The Deathless Conspiracy

In a large dimly lit dining hall, two men sat facing each other across a long dining table. It was a remarkably silent scene, and no noise could be heard save the occasional scraping of the knife and fork and the periodic sound of eating. The room seemed to be quite lavishly furnished; the walls were lined with an assortment of ornaments and banners while a majestic scarlet carpet covered the floor. However, a slight sign of rust and wear seemed to permeate the ambience of the hall, as if the necessary care and cleaning needed for their care had recently abated.

"So, how was class today, son?"

Zinrus Eitrigg ignored his father's attempt at conversation, content to focus his eyes attention instead on the platter of tenderloin before him.

"Come on, you can't keep ignoring me like this. Try to think of the bigger pict-"

"The bigger picture-" Zinrus finally hissed, "-was our family. And you went and threw that away for the sake of some conspiracy theory that no one believes except you."

Lord Zeerus Eitrigg's lips tightened with anger, his eyebrows creasing in frustration. There was a time when such words would have driven him to a thunderous rage, but they'd had this conversation too many times. Instead, he took a deep breath to calm himself before responding:

"It's not a conspiracy, Zinrus. The Sovereign Duke and his family do not have the interests of the New Re-Estize Kingdom at heart. I suspect their schemes run far deeper than even the scope of this entire Kingdom. They may very well bring ruin to humanity itself."

Zinrus wanted to tear his hair out. "Do you not see how absolutely ridiculous that sounds? The Sovereign Duke BUILT this nation. Without his efforts, the New Re-Estize Kingdom wouldn't even exist. Besides, they invited us, remember? Our family hailed from the Baharuth Empire, and we would have been grinded slowly into dust by the policies of the Blood Emperor if the Sovereign Duke hadn't extended the invitation to us. Grandfather accepted to save our family. And now you are throwing all of that away...and for what?"

Lord Eitrigg sternly shook his head. "Do not try and teach me about the history of my own House, Zinrus. I am well aware of what happened. But you have to look beyond the surface. Why do you think the Sovereign Duke created this nation in the first place? Do you not recall that his father was a survivor of the old kingdom? I'm sure you know who he ended up serving."

Zinrus scoffed. "That only supports my argument. The Sovereign Duke did all of this to make amends. It's been debated countless times throughout the past few decades. Heck, I have these debates in my classes! He was so selfless that he refused kingship despite the pleas of his followers! Besides, even if your conspiracies were true, what would you even do about it? Sovereign Duke Riivan Brandt Dale Raevan is 112 years old!"

His father grimaced. "And he looks not a day over 70. Does that not bother you?"

"I don't know, he looks pretty fucking old to me." replied a sudden female voice as the door to the dining hall creaked open. A woman in her mid-30s entered, dressed in a leather hunting attire.

The look on Zinrus's face darkened even further as he saw the newcomer. He glared at his father, his eyes burning with disgust and anger. "And for you to bring this woman into our house after what happened to mother…"

"Zinrus, it's not like that..."

Zinrus clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he stood up. "I'm going out for a walk."

With that, the young man strode out of the dining hall through the door from which the woman had entered. His father's eyes followed him as he left, clouded with sadness and regret.

When the door shut close and Zinrus finally went out of earshot, Zeerus Eitrigg finally exploded.

"YOU HAVE THE WORST TIMING!"

The woman did not flinch, opting instead to sigh at the furious red face of her friend.

"Should you really be trying to involve your son like this? He's only 15."

Zeerus snorted at the question. "He's old enough to fight in a war. He needs to know at least some of the truth, even if he doesn't join any of our operations."

His expression changed into a brooding stare as a more serious and sombre tone crept into his voice: "It was a mistake not to tell him about the Resistance. He knows we came from the Empire but he doesn't know what we're supposed to stand for. He knows his grandfather accepted the Duke's offer but he doesn't know his great grandfather fought against the very forces that now control New Re-Estize from the shadows."

The woman gasped: "You never told him? But why-" Yet even as she was asking the question, the answer came to her.

"Elizabeth."

Zeerus nodded. "His mother didn't want him to know. She made me promise not to tell him until he turned 16."

The woman gave him a strange look. "Honestly, perhaps that is for the best…." She trailed off as she looked around the room, taking in the hints of deterioration all over the place. "It's only been a week since we've openly challenged the Sovereign Duke, and you've already let go of all your servants. Give it a month and this place will look like a shithole."

Zeerus sighed. "It can't be helped. Everyone loves the Sovereign Duke. The stunt we pulled made me a public enemy. Nobody will do business with me, and I can't afford to be dragged down by unnecessary expenses. Zinrus doesn't understand, he is still bitter about the drop in our living conditions."

"But at least Alphonse is still here..." he added meekly.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Your butler? He's ancient. Won't be long until he's gone too."

Zeerus shrugged, gesturing towards his plate. "Still makes a damn good tenderloin I'll tell you that." His expression softened a bit as he continued: "We'll manage. Your grandfather Nimble was left with literally nothing and he and his brother still managed to build the Resistance from scratch. Secretly fought back against the remnants of the Sorcerer King's influence when the Bloody Emperor was still running around like a headless chicken after His death."

The woman smiled bitterly when she heard this: 'You seem to forget that the House of Aenoch was burned to the ground as a result when my grand uncle sold his own brother out to the Cult of the Deathless. The Resistance disbanded and one of our founding Houses-House Eitrigg-abandoned the Empire and ran off to this "New Estize Kingdom," or whatever the hell they call it.'

Zeerus bowed his head apologetically. "Look, Arin, my father made a mistake, but I'm trying to make things right here. If we can't save the Empire, then we can at least try to save the new Kingdom. So did you manage to get the information I talked to you about? The mysterious person the Sovereign Duke has been meeting with?"

