Chapter 86

Chapter 86

A/N: As some people wanted to see the songs that make an appearance during a chapter before the chapter starts, here we go. Unusually I was using three songs as inspiration during this chapter, in the order of appearance:

https://youtu.be/OQeFvUuPNHc

https://youtu.be/x5JvbD2Zc9I

https://youtu.be/5uctTcMW464

You will notice a common theme.

Enjoy the chapter, and pleace point out any mistakes. Had to rush the PR a bit.

---------- nove(l)bi(n.)com

It was the early hours of what might barely be called a morning, when Neleh got up from her large bed. The dim light before sunrise was coming through the curtains, giving a slightly eerie glow to her naked skin as she slowly walked through her bedroom and approached a large black piano situated in the corner of the room. She idly ran her fingers over the wooden surface while half lost in thought. She sat down on the seat in front of the piano and started playing a slow tune. It was one of those songs that no one but her knew on this world, and was an example of how a seemingly simple and slow song could carry quite a lot of emotion. Kind of wistful and nostalgic emotion in this case, with maybe even a hint of sadness.

Today would be the tenth anniversary of her taking the throne as the empress of the elven people. Her decade as a ruler had been successful, so successful in fact that even she had been shocked. The elven people were more prosperous than ever. Everything was plentiful, and no people within her empire had to go wanting. There was no problem of over-producing either, as the continent was now connected with all the others with arches that enabled surplus to be traded away to other races.

It had taken almost the entirety of the ten years, but the elven army had in its entirety gone through the training for the Order, and was now the most powerful military might on the planet. If Neleh really wanted, she could take her people to war against all the other major races, not including the dragons, and have a good expectation of victory. Of course, she didnt actually want to do that since she knew that strength would be needed for other purposes. The academies of Nan Yanoi were also becoming a marvel of learning, accepting thousands upon thousands of promising students on all paths of power and knowledge.

Perhaps the most important thing was the continued melding of the three elven clans. The three clans had been almost at each others throats at the time she ascended the throne, but now those lines were blurring. This was in major part due to the fact that the divided clans no longer lived in separate areas. As the wealth of the empire was focused towards the center and the improved methods of producing food and other essentials allowed for higher population densities, large portions of the Sun and Moon Elves had moved into the areas formerly controlled by the third clan, Eldarinwe. As it was widely known that the empress approved of such unification, the clans were slowly starting to dissolve into one people. It was of course not something that would happen over a single decade, but the process had at least started.

There was also an interesting shift in the elven society as a whole. As the borders between clans, and territories became more fluid, the power of the nobility waned. The increased wealth and opportunities also encouraged a more merit based society, as your station in life was less dependent on who your parents were. This again was something that the new empress encouraged, as she had little patience for anyone who couldnt get their job done. Effectiveness and often flexibility was more important than position and titles. And this further weakened the position of the nobility. This might have caused trouble with the nobles if it wasnt for one additional factor.

This advancement carried a certain personal cost to Neleh. As Elunes favor toward her was so obvious, and her actions so effective, she herself became something of an object of worship. Among the people she wasnt referred to simply as the empress, but got the added title of divine. She had encouraged this tendency herself in the beginning, as it served her purposes and made ruling easier, and later on was stuck with it. The problem was that everyone started treating her as something beyond a mortal.

It was rather sad to see even her friends and family look at her with awe. Even people that had known her when she was younger like Alduin, Maylin and Yunalesca bowed their head in reverence, and treated her almost as a holy object. It was impossible to get close to people when they held such reverence. They didnt feel that they were worthy of her attention. There were only a handful of people that still treated her in a way that even slightly resembled normal. That made Neleh feel very lonely.

The tone of her playing got a bit more hopeful. As she glanced towards her bed, she decided that the song needed a little more, and used the magic she had devised such a long time ago to add the sound of other instruments to the song, turning the music into a love song of sorts, as she gazed at the naked form of Shiori still sleeping in their bed. The beautiful psion was still tired from their activities the previous evening and night.

They had become lovers almost five years ago. Shiori was one of the few people that still treated her as she used to. In fact Shioris treatment of Neleh hadnt changed almost at all since her ascension. Neleh had always been the center of Shioris world and that remained unchanged. She didnt care about Nelehs position or origins, just that they were happy. She was Nelehs secret protector and the blade that the young empress used to cut down those that opposed her. And she had become a very effective blade.

Neleh wouldve been lying if she had said that their romantic involvement had nothing to do with the loneliness that she felt due to the distance between her and the other people she used to be close with. It was also true that Shiori was almost the only person who was even close to being mentally an equal with Neleh, especially now that Shiori had gained more wisdom and experience to bolster the intelligence shed had earlier. It would be hard to build a relationship when the two people involved were not even on the same plane when it came to their minds. Shiori could keep up with her, even if she didnt have the life experience Neleh had, and that went a long way. Of course it also didnt hurt that the girl of ten years ago had grown into a beautiful woman. Neleh had to admit that she did love Shiori, even if it didnt quite reach the level that Shiori obviously felt about her. It was the comfortable type of love, instead of all burning passion. Not that they lacked passion, as shown by last night.

There was a smile on Nelehs lips as she thought about the ongoing competition between Shiori and the Legion of the Phoenix. The Legion felt protective of their divine empress, and competitive towards the other protectors, namely the fifth Order and their most important member Shiori. Their little game had begun about the same time that she had gotten romantically involved with Neleh, as she sneaked to spend the night in Nelehs room. For the Legion, it was dreadful that someone managed to sneak past them, so they tried their best to stop her. So it became almost a daily competition where Shiori tried to get past the Legion and the Legion tried to detect her. If she succeeded, she got to spend the night with Neleh, if she failed, then the Legion got to feel smug the next day about their victory. The Legion didnt get to feel smug very often, though it wasnt too rare either. Shiori couldve defeated all of them in battle, but it was considered her loss when she was detected, as it wouldve been problematic if they tore the palace apart.

