Vaid Empire: Conquest

Vaid Empire: Conquestis a massive fantasy series that aims to mixeroticawith the quality of a published novel. New chapters and artwork are released every month for free, with the completely optional possibility to receive early access on the official Vaid Empire Website. The Series focuses heavily on worldbuilding, story, and characters.

The world of Ayphieal is shattered and chaotic, with kingdoms and tribes of six distinctive races vying for territory amongst themselves. It is only when a young human warrior finally pushes back against the chaos that the world begins to shift towards order.

***

2nd of Silla, 20 AVE.

Kingdom of Narok, Fask.

"What have I done?" Vixin muttered as they walked through the streets. A single night in Fask and already they stood upon the edge of a catastrophe, one she could have prevented. "If I had only talked to him sooner, perhaps..."

"Perhaps nothing. What's done is done," Yisi cut her off. As they walked, they heard the whispers among the legionaries going about their duties. The town simmered with rumors, too many for the Truthseekers to silence.

Most fell silent when they noticed their princess passing by, though others believed their whispers were beyond her superior hearing. "Exile? Komax was on guard duty. He heard The High Peacekeeper shout at The God Emperor. Surely, he is dead for such insolence," an armored woman whispered. One of her companions shook his head. "No, Komax was fucking Commander Isza last night. He speaks lies. The High Peacekeeper must be on an assignment too confidential for us to know about."Another waved his hand dismissively. "If you believe that, you're a bigger fool than I thought. The man abandoned us in this accursed place."

Uncertainty was poison to an already weary legion. Vixin could sense their doubts, their resentments, their bubbling discontent. Hurrying through the streets, she cursed her father for driving them relentlessly through the mountains. She cursed Clin for abandoning them with little discretion. And above all, she cursedherself.

A good man was gone.

There was no chance they'd be permitted to sneak outside the walls now. The morning had erupted into chaos the moment Salduin and Lalian had explained to The God Emperor all that had occurred. Now, by midday, she felt her father's grip tighten around her neck as a snug circle of guards surrounded her. They only eased when they reached the temple steps.

"No one is permitted inside, by the order of Princess Cendra of House Vaid," a Knight guarding the doors of the throne room greeted them, bowing low.

"Then I suppose you'll all have to stay out here," Vixin replied, gesturing for her guards to wait. Even as the Knight muttered a warning, stopping himself, she marched past him. She too was a Vaid.

She and Yisi were met by the sounds of metal smacking against stone as they entered the throne room, sealed inside as the doors were closed at their backs. The fury of a princess stood before them, for they watched as Cendra stood upon the dais while hacking at the throne with a sword as if it was a training post.

No doubt The God Emperor cared little for a throne he intended to leave the next day. Remaining absent from public since morning, he must have left Cendra to her whims, though Vixin was far more concerned about the rage she saw than the fate of the stone seat.

A messy pile of ordinary blades sat beside the throne. Even in her rage, Cendra didn't dare harm the white blade hanging from her hip, no matter how durable, and thus she hacked at the stone with crude and rusty metal. Chipped and wounded, the throne was mauled by her fury.

Bringing her current blade down hard, it snapped from the hilt. She tossed it aside with disdain, retrieving a replacement without pause. As she swiftly bent down, she glimpsed the intruders, though offered nothing but her back as she continued her hateful 'training'.

"Cendra?" Vixin dared to call out softly.

"Go away," Cendra warned. A brutal thrust sent shards of chipped stone flying.

"Please talk to me," Vixin tried again.

Her sister didn't reply. The circular chamber echoed with every furious strike.

"I'm sorry about Clin." Vixin stepped closer. Yisi grabbed her arm to stop her.

Cendra's strikes seemed only to quicken, hacking at the throne.

"Cendra, please, let me-"

In an instant, Cendra whirled around, turning the full strength of her rage against the sister that wouldn't leave her alone. With glowing silver eyes, maddened with hate and grief, she lifted her empty hand as a storm of fiery power gathered in her grasp.

Everything occurred at once, a single second. Vixin flinched, closing her eyes, though she offered no defense against her coming punishment. On instinct, Yisi leapt between them to shield her lover with her own body, as if she could stand against a Vaid's power.

