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.

***

24th of Silla, 19 AVE.

Kingdom of Lian, Praith.

"He killed her. He killed my mother."

The voice of the young prince echoed through the lounge of the royal stronghold as his twin clung to his side.

"A lie. You don't know what you saw!" Cendra said as she paced frantically about the room. "No one knows what happened."

"He killed her. He killed her," Arinax muttered repeatedly. On his back upon a large cushion, he stared as if he didn't see them.The Dagger of The Heirrested beside him on a table, discarded. "He killed her."

"Hush, child. You need to rest." Kneeling beside him, Vixin assessed the work of the healers as she inspected the bandages wrapped around his chest. Zela slapped her hand away from her brother, trembling.

"Where's Nafalya? Or father? Or Anyone that can offer more than the words of a mere boy?" Cendra's knuckles were white as she gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword.

Vixin ran her fingers through her hair, messy from sleep, burying her face in her hands. After a long breath, she peered up with exhaustion. "I don't know."

"He killed her. He killed her."

"You had better quiet him." Cendra glared. "Such vile lies can never leave this room."

"There's no need for that," Vixin replied firmly. "We'll learn the truth when this horrid morning is done."

"He killed my mother. He killed her." Arinax didn't seem to hear them.

"Silence!" Cendra ignored her sister.

"Don't speak to him like that!" Vixin shot back.

"He killed her. He killed her."

Cendra rushed forward and smacked him with the back of her hand. Zela screamed. "Snap out of-"

Vixin jumped to her feet, snatching the nearby blade and bringing it to Cendra's throat. "Don't youdarelay a hand upon him!"

Feeling the dagger pressing against her fair skin, Cendra froze. Swallowing a moment later, she spoke with a quiet scowl as her hand remained upon the hilt of her sword. "It's treason to threaten a Vaid."

"Your word against mine." Vixin held the blade steady.

Meeting her sister's determined eyes, Cendra released her grip on her hilt. Vixin let her step back, making no move to stop her as Cendra stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her.

Sighing, Vixin hurried to comfort Arinax, holding her brother close. "Forgive her," she muttered as she cradled his head to her chest, caressing his reddened cheek.

Zela appeared terrified, as if Vixin would snap the boy's neck without warning. The sight of the girl tore her heart in two, and Vixin tried to pull her to join them, only for Zela to frantically retreat. Only when she granted the twins space did the girl return to her brother's side, holding him close.

Knowing she could do little to help them, she stood. "Stay here. I'll return shortly." She regarded the girl. "Look after him, Zela."

Making her way to the door, she paused, preparing for the battle ahead. Departing into the hallway beyond, she uttered a long sigh as she saw Cendra lingering, her back against a nearby wall with her arms crossed. "Listen, I apologize for..." Her words trailed off as she heard the sounds of whimpering. "Cendra?"

"Stay back!" She turned her head away.

Stepping closer, Vixin saw tears running down her sister's cheeks. Stunned, she reached out a hand. "If this is about what I did, I'm-"

Cendra batted away her hand, recoiling.

"Speak to me. Please." Vixin didn't retreat.

"You don't understand. It's happening again." Cendra tried to conceal her tears by burying her face in her hands. "She's dead. Irith isdead."

Biting her lip, Vixin attempted to approach once more. She felt her heart racing, knowing her world stood upon unsteady ground. If she dared to think of Irith, dared to focus upon the horrid truth of their reality...

Cendra fought her once more, yet her resistance was half-hearted. As Vixin's arms wrapped around her, pulling her close, she buried her face against her sister's shoulder as she wept. "It's happening again..."

"I know." Vixin felt the dampness threatening to gather in her own eyes. Attempting to console her sister, she caressed her head gently. "We have to remain strong. The children will look to us as the elders."

"You don't understand," Cendra muttered through her tears. "I had a second chance."

Vixin released her, holding Cendra's shoulders as she forced her to meet her gaze. "Listen to me! If anyone in this accursed world understands, it's me. That second chance was shared by us both." Her lip quivered, knowing she risked unraveling. "This time, we lost a mother together."

