10-03-2019, 07:57 PM
12:55 AM, Local time
Sovereigns apartment. Heavenly Palace. Celestial Palace complex, Sharanfo, Shen Empire.
The harsh gales of September had crept into the first few days of October. Blowing hard against the ancient walls of the Heavenly Palace. The whistling of the wind heard through every crevice and corridors of the ancient and mostly empty building.
Silence violently interrupted by the screeching and Howling of Mother Nature letting her fury be known to those who would consider themselves above other men. Screams of Mother Nature Echoing throughout the palace, keeping anyone who wasn't a heavy sleeper awake well past when they normally would.
One such sleeper sat alone in her large bedroom. A single lamp by her beds being the only source of Illumination in this dark hour. Casting twisting Shadows against the sturdy Oak walls. The only source untill a sudden small flicker of a lighter ignited the end of a cigarette adding to the light. It was lightly grasped between the old lips of this woman. Breaking from her reading for just a single moment to take the first long drag of the cigarettes before exhaling
Wu Zhou knew she should have given up this habit
years ago. The empress had taken up the habit shortly after she ascended to the throne, and despite constant requests by her husband, children and so many of her ministers over the decades to quit she had not. But at 83 such a large life-altering decision felt completely pointless. Her mortality was becoming more apparent every day as it became harder and harder to do basic tasks. A sharp mind trapped in a rapidly decaying shell. And after the events of the last few weeks mortality had been a constant subject of her internal thoughts.
So she kept smoking. Sucking down those toxic vapors into her lungs for the simple relaxing sensation it brought to her. A relaxing feeling Amplified by the book she was slowly turning through as the night relied on, and a new day grew ever closer.
As 1 a.m. was about to be upon her and the tiredness she felt, slowly started to get the point where sleep would overcome the whistling winds, she elected to try once more to get some shut-eye.
The woman took what was left of her cigarette and put it in the ashtray setting it on her bedside table. Slowly her ancient skeletal figures reached up to yank on the chain, plunging the room into darkness as the light went out. She closed the leather-bound book setting it next to her ashtray and began to lay her head down on the pillow expecting sleep to take her in just a few moments.
But just as she closed her eyes she heard scurrying of feat outside of her Chambers.
Someone running into Royal apartment from the twisting hallways of the rest of the Heavenly Palace. At this hour of the night?
There was only one reason to enter the Royal bed Chambers at such a pace. So the empress let out an annoyed sigh, before sitting back up. She reached over and once again turned on the light but also retrieved the silk mask to hide her features.
A conversation between the man and her guards broke out just as she finished putting it on. One of the guards was talking to one of her blind servants telling him to go inside and wake her up. But seeing as she was already very much awake she just shouted out into the hallway "let him in"
The guards opened up the door as soon as the command was given and a man wearing black robes entered in. His Footprints didn't seem to create any sound as he walked. Silent like the bed Chambers usually was at night.
His face was calm and stern. Unmoving and without expression as he came close to the god empress.
" yes?" She said, expecting him to quickly inform her of what was so important before leaving. But instead, the man just kept walking forward. his chiseled face illuminated by the dim light of the Lamp.
He got down on one knee and moved his lips closed to her ear. At this point, her own lips curled into an expression of surprise. Her eyes hidden beneath that mask we're staring blankly into the darkness as her mind went through a million possibilities at once. What was so important that not only had the privacy of her personal apartment but now he was not even saying what he had to say out loud.
Finally, he spoke softly though those Stone lips, parting them ever-so-slightly as words that the empress hoped she would never have to hear were spoken
Three words she had been terrified of hearing since the news of this nightmare had begun
" Topilpopoca is dead"
At that moment the world stood still for the empress. The howling winds became nothing more than a small whisper as she retreated into her mind for a moment.
How long has it been since you first met the man who had become her closest friends in these trying times that they both lived in? It was in 2001 if her memory was correct. He had just been elected Emperor and was making his first state visit to a foreign country in that position. Their ancient Ally Shen was the first, an honor that had not gone unappreciated by the empress, who had thrown the new Emperor a lavish State dinner. The two heads of state had gone into that meeting as allies. But they had left as friends. So similar in conviction. So compatible in personality. And that charming woman he bad on his arm, Yauhmi.
The few days that he had spent as her guest in the Imperial Palace had resulted in a friendship that has lasted nearly 20 years. They had often spoken since then. He and his wife had both made several more visits to shen. The two had offered each other Council from an outside perspective on multiple occasions.
And Topilpopoca and Yauhmi had been there to comfort the god Empress when she had lost her own husband to a brain tumor, while her children were busy morning the loss of their father in their own private ways.
But that was all over now. Three simple words and her friend was gone.
The man stood back up is the howling wind seemed to get worse. terrible screeching as If Heaven itself was reacting to the news.
News that was clearly only meant for the Empress.
Moving at the speed of a glacier the God Empress looked up at the man. She only had one word to say to the harbinger of such soul-crushing news.
" leave"
Without another word he has had and made his way out. Leaving her alone.
As the doors to her personal bedchamber finally closed the empress felt a single solitary tear form, and slowly descend down her cheeks. Soon another joined it and then another.
The winds wouldn't stop until the early morning hours. For the entire nights the celestial Palace was subjected to gusts that blew through every Corridor and crack, and Alleyway in that complex of Offices, Apartments, Temples, and Palaces that acted as the nucleus of the government
It was almost impossible to hear around thoughts during that horrible night. But if you had good ears and listened carefully, on that night you could hear a God weep
Sovereigns apartment. Heavenly Palace. Celestial Palace complex, Sharanfo, Shen Empire.
