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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 2031890" data-attributes="member: 15043">The previous was the effective end of the fifth session, and this begins session #6... where Felonca meets a part of her family, and Nayu finds some unwanted attention...Proclamations...“I want to go.”Nayu looked down at Felonca, the shock and terror still apparent on her face.  It had been several hours since the monstrous visitor to Mafeng had so suddenly appeared and left, but his friend was still shuddering in horror.“I know... I want to go also,” Nayu replied, giving her a hug.  The longer I stay here, the more likely someone’s going to come to talk to that Councillor... and the more likely someone will know who I am... and who my family is...  The young sorcerer then pulled back, and looked towards the damages parts of the village, where Cho was already on the fore-front of repair work, despite the depth of the night.“I think we were lucky... no one was killed,” Nayu added, refusing to admit Gao Yun’s fate aloud.  He knew it would unnerve his friend even more if he brought up the horrific image of the pox-ridden woman being dragged by a dark spider into the Abyss.  He frowned.  The only person hurt was that damn wolf that wanted to hurt you!  “Tomorrow morning we’ll head out, and go back to Mingzhong.  So long as Hu Shikai is ruling there, we’ll be safe.  He seems decent,” Nayu offered, even as in his own heart he had doubts over where to go and who to trust, and silently he thanked his ancestors that his mother had not seen the beast, and that she, at least, was now peaceably sleeping.So many months before, Nayu would have awoken just as the sun rose to greet a new day, and head to the market looking for trinkets.  Instead, he rose this early in the morning simply because he couldn’t sleep, as images of his father, his mother, and the disasters over the previous months tortured his mind.As the red fingers of a new day stretched higher into the sky, Nayu walked along the now silent streets... even the furious late night efforts to fix the damage in the bebilith’s path had given way to sleep.  The family claim is now yours, Nayu...The words continued to echo in his mind, rattling around as a small ball inside a large barrel.  A brisk wind rose, and the long, thin strands of Nayu’s nascent beard flapped in the breeze.Yours to guard... until Heaven’s Will manifests itself...“How will I know when Heaven’s Will manifests itself?” he asked aloud to the wind.  A soft rustling was its reply, as its invisible hand shook the leaves of trees, and flapped papers in the wind.  Invisible, just like the Will of Heaven... Nayu sighed, looking down at the hard-packed dirt underfoot.Well, I shall do as my father, the young man grunted, as the insistent noise of paper flapping in the breeze drew his attention.  Looking up, Nayu saw the tall, thin pillar marking the town center, the traditional place where edicts were posted.  Nailed to the wooden column was a sheet of parchment, large and arrogantly flapping in the breeze.Ah... probably from the Councillor... A smile of grim satisfaction graced the young man’s lips in the blazing morning glory.  Nayu started walking over.  It wouldn’t hurt to know his name, or check the seal on the message.  Now that there’s a body showing he was an aranea, if this has his seal, Prince Hu might find it invaluable...The wind picked up again, and the parchment snapped and flapped in the breeze.  Nayu snatched its bottom from the winds grasp, holding it flat so he could read it.  As his eyes scanned its words, he quickly realized it was not from the Councillor, or related to that late monster at all.  Indeed, it bore not his seal, but a seal Nayu had seen gracing only the most potent edicts... the Jade Seal, seal of the Emperor’s of Ak Konylu...Proclamation from the Court of His Most Divine Majesty, Emperor Yuandi    Children of Heaven,    Words of dissention, anger and malice now rock the land.  It is hereby proclaimed that anyone caught spreading the vile slander regarding the Emperor’s most esteemed mother, or his most illustrious uncle, shall suffer the full penalty of slander!    Many lords, seeking to pad their own names, are now spreading such filthy lies!  They seek to upset Heaven’s balance, even murder our beloved Emperor to claim Heaven’s Crown as their own, and sit their decadence and debauchery upon the Jade Throne itself!    Heaven will surely not honor men as base and cowardly as these!  Should the people not rise as one, and crush this rebellion, surely Heaven’s anger will thunder down upon all our heads!  Rise up, o people of Langya!  Rise up, people of Han, of Bei, and those living along the Great Black River!  Rise up, Lords of the Borders, and peoples of Chosun!  Ensure Heaven’s Will is obeyed, and further calamities do not befall our people!Nayu’s heart sank, as all the word Felonca had received weeks before, all the darkness that had seemed to be clinging to the air just beyond their sight, now exploded into sight, roiling, boiling, spreading like a plague across the land.  It is civil war, then, Nayu thought, the fullness of what he’d known was inevitable now sinking in.  He looked at the places mentioned.They would not be calling for the common people to rebel, unless the lords of those lands had... gods... Nayu counted.  Langya, Han, Bei, Chosun, Border Lords?  That can only mean Taisho...  He grimly counted five... the heads of the three richest provinces in the Empire, as well as the heads of Ak Konylu’s two largest client kingdoms, Taisho and Chosun.  It would not be just the north of the Empire that would be engulfed in war, or just the south, but the entire nation, stretching from the Southern Sea towards the Desert Wall... all the millions of people...“Excuse me, young man,” a voice interrupted Nayu’s dark vision, and the young sorcerer jumped.  He spun around, only to see it was only the young Prefect behind him.  The man’s face was taut, his eyes fearful as another parchment flapped in one of his hands, a nail in the other, and hammer hanging from his belt.“Another message, prefect?” Nayu asked, stepping away, and the prefect grunted.“Yes... from our lord, the new governor of Langya,” the prefect said quietly.  He stepped up and started to nail it to the column, until he turned to Nayu.  “You seemed awfully interested in the first message, Master Wakabayashi.  Would you like to read this one as well?  It is our Prince’s reply to the Emperor.”“Certainly,” Nayu took the offered parchment, and as the sun itself peeked over the horizon, its words also made his blood run cold.Proclamation from His HighnessPrince Hu of Langya    Today the Empire of Ak Konylu faces a bottomless pit of disaster.    This state was caused by the evil Dowager Empress, her unscrupulous brother the Prince of Shu, and General Li Zexu, Military Governor of the Northern Frontier.  Together, they have diabolically plotted against Heaven’s Will, and even now lay their filthy hands upon the young Emperor Yuandi, spreading rebellion and violence!  Even now, those loyal to Heaven’s Will and the Emperor have fled the court, and into the arms of Lord Hu and his righteous warriors!    Prince Hu, may heaven bless his life, has vowed to set right these wrongs, and remove the family of the vile Empress from the Court, and punish the Military Governor and the Prince of Shu for their transgressions against the Will of Heaven, and their evil deeds crossing life and death.      These foes even now gather against all those who wish for order and peace, for right and justice!  The Prince calls all those who wish to save their people from the terrible fate which will soon eclipse us all if these transgressions are not stopped, to rise up, and take up arms against these usurpers!    Rise up, o people!  To arms, to save your Emperor!“The governor claims he is protecting the Emperor, while the Emperor orders all to surrender to the Prince of Shu,” the prefect said sourly.  “All the while, the Emperor is no more than a ten year old boy, likely being ordered by his mother to say these things.”  The prefect shook his head sadly.  “What a sorry state our people are in.”“Indeed,” Nayu grunted, handing the parchment back.  As the prefect began to nail the proclamation to the column, Nayu found the courage within himself to ask a rather simple question.“Who do you side with, prefect?”The prefect stopped his work, and turned to the young man.  His eyes danced about, avoiding looking into Nayu’s own, before settling on just looking at the ground.  “I... I do not know, Master Wakabayashi.  I know not whom to believe in this.”“Neither do I, Master Prefect, neither do I...”</blockquote>

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