To her surprise, it was Cendra that reunited them, wrapping her in another tight embrace. "I'm sorry."

The words echoed in her ear, slamming against the dam of emotion Vixin had forged. "No." Wrapped in Cendra's arms, she blinked, feeling a tear trickle down her cheek. For a moment she believed she could stop herself, that she could endure. "No." The world seemed to spin around her as the truth gradually tore itself from the deep pit in which she had tried to bury it.Irith was dead.A trickle became a flood, and everything poured forth.

Holding each other in the deserted hallway, alone with their grief, they wept together as they should've years ago. After all this time, after all they had grown to become, they were reduced to the girls they had once been, drowning once more.

It seemed an eternity had passed before either could regain their strength to stifle their tears. When their sobs eased to muffled whimpers, they remained together with a heavy sigh between them.

"Her urgency..." Vixin muttered with a sudden realization. "She knew her time was limited when she invited us into her bed. She...she wanted to ensure we were united before the inevitable came."

Both women had discovered the message cylinders Irith had delivered to their quarters before her attempted departure, of course, though by the time they arose in the morning, it was already far too late.

"Her questions...if we had only known..." Vixin grimaced, feeling as if a dagger cut into her stomach. "I could have stopped her. I could have convinced her against such madness..."

Cendra shook her head, resting it upon Vixin's shoulder. "Those thoughts will destroy you." She closed her reddened eyes, banishing an urge to pull away. She wouldn't abandon her this time.

Once more a silence lingered. When a tiny chuckle escaped Vixin's lips, Cendra's head rose to peer at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Forgive me." Vixin covered her lips. Despite her soft laugh, there was little but sorrow in her eyes. "It's just..." She shrugged. "This is exactly what she wanted, wasn't it? You and I, here,now?"

Cendra was unable to meet her gaze, peering down with guilt. "I suppose she'd be pleased to see us."

As they stood together, the sound of approaching steps came from the staircase at the other end of the hallway. Panicked, Cendra pulled herself from Vixin's embrace, straightening proudly as she frantically wiped the tears from her eyes.

When Salduin ascended the final step with Jinilya in his arms, he regarded them with a sigh of great relief, rushing to join them. He paused only at the sight of their reddened eyes, his own expression brimming with grief. "I told you we'd find them, Jin."

The girl practically jumped into her arms, and Vixin felt her emotions harden once more. She would not weep before her child. "Salduin?"

"Where are the guards?"

Silent, Cendra offered no demand for him to bow, fearing that her voice would shatter. When Vixin turned to her expectantly, however, she cleared her throat, doing her best to present a firm tone. "I drove them away." When Vixin continued to stare, Cendra blushed. "Perhaps I was...harsherthan they deserved."

"I'll summon them inside again at once. Whatever occurred, I want every member of House Vaid accounted for and guarded." Salduin hardly took his eyes from his daughter, as if ready to defend against a blade in the shadows. "Hesin is searching for Nafalya. She didn't return to her quarters last night."

"PrincessNafalya," Cendra dared to correct, clinging to her formalities as if they'd protect her. As she hesitated, however, her expression softened. "What of my father?"

Salduin wiped perspiration from his bald head, his shoulders hanging as if they were too heavy to carry. "He took Irith's body to Praith's burial chamber."

Cendra couldn't correct him. NoConcubine Empresscame forth. Instead, she quietly touched her lips, grimacing as her tears threatened to overcome her once more.

"Is he unharmed?" Vixin asked. When Salduin said nothing, the look he granted her was all the answer she required. "I must speak to him."

"He speaks only in whispers, and only to the slaves that have assisted him. He turned me away." Salduin gritted his teeth as if the fact pained him.

"He'll speak to me." Vixin turned, taking Cendra's hand. "Or rather, he'll speak tous."

Cendra recoiled. "I...can't. Not now." She offered an apologetic grimace. Unwilling to show her weakness before Lord Salduin, she leaned closer to whisper into her sister's ear. "Forgive me. If I must face him...if I must witness her body..."

Vixin wasn't so cruel as to force her to finish. "Will you tend to the children?"

