Epilogue

1,000 years later.

“Oh, Empress Emi was such an intelligent woman! She wrote so many useful books!” An eleven-year-old girl with curly blonde hair, large square glasses, and violet eyes stared excitedly at the exhibit. Her school uniform was perfectly ordinary: a black dress over a white shirt, with her elementary school’s logo embroidered on the chest. Her class had come on a field trip to the National History Museum, the largest museum in the entire country, famous for housing ancient relics protected under the highest security.

She remained captivated by the paintings decorating the historical exhibit. There she saw her heroine, Emi Redfox I, posing beside a newly written book with a crown resting upon her blonde hair. The plaque beneath the large portrait read:

“Emi Redfox I, the first Divine Empress. Also known as Emi the Scholar, she founded seven universities during her lifetime, all of which remain in operation to this day. She is remembered as a champion of peace, art, and research, and as the beloved wife of the first Divine Emperor. This ancient painting, created by the artist Giovani Vance, depicts the Empress at the age of forty-three.”

“This school trip is so much fun! Yes!” The little girl gave a joyful hop. She loved history, especially the history of the Divine Emperors, a dynasty that remained in power for five hundred years and brought tremendous progress to society. “Oh, there’s another painting!”

The girl turned toward an even older one.

There stood Divine Emperor Raiga I beside Emi Redfox, casually embracing each other in their everyday clothes. There were no expensive ornaments or elaborate details. Without context, it could have been a painting of any ordinary couple in love. Raiga held his precious Emi around the waist, and both of them were smiling and blushing as though they had wanted to freeze that moment for all eternity.

“It’s a shame cameras didn’t exist a thousand years ago. I bet they would’ve taken tons of pictures together.”

“Miss, did you get separated from your group?” A museum employee called to her from behind. He was an elderly man with a large white beard and calm eyes. He wore a white shirt bearing the museum logo, dark trousers, and a ceremonial tonfa attached to his utility belt. The girl turned toward him shyly and lowered her head with a guilty expression.

“Oh, sorry! I got so excited looking at everything that I lost track of time. Did my class already move on?” she asked.

“Yes, they did. Would you like me to take you to them?”

"W-Wait! I want to keep looking around. It’s my first time here, and I’m a huge fan of the first Empress. I’ve watched her animated series and a bunch of movies too. I like the first Emperor as well. Could I stay a little longer, please?” Faced with such a polite request, the museum guard nodded. Even so, he took out his cellphone and sent a message to the main security desk informing them that the girl was still inside the exhibit. The last thing he wanted was for her teacher to have a nervous breakdown after realizing one of her students was missing.

“All right. Just let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

The girl turned her attention back toward a scabbard displayed inside reinforced glass. The plaque beneath it read: “Scabbard used by the First Emperor during his journey to save the world from the Old Gods. Donated by the Redfox family in the year 890 of the New Era.”

Her violet eyes widened. She had seen that scabbard in cartoons, comics, and video games. It looked like an ordinary object, yet a thousand stories were hidden behind it. How many of Emperor Raiga’s battles had it witnessed? It had been there when he fought Divine Champion Sir Lancelot, and during his final battle against the Divine Avatar.

It was an artifact of incalculable historical value, making its presence in an ordinary exhibit rather surprising.

“They really liked having their portraits painted.” The young girl walked toward the rear section of the exhibit, where she found numerous portraits—replicas—of the first Divine Emperor and his Empress. In every image, the two were smiling. They never wore solemn expressions. Even a child like her could tell they had been completely in love.

The only portraits in which the Emperor appeared serious were those painted when he was already a very old man. Empress Emi Redfox I died at the age of sixty-eight after exactly forty years of marriage, nearly half a century. She had lived a happy life despite the immense responsibility of ruling the realm. For Raiga, however, things were not so simple. He abdicated the throne in favor of his eldest son and retired to the mountains, where he spent his final years in peace, waiting for the day he could reunite with his beloved Emi.

He died at the age of ninety-five, at the height of his new Mortal Empire.

“Emilia, what are you doing here?” A familiar voice called to the girl from behind. She turned and saw a boy her age, one of her classmates, wearing the boys’ uniform: dark trousers, a white shirt with the school logo embroidered on the chest, and a pin depicting Emperor Raiga I in his animated version. The boy had brown eyes, brown hair, and was slightly taller than she was. “I thought I’d be the only one here looking at the exhibit about the first Emperor and Empress.”

“Looks like you’re not, Rai. I got here first.” Emilia smiled warmly, walked over to her childhood friend, and showed him the pins featuring the animated version of the Empress. “I’m a fan of the series too, and I got really interested in the historical versions of the protagonists.”

