CHAPTER 27: 'THIS LIFE I SPARED WOULD BE KAPUT.'
'Hello, Tori, it has been a while since you disregarded your family to side with those traitors. So has this lower realm treated you nicely? How about that useless baggage called Tor that you fled with, is he still alive? Does he know what you did to him?'
The commander of the army spoke in words soaked with sarcasm as he took domineering steps towards Tori, clearly showing a level of disrespect the other soldiers did not even dare fantasise about showing, even in their dreams. His boots rang against the stone of the floating base, each step loud in the tense silence. Several hundred armoured figures stood at attention behind him, yet not one of them dared breathe too loudly while he insulted the princess.
'Oh, I see my useless brother put the equally incompetent Pete on the job. Do you remember when I was two and you were thirty years of age? Can you remember how I beat you and my brother up before taking my leave?' Tori responded as she began walking forward, silver aura enveloping her and rising like smoke into the atmosphere.
The air chilled around her. That soft, mist‑like glow thickened with each heartbeat, eating up the commander's presence and pushing the pressure back at him.
'Say my name again and continue your disrespect,' she said, voice smooth, 'then maybe I will give you a reminder class on why my title couldn't be taken away even when my brother and you, his lackeys, keep spreading lies and calling me traitor.'
With each footstep her power kept growing. The commander felt a total suppression of his aura; his own energy, which usually surged proudly around him, now shivered like a beaten dog. Even though the girl in front of him was far younger and her mask covered her expressions, her every action gave off royalty. Without realising it, he had bowed with both knees and was now looking up at her, the situation reversed from only seconds ago. The clang of his armour hitting the floor echoed across the base.
'What's my name?' Tori asked as she stood in front of the kneeling guard captain. Her eyeballs were pitch‑black, and the aura she had been releasing was so baleful that no one on the base made an attempt to contradict or intercept her. Spears dipped lower. A few soldiers clenched their jaws so hard their teeth creaked, afraid that even swallowing would draw her attention.
'Moo… Moon Princess. Your brother asked us to recover you from this realm, even if we need to use force to bring you back from here. That is why I showed so much hostility towards you,' Pete the commander responded, clearly shaken to his core. He even had to use both hands to support himself to keep from falling over, gauntlets scraping against the ground as he trembled.
'Mhm. This is the normal incompetent, ass‑preserving Pete I know. Always blaming others to save his own skin, and now you blame your king in the face of danger.' Her tone was almost bored. 'Well, today I just came to let you all know that I have been seeing your scheming and plotting and have been quiet, since all I want is to be with my husband.'
She lifted her head and looked over the thousands of soldiers, her gaze sweeping across ranks of armour and banners as she both threatened and insulted their commanding officer. The clouds above the floating base shifted uneasily, as if the sky itself sensed her irritation.
'You have let my silence look like ignorance and slowly you threaten the life of my husband, and your despicable technology has found its way into his region. Now to my point: from now on, any attempt on the life of my husband or his home will be met with hostility from me. Trust me, I will destroy all your bases in this realm and still force my way up to finish what you all started over ten years ago.'
A murmur tried to rise among the soldiers but died the moment her aura pulsed.
'Princess, since your birth no one has denied the fact that you are bound to become the second goddess within your lineage, and that is why you are so valuable to us and the Devine Empire. That is why your brother was uncertain about sending the sages after you.' Pete swallowed, forcing the words out despite the pressure. 'But if you refuse this gesture and continue your unfilial character, not only you and that animal Tor, but everyone you have grown to cherish over these years will all die, since all we need is for your body and the power within you to be present during the ceremony.'
The threat hung over the gathered army like a blade. Some soldiers shifted their grips on their weapons, nervously glancing between their kneeling commander and the princess who had once been their future goddess.
'Hmmm. Threats, threats, and more empty threats.' Tori tilted her head, as if examining an insect. 'Maybe I should cut out that tongue and see if something else comes out.'
