Chereads / Stories of Aestridin / Chapter 2 - Corruption (Year B.G.E. X209)

Chapter 2 - Corruption (Year B.G.E. X209)

TW: Swearing, Mentions of Terrorism, Murder, Mentions of Executions

Minerva glanced down at the city in the mountain, staring down at it, alongside Luna and Solaria. Sighing, she closed her eyes before speaking, "Luna, Solaria," hearing a yes and a yeah from the two, "Are we the bad guys?" 

Luna, shocked, like her sister, glanced over at Minerva who was just looking down at the City. "Luna, Solaria, Am we- Am I a villain," Minerva glanced at Luna, "In this story that is laid out for us?" 

"N-no, Minerva, I think that-" Luna began to stammer before being interrupted by Minerva: "Then let's be the 'Bad Guys'."

"Minerva, we can't." 

Minerva glanced over at the two sisters, before turning away from the city to look the two in the eyes. "Tell me, why not," She began to walk over to the two, Luna beginning to speak before Minerva interrupted her once again, "Look, our nation's gone, our nation's far behind us you two," She leans in to whisper in two sister's ears. "Let's, let's blow the motherfucker, to smithereens," before stepping back to begin clapping, "This, is, a, new, Era, Luna, Solaria!" She lights a match up as she continues, "We burn the place to the fucking ground, and make it seem like it all never happened, that it was in the past!" 

Solaria, placing her hands on Minerva's shoulders, began to speak. "Minerva, it's, it's not too far gone, there's there's a reason, it isn't too far gone, y-you keep talking about it like-like-" 

Minerva interrupted, glaring at her, "What's the point? More blood would be shed, and we would be the illegitimate rulers of a nation that we gave the position to, in the first fucking place." 

"You're being reckless, Minerva," Luna stated, grabbing Minerva's hand before she yanked it away and began to walk away from the city. "The reason why we made Edessa in the first place was to get away from it, from the tyranny of an empire that haunted us, from a world of tyranny. It was because we needed Edessa, and if there isn't Edessa," She grabbed Minerva's coat, causing Minerva to glare back at her, "then what's the point in this world?" 

"I know why you are doing this Luna." Minerva coldly stated under her breath, enough for the two sisters to hear. "That woman, Kori, we love Kori, but she's, she's not on our side, is she, let's be honest," She begins to back Luna up towards one of the trees as Luna begins to repeatedly stammer the words 'no', "Everyone's who's claiming to be on our side, they're lying to us! Kori? She's lying to you, Luna! She, she would drop us at the second that she realizes that we're not in the seats of power anymore, all for that damned son of mine if it came down to it!" 

"Minerva, Stop it!" Solaria grabbed Minerva's shirt collar, "Alright? She wouldn't betray us. Not like that." 

"I know, I see it in your eyes you two, I see it, I can hear it in your voices. You two, you're both scared. You both are trying to sound like you know what you are doing so that you can prove me wrong, and I hope you know, none of us know what we are doing, we're fucked, we were fucked the minute we were thrown out, I know you're scared, I understand you guys are scared, and its scary, it's scary, Luna, Solaria, but you know what?" She goes to pat the two sisters on the head, "You know what, in a time like this, when a person has nothing left to lose, do you know what that means?" 

"..What does it mean, Minerva?" Luna questioned. 

"It means we can do whatever the fuck we want," Minerva stated, as she began to twirl around, "We blow up the entire fucking place to kingdom come," her grin starting to become sinister and malice filled, "I want no survivors, heaven help whoever's caught in the fucking crossfire," before her voice began to rise, "if we can't have Edessa the way it was meant to be, no one, no one can!"

"Minerva, you're crazy," Luna pleaded. "Please, please reconsider this-" 

Minerva shoved Luna out of the way, glaring down at her. "What's there to reconsider? We're fucking outcasted, everywhere we go, we are wanted for treason. We have nowhere to go. If we even make one slight mistake, well, it doesn't fucking matter now, does it?" She sneers with malice-filled glee in her eyes. "Because we are the bad guys." 

"No, we aren't!" 

"Yes, we are!" Solaria shouted.

"Solaria? What's the meaning of this? She's crazy! Insane, even, we can save Edessa!" Luna argued, glancing at her sister and Minerva. 

"Listen to what she is saying. We're the bad guys. We are wanted in all nearby countries, and the next continent over considering our new status of being exiled traitors, which isn't new. So, let's fucking do it!"

"But we fought for this nation! Us, Kori, Dale, even Lucius- we all fought for this nation! They wouldn't want us to-" 

Minerva giggled before growling out: "What do you know of what my husband would've wanted? He's fucking dead, the people we fought for fucking executed him! So, what's the point? Why the hell can't we burn it all the ground? There was a time we believed in it, but now it's fucking pointless."

"Pointless? Just look at what we did! We made several lives better, we fought for Edessa, and we still can!" Luna screamed, not paying attention to the threat behind her until it was too late, and a familiar spear pierced her stomach, causing her to cough out blood as she stammered, "W-why..?-" before falling to the ground. 

"Therin." Minerva hissed out. 

"Hello again, Minerva, Solaria." The blue-haired man greeted the two, before glancing at Luna. "I thought I would take care of her for you two, as she appeared to be giving you some problems, considering your little argument." 

"I didn't want her fucking dead, much less at the hands of a traitor." Minerva glared at Therin, hissing at him, "What the fuck do the likes of a traitor want with us?"

--- Corruption Part 1: END----