IC Date: 08/13/2025

Acrid smoke seared Elysia’s nostrils as she stepped onto the cobbles of Keraunos for the first time since duty claimed her childhood. It’s wrong to be out here.

It’swrongtobeouthere.
Ishouldn’tbehere.
It’swrongnorws’tI
Erehtuomifiemocll’she

Every thought resounded and echoed within her skull, her head an ossuary of its own as she stood mute before the pandemonium that lay before her, engulfed by din unbearable after the quiet of the Tower.

No matter how wrong it felt, she owed it to him. She owed it to the people of Tempesti to protect them from anyone who sought to harm them. That they feared her was a sad and necessary inevitability, but she would serve them. She would save them from whatever this threat was.

Shouts of the Basileus’ soldiers vanished into the clash of arms from the barricade. A hand met the back of her shoulder, giving her a firm push forward as her unsteady legs threatened to collapse entirely before painstakingly carrying her reluctant body toward her allies.

“Elysia. Go. There was no mistaking Archelaus’ tone this time as he attempted to imbue this simple, trembling command with the authority of centuries, his outrage barely contained within the thin veneer of regality he struggled to maintain. She had known him since they were both children, his father sought to create at least the illusion of a friendship between the two, and maybe they had whatever bond was possible between a weapon and its wielder. The visibility of a pulsing vein in his forehead, the furious tremble of his hand that he tried to steady on the hilt of his sword, the subtle twitch in his eye all betrayed his fury and terror. He wouldn’t suffer another delay.

Entirely too conscious of his burning gaze, Elysia waded through the smoke and soldiers, hoping to catch a glimpse of the enemy on the other side of the barricade. At this distance, its makeshift qualities became more visible by the moment. Splintered furniture, toppled street markers, doors ripped from their frames, and on the other side waves of Tempestine bodies flowing and breaking against the soldiers’ weapons.
Kitchen implements, garden tools, leather aprons broken and rent as they clashed with the steel wielded by the Basileus’ forces. Elysia felt the searing haze expand within her, the evidence of her eyes warring with the absolute truth she’d carried since she first entered the Tower.

The senshi couldn’t hear her own voice as she shouted her power into the cacophony, feeling for the first time a rush of air as harpies erupted from within her and swarmed the soldiers with wind and lightning. A single leap brought her to the heart of the crowd assembled beyond the barricade, barely aware of the speed at which the strangers scattered to escape her presence.

Through the smoke Elysia thought she could just make out Archelaus’ face, twisted in furious terror as his honor guard hauled him to safety. Whatever trust she’d had in him, whatever reverence she’d had for his family, evaporated upon contact with the rage blooming within her.

No more lies.
Nomorelieseileromon.
She would be more than what she was.