Queen Fortuna was awoken by a frost so harsh it threatened to freeze her very feathers off. She shivered uncontrollably, slowly opening her eyes to witness a ghastly face gazing at her.
“We could end this destruction right here, my queen.” The riaaki hissed. His voice brought an itch to Fortuna’s throat from the severe rasp in his throat, withered away from so many years of stealing others’ lives.
“What do you want.”
“To be your king. I’ll let you live as the queen. You wouldn’t have to do a thing except obey me.” The withered riaaki took Fortuna’s talons gently, placing a ring in her palms. “No more destruction.”
Fortuna ripped her talons away, bracing herself for Tamunar’s retaliation.
The Riaaki Queen was no more.
Queen Fortuna woke up from her nightmare, only to see her royal guards with a sorrowful look on their faces.
“Riswol has taken Riaaki’s Landing. Sylar’s Aural Knights have been deployed since Ryesli is keeping Tamunar busy.”
“Wait, Riswol invaded???” Fortuna’s eyes were wide, shock drained the little color from her feathers. “I thought we had a treaty!”
“We think they’re taking advantage of Tamunar as a distraction.” The guard shrugged.
Voids are pure nothingness, places where one could truly test their own limits without consequence. Tamunar had slipped under Ryesli’s talons just before the kill, leaving her to strike the void with the sheer fury.
Now, she remained in the void with no way out. People probably thought she was dead now, without any clue that Ryesli was, in fact, still alive. They may as well have been dead, she really was barely hanging on by a thread.
She lost.
The void seemed to welcome her, dragging the avian further into the void, enveloping her with its pure, isolated darkness. Ryesli could make out figures that danced around, spots that were emitting very low amounts of light… getting brighter.
*A child version of Ryesli danced around a massive bonfire, one that was several times their own size. She was enjoying the music played by the band much more than the adult riaaki who seemed more eager to chat, and the musicians almost fed into it. Unfortunately for everyone, Ryesli fell into the fire, consumed by the ferocious flame. She was trapped by the burning logs that fed the flames with no way of escaping, no flight feathers to catch the air currents and propel them to safety.
The adults scrambled to extinguish the fire, trying to douse the flame, but to their surprise (and horror), the fire simply grew. No matter what they did, the flames grew more and more out of control.*
Ryesli breathed.
Though it was certainly illegal to channel the void, Ryesli had no real other option. The sheer emptiness of the void could send many minds into a depressive terror so great, they’re stuck that way forever. If the person wielding the void isn’t careful, they too may end up suffering greatly, being reduced to a shell of their former self. No one really knew how to prevent it either, which led the Academy to ban channeling the void in any way.
In Ryesli’s mind, memories of helping her family with odd tasks with a smile on everyone’s faces flashed in and out. Her first mission as a templar trainee flashed in, the monster she defeated simply withered away by her sword, which was really a modified kitchen knife. The Academy Director called her in, yelling at her over losing control of her own abilities, leading to the destruction of several entire villages. Shame burned around her ear tufts. Ryesli had been mortified when it happened, always haunting her memory in the darkest recesses of her mind.
If I don’t succeed, many, many more will die.
Before her, the void seemed to split open, allowing a blinding light to completely demolish the emptiness of the void. Ryesli suddenly found herself in a recognizable field, in the sky where her home used to be. However, everything seemed to have been frozen over, to the point where even the most cold-hardy species would die of frostbite. It was so cold, that even setting herself on fire would do no good.
Sadness and anger exploded in her mind once she confirmed her family’s fate.
Ryesli marched through the frozen wasteland, passing by entirely demolished villages and frozen homes, until she made it to the center of the Riaaki’s Landing. Before her, was Tamunar.
Without giving Tamunar the opportunity to blink, Ryesli shoved him against the palace walls. Suddenly, the rival riaaki were back in the void, then in Sylar, in front of the invading armies.
If he wishes for his army to witness his demise, then so be it.
To the horror of the spectators, Tamunar began stealing Ryesli’s life force. Dark waves of smoke began to envelop the evil riaaki like a cocoon. Tamunar did his best to resist, as did Ryesli, but both parties were doomed to fail against each other.
Ryesli kept pushing on, determined to destroy Tamunar from the inside, even if it meant losing her own life. Tamunar struggled against the void, though he could not seem to keep the oppressive tendrils at bay. His own life-stealing would falter as the void consumed his mind, leaving a simple shell by the end.
The killing blow was made, but it seemed that Tamunar had one final trick up his sleeve. From all the years of stealing lives from others, the necrotic energy escaped in a massive explosion, completely destroying any semblance of life in Tamunar’s immediate area. Ryesli was unprepared for the sudden blast of withering energy.
When Ryesli woke up, Tamunar gently pat the younger riaaki’s head with a smile on his face. He offered Ryesli tea, but in her cup was the void. When she drank it, she felt herself die countless times, only to wake up and repeat the cycle.
Don’t let the void consume you.
Ryesli was back in the void, her mother stood over her several times Ryesli’s own height.
Consume the void.
There was a very good reason to avoid void magic entirely. It destroyed the psyche, then put the pieces back together in unfathomable ways. It forces many visions into the brain at once, until the person is driven entirely mad. It consumes the very essence of the mage, leaving the tormented, hollow shell of a mage in their stead. Typically, people learning the art would start small and build up to bigger work, but Ryesli didn’t have that sort of time. They needed to get out of their current predicament and then kill Tamunar.
Finally, the end to the single continuous nightmare arrived. Ryesli landed on the ground by the academy, opening her eyes to the world. She wasn’t looking around to take in her surroundings, though. She was scanning the area for Tamunar.
There.
In the blink of an eye, Ryesli was in Tamunar’s face at the exact moment he absorbed several knights at once. He seemed to grow visibly stronger, but it was of no matter now.
The sky above Tamunar opened up, dragging him inside without much ceremony. He tried to fight it but there was nothing he could do. He stared into the void, screaming as it consumed him completely, leaving behind one singular feather.
With her job done, Ryesli let go of the void.
Tamunar was in her face, absorbing Ryesli with a smile on his face. The younger riaaki finally went limp, dropping to the ground with a thud. All of the sudden, Ryesli impaled the ancient bird.
ESCAPE THE ILLUSION
From the ground, the armies saw a massive explosion in the sky. Darkness and light clashed in an unpredictable way, releasing shockwaves that shook the ground violently. Two bodies crashed to the ground, creating a massive crater where the village used to be.
Lumina peered into the crater first, jumping down once she confirmed it was safe. Only one body remained, the other one having turned into a sickly cloud that hovered over Ryesli as it disbursed into the air. The other riaaki at least had her corporeal body, and it seemed to be alive, based on the shallow breaths. This was all anyone needed to see to start screaming in celebration. Both armies seemed to rejoice.
Riswol’s armies were reduced to half.
Within hours, newspapers were sharing the good news on their front pages. Many people flooded the taverns, sharing their high spirits with their fellow compatriots.
The Queen of Riswol let out a shriek so ugly the surrounding forests wilted away once the news of Tamunar’s death made its way to her.