Caelestis took a blade to his brother’s neck.
The head rolled into the pool of blood at his feet. His robes were soaked with rainwater; feet sunken into the now-muddy shores of the forgotten. Mist rose from the black sea and covered the battlefield in a white haze, clouding his vision as his judgment. Catching his breath, Caelestis looked up as the frigid raindrops graced his pale skin.
He killed his father, and now the heir who succeeded him. There was no one else to stand in his way—his other brothers lacked the skill or status to challenge him.
This was it.
He won.
The King of the 12 Domains of the Eastern Seas was him, Caelestis, the King who obtained vengeance.
His men marched towards him, their black silver boots crushing bones and organs that littered the ground. The stench of death loomed heavily. If they lost the battle, it would have been oppressive. But in the wake of victory, the smell of blood was as sweet as nectar.
Soon the footsteps came to a stop. A merman with pale blue hair approached his prince silently, dark armour blending into the black sands of the forgotten shores—or at least what was visible under the dismembered limbs, severed heads, and abandoned weapons that littered the bay.
“Your Majesty.” Two words to make it known to everyone what their prince had become. The general fell to one knee, catching a glimpse of the red hair of the now-dead heir of the Eastern Seas. It lay near Caelestis’s glowing pink sword, which stuck out like a sore thumb amid the bleak scenery. Caelestis had returned with the strange item after running away only a few months ago, and since then, everything had changed—for better or for worse.
On cue, the soldiers behind also knelt before the new king, the man who had promised them liberation, who had given them purpose.
For one moment, it seemed like a world power had risen from the murky depths.
But only for that moment.
The resonant sound of slow, rhythmic claps snapped everyone out of their growing exhilaration.
Caelestis remained still, but his eyes locked onto the source of the sarcastic congratulatory gesture.
“The heir to the Eastern Seas is dead,” came the voice of a stranger. He walked up slowly, and Caelestis studied the man—friend or foe? “Congratulations, Caelestis of Nerissa.”
“Friend or foe?” Caelestis asked, his men rising with their hands reaching for their swords.
The stranger remained calm despite their hostility. His blue-tinged hair was tied up behind him, purple cotton robes beneath black armor. He would have blended into the masses if not for the dark rabbit ears that hung forward on his head. His dark eyes seemed empty despite a smile on his face. He carried no weapons, not even a dagger, which set the men around him on edge.
He stood a few feet away from Caelestis, arms crossed, seemingly unwilling to reply.
Caelestis scoffed and raised the pink sword in his hand, energy coursing through it. The stranger’s gaze landed on the sword, fixated, his eyes gleaming as though discovering an ancient secret.
“Friend or foe?” the mer king asked once more, his voice dangerously flat.
A chuckle escaped the rabbit’s mouth. “I see.” The moment he spoke those words, the raindrops around Caelestis stopped. But it wasn’t just around him—the raindrops that fell towards the seas and even inland had frozen mid-air. At first, Caelestis thought he was a merman disguised as a rabbit, and then he noticed the silence. The sea had been silenced.
Caelestis’s head darted around, only to see his men standing perfectly still, unmoving. Their swords were in various states of being drawn, their faces hardened and prepared to fight. The wind had stopped howling; the mist no longer rose; all of time had stopped.
The strange man took another step closer. This time, Caelestis was forced to take him seriously. What kind of being was able to stop time? There was only one option, and just the thought of meeting him here made his gut twist painfully.
A Harbinger.
“The General of Blasphemy.” The words slipped from Caelestis’s lips, and despite his innate fear, he kept his composure. The Dragon Queen had sent her most competent to end his life.
It came as a surprise. He was sure Nephel would turn a blind eye to the affairs of the Eastern Seas. Had a deal been brokered behind his back that he was unaware of? Or were they simply unwilling to release him from their grasp?
How desperate were they to gorge on his flesh and blood? Was it too unreasonable that he had asked for solace?
Either way, this was the end of him. If they sent a dragon, or even one of the Dragon Queen’s Heads, he would have stood a chance. But to send a Harbinger—a being with no beginning and no end, whom death itself could not take without its owner’s permission—Caelestis wasn’t foolish enough to think he could win. He could only admit defeat and accept death.
Relaxing somewhat at that realisation, Caelestis lowered his sword.
“Have you come to kill me?” he questioned, his eyes softening at the thought of death. Dying was not too bad an outcome; what he couldn’t do was return to those shackles that bound him to the will of others. As long as he’d chosen to surrender and die, he could accept that.
The Harbinger’s smile remained fixed. “Do you want me to?”
“I’d rather die than return to living such an empty life, so if you plan to kill me, do it quickly.”
Despite Caelestis’s urging, the man didn’t make any moves. Instead, he stared long and hard, as if contemplating.
