Yukkira
TNPer
- Discord
- An Actual Walrus#6526
"Arise! Arise! Warriors of Mei!
Your end draws near, through spirit and fire!
Swords shall be broken! Spears shall be splintered!
A sword-day; a red day! Ere the sun rises!" - Takomi Mei,
First Shield of the Guard
The Hero of Seta and
The First Scion To The Most Noble House of Yuki
Part I: Traditions
Where we last left off, Kirin had just exiled her children, stripping them of their titles, and denouncing them as traitors against the Principality. In doing so, she attempts to secure her bloodline's future against what is to come...
"Alas however," Kirin begins to say while during back to the procession of attendants and honored guests, "that is not all that I must protect my beloved country from."
"For those not familiar with Yukkirian history, through the Treaty of Xia that ended the era of the warring princedoms, to the modern day, there is but a single recurring theme throughout the centuries. The Principality was formed because of this theme; a necessary disposition in order to assume order and control over the three princedoms. The Regency and its Court was a measure taken to ensure the continued preservation and survival. The IYG, a testament to that resolve. But at the basis of this theme, is something far more sinister than that of survival."
"Manipulation. Corruption. And greed," Kirin says with almost no hesitation, "are a staple within my country."
"That theme of which I spoke of..." Kirin says while completing the encirclement of the Lord-Warmaster of the West, Heir Apparent to the Regency to the Left of the Golden Throne, and son of her sister, Akinu Aizo.
"Is the Remnant."
She draws her handgun from her holster and aims it squarely at Akinu's forehead. A wave of uneasy looks emanate from the shift of the conversation. Looks of uncertainty riddle the rank and file of the assembled IYG personnel. But as the White Shields move to protect visiting officials, ranking High Ministers and Court officials, there appears next to her, a man who is no man.
Within the realm of the Principality, there is but a single organization independent of almost all oversight with exception to the Regents themselves. Their members are shrouded in mystery; all evidence of them existing erased from most digital records. They have but one purpose: To enforce the will of the Regency when all others fail to. The Imperial Magistrate, headed by senior members called Judges, they are members both part of and not part of Yukkirian society. They are stripped of their personal identities in order to protect both themselves and those whom they care about the most; their families and friends. In their place are fake names, fake jobs, and sometimes, even a fake family.
Short of those serving in the IYG, no one makes a bigger sacrifice than do the officials of the Magistrate. And the only time people learn of this sacrifice, is when they are buried. Glory and honor to the Principality. At the price of their very own lives.
So steps forth that man or woman senior-most of them all. He is shrouded in a black wispy-like outfit. As if the shadows themselves walked in shined leather boots. His hands are covered by white gloves; both to protect his or her identity and to symbolize that they are the final solution. And where his face would be, is a mask.
"Akinu Aizo, of the Most Noble House of Aizo, Scion to the House, Lord-Warmaster of the West, and most esteemed member of the Imperial Court. By the authority granted to me by the powers that be, you will show me your hands," says the Judge.
Akinu knows what the consequences are for disobeying a Judge. Should the Imperial Magistrate ever have to, it has the power to even find the Empress guilty of treason. The punishment for such disobedience some say, is worse than death. Because no one knows what happens to you truly if you choose to disobey a Judge.
The Empress is the only one who knows. And even then, nothing is certain.
Slowly, he puts his hands up in a show of surrender. A Lord-Warmaster being frisked by a Judge in front of a live audience of attendants, nobles, retainers and guests. Here's a sight you don't see every day.
The judge looks to the Shields at his side and they move to take off the Warmaster's gloves. Discarded they are to the ground; symbols dirtied by the dusts of time. The Judge begins to pull down each sleeve... to reveal something so damning that the first word out of the Judge sounds almost like a python curling around that fabled tree in the gardens that once were.
"Traitor," spits the Judge. A single word, so full of venomous and malicious intent, that those nearby would've recoiled from the Judge had they no spines made of steel.
"White Shields, protect my house!" commands the Empress. White Shields across the assembly draw their guns against retainer and noble alike, sending the courtyard into panic. Others move their bodies close to their charges; the Regents, the admiralty, and ranking officials whom finally began to grasp why they were summoned.
The Principality stood upon a knife's edge overlooking damnation and heaven. And Kirin, was about to jump.
"Akinu Aizo, you are charged with treason against the Principality of the State of Yukkira," Kirin states out flatly, never taking her eyes off of her beloved sister's son. Shu Asukara, standing next to Akinu, is quickly pulled out of the way by a nearby White Shield member. His face had gone white as a sheet. He could not think properly. Perhaps, maybe, this is just a bad dream. Maybe it was. Hopefully it was. But he knew that it wasn't.
