Chapter 12: Tyrants, Both Large and Petulant

Vitreum and Aureum sat across each other as they waited for their meal. Well, Aureum waited. Vitreum squirmed, fidgeted, giggled, and did everything but wait.

“Is dinner ready yet?” Vitreum asked, for the sixth time.

“No,” Aureum answered for the sixth time.

At least it was better than being in the plaza.

The kicking and the screaming…

Aureum didn’t want to think too much about Vitreum’s behavior in front of crowds of people. The girl quickly seemed to forget about the promised batch of candies, instead ogling every cheap souvenir and shouting for some.

Aureum suggested dinner as a distraction and a need. For reasons she couldn’t understand, Vitreum calmed down away from the crowds. Calm being relative.

The waiter came with their food. Aureum watched Vitreum pick up her cutlery dainty as could be, before she started devouring it like a little beast.

Aureum and Vitreum weren’t alone. Vitreum’s bodyguards watched. One leaned against the wall close by, and the other was at the door.

It was obvious by their behavior that they had no authority over Vitreum. Half the reason they hadn’t attacked Aureum was because Vitreum hadn’t ordered it. The other half was to make their lives easier.

Now, how to probe for information without setting off any alarm bells?

Aureum couldn’t help Vitreum if she had no context.

“Enjoying it?”

“Yes!”

“Um, are you expecting the food to run from you?”

“No?”

“Eh, I guess I’ll keep my opinions to myself.”

Then there was only the sounds of Vitreum eating.

I’ll talk about myself for a bit. See if she bites.

“It’s a shame I came too late to see them putting up the lights. But you probably got to enjoy it, right?”

“I dunno. They seemed stupid.”

Just give me an inch here, Viti. An inch.

“Why do you say that?”

“Seems pretty stupid. Pulling things down just to put them back up.”

She kicked the base of the table as she spoke.

Patience.

“Lanterns don’t last long. It would be worse if they weren’t pulled down.”

“Maybe.”

“So I assume you didn’t come for the festival?”

“No, I came with Benedic.”

Who is Benedic?

“Oh, Benedic. And how are they?”

Aureum acted like she knew. At that moment, her relationship with Vitreum and her family was unknown. Which gave her more room to maneuver than if she came clean as a common stranger.

As long as she wasn't caught.

“He’s dumb. As usual.”

“Ah, he must be …older now.”

“He thinks he’s so great just because he’s an adult! Bossing me around all the time.”

I guess she did have a guardian nearby. Maybe I lost my money for nothing.

This was good. This was progress.

“Benedic never struck me as smart,” Aureum said.

Especially if he’s supposed to be looking after you and just left you with some guards.

“Hehe. You can’t call him stupid! That’s bad!”

“That’s too bad. He’s not here to listen.”

Vitreum scowled, though it was closer to a pout.

“I’m here! He’s still my brother. So stop.”

Aureum shrugged. The last thing she wanted was Vitreum shouting again.

“I’ll stop! I just need it explained to me why he’s left you alone. That doesn’t seem very responsible.”

“Who cares?”

“Me. I’m worried, Viti.”

Vitreum blinked up at Aureum.

“What for?”

“It’s not good for you to be alone.”

“My bodyguards will protect me! I’m safe!”

But who will protect them from you?

“I’d like to see your brother again.”

Take the bait. Take the bait. Please, take the bait.

“I thought you said he was dumb.”

“It’s because he’s dumb that I need to talk to him. Life’s like that when you’re an adult.”

“Pff.”

Vitreum looked away, still occasionally kicking at the table. Aureum turned her head to see what she was looking at, but it could have been anything. When she turned back Vitreum glared at her.

“You don’t actually know my brother, do you?”

Aureum felt itchy. She resisted the urge to stand up, in case she had to run away.

Vitreum was sharper than she had given credit, but she didn’t need the guards to think she approached the child with ulterior motives. She had to play it down.