“That’s awesome! Did you see Raiga’s fight against Sir Lancelot? The animation was incredible! Do you think it really happened like that?” The boy’s eyes shone like two enormous marbles. Emilia giggled softly, because she wanted to know the answer just as badly.

“I’m sure it did! He was the most powerful Divine Emperor! Although Sir Lancelot was really strong too, so that makes it even more impressive.”

The two children chatted while enjoying the exhibit, taking pictures with their phones and even posing together beside replicas of portraits depicting the first imperial couple to rule the mortal world.

“Oh, I also loved the part where the Emperor and Empress stopped the invasion of the Halfling Kingdoms. A good leader doesn’t need to use force all the time! A-Although, well, I’m not very smart, so luckily I’m not our class representative.” Rai stuck out his tongue. Imagining himself as class representative made him laugh even harder.

“Oh! Then why don’t you help me instead? I want to run for class representative when we start middle school. I-I don’t really stand out, and I’m bad at sports, but you’re really good at fencing! We could make a team just like Emperor Raiga and Empress Emi!” the little girl exclaimed.

“Yeah! You’re really smart, Emilia. I’m sure you’d make a great class representative. If you run, I’ll support you. Well, I probably can’t do much. Ever since I reported those kids for bullying, some of our classmates have been treating me badly. It doesn’t bother me, but I’m worried it might hurt your campaign. Either way, you’ve definitely got my vote.” Rai extended his pinky to seal their innocent childhood promise. Emilia accepted, and after sharing a laugh, the two continued through the museum.

“Nonsense. If they mess with you, I’ll report them to the teacher,” the blonde girl said, sticking out her tongue.

They moved on to the armor section.

The imposing black dragon panoply Raiga had once worn was not displayed in that museum because it had been declared a national treasure. Instead, the exhibit contained the armor he had worn for formal ceremonies. None of the cuirasses from his adventuring days had survived the passage of time.

What the museum did have were exact replicas of the dragon armor and Malakor, the sacred sword of the Emperors. Rai stood in front of the display and struck several poses with the replicas behind him. Emilia could not help laughing at some of her friend’s rather creative choices.

“Thanks for the pictures. Send them to me later so I can show my mom.”

“Sure. I’ll send them when I get home. I already have your number.”

Eventually, they reached the end of the exhibit.

The two children walked back to the guard and asked him to notify their teacher so she could come pick them up.

“Thank you for letting us enjoy the exhibit, Mr. Guard.” Emilia gave him a polite bow. Rai imitated her out of habit.

“You’re welcome, kids. Your teacher should be here in a moment. Did you enjoy the museum?”

“Yes!” they answered in unison.

“Excellent. Come back soon. We update the exhibits from time to time with temporary artifacts and new replicas.”

“Thank you, sir. Emperor Raiga I must have been the most beloved man of his generation.” Rai made the random comment while they waited for their teacher to arrive.

The old man smiled.

Something inside him stirred an incredibly old memory.

“Oh, that wasn’t always the case. Legends say there is a secret chronicle written by Empress Emi Redfox I herself, describing the first few months she spent with Raiga in great detail.”

“OOOOH! Tell us more! Tell us more!” The children’s expressive eyes widened like water balloons. They looked so adorable that the old man could not resist continuing.

“According to the legends, the Old Gods cursed Raiga when he was young. Everyone hated him for no reason, and he continued living as a solitary adventurer until the age of thirty-three. That was when he met Emi, and after many adventures together, they saved the world. In fact, before he became known as the Divine Emperor, Raiga was called something else…The Heretic. It’s a very long story. If you want to read more theories about that lost manuscript, look up my blog: The Museum Prophet.”

The old man finished just in time, because the children’s teacher came storming toward them like a wild beast.

“Where have you two been?! You’re not supposed to separate from the group!” The teacher grabbed Emilia and Rai by the wrists. “Oh, Mr. Guard, I’m so sorry about my students. I lost sight of them for one moment, and suddenly they were wandering around here by themselves.”

“T-Teacher, wait! He was telling us a really interesting version of the myth!” Rai protested, but his teacher ignored him and dragged both children back toward the rest of the class.

“Ouch. Well, I guess we’ll hear the rest during our next visit.” Emilia accepted defeat with dignity and, instead of struggling, calmly walked along to rejoin her classmates.

“Of course. You’ll always be welcome at this museum. Come back whenever you like.” The guard waved goodbye with his left hand as he watched the children being dragged away by their teacher until they vanished beyond the hallway.

Then he turned around.

His gaze settled upon the main portrait of Raiga and Emi.

“In the end, I wasn’t wrong…All that risk was worth it.”

THE END.