I sighed at Kiana’s latest theatrics. Always with that nonsensical love of the grandiose. After she left the room I called out, “This meeting of the council is dismissed. Any remaining discussion may be had at the next meeting, and any concerns over today’s decision may be directed to me in private.”
I rose wearily, and walked out of the building and into the city. There were many who I knew would be eager to ‘raise concerns’ and deliver ‘constructive criticism’ of the decision I had announced, but I was not in a mood to deal with them after months of struggle and debate. If only Renessa would just- I clenched my fist and forced myself not to think about her. I was tired of spending every day stressed and exhausted, trying to deal with Renessa and convince the council not to trust Kiana.
I let out a deep breath, and tried to enjoy the sights of the city. It was a beautiful city, those glittering points of light giving clarity and warmth to the proud architecture. Though I’d always found it to be perhaps too proud, too arrogant, too disconnected from the people. Monuments had always found their way into Dark cities; glorifying ourselves seemed to be a basic tenet of our culture. Another problem that no one saw, that no one wanted to fix.
Frustration rose again, and I sped up without noticing until I felt a tearing pain in my leg, and winced. Curse these old bones. I shook my head at my curse, as ever hating it but having to live with it… until I lived no longer. By a cruel twist of fate, or perhaps mere bad luck, I formed from the nexus… differently. Something went wrong, and I was afflicted with a rare sort of malady found only a few times in a century. It meant that unlike other elementals, I aged past physical maturity, resulting in my wrinkled skin and decrepit bones…
And it meant that one day, no matter what I did, I would die of mere old age, a death that Kiana and those like her would deem ignoble… pathetic.
It was why I had to strive so hard to fight back against Renessa in the council. They could afford to wait decades to achieve their goals because they knew that one day, I would die of natural causes. I was already 153 years old after all… I didn’t have many decades left, and they knew it.
Luckily, my opponents were impatient children like Kiana and ambitious fools like Renessa. They would not have the restraint to play the long game. And you’re still thinking about them, even though you told yourself not to. I let out another weary sigh, something that had become far too common in recent years, and tried to block out those thoughts.
As my thoughts returned to the city, I saw a few people in rags on the side of the street, victims of recent circumstances. A few years ago, the idea of homeless or beggars on Nyx would have been unthinkable… but then came the campaign that devastated us, when the last Champion died in battle. So many lost soldiers, so many destroyed cities, and the destruction hadn’t ended there. Without soldiers to protect the towns they were ravaged by monsters, and without enough towns, more and more people were forced to head to cities where they couldn’t get jobs… and were left homeless on the streets. Without a Champion to lead the army, there would be no way to recover that territory, no way to fix these problems…
This was what Renessa’s maneuvering caused. This was what happened when the council was forced to debate for months on the choice of a new Champion. And to some extent this could be considered my fault… I believed I was making the right choice opposing Kiana, but I still felt guilt for contributing to this horrid mess.
I walked over to the group and took out a pouch of gold coins, handing it to the woman who had a hat out, which so far contained only a few silvers. She thanked me warmly, and I continued on my way.
As I rounded the corner of the street and saw my house in the distance, a sound echoed from behind me; footsteps that were steady yet hurried. Please don’t let it be her…
I looked behind me, and a few moments later I saw a tall woman with dark grey hair and light purple skin walking towards me. Renessa. She called out, “Fitzdonald! You’ve made a grave mistake.”
I turned around fully, and smirked at her. “Have I now? From my perspective, I’ve fixed your mistakes. Your idiotic delaying and posturing in the council has led us to this. You must have seen the homeless on the way here, I’m sure. They are the result of you and your faction preventing the council from coming to any decision.”
Renessa glared and said, “It is obvious that Shadow is the right choice for Champion. You are the one trying to stop her, and thus holding everything up. She could have been Champion weeks ago, months even, reclaiming territory and destroy our enemies, if you would just stop being so stubborn about denying her. She is the right choice.”
“If Kiana rose to power, do you really think it would fix any of the problems we’re facing? You know her better than any of us, Renessa. You can’t honestly believe that Kiana will care about the poor, the homeless, the lost, those that have suffered… she will merely see them as more pawns in her game, more toy soldiers to throw at the enemy without a care for their lives.”
Renessa hesitated, and I pressed her. “You’ve seen the same reports I have. You know what Kiana’s rumored to have done at the academies. Just today you saw her arrogance, and her childish anger when denied what she sees as rightfully hers. Is that who you want to be the symbol of our people, the leader of our army? Do you want to have her send us back to the days when we were villains and monsters, when Darkness and evil were considered synonymous? We’ve come so far since then, we’ve accomplished so much… would you sacrifice all that for the sake of power, for her?”
Renessa looked down for a long moment, but when she looked up again her gaze was as steel. “Shadow will rise. Whether you stand with her and rise to glory, or stand against her and are washed away by the tides of change, Shadow will rise.”
I shook my head wearily at her support of Kiana and walked away, calling as I did so, “Not if I can help it.”