“I’ve got to admit I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of his acquaintance. But I’ve enjoyed hearing you talk about him.”

“So? You want something from him?”

“…I need to file a complaint.”

“It’s business? Not you trying to cling to him?”

Vitreum crossed her arms. She was trying to appear very serious.

“Why would I cling to your brother?”

Aureum didn’t hide the exasperation in her voice.

“A lot of ladies seem to like him! That’s what they usually want to talk to me about. But they’re boring. With silly questions. They think I know what he likes.”

“Must be annoying.”

“It is!”

“Would it be too annoying to help me? I just need to know where to talk to him.”

“Well, since you entertained me, maybe I could.”

The way the little girl stressed “entertained” gave Aureum the feeling she was repeating something she heard.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“But what will you give me?”

Aureum gritted her teeth into a smile.

“Other than dinner and the candy?”

“That’s just the price of talking with me!”

“Then I’ll get you a souvenir, one chosen specifically for you!”

“Yes! I want it to be a kitten!”

“Can you even take care of a kitten?!”

“I can take care of it! I want to!”

“Really? Does it have to be a kitten?”

Vitreum pouted, which made Aureum’s temple throb more than her fear of the guards.

“I. Want. A kitten.”

Just a hair before the crocodile tears started.

“If you don’t get me a kitten I’ll feed you to my men.”

“All right, let’s not be quick to decide things here!” Aureum raised her hands as she spoke. “I’ll get you a kitten. But you’ll have to tell me where you’re staying so I can give it to you.”

“No!”

“Yes! I’m not a miracle worker!”

Vitreum's lip trembled for a moment but slowly straightened. She beamed.

“I’ll choose to trust you!”

Aureum let out a relieved sigh only to wince.

I just got hustled by an eight-year-old.

Said eight-year-old got off of her seat, strode over to Aureum’s side, and conspiratorially “whispered” in her ear. She hadn’t gotten the quiet part of whispering down.

“My brother likes to discuss business in the Red Hen.”

“Where’s that?”

Vitreum shrugged, before twirling back to her seat.

“Snk.”

Aureum turned to see one of the guards with his hand over his face. He straightened immediately, with an impassive expression on his face.

She sank into her chair and rested her head in her hands.

I got hustled by an eight-year-old kid, and her bodyguards are going to laugh about it for weeks.

———————————————————

“In the Kingdom of Aeternitus, before the people were free…”

The plaza had an impressive performer when Aureum and Vitreum returned. The voice was strong and clear, but Aureum didn’t catch everything said. A display of lights shimmered around her.

The greatest evidence for the performer's talent was the crowd. It was twice the size than anything earlier in the day.

As Aureum stepped into the plaza, she felt a layer of mana sink into her bones.

An uncontrolled shiver crawled up Aureum’s spine.

“We should sit!”

Vitreum seemingly sensed nothing. But she could be without her pearl. The crowd gave no sign of anything wrong.

It was impossible that they couldn’t feel the amount of mana at play.

Aureum allowed the child to lead her to sit in the front in a daze.

She sat, frozen. She could hear footsteps in front of her, and the performer’s voice rolled over her. The actual meaning of the words evaded her, they broke down into unintelligible sounds.

A cheer erupted around them. Breaking Aureum from whatever stupor she had been under.

Aureum gazed up at the performer taking center stage.

A woman, with inhuman perfection. There wasn't a strand of hair out of place or even a wrinkle in her dress.

The performer was an ascended sorcerer. The weight of the mana around her left no room for doubt. While the sorcerer was casting, it was impossible to contain the movement of the mana from anyone with a pearl.

Yet the crowd was cheering her.

What is she doing?

All was in darkness, only the woman, like a goddess, was in light.

She was in the middle of a show. As unbelievable as that was to Aureum.

“After the Sorcerer King was slain, the people thought there would be peace.”

A field of flowers appeared before Aureum. Where there had been shadows, now there was sunlight. The crowd sighed in awe.

“But the people were wrong.”

