Chapter. 61. The Revelation.

"What kind of a speech was that supposed to be?" Claudia asked her sister a short while later. "Everly, you nattered on aimlessly about someone named General Zod for ten minutes and then you started singing."

"Did I do a good job?" Everly asked as they were escorted by Grail away from the revelry to the council chambers where they often held their meetings. "Rammstein is so difficult to get right."

"No," Claudia said flatly, not knowing what she meant.

"Well, singing is hard! I'm a little tone deaf," Everly said.

"Just a little?"

"Be nice! It's my birthday!" Everly said as she took the center seat; a throne, really, in the middle of the room alongside her three duplicates. Below their dais was the table where the others would sit.

"I thought you did okay," Cleverly said sympathetically as she reached over to pat Everly's hand. "The effort is what counts!"

"Thank you, Clev. You're a wonderful person," Everly said with gratitude.

"Brown noser," said Nev.

"Suck up," said Bev.

"To answer your question, Claudia, it didn't matter what I said to the crowd. They've been mentally primed to hear whatever they want. Everyone out there believes that I've just promised to make their greatest wish come true."

"Can we at last dismiss that rabble?" Eris asked as she stepped from the shadows to kneel before her mistress. "Copying so many minds for storage while maintaining the cohesion of the memory palace has been difficult. The strain is…remarkably painful, Everly."

"But the fact that you can do this with so many individual minds is incredible, Eris," Everly said to her with a smile. "Don't you feel the least bit proud of yourself?"

"Discordia has to constantly heal me in order for me to maintain my focus," Eris said. "Without her assistance, this night would not have been possible. Even now, the presence of so many individuals here at once is agonizing to me. Everly, please…send the dreamers home."

Everly frowned on her throne and sighed in disappointment. "So, you're still not as powerful as I'd like you to be, huh, Eris? Which means that I'm not as powerful as I'd like to be,either. I can't say that's pleasing to hear."

"Everly, over a third of the peasant population of the kingdom is now inside your demesne. This has been a staggering display of spiritual power," Eris said.

"I think we can do better," Everly said coldly. "But for now, if this really is the limit for you, then I suppose we can give you a break. Go ahead, let them all know the party's over."

"Thank you. Thank you, Everly," Eris said gratefully.

"Yeah, yeah," Everly said dismissively. "Hey, make sure you take note of anyone who doesn't wish me a happy birthday."

"It shall be done," Eris bowed.

"Who was that?" Claudia asked after Eris exited the room.

"My spirit elemental," Everly replied. "Oh, I should have had her introduce herself! Eh, she'll be back soon."

Claudia stared at Everly, uncertain if she was being mocked or not. "What do you mean that was your elemental? I don't understand what you're getting at."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Everly asked her. "That's Eris. She and her sister have been my servants for ages. Now that I think about it, why don't you show me your spirit elemental? I'm curious to see how they compare."

"Everly, I can't do that," Claudia said.

"Why not? There's no need to hide it. I'm just curious, I promise I won't hurt the little thing."

Claudia felt her skin growing flush at the words that her sister chose. Spirit elementals were the most desired and feared among the six known typess. To hear the servant that she was so proud of, casually dismissed as a little thing, angered her.

"Everly, I can only manifest my elemental as a small orb of light in my hand. It isn't big enough to take on a form and walk around. It certainly can't speak! When you told me that you could use two elementals, I found that difficult enough to accept. But now you're telling me your elementals can take forms and converse with you?"

"Uh, yes? Is that what you chose to be impressed by? Not the psychic house party I just held for thousands of background characters?" Everly asked in confusion.

"Yes!" Claudia yelled, appalled by her little sister's ignorance. "Everly, for the sky's sake, haven't you ever noticed this before? Please tell me that you aren't so self-centered, so narcissistically focused on your own interests, that it's never occurred to you that people can't talk to elementals!"

Everly sat quietly in her chair and stared at her hands which she twiddled in embarrassment. Then she looked up and said with a sheepish expression on her face, "Uh, maybe?"

"EVERLY!" Claudia yelled as she ran up to her sister's throne, grabbed her by the shoulders, and began shaking her. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"

"I'm not, I swear!" Everly wailed. "Grail! Why didn't you ever tell me that talking to my elementals was weird?!"

"I use harada," Grail said dismissively. "I have no idea what's considered normal for mages."

"But you've been around other mages for decades! Everly and Titania never seemed out of place to you?"

"We all keep secrets," Grail shrugged. "I simply assumed that conversations with an elemental servant wasn't something to be spoken of."

"EVERLY!" Claudia yelled again. "Don't you understand?! THIS IS A BIG DEAL! Don't you get it? YOU'RE A SPEAKER!"

"Since I have no idea what that means, I honestly can't tell why that's so impressive," Everly said.

Claudia took a deep breath to calm herself. Everly was so frustrating to talk to, but she couldn't let herself be sidetracked by how dense her little sister was. Instead, she looked her in the eye and said, "Everly. The temple, both temples were originally one group assembled nearly a thousand years ago, okay?"