Before the burst of flame could explode from her grasp, the glow of Cendra's eyes vanished in a blink, her expression falling to horror as she stopped herself. Regaining control, she snuffed out the flames in her palm and turned away. "Forgive me...Vixin."

Bracing herself as she stood firmly, Yisi couldn't conceal her relief. Vixin sighed.

"He's gone." Cendra adjusted her grip upon the hilt of the battered sword as she muttered quietly. "He didn't bother to say goodbye."

Guilt stirred anew, and Vixin dared to step even closer. "Speak to me. Let me help."

Cendra shook her head and slashed at the throne. "There's nothing to say." She waved her away without turning back. "Leave me."

Vixin stood quietly, finding herself helpless. When Yisi finally pulled at her arm, silently urging her to go before they risked another outburst, she sighed once more. "When you're ready, I hope you'll find a place at my side." Reluctant steps retreated. "You're never alone."

"So fate would prove otherwise," Cendra whispered as the doors opened and shut once more, leaving her in solitude. A wetness touched her cheek, and she struck the throne with her full strength.

Outside, Vixin walked in a daze, lost in thought as Yisi led her towards the nearest annex entrance. Navigating the halls of black stone and hanging silks, they found their shared quarters.

Expecting a solitude of their own, they were caught off guard when they pulled the curtain in the doorway aside. There, sitting upon their bed, waited Nafalya.

"What do you want?" Yisi asked cautiously. "We're in no mood for your games."

"Truly? A shame, though that's not the purpose of my visit. I came only to grant my dear sister an unpleasant gift." Nafalya removed her mask. Gone was her smirk as she pulled a message cylinder from her belt. "A choice."

Vixin cautiously approached to take the cylinder. "What is this?"

Nafalya leaned back atop the sheets, supporting herself on her elbows as she attempted to appear casual, though a grim duty flavored her deadly features. "Read it."

Unsealing the cylinder, Vixin reluctantly pulled the wooden stick from inside. Upon it she silently read the etched letter with Yisi at her side.

"Cendra, my love, I have proven myself unworthy to stand at your side. I lay my sins at your feet, for I can bear my guilt no longer. I have broken your only request of me. I have sired a child with another woman, and in doing so I have cast your trust, our love, and our family into the mud. Cilith is her name, a daughter forever beyond my reach, yet I carry her memory with every crumbling step. Hate me. Curse my name and know it's deserved. These truths I had hoped to tell you, though in my cowardice I find that I cannot face you. I once believed I could be the good man you deserved, though I see now that I am only a fool. The years we've spent together were, and shall always remain, the greatest of my life, yet I can no longer stay where blood shall continue to stain my hands. Do not blame yourself, nor permit Cliax to ever believe I loved him any less than I do. You are both of this world, of The Empire, of House Vaid, while I no longer can be. To take you with me would only have destroyed you both, for I venture nowhere. The mere ghost of a man shall walk out into the desert to face his sins, and I must leave you in the only place where you belong, among your family. Trust them. Trust Vixin to aid you, and grant her the mercy and forgiveness I know you are capable of. There has been enough hatred and death within your family. Don't let my misdeeds create more. Forgive me, Cendra, though if you cannot, know that I have always loved you. Until my final breath, I shall continue to love you."

Silver eyes widening with every word, Vixin felt her hands begin to tremble. The world swayed beneath the weight of her deed, and Yisi grabbed her arm to support her. "Where, in all of Ayphieal, did you find...this?"

"Precisely where it would do the most harm." Nafalya watched her seal the cylinder, as if it could contain the words forever. "Lord Clin was loud in his departure, though the words he left unsaid were far more dangerous. They'd bring Cendra's wrath upon you."

Vixin grimaced, knowing she deserved it.

"As amusing as that would be, it cannot be allowed. Father seems to hold some affection for you." Nafalya sat up with a shrug. "As do I."

The cylinder felt warm in her hands, as if it could spark a fire that would burn her to ash. She squeezed it tightly. "What would you have me do with this?"

"Choose. Burn it, or carry it as a burden," Nafalya replied. "The truth is a dangerous thing. The words you carry will tear House Vaid in two."

Yisi scowled. "You should have burned it yourself."