Blushing, Cendra opened her mouth as she sought an excuse. "I doubt either Arinax or Zela will wish to see me now."

Vixin offered a reassuring tone. "Go to them. Apologize. They may despise you for a time, though they need you now more than ever." When guilt continued to linger in her sister's gaze, her own hardened with determination. "We're the elders, Cendra. I need your assistance in this."

Reluctantly, Cendra nodded. "Very well. They shall be safe in my care."

Grateful, Vixin relinquished Jinilya into Salduin's hold before embracing her sister once more. "Thank you." Watching Cendra blush as the large man regarded them with surprise, Vixin pulled back with a long sigh, knowing what awaited her. "I shall find our answers from father."

***

The burial chamber was silent. Dominax appeared as lifeless as the corpse that he knelt before. A Vaid never bowed, yet as his silver eyes traced over Irith's cold features, the world seemed to fade away.

She had been placed in the center of the room upon a stone slab that had been dragged inside the wooden chamber. The mud that still clung to his cloak had been cleaned from her skin by the healers. She was a beauty frozen in time, her bare body pale, the blood from her back wiped away. She nearly appeared as if she'd take a breath, yet Dominax knew he had stolen her last.

Though he had donned his armor, his helmet rested in his lap. He peered down at it in silence, alone with his deed. The chestplate concealed the damaged fabric of his one-suit where he had been struck by Arinax's power.

"I killed her."

It was only a whisper, yet his words seemed to shatter the world.

Only slaves had dared to break his solitude, assisting with the stone slab, his armor, and bringing news of Tempian, until now. He didn't sense her approaching. The world seemed cut off, severed, inconsequential as he stared at the corpse. Only the sound of Vixin's voice from behind made him blink.

"Father?" Vixin stood at the entrance, almost afraid at what awaited inside. For her family, for her father, for Irith, she had to be brave. Taking a step, she approached with caution. The sight of him seemingly unharmed should've brought her joy, yet further words caught in her throat as she glimpsed Irith's corpse. Reddened eyes once again filled with tears as she covered her mouth. She had been prepared, knowing what she'd see, yet reality tore through her anew as she began to sob with grief.

Dominax hardly heard her as he discarded his helmet to the ground before him. His hands hung limply.

Vixin slowly made her way to his side. Every ounce of her strength was required to stifle her tears, gradually regaining control over herself until she could speak. "What happened?"

He offered no reply.

"Arinax claims that you..." The statement was too horrid to finish. She let the question linger in the air.

Finally, his silver eyes slowly shifted from the body to his daughter.

"I need to know," she said when he continued to offer nothing. With a glance at Irith, she felt her resolve gathering. "Ideserveto know. She wasn't loved by you alone."

When at last he offered a slow nod, a confirmation of all she knew and feared, he watched her expression twist with horror. "She sought to tear Arinax away."

His deep voice shook her to the core, yet Vixin didn't crumble. She scowled with disgust as her tears trickled anew. "She sought to save him." However frantic they had been, the scribbled words inside Irith's message had been clear.

The defiance of his daughter was something Dominax was hardly used to. As he watched her weep, he felt a tiny flame flicker to life to ignite his frozen insides. "I loved her, yet she sought to destroy me," he said, his voice low, oozing through the room like a fog. Vixin had to understand.

"Will you shed no tears?" She wiped her own away.

Dominax returned his gaze to the corpse. Once more the flame was extinguished, leaving him empty. Was he capable of weeping any longer? "You're still human after all, Dominax," he remembered Irith saying long ago. What was he now?

When he offered no reply, Vixin gathered the courage to approach the body, kneeling beside her stepmother's head. She had witnessed countless corpses as a Sage, yet the sight of Irith's familiar features was nearly too much to bear, her pretty face pale. There was no doubt in her mind that she would've attempted the same madness to protect Jin. Glancing at her father, her certainties faltered with a second question. What would she do to someone that attempted to take Jin away? Someone she loved dearly?

"What'll become of her?" Vixin asked, biting her lip with agony as she touched the dead woman's cold cheek.

