassing state.

She glanced down at her still-regenerating limb.

"Lord Valar is attending an important alliance meeting in the south, trying to secure a favorable agreement with the vampire lords there. He has asked me to represent him at this meeting today. And to that end, I would like you all to brief me on the latest developments from the war in your respective regions."

"The war in the west is progressing as smoothly as can be expected," Cassandra said in a mocking tone as she reached for a fruit on the table and popped it into her mouth, chewing loudly.

"We are experiencing a few logistical issues," she continued with her mouth full, "but they should be cleared up in a few days' time."

She smiled at the sight of Emilia's frustrated face.

"That is good news, Lady Cassandra," Zevinar said. "I shall pass along this message to His Highness."

"Yeah, we have basically got the North locked down already," Vexia answered, crossing her large arms while relaxing in her seat. "Our forces do sometimes get hindered by the surrounding wildlife, snow dragons, polar beasts, and the like. But if the Crown approves our request for more supplies, we should be able to conquer the region by the month's end."

"Wonderful news, Lady Vexia," Zevinar praised. "His Highness will be proud."

Next to speak was Emilia, and she quickly delivered her report without fanfare.

"The east is holding steady. We've experienced a few casualties from the holy knights, but we still control the better part of the region."

From the corner of her eye, Emilia caught sight of Cassandra chuckling at hearing that she had suffered more casualties than the others.

Emilia frowned.

"Noted, Lady Emilia," Zevinar replied.

Then, pausing, he glanced over at her missing limb.

"And if you don't mind me asking, how did a high-ranking demon like yourself come to possess such an injury?"

At the sound of the question, Cassandra laughed so hard she nearly spilled her drink.

"I was ambushed during a raid," Emilia lied. "The humans had significant additional holy firepower, and I lowered my guard. That is all."

Cassandra immediately burst into renewed laughter, covering her mouth with her hand as wine shot from her nose.

"Lady Cassandra, please control yourself."

It's no bother. What's one more humiliation? Emilia thought.

It was better if they didn't know she had ran into her sister.

She wanted the traitor all to herself.

Dravena was the last to speak.

"The central regions are all bathed fully in the glory of the Empire."

Everybody at the table fell silent as their eyes widened, including Emilia's.

Did she just say she had conquered the entire central region?

Dravena calmly drummed her fingers against the tabletop, completely relaxed as she continued speaking.

"I've established a seat of power in the region, fully furnished with offices and officials to manage its affairs," she continued. "I oversee the day-to-day activities and the running of the entire region from there. There's nothing much else for me to do at the moment, so I can provide aid to the rest of my sisters."

As she spoke, Dravena's familiar, a massive black spider known as Graybond, slowly crawled from the back of her head, down her arm, and onto the table.

The creature was nightmare inducing, its enormous, spindly, needle-like legs spreading across the tabletop as it settled beside her.

Dravena casually reached out a hand and began stroking its hairy body like one would a pet.

Everybody at the table stared in shock.

"I guess that's number two for ya," Cassandra said, breaking the silence. "Just as good, if not more powerful, than the forgotten Queen herself."

Emilia didn't bother to stay any longer.

She pushed back from the table and made her way up to her room.

When she got there, she shut the door and lay down on her bed to think.

All of the other Demon Queen candidates had achieved so much. Meanwhile, she was still struggling to push deeper into the region she had been assigned.

The humans on that end fought hard, harder than those in any other region, but she couldn't use that as an excuse.

She needed to get ahead of the game for the throne.

She needed to do something drastic.

Right now, nobody knew where the former Demon Queen was hiding, and they didn't really care all that much.

However, if Emilia could bring back the head of her half-sister, the traitor, her uncle would surely reward such loyalty.

But Vesperia was much stronger than her. Emilia would need to train first, harder than she ever had before.

In the meantime, while she healed, she could send one or two of her most trusted scouts to track down the former Queen.

Emilia smiled to herself as the plan quickly took shape in her mind.

"As soon as my arm is all better, Big Sister," Emilia said aloud, raising her one good hand toward the ceiling and forming a fist.

"I'm coming for you."