The harsh gales of September had crept into the first few days of October. Blowing hard against the ancient walls of the Heavenly Palace. The whistling of the wind heard through every crevice and corridors of the ancient and mostly empty building.
Silence violently interrupted by the screeching and Howling of Mother Nature letting her fury be known to those who would consider themselves above other men. Screams of Mother Nature Echoing throughout the palace, keeping anyone who wasn't a heavy sleeper awake well past when they normally would.
One such sleeper sat alone in her large bedroom. A single lamp by her beds being the only source of Illumination in this dark hour. Casting twisting Shadows against the sturdy Oak walls. The only source untill a sudden small flicker of a lighter ignited the end of a cigarette adding to the light. It was lightly grasped between the old lips of this woman. Breaking from her reading for just a single moment to take the first long drag of the cigarettes before exhaling
Wu Zhou knew she should have given up this habit
years ago. The empress had taken up the habit shortly after she ascended to the throne, and despite constant requests by her husband, children and so many of her ministers over the decades to quit she had not. But at 83 such a large life-altering decision felt completely pointless. Her mortality was becoming more apparent every day as it became harder and harder to do basic tasks. A sharp mind trapped in a rapidly decaying shell. And after the events of the last few weeks mortality had been a constant subject of her internal thoughts.
So she kept smoking. Sucking down those toxic vapors into her lungs for the simple relaxing sensation it brought to her. A relaxing feeling Amplified by the book she was slowly turning through as the night relied on, and a new day grew ever closer.
As 1 a.m. was about to be upon her and the tiredness she felt, slowly started to get the point where sleep would overcome the whistling winds, she elected to try once more to get some shut-eye.
The woman took what was left of her cigarette and put it in the ashtray setting it on her bedside table. Slowly her ancient skeletal figures reached up to yank on the chain, plunging the room into darkness as the light went out. She closed the leather-bound book setting it next to her ashtray and began to lay her head down on the pillow expecting sleep to take her in just a few moments.
But just as she closed her eyes she heard scurrying of feat outside of her Chambers.
Someone running into Royal apartment from the twisting hallways of the rest of the Heavenly Palace. At this hour of the night?
There was only one reason to enter the Royal bed Chambers at such a pace. So the empress let out an annoyed sigh, before sitting back up. She reached over and once again turned on the light but also retrieved the silk mask to hide her features.
A conversation between the man and her guards broke out just as she finished putting it on. One of the guards was talking to one of her blind servants telling him to go inside and wake her up. But seeing as she was already very much awake she just shouted out into the hallway "let him in"
The guards opened up the door as soon as the command was given and a man wearing black robes entered in. His Footprints didn't seem to create any sound as he walked. Silent like the bed Chambers usually was at night.
His face was calm and stern. Unmoving and without expression as he came close to the god empress.
" yes?" She said, expecting him to quickly inform her of what was so important before leaving. But instead, the man just kept walking forward. his chiseled face illuminated by the dim light of the Lamp.
He got down on one knee and moved his lips closed to her ear. At this point, her own lips curled into an expression of surprise. Her eyes hidden beneath that mask we're staring blankly into the darkness as her mind went through a million possibilities at once. What was so important that not only had the privacy of her personal apartment but now he was not even saying what he had to say out loud.
Finally, he spoke softly though those Stone lips, parting them ever-so-slightly as words that the empress hoped she would never have to hear were spoken
Three words she had been terrified of hearing since the news of this nightmare had begun
" Topilpopoca is dead"
At that moment the world stood still for the empress. The howling winds became nothing more than a small whisper as she retreated into her mind for a moment.
How long has it been since you first met the man who had become her closest friends in these trying times that they both lived in? It was in 2001 if her memory was correct. He had just been elected Emperor and was making his first state visit to a foreign country in that position. Their ancient Ally Shen was the first, an honor that had not gone unappreciated by the empress, who had thrown the new Emperor a lavish State dinner. The two heads of state had gone into that meeting as allies. But they had left as friends. So similar in conviction. So compatible in personality. And that charming woman he bad on his arm, Yauhmi.
The few days that he had spent as her guest in the Imperial Palace had resulted in a friendship that has lasted nearly 20 years. They had often spoken since then. He and his wife had both made several more visits to shen. The two had offered each other Council from an outside perspective on multiple occasions.
And Topilpopoca and Yauhmi had been there to comfort the god Empress when she had lost her own husband to a brain tumor, while her children were busy morning the loss of their father in their own private ways.
But that was all over now. Three simple words and her friend was gone.
The man stood back up is the howling wind seemed to get worse. terrible screeching as If Heaven itself was reacting to the news.
News that was clearly only meant for the Empress.
Moving at the speed of a glacier the God Empress looked up at the man. She only had one word to say to the harbinger of such soul-crushing news.
" leave"
Without another word he has had and made his way out. Leaving her alone.
As the doors to her personal bedchamber finally closed the empress felt a single solitary tear form, and slowly descend down her cheeks. Soon another joined it and then another.
The winds wouldn't stop until the early morning hours. For the entire nights the celestial Palace was subjected to gusts that blew through every Corridor and crack, and Alleyway in that complex of Offices, Apartments, Temples, and Palaces that acted as the nucleus of the government
It was almost impossible to hear around thoughts during that horrible night. But if you had good ears and listened carefully, on that night you could hear a God weep
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