"I cannot let her beauty fade." Dominax moved slowly, appearing as if he was a corpse himself, a dead man learning to control his heavy limbs as he carefully took hold of Irith's arm. Glancing at Vixin, then the other arm, the princess reluctantly followed his silent command.

"Where?" she asked with uncertainty.

Every moment risked tainting her flesh. He had waited as long as he could. Dragging her together with extreme care, they guided Irith toward one of the pits carved into the floor, empty after removing its former occupant during the first riots. If only the greatest warriors deserved to rest within the chamber, he could think of no one worthier than his Concubine Empress. Gently easing her corpse into the Saitha, they watched the elegant features of her face fade from view as she sunk slowly into the glowing amber liquid.

"The thought of her beauty decaying to time is...a vile fate I cannot allow," he said in a low voice. The strange liquid would preserve her as long as he required. "I depart for Domani in three days."

Simmering in her grief, her father's reveal was more than sufficient to snap her back to attention. "You...what?"

"I put the world to the sword, yet still I failed her." The rare truth felt like a blade driving into his chest. "I won't send her to her tomb alone."

"Yet the Lanthians..." she muttered, utterly stunned. "You'd abandon the conquestnow?After all you fought for? After all Irith fought for?"

Once more the flame flickered anew as he grimaced. "This isnoretreat. I've received word that the siege of Tempian was successful. I will merely accompany Irith's corpse to Domani myself. When she is safe in her tomb, I shall return," he said, his tone harsher than he intended, only for his expression to ease. "I must protect her during the journey home."

The pain in his tone was concealed, yet she knew him well. Biting her lip, she sighed. "Let me accompany you."

"No." His tone offered no debate. "Your siblings require a guiding hand, and I will not drag them through the jungle while war surrounds us. Praith is our stronghold, and that is where you shall all remain until my return."

Wishing to debate the matter, she paused at the slight glow in his eyes. Knowing that his will would not be swayed, Vixin reluctantly nodded. "So be it. If I cannot go, I want to prepare Irith's body for the journey myself. No other healers." She met his gaze, feeling the dampness in her eyes. "Please."

Seeing her urgency, he nodded.

Relief caused her shoulders to ease. It was a small victory plucked from a sea of tragedy, yet she'd claim it nonetheless. With a final glance at the outline of Irith's form through the viscous liquid, she prepared to depart. "I must return to Cendra and the twins. She must know your intentions."

He dismissed her with a half-hearted wave, only to change his mind as his words followed her towards the door. "My flower," he said in what was nearly a whisper. "Judge what I've done as horrid, for indeed it is, yet know that I loved her."

Vixin nodded. "As did we all."

***

Moonlight trickled through the trees as Nafalya lounged atop a branch. High atop the tallest trees protruding above the jungle canopy, she rested beneath the night sky, feeling as if she would slip from Ayphieal and into the hungry black void above.

"Onis, Twic, Thriduin, Fonic, Fixuin, Silla, Senin, Iahta," she whispered, reciting the moons in order, just as her mother had taught her. Whenever she felt a wetness gathering in her eyes, she repeated the names, focusing.

Midway through the month, both Silla and Senin colored the sky together. Two glowing orbs in the darkness, impossibly far away, they felt like a set of eyes peering down at her in judgment.

"Onis, Twic, Thriduin, Fonic...Fixuin, Silla, Senin, Iahta." Her throat tightened.

The expressionless mask rested in her grasp. When she heard the subtle rustling of leaves, she donned her true face. She knew Hesin would discover the encoded message she had left for him eventually, though she thought she had more time alone. When he stepped from the shadows onto her branch, she rose to meet him. "Master."

Eyeing her up and down, he sought signs of injury before folding his arms beneath his cloak. "You're a difficult one to find."

"What do they know?" she asked, cutting to the heart of the matter as she peered down at the city far below.

His expressionless mask revealed nothing of his thoughts as he sat down, joining her in watching the tiny humans and Lanthians below. "Half of our Truthseekers will spread rumors that Irith was killed during a quiet raid. The other half will whisper that she fell while protecting The Prince Upholder from a Lanthian kidnapping plot." He gestured for her to sit. "The legionaries she encountered last night will serve to support the second claim, and it shall become history."