She responded with a smile that showed that instead of his provocation working, it amused her. She stretched her hand slowly, reaching for his tongue as she commanded him to open his mouth. His jaw trembled, but under the weight of her power he obeyed. The sight of the mighty commander kneeling with his mouth open in front of the masked princess sent a chill through the ranks.
Before she could cut his tongue, she received a mental message from Lexi. The invisible thread of communication brushed across her mind, familiar and warm compared to the icy atmosphere of the base.
'Hey, Tori, I'm done, so what do I do now? And why can I feel such a scary atmosphere?' Lexi asked from the room where the mainframe was kept. It was a highly advanced chamber with many computers and a lot of supporting processors and screens, all feeding the mainframe. Lights blinked across panels in organised patterns, and the low hum of machinery filled the confined space. She removed the flash drive and stored it in her pocket.
'Oh, so soon? And I was just about to punish a foul‑mouthed doggy. Anyways, you leave first and I'll return once I'm sure no one is following.' Tori responded, her attitude totally different from a second ago. Inwardly, her murderous intent cooled just enough to focus on Lexi's escape route.
'Hey, are you communicating with someone? I can feel the disturbance in the air. Five of you, go check out the mainframe room.'
One of the soldiers just below Pete's rank, unable to read the situation at all, spoke to Tori before commanding some soldiers. The words were barely out of his mouth when the atmosphere snapped.
Instead of replying, Tori clenched her fist. A black hole appeared around the unfortunate soldier, twisting the air with a low, hungry roar. It engulfed him, grinding his body into bits of flesh as he screamed in agony. Armour, bone, and blood were shredded into a swirling, disappearing mist. The smell of scorched metal and iron flooded the platform.
The other soldiers were terrified, several stumbling back despite their training, while Tori just stood there calmly, as if she had merely swatted an insect.
'Does anyone else want to find out about my communications?' she asked. Her voice was soft, but it pressed on their ears like thunder. 'Oh, by the way, incompetent Pete, the magic I just used belongs to my husband. Pray you never meet him in a fight, or this life I just spared would be kaput.'
She made casual hand gestures as the black hole vanished, then withdrew her aura, and everything became calm again. The abrupt silence felt louder than the screams had been.
By this time Lexi had followed the stream of electricity through the base's conduits until she was beyond the border of the formation, and then she materialised outside. Cold wind whipped at her hair as she appeared on the platform's edge.
'I might actually be good at this spy shit,' she giggled, adrenaline still rushing through her veins. But once she jumped from the land in the skies, aiming for the ground below, a round of arrows blanketed the heavens as if chasing her. The sky turned dark with metal, the arrowheads glinting like a shower of teeth.
'Okay, I am going now, and you should all take my advice seriously, especially you, incompetent Pete.' Tori said in a joking manner as she began swaggering away from the base. Her steps were light, almost lazy, as if she were leaving a casual meeting instead of an execution ground.
'I don't know what you came here to do, "Moon Princess", but in all honesty your friend should be dead by now. As I told you, your brother was hesitant to send the sages, but in the end he did send two.' Pete said. He was still on his knees, but the pressure had been cancelled and he was able to articulate himself again, even laughing cautiously as he tried to reclaim a shred of dignity.
Tori stopped and looked at Pete, who felt a shiver go down his spine. He was scared that she would come back and finish him for real, but instead she began laughing. The sound was bright and cruel at once.
'Joke, joke. What is a sage who comes in contact with lightning?' she asked.
Everyone was quiet and surprised by her reaction; some looked at each other, unsure if this was a riddle or the prelude to another massacre.
'Well roasted!' she said finally. 'You're all no fun. Lexi would laugh when I crack it later. I hope you will send the barbecue to my brother once she is done.'
Tori finished and left the formation, silver aura fading into the distance, leaving a bunch of bewildered soldiers kneeling on their own floating island in the sky, unsure whether they had just survived a negotiation, a warning, or the first move in a new war./