"Yes," she agreed as she stood from the bed. "Yet I didn't, and now the three of us share a secret." She made her way towards the doorway, pausing to regard Vixin. "Clin was a fool to risk such words. I leave them in your hands out of trust." Once more she shrugged. "It shall be amusing to see what you do with them."

Donning her mask, she was gone in an instant.

Vixin sank down to sit upon the bed's edge. She had known her deed had played a part in Clin's departure. Now, she held absolute proof. Replaying the words of the confession in her mind, remembering the pain they held, she felt a tear trickle down her cheek. Another followed, and another, enduring the damage she had caused.

As the princess began to weep, Yisi hurried to her side.

"This is all my fault," Vixin muttered.

Yisi held her with tight lips. "You heard the rumors. He dragged a dead Arkos before the throne. There's more to his madness than that girl you birthed."

"Cilith," Vixin muttered. "Her name is Cilith.Hischild, a daughter I denied him of." She could taste her guilt. "He wanted to meet her. In the wake of the betrayal I forced upon him, I denied him eventhat."

"The mistakes of youth," Yisi replied.

"The mistakes of a grown woman." She would permit no deflection nor excuse. The deed was hers to bear in full. "What shall become of us now? If Cendra reads this...if she so much as senses Cilith's existence..."

Yisi hushed her, guiding the cylinder from her hand. "I'll destroy it."

"NO," she replied, surprising even herself as she snatched it back. "Forgive me. I...cannot." In her grasp were the final words Clin wished to say to the woman he loved. Could she destroy them too? "Not yet."

Though she raised a worried brow, Yisi didn't argue. Instead she held her lover tightly, letting her weep.

***

Lanthian steps echoed through the corridor as Lalian and Anthara descended beneath the ground. With a torch burning in her grasp, she held the fire to illuminate the locked doors at the end of the tunnel as Lalian fumbled with the key. A speck of purple blood still stained it as it met the lock.

With a push, the heavy doors opened to reveal the dark vault beneath the temple. The light gleamed off what they had hoped to discover, for in a large chamber as large and circular as the throne room directly above,goldlay in organized collections throughout the entire room.

"Behold the source of countless Lanthian deaths," Anthara said bitterly as they entered. "They should have purchased braver men."

Lalian clasped his hands behind his back, wondering where to begin as his love went about lighting the extinguished torches hanging upon the dark walls. The shadows retreated, and the Arkos hoard glittered in the flickering light.

There was much to do if The God Emperor still intended to depart for Arkos-Nu tomorrow. Sent by his ruler, Lalian was tasked with cataloging whatever wealth rested in the vault below, so that it may be removed in an organized fashion. Now, however, he realized the full depth of his duty. "Truly astonishing. Oh, this will be quite the singular task."

Anthara wandered the paths that cut through the gold, tracing a finger over decorative blades on display that had never seen battle. Her own gilded loincloth shimmered all the same, yet she shook her head distastefully. Gold from Lanthian mines were used in the spears of honored warriors. It was shared equally among the population, not hoarded in the vaults of greedy Lords.

"I'll summon my assistants," Lalian said as he made for the tunnel. "Oh, The God Emperor will be quite pleased with my report."

"My love," Anthara's voice stopped him. Glancing back, he saw her standing before a set of Lanthian armor on display. She touched the fabric of the gilded loincloth somberly, a copy of her own.

"Ah." Lalian found his way to her. Avoiding her wings, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "T...trade carries the prizes of raids far from the south."

Beside the armor, she picked up a small statue of a naked and pregnant Lanthian woman, her golden wings and arms outstretched. A Lanthian fertility idol, it was nothing more than a forgotten trinket here. She noticed treasures plundered from Lanthian cities littering the vault as she glanced around, seeing hints of her culture buried beneath piles of gold and various gems. Even the white coins of The Vaid Empire could be found in organized collections. "I almost respect the Arkos of The West more. They take what they need. Nothing more," she said, a half-truth. She tossed the statue into the nearest pile, hearing falling coins as they spilled over the edge of a chest. "It's a shame Lord Clin chose to exile himself in this vile land. He was a worthy warrior. He deserved better."

"He didn't quitechoose, my love," Lalian corrected, though let the matter drop after a glance.

