[Before the fall of Az'Talon...]
Location: Ma'at (The Immortal City)
"You dare?" Rio asked trying to control his rage.
"Yes, I dare, Lord Rio!" She used his title sarcastically knowing it would frustrate him further but she was angry now too. "You vampires are all the same! So full of self importance and ignorance!"
"Watch your tone, Evelyn!" Rio roared.
"Why, Lord Rio?!" She said increasing her voice and continuously mocking him, "Why should I? Are we not equals? Are we not friends?!"
"I am trying to give you a Gift!"
"You call it a Gift but it is a curse! The inability to care for those weaker than you and treat them as equals because they are not like you? What rubbish is that?"
Rio stepped closer to Evelyn but she stepped back. "Where is all this coming from?"
"'Where is this coming from?'" Her eyes began to tear up. "I have always felt this way! You have no idea what it was like living outside the borders of the Empire. The dangers we faced. The children that died everyday. The families that were literally torn apart by actual beasts that are too afraid to set foot within these lands because your kind had the ability to end them with ease!
"You vampires were indifferent to our suffering. You even dared to call us barbarians even though we were merely trying to survive. We had no choice but to bow down to your race just to avoid our own slaughter and extinction! You are merely one Pureblood.
"You took an interest in me simply because I stood against you but that does not change the fact that you are merely one! Your opinion is heard but overall does not matter against that of all your peers. It all comes down to naught! There are others like you who do not care at all and a prime example is that d*mned vampire who started all this. Your Ancestor, the First Patriarch, who has not even been seen by the public in a near two thousand years, is the worst of your lot. He cares so little for his own kind too."
Her words were treasonous as well as blasphemous. Within these lands the Ancestor was worshipped and outside the borders, He was feared.
According to the laws, such words required the immediate execution of the transgressor but Rio did not care about the laws right now. He almost laughed at himself but clenched his fists and began to speak.
"You make everything seem so simple as if it were black or white but it it is not. Your people were too weak to fight for their lives. That is the truth. You know it and I know it. You have read the books in my library especially those about the Emperor, do you think I did not know? You have more knowledge about him than most Purebloods.
"You know the hardships He faced. He gathered strength and taught strength. It took one, just one, to say no more and change His hardships. He bleed, cried, shattered bones to become who He is and never succumbed to being a victim inspite of what He suffered!
"You dare say that it is the duty of the strong to protect the weak? Then who, do tell who, protects the strong? Who will bleed for them? Is that truly a world of equals? Is that truly protection or is it manipulation? It was the strong who built this Empire.
"It was the strong who carved a utopia in this hellish world, not to protect the weak but to find peace! You do not resent us for not fighting for your kind in the wilderness! You resent us because we represent what actual strength is and we did it without bowing down to a superior race!"
"You are a mad man." Evelyn said as tears streamed down her face. "You are as cruel as the rest of them."
"Evelyn, you are wrong. I am much, much worse. Get out of my home and never return." Rio's eyes still glowed with menace but Evelyn stood there in shock.
They had, had arguments before but they were academic debates and they had never been this bad yet he still did not kill her or call the Guard.
He was letting her leave just like that? Did he still think of her as his friend?
"I SAID GO!!!!"
*****
[Still before the fall of Az'Talon...]
Location: The Grand Plaza (Immortal City)
(fifty years later)
A rebellion sparked throughout Az'Talon in every district. Fires raged.
Millions of lesser races, vampires of the lower chastes, hundreds of Truebloods and Purebloods were rampaging, moving toward the Ancestral Palace, home of the Ancestor of all Vampires but stopped in the Grand Plaza. The only place that could hold their numbers.
The Praetorian Guard did not mobilise to stop them. Instead they defensively surrounded the Palace and drew their swords. The armies remained at the border.
The aristocracy had been told not to summon the war fodder. The dragons merely woke from their slumber in their underground mansions, smiled and went back to sleep.
Five beings with six wings, clad in knightly regalia floated above the black palace, their helmets hiding their disgusted expressions but their eyes radiated pure malice.
The leaders of the rebellion, stepped forward.
A barbarian flanked by two noble vampires. One of them was Gilford and the Barbarian was Evelyn.
"We will be heard!" She shouted.
"IT IS OUR RIGHT!!!!" The masses replied.
"We wish to be free!" She stated.
"IT IS OUR WILL!!!!"
"We want equality throughout the nation!"
"IT IS OUR RIGHT!!!" The masses responded.
"Vampires free from the oppressive bloodlines of their Ancestor."
"IT IS OUR WILL!!!!"
The sound of marching was heard throughout the city. The Praetorian Guard marched in their positions not advancing then stopped.
Three hundred soldiers seemed to appear out of no where and properly organised. They were dressed like the Praetorians but their gear was blood red. The masks on their faces were blank.
Their silver hair reached their elbows. No citizen of the Empire did not know who they were but many could not believe they still existed. Utter silence fell on the Plaza.
It was said that the Emperor did not cast a shadow but shadows moved with Him.
They were the Sicarii! The Emperor's daggers!
The Praetorian Guard served to protect the Ancestor.
The Sicarii were His shadows and served only to slaughter for Him.
The Sicarii each drew the twin daggers that hung by their hips. The sound of six hundred blades being drawn should have been heard but there was not even a sound yet somehow that soundless movement made the loudest noise.
The Sicarii twirled their long, curved daggers and the wind howled in a horrible way like it was wounded by the crimson bladed daggers.
They lined up on each side of the street. A hundred and fifty on each side. A clear path, that had the ominous feeling of death, between them.
The Sicarii crossed their daggers over their chests, bent down on one knee and bowed their heads, soley facing the ground. The Praetorian Guard and the five Generals did the same.
One person walked past all of them. Their face was covered by a black mist of shadows and their body was dressed in dark robes with a velvet tint.
As the shadowy figure passed by, the Sicarii uncrossed their daggers and sheathed them.
It was a massive statement. There was one entity that the Sicarii would never bear their sharp fangs at.
The being continued to walk and each assassin put their blades away before He passed them. It was the Emperor. He had shown Himself!
"It is good to see you again, Evelyn." The shadow faced entity spoke with the voice of a nightmare made flesh but it held some familiarity.
"It cannot be..." The barbarian girl trembled. "Rio?"
The shadows around the entity disappeared and a familiar face remained.
"Yes and no. You know me as Rio but this is a disguise I use to move around unbothered." As he spoke his features changed.
He aged and became even more refined. His eyes became golden with specks of red and purple in them. His hair grew longer and turned a glowing white. He looked thirty years old, a man and yet, somehow, still a boy.
"I am the Emperor of the Crimson Empire and the Lord of Az'Talon. I apologise for not telling you."
The members of the rebellion were shaken. No one knew exactly how powerful the Emperor was but they figured that with great effort and loss they could fight and overwhelm Him with their numbers.
The Archdukes were in other cities. The generals and the Guard would have been a problem but the strongest of them could handle that.
It was their assumption. They were all part of a generation born after the Emperor's true might was showcased.
The history books had been unclear. The truth was they could only guess at the being's might and they guessed wrong.