[Lauchenoiria]

Castle Zargo, the capital of Zargothrax, had ended up in Hashemi’s territory at the outset of the civil war. After Hashemi’s death, those in control of the city floundered, waiting to see who would seize power in his stead. Several of his generals were already considering such an act, when they too died under mysterious circumstances. They had clearly been murdered, of course – the question was less “if” and more “how”.

The former employees of the Aurora training centre in Kerlile may have recognised these murders as having been taken directly from assassination class exam questions.

It was under these circumstances that the mysterious new force came into town. Anyone who stood in their way, be it man, woman, child or cat, was quickly removed as an obstacle. They defeated units ten times their size, and too quickly for anyone to know what was going on. They did not even need weapons – a family in an upper apartment watched as one of these new figures took out six armed Thraxians with her bare hands.

These were, of course, Auroras.

The whole matter of Auroras had not been major news in Zargothrax. It was the custom in the country to ignore that Kerlile existed most of the time; and the popular image of a Kerlian agent was a woman from Project Belle giving an orphan girl a fake passport. Even these Kerlians were seen as crazy rather than a true threat; especially since they more often targeted orphans and “difficult” women, who many Thraxians were happy to see the back of.

Suffice to say, they did not initially guess what was going on. The first rumour to spread was that of a Xiomeran invasion, in fact. Perhaps the rumour-spreader had seen Zichitla and made ethnicity-based assumptions; or perhaps Zichitla had spread the rumour herself. It was, after all, a plausible explanation. The Xiomerans were known for being belligerent and imagining the world as theirs.

In many countries, this would have inspired renewed resistance. But after five years of a mad king, cat wars and abject poverty; the technological advancement and modern splendour of Xiomera still held an allure for some Thraxians. Discussion of the rumour in some families was almost – and very naively – hopeful. It would have made a Huenyan’s skin crawl at the mere thought.

Of course, it was not Xiomera who was invading Zargothrax. It was not even Kerlile. It was a group of half-crazy former sleeper agents who probably had even more mental illnesses per person than Shapur. There have always been mad emperors. It was time, in Zichitla’s eyes, for a mad empress.

The city of Castle Zargo was taken by force, so quickly that nobody had fully processed what was happening until the battle was over. While there were injuries among civilians, there were very few fatalities. Some who had been indoors had not even realised a battle was going on – though they’d never admit that after the fact.

By the time the sun set, Castle Zargo was in foreign hands – though only those who had carried out the attack knew just whose hands those were.