Arin Arc Dale Aenoch sighed. "No, but I managed to get in contact with someone who might be able to help. We're supposed to meet up with her tonight. She's a very old player in this game, her name is E-"

Suddenly, she froze. The blood drained from Arin's face as a realisation dawned on her, her eyes widening with horror as she whispered in a tone of absolute dread:

"They've come for us."

-------------

Zinrus made his way to the outskirts of the Eitrigg Manor. He slid through a small crevice in the stone wall and came out on the other side where his best friend Eloise Varnam stood waiting.

She rolled his eyes at him as he stumbled clumsily out of the crack in the wall.

"Took you long enough."

Zinrus huffed indignantly. "My father wanted to have another conversation with me again."

"Are you sure? Whenever the two of you get into another one of those stupid arguments, it always takes at least an hour before you both get tired and stop. You're only like 15 minutes late this time."

Zinrus ignored the biting sarcasm in her last sentence. "That woman came over again, so I got an excuse to bail. Anyway, enough about me. Where are we doing toni….why are you looking at me like that?"

Eloise stared at him with a mischievous grin on her face, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she replied: "Come on, do you even have to ask? Let's go spy on them!"

Zinrus's eyes widened. "W-what? Are you serious? No way. I'm not interested in more of my old man's conspiracies. Besides, what if they're actually…"

Eloise tilted her head as she looked at him, not quite registering what he meant. But soon enough, it clicked. The expression on her face went from slightly confused to absolute disbelief, and then finally to an extreme outburst of laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Zinrus, you don't think your old man is having sex in there are you? HAHAHAHAHA!"

Zinrus flushed a deep red as he gulped down a yelp of protest. "Well I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? And besides, isn't this kind of thing pretty normal for nobles?"

Eloise finally calmed down, biting her tongue to keep herself from laughing as she replied: "Well, yes. But your father isn't that kind of person. Just trust me, ok? I bet the most we'll end up seeing and hearing is more stuff about the Sovereign Duke of whatever."

Without a second word, she slipped into the crevice and back towards the Eitrigg Manor. Zinrus frantically tried to pull her back, but he was too late; she had already emerged on the other side, beckoning for him to come.

He grunted-a sound mixed with both exasperation and angry reluctance-before heading in after her. The two of them made a light jog back towards the Eitrigg Manor.

As they neared the large building, Zinrus made a silent signal to stop, then motioned for Eloise to follow as he snuck towards the side of the Manor and peered in through the window into the dining hall. Eloise followed suit.

"Psst...you didn't tell me there was a second woman!"

Zinrus quickly waved his hand to hush her, but he too was taken aback by the unexpected presence of a third individual in the dining hall. He squinted through the window to take a thorough look at the newcomer.

Standing across from his father and Arin was a young woman dressed in a black ninja's attire. While her nose and mouth were concealed beneath a black mask, the upper part of her head was uncovered, revealing a long straw-colored ponytail and a pair of cat-like eyes brimming with a predatory gleam.

Eloise and Zinrus heard the muffled voice of Lord Eitrigg through the glass.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?"

Zinrus and Eloise looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces.

They turned their befuddled gazes back towards the glass as they next heard Arin's voice begin to speak.

"I'm sorry, Zeerus, I screwed up. We're done for. She's from Ijan-."

But Arin never got to finish her sentence. It took Zinrus every fiber of his being not to scream as blood spewed from the woman's neck an instant later. Arin Arc Dale Aenoch dropped to the ground in a pool of blood, never to speak again. The mysterious woman in black hadn't even seemed to move, but the silver dagger she now held in her hand gave away the act of murder. The dagger was coated in blood, but it seemed to quickly suck dry the crimson substance, returning to a pristine silver within a matter of seconds.

The two teens stood transfixed, unable to move or take their eyes away from the glass as the killer then proceeded to move towards her next quarry. Lord Eitrigg trembled in fear as she approached, but his eyes hardened with a sudden resolve as he took a step forward instead, lashing out with a wild haymaker as he lunged towards the woman in black.

The indifferent expression in the killer's eyes remained as still as the pitch dark night outside. She moved in a blur faster than the naked eye could follow, driving her vampiric blade into the man's chest before he could even wind up his punch.

Eloise immediately tackled Zinrus to the ground, quickly clamping her hand over his mouth as her friend struggled to withhold the impending scream threatening to explode from his lungs. Zinrus closed his eyes in an effort to keep himself calm, issuing a silent prayer that the woman would not hear the sound of their bodies hitting the dirt.

But it was all for naught. Upon opening their eyes, they gazed upon the figure of that mysterious assassin as it materialised straight out of the shadows. The incandescent moonlight outlined the woman in black's dark silhouette with an eerie lunar glow as she raised her silver blade for the final blow.

However, just before the assassin could strike, her eyes widened as every nerve in her body screamed at her to move out of the way. She quickly pounced to the side as a massive crystalline projectile streaked through the air like a cerulean comet before slamming into the ground where she'd stood only seconds ago.

"That's enough, Tira."

Zinrus, Eloise and the assassin looked up simultaneously at the new voice that came from above. Standing atop the huge crystal dagger that almost skewered the assassin was a small female figure draped in a red cloak. Covering her face was a white mask engraved with black lines that formed an uncanny outline of human features, complete with a small red diamond symbol in the top center.

Tira pulled down her black fukumen to reveal a cruel smile as she addressed an old enemy. She spoke for the first time that night, her voice like a frigid hiss of wind on a quiet winter's night.

"Evileye."