"Okay," Everly said with a nod.

She had no idea why that was so important. She'd always hated studying religion. Her mother, Lyona, had never been a particularly spiritual person, so Everly's education in these matters was quite limited.

"They were created to worship the radiant one," Claudia said excitedly. "Tell me you've at least heard of him! The son of heaven! The shepherd of the faithful! The only person in history who could speak directly to the elementals!"

"Okay, I'm vaguely familiar with that name," Everly said. "So, what you're saying, is that he was real? Not just some godhead figure that the two temples share as a common belief?"

"He must have been real," Claudia said. "Because you're capable of the very same things he was known for. Everly, he could boil the seas! He could bring the dead back to life! He destroyed the first empire, burned the Eternal Emperor himself to ashes with a whisper! By the gods, it all makes so much sense now! Everly, you must be his reincarnation. You're the promised second coming--"

Everly leaned forward and placed a finger against her sister's lips.

"Claudia? No. That's stupid," Everly said gently. "I wasn't born this way, okay? I built myself up through sheer effort! Nobody gets credit for the power I've obtained, but me! If there was someone in the past, who had moves like mine, that's fine. But whoever he was, he's got nothing to do with me."

"You're not even the least bit curious about exploring this?" Claudia asked her. "Everly, you might be a demigod! You may very well be the most powerful being on this planet! Don't you want to learn more?"

"Maybe later, in like a totally secular way," Everly said to her. "This knowledge could be of some use for one aspect of my plan. But I'm not going to get carried away with it. I've never once enjoyed stories about prophesized characters whose every deed is preordained. The very idea of it displeases me."

"But Everly," Claudia said. "If you'd only read the prophecies—"

"Enough, Claudia," Everly said firmly. "I hate spoilers. End of subject."

Before Claudia could say anything else, the door opened, and four figures stepped inside. Eris, who now looked much better, accompanied by Titania, Carter, and a silent third woman wearing a porcelain mask over her face.

Moving as one, the five members of Everly's inner circle knelt before her and said, "We humbly greet our Empress."

Everly smiled, pleased by the coordinated effort they'd just demonstrated. She knew Grail hated ostentatious displays of loyalty like this and wished she could have seen his expression while the five of them had practiced this little number.

"From the seat of Death, I greet my servants," said Neverly.

"From the seat of War, I greet my servants," said Beverly.

"From the seat of Famine, I greet my servants," said Cleverly.

"And from the seat of Conquest, I bid thee to rise and be seated," said Everly.

"So, this is the way it is from now on?" asked Grail after everyone had taken a seat at the table. "You're the deliverer of the apocalypse?"

"Just call me the revelation, old man," Everly said smugly.

"How did you decide which would be which?" asked a puzzled Titania. "I mean, you're all the same person. So, uh…did you flip a coin for who'd get to be which horseman?"

"T, all the horseman titles are badass. I really couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I decided to be them all," Nev said.

"Except for pollution," said Beverly. "You know, from Good Omens? Pollution kind of sucked."

"He was great in the book, but I don't know what they were trying to do in the miniseries," said Cleverly. "Don't tell anyone I said that though, Neil Gaiman fans are scary."

"Only when you fuck with us," Beverly said ominously.

"The guests have all been dismissed, great one," said Carter. "Lady Eris has successfully duplicated their minds, which now rest in storage. The death forge awaits them. Soon, mass production of your reavers can begin."

"Is that the name you settled on for your new breed of zombies?" Grail asked Everly.

"It sure is!" Everly said gleefully. "Oh, I can't wait to see legions of them in action. We're going to have so much fun!"

"I've also managed to successfully seed the minds of all of tonight's visitors, as you instructed me," Eris cut in. "They won't remember any important details from tonight's festivities, but they've all been subconsciously conditioned to engage in acts of espionage, sabotage, and sedition. We now have a perfect spy network cast across the entire kingdom. One in every three commoners will be our unwitting eyes and ears, delivering us the secrets of their masters whenever they sleep."

"Excellent," Beverly said with a pleased nod. "Great work, Eris. From now on, we'll call this network the black web."

"That name is awesome!" Neverly shouted giddily. "Shoot, I really wish I'd thought of that one myself."

"Well, technically you did," said Beverly with a smirk.

"Oh, I guess that's true," Nev said with a pleased smile.

"The conditions are nearly in place for our conquest to begin," Carter said to Everly. "Once lady Titania initiates the famine that you've planned, unrest will sweep the nation. Many of the common folk will turn to brigandry in order to survive, which will swell the numbers of the remaining resistance groups left over from the civil war."

"I feel uncomfortable subjecting the people of the land to needless suffering," Grail said in a hard voice. "I understand the need to set you in your rightful place as soon as possible, Everly; but is it truly necessary for the poor to starve in order to achieve your goal?"