Anthara placed her hands atop his, their bondmate tattoos identical. "You knew the man for many years. Weren't you unhappy to see him go?"

"Of course." Lalian tightened his hold upon her. Years of memories were at his fingertips, recorded perfectly in his mind. "I...I was lost once. Clin showed me that my purpose was not yet finished." His lips tightened somberly. "W...whatever he seeks out there, away from all we've built, I hope it brings him peace."

"This is a savage land. What he'll find out there is death," Anthara replied bluntly. When she felt Lalian shift uncomfortably, she turned around in his arms to meet his sorrow. "Ah, but he is strong. If he is half the warrior I saw in his royal mate, he'll survive these terrible dunes." She reassured him with a kiss, only to sigh. "I'm eager to be rid of this awful place."

"Tend to Lalian The Younger. You don't have to stay for this," he offered.

She shook her head with a chuckle. "I speak of the desert, foolish Lalian. Every dune, every greedy Arkos. I've seen enough. I shall fight to tame these lands so they may never again threaten our people, though when the war is done, take me home. Promise me we'll fly through the treetops of the jungle together."

Lalian blushed. "I...I cannot fly."

Anthara escaped his hold, taking his arm and positioning it out at his side. "You're nearly light enough to carry on my own. With assistance, we'll soar."

"Lalian The Younger?" Imagining their grown son holding his other arm as mother and child carried him together, he felt his chest tighten. Perhaps a wingless slavecouldfly. "My love..."

"Promise me," she demanded.

He nodded. "I promise."

"Good boy." She patted his cheek lovingly. "Though if we ever hope to return and finish what we started in the jungle, your master must conquer the desert. Before the legion can march,youneed to catalog all we've found. Quickly, little Lalian."

"Of...of course." He sent her away with a grin, eager to begin his task. As she departed to tend to their child, he settled into his duty as his quick mind made preparations for the hours of work ahead. His assistants, slaves, and legionaries would all be required to count and remove every coin and treasure. Under his supervision, he'd see it done.

***

The sun set upon a world that no longer felt the same as Hesin watched the sky darken outside his window. Without glass, the night breeze trickled into the room, making the silk decorations sway as they hung from the walls.

"You're...ahh...elsewhere," Nafalya stated, tilting her head as she glanced down. Straddling his lap upon their bed, she continued to rock her hips. Feeling him grow soft, she bit her lip in disappointment as she let his flaccid manhood slip from her tight warmth. "Return to me, master."

He looked away from the window to see the beauty riding him. It seemed impossible for any man to fall limp beneath such a goddess. "I need only a moment, Nafalya. Keep going."

Obeying, she began to rub her pretty lower lips against his shaft, wetting him in her sweet juices. "This is your victory. Clin departs, and still you find no joy." Beautiful features grew serious. "Curious."

"Oh, what a victory it is," he replied bitterly. Touching her soft thighs, he fought to grow hard once more. His efforts caused his manhood to twitch, though little else.

"Are you not pleased?"

He dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. Clin had confessed. Hesin possessed the justice he had craved for so long. Any man would be pleased with the fall of his rival, yet still he scowled.

With a royal twat eagerly awaiting the return of his cock, he fought to concentrate. Thighs that had driven men to madness with desire straddled his waist. He watched her ample, perky breasts jiggle with every movement of her childbearing hips. An artwork of seduction looked down at him expectantly, and still his cock withered beneath his thoughts.

"Shall I find...assistance?" she offered with a teasing smirk that didn't reach her silver eyes. He knew her well enough to hear her masked concern.

"No. Stay. I'm almost ready," he lied. In truth, he didn't want her to leave, even for a moment.

Reaching up, Hesin caressed her midriff. Though she wouldn't begin to swell for some time, she had assured him of the child taking form inside her womb. Already she could sense it. A boy, a little Arkos hybrid, grew inside his love.

With a groan, he focused upon her new pregnancy. His cock twitched, knowing the cock of an Arkos had spilled its seed deep inside her fertile tightness. "You deserve this," he thought to himself, trying to savor the fact that another man had impregnated his lover. She carried the child of a nonhuman, a thought that made his manhood stiffen as he explored her toned midriff.

When it fell limp again before she could even slide it inside her royal wetness, she dismounted with a subtle sigh. "You're not here."