Orochi was paralyzed. Not only had she just witnessed her sister exile her own children, but now her own son was being charged with conspiracy against the state with irrefutable evidence upon his arm. "No... not my son," she barely whispers into the wind. Kaori quickly runs to Orochi and embraces her. What was Kirin thinking? Did she plan all this? Of course she had, but had she thought about the consequences of her actions? What about the consideration of her own feelings? What motives have moved her to break the status quo? Why not save her children and leave everything else alone? Things had gotten bad, but this is madness.
Or is it?
"My Empress! Rightful Inheritor of the Golden Throne," Orochi begins to plead while being held back by Kaori, "Kirin! Please! Spare my son! He knows not of what he's done!"
Kirin closes her eyes for a moment. She could stop now. While she still had leeway to turn back. If there truly were any left to be taken. But she takes a deep breath, and opens her eyes. They shine with resolute defiance. Tears well up but are not shed like like surface of the lake in that place. In that place she holds so dearly.
Although this might cost me my life, at least in my death, I can prepare a better home for my children to come home to, Kirin thinks.
"The punishment for your crime, is death, Akinu."
"No! Kirin stop! There has to be another way!" Orochi begs.
Akinu's breath comes in short and shallow. He thought he was doing the right thing. By joining a legacy bigger than his own. By giving reason for all of what Yukkira needed. To ensuring the continued survival of the state as it stands today.
By becoming a monster necessary to the existence to the Regency itself and by extension, his own.
"I only did what I thought was best for all of us, my Empress," Akinu says.
"The law does not give exceptions to good intentions," states the Judge.
"She is the law! Do not presume your place Judgemeister!" rebukes Akinu.
"And it is my duty to uphold the law, traitorous scum!" renounces the Judge.
"Silence!" Kirin commands.
"Today, I instigate that which should've been done from the beginning," she says.
Akinu shakes his head, "My Empress-"
"Don't... Akinu," she says, interrupting him.
"... once you go down this road, there is no turning back," he finishes.
"Kirin! Upon the name of my forefathers! I swear..." Orochi says already in tears.
Kirin again, takes a deep breath while closing her eyes. She does so out of respect. She does so out of fear. Uncertainty looms beneath the waves of the ocean. And in its depths is potential that can bring about change both welcome and naught with but a single action.
She opens her eyes and looks to Orochi.
"I hope you understand why I'm doing this Orochi... I am sorry."
Akinu sucks in his breath, knowing it will be his last. He wonders if he lived a good life. If it was a life worth living. Or if all was for naught, and something even bigger was beginning to take place.
An unintentional martyr. A consequence of hap-stance. An accident.
"Judgement has been cast," states the Judge.
The world holds still for just a moment. A drop of morning dew falls from a tree in a courtyard. The waters of the lake stays still for just a moment. And the earth holds its breath...
As Akinu calls out, "FOR THE EMPR-"
Turning back to Akinu, she cuts his praise short with a single pull of the trigger. A bullet pierces through his skull and exists out the other side. A single gunshot. A leap of faith. Or a dive into hell.
Orochi screams out in pain as her beloved son's lifeless body kneels over; his lifeblood spilling from him.
And all the world begins to turn again, as the surface of the lake ripples and the darkness engulfing the ocean floor rises up to meet its taker.
Kaori is in tears. Shu stands silently. The Court itself becomes paralyzed with fear. As voices then shout in return,
"For the Remnant!"
And are cut down by White Shields. Some who were not targeted attempt to draw their weapons to fire upon the usurper of the status quo. Only for a hail of fire to gun them down where they stand. Word begins to spread that something terrible has happened. That the earth itself tore asunder to reveal a world of darkness fit for anarchy.
And somewhere in the mountain ranges of Yukkira, a lone figure looks out at the sunrise.
"And so ends the Principality as we know it," says he.
"Upon this day," starts the Judge, with the other ten standing behind him in rank and file, "We of the Imperial Magistrate of the Regency of the Imperial Court, declare a Purge per the wishes of her majesty, the Empress of the state of the Principality of Yukkira."
"No longer will the Remnant be tolerated in any capacity. Nor its enablers, that of the Red Brigade of the Imperial Yukkirian Armed Forces. Henceforth from this day, members of the Red Brigade and Remnant alike will be found and executed for conspiracy and treason against the state. No rock will be left barren. No cave not searched. No crevice nor crack small enough to hide from the righteousness that is her's to wield alone."
"Starting today," Kirin says for all still present to hear, "I will secure the future of our sons and daughters with my own two hands. I swear this to you, upon my name as the Rightful Successor to the Golden Throne. May the heavens have mercy upon my fell deeds today and to come."
"Starting today," Kirin says while White Shields begin to disperse across the courtyard and throughout the princedom of Mei,
"I follow in the footsteps of my daughter."
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