"Peace, Grail," Everly said, raising a hand to silence him. "This is only a temporary measure. The famine will last just a few weeks. Long enough for the people to beg for a miracle."

"A miracle that they'll soon receive," Cleverly smiled. "Because then, thanks to my newfound mastery of healing magic, I shall heal anyone close to perishing from hunger. I'll also restore the lost crops and provide an endless bounty for the starving and the destitute."

"Cleverly's going to be a living saint," Everly said happily. "The temple will be quick to embrace her. And thanks to Nalec's machinations in the east, she'll also be the one to reunite the two feuding temples. For the first time in centuries, the church will be one…under our rule!"

"In the meanwhile, all of the civil unrest will need to be challenged," said Beverly. "With the kingdom's armies far to the south, waging war against Oldstead, a true hero will need to step up and unite the adventurer's guild to lead the charge against the troubles within our borders. That person will be me. Beverly Lance."

"Is that the name you chose?" Nev laughed. "You sound like a professional surfer!"

"Shut up! My new name is awesome!" yelled Beverly. "Ahem! Naturally, I won't be doing it all on my own. I can't stand out too much. But I've got my eyes set on a few idiots to share the spotlight with me. We'll be our own little gang of heroes for the people of this nation to admire."

"What are you going to call your team?" asked Cleverly.

"I don't know. I'll probably name it after myself," Bev said indifferently.

"Beverly and the Bevs?" Everly asked.

"No!" snapped Beverly. "It'll be something cool, you'll see."

"Whatever," said Neverly. "Meanwhile, while the two of you are doing all the grunt work, I'm going to be chilling out in the capital, enjoying my youth. Those precious, carefree days of academic life will soon be mine!"

"Yeah, but you're basically going to be holding the children of the most powerful people in the kingdom hostage while also staying within striking distance of the royal family, right?" Cleverly asked her.

"Well, yeah, I'll be doing that too," Neverly said. "But I'll mostly be getting up to some teenage shenanigans, and what not. I'll only execute the people who bore me."

"No spree killing," Everly warned her.

"I said I wouldn't, all right?" Neverly said defensively.

"So, what are you going to be doing while we're taking care of the other things?" asked Cleverly. "You've been keeping that part to yourself."

"Oh, have I?" asked Everly smugly. "Heh heh. Well, let's just say I'll be having the time of my life running wild at the border. Remember our old black knight plan? I'm doing it. I'm going to be playing the role of a mysterious mercenary clad in black steel, serving whoever can pay my price. It's going to be so sweet!"

"I love that we can share our memories with each other," Neverly said. "Everything we do, the others experience in real time. It's like we really are a multiheaded entity."

"It's like I told Grail. We are the revelation," Everly said. "We're the Empress. We're the horsemen. We're the cardinal winds and the four heavenly kings. All for one and one for all."

"The chaos we'll unleash…" said Clev.

"…Will pave the way for a new order," concluded Beverly.

Everly rose from her throne and raised a hand toward her servants. "Will you help me, my friends? Will you join me in building a better future for all to enjoy? One world. One ruler. One God."

The inner circle rose and knelt once again. "All hail the Empress!" they cried.

Claudia stared in bewilderment, uncertain of what she should say or do. Was this madwoman really her little sister? Could she really achieve the daunting goal she'd set for herself?

Until she'd been summoned into the memory palace that night, Claudia hadn't truly believed Everly's boasts, nor her ridiculous claim of having personally defeated Acedia. But now, with the evidence of her sister's power being flaunted before her eyes, how could she possibly deny the truth?

Everly was the most dangerous person in Winstead. Possibly the most dangerous person in the world. Even Countess Anne would prove no match for her.

Anne is my teacher, my mentor, my beloved second mother. I dearly respect her, Claudia thought to herself. She taught me how to wield my power, and how to assert myself over others. I'm beyond grateful to her for her lessons. But…she also taught me never to be a fool and to always reconsider my loyalties in the face of necessity.

And with that being the case…

"Everly," Claudia said, as she stepped forward and kowtowed before her sister, planting her face on the floor as she groveled. "Everly, I don't completely understand what's happening, and I don't know if I can be of use to you. But please. Please let me join you. Please let me be a part of your vision!"

"Awww," said Beverly.

"This is so sweet," said Cleverly.

"Who's cutting onions in here? Tell them to stop," wept Neverly.

Everly said nothing in reply. Instead, she rose from her seat and walked to her sister, welcoming her with a warm embrace.

The inner circle broke out into applause, as did the seats of war, famine, and death. Claudia smiled joyfully, touched by the easy acceptance of her. "Thank you all so much for having me," she said tearfully.

"Think nothing of it," Everly said to her. "You're family. Excluding you from the plan was never an option."

"Thank you, Everly," Claudia repeated.

"Sis, please. There's no need to be thankful," Everly said with a smile. "Just tell me everything you know about the Godwell family. Let's start with Countess Anne."