UNDER THE ARMS OF THE UNDONE II

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༺ROYAL REPUBLIC ༻

" The ideas, the beliefs I champion are way beyond your average range of reasoning. And yet you still relentlessly try to defy my power. My will to better this nation is far much stronger than your lust for so-called freedom, an illusion that blocks your vision from seeing what it is I have planned for this kingdom. It is going to prosper..."

" ... The poor villagers you held captive for five long years have seen nothing but darkness, five years the kingdom has seen nothing but pain and destruction, yet here you are! Preaching about prosperity. Hypocrisy if you ask me. You are keeping families here, turning them into slaves, women, and children have to feed off scraps from the streets, while you dine like a king. You and those vile creatures that attack villages whenever they feel like it and murder our people. And I know your reasoning, why you dragged us here. Because in all this chaos the people still believe in us and follow us to their deaths. Because if we wake up one day and tell them to stop building that monstrosity in the city that they have been building from the past three years they will stop without question. And you want to win us over for leverage,"

Tyndale arose from his throne, one that was never his, to begin with. He dusted off his cloak, looking away so as not to inhale the dust spiraling upwards. His heavy boots thumped the weather-beaten floor as he made his way to the exit.

" My father was once a porter. When I was a boy, I used to sneak into his workshop and watch him work. He would take a lump of wet clay and put it on a table, and start molding whatever it was that came to his head. He would take hours to finally make a decent pot. In my eyes, it was the most perfect thing I ever saw. And as I would move closer for a good look he would take a mallet and hammer it down till it became a wet lump of clay, and start all over again. After that he would take days to mold it, hammering it until he would get the perfect pot he envisioned. He would put it in a kiln and bake it. Then a buyer who made the request would come over to pick up his pot. He would look at it and say, this isn't what I wanted, make me another one! And then my father would break the pot and soak the dust into water... And it returns, back to the wet lump of clay that it once was..."

He turned to the three, Thomas Milner, Alexander Xermia and Sigrid Hemon, weighed down by the immense weight of the chains around their necks, hands, and feet.

" The imperfect pot has been presented to the buyer, and he has deemed it unworthy to hold water. So I must crush this pot into dust and forge a new one! And it is going to be done with, or without you. There is respect, and then there is fear, we shall have to see which one is more powerful than then other."

He walked off, leaving room for his undead knights to drag the three back in the dungeon. Thomas Milner stared at her as he was relentlessly dragged back to his cell.

" And you of all people turn against your kind! An honorary state guard abandoning her people to serve the tyrant who destroyed their lives."

" They were never my people. I don't belong with you and I am with my people. So if you have nothing to say I suggest you shut your mouth and go back to your cell!" Lora barked back.

The three were thrown back into the dungeon. They peeked through the tiny rusty window and watched as the black clouds of fumes and ash washed over the once blue sky. Tyndale had destroyed the once beautiful city. Whatever was left of it dangled at the edge of extinction, moments away from being torn apart. Soon after his invasion, Tyndale enslaved the unfortunate that did not escape with the rest of the people to District Dark. Lora Deryleen for reasons unknown decided to abandon the Independent States and join forces with her younger brother Jrue Deryleen, they were directly under Tyndale in the chain of command.

༺DISTRICT DARK༻

She waddled into the house exhausted. She yanked off her boots and threw them behind the door, proceeding to strip off the rest of her armor.

" MOTHER!"

She cleared her throat once more and yelled out louder, " Mother! Are you awake?"

Two definite coughs sipped through the closed doors on one end of the corridor. Alicia untangled her hair, releasing the lock on her ponytail and allowing her hair to bounce off her shoulders as she walked over to the origin of the coughs. She opened the door and stared at the bed next to the window, she then turned her attention towards the flapping curtains.

" Mother! Did you get out of bed again!?"

" Well it was hot in here and I couldn't stand the heat!" she said, coughing at the end of her sentence.

" Well you can't move too much or your wounds will open up again."

"... It's fine my dear, in fact, I'm getting better now, you won't have to worry about me anymore okay!"

Alicia walked over to her mother's bed and sat at the edge.

" Now don't be rude and give your mother a hug."

Alicia gave her mother a tight squeeze, relieving all her stress. Her mother looked up at her from where she lay.

" How are things going?"

" It is hard mother. I feel like I'm not a leader yet. Those who follow me fear me because of my power, and those that don't despise me. I don't know what to do mother, I'm clueless."

" Don't you worry Alicia. And stop trying too hard to show them that you are the strongest. If you keep doing that those who will follow you will be afraid of what you can do. And those who will reject you will feel jealous and just see you as someone who shows off. Take your time and get to understand each person."

"But how mother,"

"The festival!"

" Oh, no mother please don't..."

" That is the right platform to get to know people and get them on your side. Go and interact with them!"

" I hate festivals mother, you know that."

"... If you want them to understand you just as much as you want to understand them then this is the only chance you have, there is no better one."

"... Okay fine." The front door jiggled as three loud knocks resounded.

" I'll go see who is at the door mother, I'll be right back okay,"

She walked over to the door and twisted the handle, releasing the lock and swinging the door open. Reene stood there frozen, his tight grasp choked the life out of the flowers he had. As the door swung open he nearly jumped back, his startled grasp shook some petals off the bouquet, as if he knocked on the door expecting someone else other than her.

" Reene, what are you doing here?"

Emptying his mouth he swallowed a load of whatever was in it and tightened his jaw, ready to speak

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