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Her playing became a bit more somber as she started another slow but powerful song. She was thinking about one of her most challenging actions as an empress, an action that had won her the undying loyalty of the Legion, the bond between the Legion and her becoming beyond anything that had existed with previous emperors. They were now her Legion.

As the realization was starting to dawn on them, Khali continued. I hope you especially liked the meat in the previous dish, since it goes so very well with the dessert you have been served. She said, making absolutely clear where the meat they had eaten before had come from.

As the sounds of gagging and retching joined the wails and angry shouts, Khali finished her point. You have chosen to act dishonorably, so Im making the consequences of that choice clear. I have no qualms about using whatever methods I so choose against those with no honor. I hope Im making my point clear. Enjoy you dessert. She said as she rose to leave.

Two of the enraged demons charged straight at her, but where cleaved in two by an almost casual looking swing of her two-handed blade. While it looked casual, it carried unbelievable strength and moved so fast that those looking could not even see it. Any else that desires to express their dissatisfaction over my dinner party? Now is your chance. As the other demons could only swallow their hatred, Khali casually walked out of the room.

This of course made her numerous enemies, but enemies she could deal with and the delays had stopped. She had become the new demon lord only six months later, and had kept that position for two years now.

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Neleh hummed a small sad tune. Khali had been one of the other people to treat her normally, which was only natural since the old ruler of Inferno knew better. Still, now that she was too busy with the demons, Neleh was left with one less person she could relax with. There were only three others beyond Shiori and Khali, Nimue, Delia and Elsaria. Even Selene had become a worshipper instead of a sister; in fact she was one of the worst. With Selenes character and almost blind devotion to Elune, it was hardly surprising that she would end up revering Neleh as well.

Nimue was one of Nelehs closest advisors, and spent the most time with her. That was in large part because Neleh often got tired of dealing with the veneration in the eyes of others, so she managed many things through Nimue. Delia did her best to keep Neleh grounded, although that wasnt so hard, as Neleh didnt buy into her own legend. Delia had finally married Aneirin, and the two seemed happy enough. Aneirin would most likely otherwise be one of the people to put too much stock in Nelehs so called divinity, but it was easier for psyche to imagine Neleh as something beyond mortals. It reduced her inferiority complex, which was a good thing for her relationship with Delia. Elsaria had become a full-fledged sister of the Order despite the added challenge, and now spent most of her time hunting down Nelehs enemies.

The saddest part was Nelehs relationship with Asheara. They had managed to talk and had started to form a connection of sorts, even if it wasnt what it used to be. That was about the time when the people started treating Neleh differently, and Asheara had followed suit. She had felt that Neleh wasnt a normal mortal, though she couldnt explain why, but this gave her an explanation. It also allowed her to redirect what remained of her feelings to a new path, and also assuaged her guilty conscience.

Ironically, she had not lost too much of her skills as they had become part muscle memory, and part memories separate from the bond because the countless hours spent training. As such, she became one of the people to join Prince Alexis as trump cards against the enemy. Still, it was painful for Neleh to see the awe in her mothers eyes, so the two mostly kept their distance from each other.

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The sun started to rise above the horizon, to mark the dawn of the day that would change the lives of everyone on this world. As Neleh started to move towards Shiori to shake the shoulder of her lover, who was pretending to be asleep in the hopes of getting a gentle wake-up, she suddenly stared at the walls of the room. She could feel the space twisting as portals opened around the world, on all the continents. Portals that led away from this world. Though the important part wasnt where one could go through them, but who came through them to this world. These portals werent small temporary gates to allow few individuals though, but large permanent ones.

There were couple of important differences between deities and beings that at least some point were mortal. Even if a mortal gathered enough power to be stronger than any deity, this differences would remain. The deities were bound by certain rules. They could not go beyond their domain, and while they could be shockingly powerful in some area, they could be completely useless in others. On the flipside, some things were easier for deities. Instead of complex spells to achieve almost impossible result, they could simply throw power at the problem and get the effect they desired. While it was almost impossible to make portals between world if a mortal tried it, the deities could do it, especially if they had someone ritually prepare a target destination.

The Lost-Deities might have lost some of what made them gods, but retained some other things, as shown by the portals now opening around the world. Even Neleh at the prime of her old life couldnt have done it, but here it was done in several places.

Theyre early. Neleh grumbled. Shiori, get your lazy bum out of the bed and sound the alarm! The storm is here! Neleh yelled.

Then she suddenly looked towards the sky in shock. Oh, fuck. She cursed simply. A huge magical formation sprung around her, as she flung her entire strength into the sky, to change the direction of a certain falling object. After a few minutes of struggling, she slumped to a chair, all sweaty and panting.

What happened? Shiori asked alarmed, already pulling clothes on.

Lets just say the faeries arent going home anymore. I doubt that theres much left of their continent beyond fire and ash. Neleh sighed, getting her breath back under control.

Details, please. I know you like to be cryptic, but this is not the time. Shiori sighed a little exasperated.

Well, apparently one of the Lost-Deities decided that casting a portal straight to here was too much trouble. Instead, it made a solid gateway and threw it at us. Quite hard to redirect I might add. Would have originally landed on the celestial capitol instead. Neleh explained.

Eh, you shouldve let it land. The pigeons are nothing but trouble. You mean it threw a gateway from another world? Shiori asked incredulous.

Now you know why Im here. Are we having fun yet? Neleh simply smiled back.

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