Emral V
“Hi Emmy.”
“Aime, I hear you want to return to politics”.... “Or summat”
“Yes. Don’t you remember? We rose from a technological backwater because of me”
“And I too have pursued magic, far deeper than you...”
“Hush!”
“”
“You take me for a weakling. Like all the people in Hyridia. I am but a small girl, isn’t that right? Aw, doesn’t she look cute for a 14 year old?”
“I know you far deeper than that”...”I know you crave power, not stability or peace or knowledge. Your appearance is just as artificial as the peace you brought!”
“Have your nonsensical trips to Suttama produced anything?”
“Sukturma has collapsed since you reigned. I have been continuing my understanding of magic in Ladia.”
“Why then have you returned. You claim you hate the world of power, yet you muddle yourself as deep as you can go in it.”
“Why then did you leave it, if the world is so great. Why...”
“Silence! I provided the solid backbone on which Hyridia has established itself as the coloniser instead of the colony! I provided the Holy Dice on which we are able to achieve the wildest machines! What has your learning done? Measly sprouts of fire? Ha! With a similar roll of the Holy Dice, I can topple whole cities!”
“But only one out of 255 times you roll it.”
“”
“”
“Aime…..., why do you want to return”
“I sense Hyridia’s decline. If we are weak, we will be swallowed, like Latina, like the Republic to our west. The Empire will stop at nothing. It’s far deadlier than the petty squabbles with the other Ailan nations.”
“The dice games won’t sustain us against them. They have both the most powerful lunar magicians and very powerful shapers. Sukturma has isolated itself from the world; we cannot rely on His Elephantine Majesty, even if they were willing to help such a small state.”
“Where do your loyalties lie, Emral? Noble it is, for you to want everyone together in harmony, but have I taught you naught? Harmony cannot exist through consensus, it’s too easily broken. Reliable rules, predictable punishments and no exceptionality is the only way.”
“You mean, slavery is the only way! I know your true intentions, Aime, I’m not a puppet of your religion.”
“Do you? My true intention is for harmonious existence. Same as you. You simply pursue it through useless means. Wandering around, mining gold as a pretense, smooching up to the princess…”
“I am NOT doing that.”
“Of course you’re not.”
“”
“You should join me. You are a great public relations manager, sleazy and slimy whenever I need you to be.”
“Being informal and forgiving is not sleaziness!”
“Ah now you see my dilemma a few minutes ago. Reliable rule is not dictatorship.”
“I’m here to ask why you want to return and to convince you otherwise.”
“Ahahaa…. Oh Tai. Tell him not to worry. I wouldn’t fire him.”
“That’s besides the point.”
“I won’t return… yet. I have still to be able to train someone to master the Dice and gain my trust to manage the Dice. I have still to find someone to help me retake control. I have still not recovered fully.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
“Is it? You only pretend not to care for Hyridia.”
“... … I’m going to Ailan now.”
“Oh your wretched disloyalty knows no bounds.”
“I need to find out about the Table of Ru’ud. Tai knows something, but as always, he reveals nothing.”
“Ah the big menacing threat of your times. I have a feeling that you would have a better time getting your father to spill some beans than any Ailan, who inherently hates your face and would tear you apart if no one was watching.”
“The world doesn’t work that way. It only works that way in your head.”
“Take your chances, sure. I’d rather not lose my most competent lieutenant and Actrunner. The ones nowadays are too soft in interpreting my will..”
“You make yourself sound like you can’t just tell them what to do. You’re not a deity and you know that.”
“Appearance makes the man. Your favourite words, Emmy.”
“”
“”
“Aime Raiz, for the sake of the world, please don’t come back. I don’t think you will yet, but I must be going.”
“For the sake of the world, hope that I can come back soon.”