The sunlight shone brightly, and the field began to wilt.

“Of the endless power and knowledge that the Sorcerer King had hoarded, none that rose up against him wanted to share.”

She raised her hand and clenched it into a fist. The flowers burst into flame. Vitreum went to touch one, and Aureum grabbed her hand.

The flames held no heat.

Of course.

As soon as Aureum let go Vitreum went to grab at them. Her fingers went right through.

“One rose above the others and proclaimed themselves a new king above the rest. But those who rebelled once weren’t ones to settle again. Or maybe the new king's fears of being killed as he had once murdered plagued him.”

Aureum watched Vitreum scrunch up her face.

“Vitreum, no—

“AHHHHH I WA—

Aureum clapped her hands over Vitreum’s mouth as soon as she could. She held a firm grip as the girl struggled.

The nearby footsteps made her freeze. She looked up at the sorceress looming over her.

“She didn’t know. Please.”

What Vitreum didn’t know or what Aureum was begging for, she couldn’t explain.

“Shhhhh.”

The sorceress softly shushed her.

The woman winked as she leaned forward. Aureum resisted the woman pulling her hand off Vitreum but ultimately relented.

The flower Vitreum had tried to grab turned into bumble bees that bumbled around Vitreum. No buzzing, of course.

The bees made figure eights, and Vitreum giggled.

That was a magic Aureum didn’t know.

The sorceress leaned over and whispered into Vitreum’s ear.

“You can’t have what doesn’t truly exist, tiny thing.”

She pinched Vitreum’s cheek.

Aureum watched the woman walk away in a daze.

But the show?

She looked back to the plaza, only to see the same sorceress standing there, hands clenched in the center as the flowers burned.

Looking back at the other sorceress, there were two identical women. One faded before Aureum’s eyes.

It seems no one else noticed the second woman. Aureum shivered.

How much control did that take?

“Paranoia and greed set the stage for them to tear at each other. The new king, having made his greatest fears a reality, died.”

Her voice again sliced through the silence. The flowers turned to ash, swirling through the audience.

“For an era, self-proclaimed kings ran rampant with the Sorcerer King's wealth. It was divided once, then twice, then thrice.

Until so many proclaimed themselves kings that the title was empty. Until no one could proclaim themselves king.”

The ash fell onto the surface of a lake.

“And the people suffered more under the weight of these leaders than they did under the Sorcerer King. For those calling themselves kings and heroes followed in his footsteps. They shared none of their knowledge and power with the people or each other. And war was rampant.”

Just what is this?

Aureum was educated. She knew that what the sorceress was telling was a simplified tale of the Sorcerer King, who once ruled all of Aeternitus and much of the lands beyond.

What she couldn’t understand was why this sorceress would waste her time telling simplified history.

“Till their greed reached too far. They wanted to destroy their peers so much that they gave sorcery to the common soldier.”

A lion leaped from the water, still being formed of water, circling the women.

“As death was their greatest fear, their greatest desire for life would flee them.”

A unicorn leaped from the water and charged the lion. Still seemingly created of water. The latter beast twisted from the blow, and batted the face of the unicorn. Spatters of water flew off of them to land into the lake below.

They continued to fight as the woman spoke.

“For it was the soldiers that recreated what the Sorcerer King had hidden. They gained the power that the Sorcerer King kept hidden: the eternal life and power the pretend kings coveted.

Life is not found in hiding from it, but in the fighting for it.”

The unicorn and the lion sunk the final blow into each other. As the water burst out the two fell into each other, and became a dragon, wings spread out over the audience.

“They used their power to shake off the new rulers that became fat on the blood of the poor and sent them where they belonged."

The large dragon of water lit into flame as it breathed fire. The wings of the dragon fell into shining petals unto her audience.

"We are a people formed from the ashes of war, to break free from the centuries of tyranny.

We are not a people that suffer kings.

We are a people that kill our kings!”

The crowd roared. The sorceress took her bow.