“You met a human girl who gave you that weapon, didn’t you?”
Eyes darkening, Caelestis lunged in immediate response, the sword finding itself pressed against the rabbit’s throat in the blink of an eye.
“I met no human girl.” His voice was dangerously low. “Keep baseless conjecture out of your mouth.” Bloodlust whipped wildly to intimidate, but the rabbit only laughed and made no moves to protect himself.
“Friend.”
At his word, Caelestis stiffened and slowly lowered his blade.
They stood face to face. The strange rabbit was only a few heads shorter than him, but it didn’t matter—his power and confidence made him seem impossibly daunting.
“I know the human girl.”
Caelestis’s heart rose to his throat. “Have you killed her?” he spat.
“Not yet.”
Not yet. Caelestis let out a breath of relief. “Why not?”
The stranger shrugged. “My orders didn’t involve killing the girl. I was simply told to end the life of Leon the Great. I was not told to kill any other human, so I did not.”
To kill Leon the Great—such a feat was only possible for a Harbinger.
“Is she with you? Is she safe?”
“She’s safe.”
The memory of that impossibly naive woman warmed him a little. After all, it was thanks to her he’d dared to come this far, even if he would only meet his end here.
Thinking along those lines, the sword in his hand glowed before it vanished and was replaced by a delicate pink and silver bracelet. It was clearly made to be a beautiful ornament, one to be worn by someone of equally beautiful countenance, and yet it had transformed into a sword strong enough to kill a king. Human artefacts, no matter how pretty, were terribly terrifying.
“At least you’re not yet a danger to her. Since you are here to kill me, you can return this to her once the deed is done.”
Caelestis reached out his hand. He didn’t fully understand who the man was or what loyalties he had, but considering he was a Harbinger, as long as his orders were to kill him, then the rabbit would have to see his mission to its conclusion.
The man took the bracelet, and without even inspecting it, he activated it as though he’d done so a thousand times. The piece of jewelry transformed into a large staff. It was plain with a material akin to dark wood, the head twisted but rounded, the bottom sharpened to a single point. Silver leaves and vines wrapped around the shaft with pink flowers interspersed among the metal foliage.
“It seems you’re familiar with it,” Caelestis said, shock painting his face.
“I was there at its creation.”
“I see.” Caelestis had many questions he wished to ask. For one, how did he find out Hadassah was human? Had she told him? Or had she done something too trusting and given the rabbit one of her artifacts like she did with him? She wasn’t very good at hiding her identity—she must have been swindled and scammed a few times on her journey at the very least. The more he considered her, the more anxious he became.
“Do you want her to save you?”
Caelestis froze, the Harbinger’s words echoing in his ears. Save him? He laughed at how absurd an idea it seemed. “The Dragon Queen has set her sights on me. I fear I am beyond saving, especially not by a weak little human girl.” Though he jested, the rabbit didn’t. His expression dropped to one of complete seriousness. Caelestis stopped laughing.
A person like her, who couldn’t tell her east from her west, the girl who trembled under cover out of fear during the lynching—could someone like that save him?
Despite his thoughts, a faint sliver of hope bloomed in his chest.
Hope was a drug that consumed the very soul.
“Yes.” A word so quiet, so dry, it was as though he dared not say it.
The Harbinger said nothing, a small, sad smile playing on his lips. He nodded once, and then Caelestis felt the rain fall once more on his face.
Excerpt from the Annals of the Continental Archives, Vol. XII – XIV Nerissan Regicide
Year of the Withered Moon, 538 AE (After Emergence), 001 Reign of Neveah of Orlaith.
The Civil War of Nerissa stands recorded as one of the bloodiest conflicts in the Eastern Seas’ living memory. Wherein the Sea cried for the blood of its children, and the banners of the kingdom were trampled underfoot by brother and kin alike. The regency, long fraying under the weight of internal strife, collapsed utterly when the King Regent was cast from his throne, betrayed by one once sworn to his own blood, his beloved son. The 12 Domain lords stood aside as is law, the victor could only be the most competent.
At the zenith of the war’s chaos, the Great Mother of the Continent, in her unfathomable wisdom, sent forth reinforcements. At his arrival, the traitor, whose name remains sealed, was captured on the Forgotten Shores.
Though his crimes cry out for death, the Dragon Queen, in her abundant mercy, has decreed imprisonment until a higher judgement may be rendered. Such clemency, rare as it is radiant, has stilled the cries for vengeance. The traitor now awaits final judgement on the day of the Solar Eclipse, an omen not seen in nearly four decades.
It marks the return of the Queen of Orlaith and the beginning of the continent’s rebirth. It shall be our blessing, a sign that divine law will once more rule the lands of the continent.
The heavens be with us all.
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