Quote:The Ministers slowly shuffled into the room. In attendance were Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto, Her Highness the Princess Margaret Ananto-DeLaurentis, Chancellor of the Empire, Lady Jennifer Alvarez-Miller, Minister of Internal Affairs Katherine Sorenson, Minister of Justice the Honorable Gale Wilson and Minister of Defense Commander George Martinez. At the foot of the table sat Lady Marian Southern, Her Imperial Majesty's Personal Secretary, who was typing notes into a transcription machine.

"I believe we are all here," said Princess Margaret. It was clear that she had been appointed chair of the Meeting by the Empress.

"No we are not all here," said the Chancellor. "I'm missing half the cabinet. And what the fuck was that speech, Your Imperial Majesty? Huh? What the hell? Why would you do that? Why wouldn't you talk to me? For like two weeks..."

"Calm down, Lady Jennifer."

"You can shut up, Princess," said a livid Chancellor. "This ain't about you. This is between me and your sister, who just stabbed us all in the back."

"Madame, I am asking you, please take a breath," said the Princess, aware that the Chancellor was already treading in dangerous waters. She tried to remain as level headed as she could while trying to de-escallate the Chancellor. The other ministers sat, almost too scared to intervene or even breathe.

"No goddamn it. I want some answers," demanded the Chancellor. "She sold us out. She sold us all out. We put our reputations on the line with this democracy, and she comes in and one fell swoop, just cuts all of our throats."

"Jennifer, please. Let's not be dramatic," said the Princess once more. "Democracy was only ever an experiment, you knew that. She just ended it early... Now just..."

The Princess was cut off, "If you tell me to calm down one more time, I swear I'll..." There was a gasp from the other ministers. The implied threat, coming from a devout Brethrenist, after what the Empress had just said on the television... and now the Chancellor...

"Jennifer, our friend and sister," said Her Imperial Majesty from her seat along the wall. "We request your indulgence for a mere five minutes while our Sister, the Princess lets you know our mind." The Empress seemed ascerbic on the television, biting, sarcastic and bitter. Now, a little more than an hour later, she was calm and serene, and almost soothing.

Jennifer sat back folded her arms, and looked at the other ministers. "Fine. Five Minutes, and then I am resigning." Margaret nodded.

"Jennifer. My sister is correct. Democracy has run its course in Kalistan. It has become dangerous in our nation, given the virulent rhetoric being tossed about in the papers. There are open calls for revolution and guillotining. Among many other things."

The Chancellor sat up and looked at the Princess. "What other things?"

Margaret let a slight shake of the head, as if she was unwilling to say anything, and was trying to communicate that to the Chancellor.

"What other things?" repeated the Chancellor.

The Princess took a breath. And then she pulled a file folder from under the desk, and handed it, still closed to the Chancellor. Lady Alvarez opened it slowly, and inside was a dozen photos. She leafed through them, closed the folder and handed it back to the Princess.

"You know who he is, right?" asked Princess Margaret. Lady Alvarez nodded silently. "You know where he is right?" Lady Alvarez nodded once again. A tear came to her eye. She looked at Princess Margaret, almost pleadingly.

"Meg... I. I was weak, and I was alone. And it just kind of happened, and I... I didn't know what to say... it was... he just... asked me and I..."

"Don't worry about it, Lady Alvarez. We know how you answered. She believes you to be loyal, and she considers you as a member of our family. But we can't allow that sort of thing in this country. It never would have happened before we liberalized... But we don't have any way of controlling things like this while we are open. Do you understand?"

Lady Alvarez buried her face in her hands and sobbed. The other ministers looked at one another, but nobody dared utter a word.

"Madame, We love you as we love our own sister, and nothing more will be said about this," said the Empress. "But to protect our selves, to protect our loved ones, and to protect this nation, we can no longer allow this nation to remain open like this. You know what he did... what he almost did... and now he is nothing."

"What can I do to make this up to you, Your Imperial Majesty?" asked the Chancellor.

"Madame, you need to restore the Single Party Act," said Princess Margaret. "The PL is history, but there are a dozen Parties just like it waiting to take its place on both sides. And they are worse. If we allow them to proliferate, it won't be just dealing with one or two individuals. It will be dealing with whole armies. Democracy in this nation is not so important as Order, and as adults, we have to learn when things have gone too far, and stop being so sentimental about romantic notions that everyone is just good and wise and honest. We got this one: How many others are waiting to take his place?"

"How do you intend to get others to go along with this?" asked Judge Wilson, the Justice Minister.

"Well, simple," said the Empress. "Just blame us. Our reputation is already in the gutter. Gaduridos is already going the way of Lodamun and completely ignoring the Empire while it writes treaties with Majatra, of all places. Literally all the Liberals and the Revolutionary Socialists hate our guts. The rest of the world more or less shuns us and treats us as the sad case of poor Kalistan, languishing under a divorced and spurned lesbian Empress. It really can't get any worse. So Sir, if our government needs someone to blame, just blame the Empress. The best part about it is: We are institutionally immune from criticism. We don't have to worry about what the people think of us. Its a blessing and a curse, really. But no matter what we did, we couldn't stop some hateful nutjob from trying to kill us in our own home. We can't please everyone all the time, but we can help you by deflecting some of the hate that would likely be directed at you otherwise."

Lady Alvarez shook her head. "My Lady, I would never do that to you."

Mary smiled gently. "Oh, its ok. I think cancelling Yule for millions of liberals was about the worst thing a person could do. But reminding people of Lese Majestie will probably buy you a few months. Pass the law right out the gate. We believe we can drum up some support on the left to support you in passage of the bill. They'll be yours to contend with eventually, because they will have to rejoin your Party, but tell them that the Empress always remembers her debts, and always repays them. And the troublemakers will either go along or get out of the Government, where we will keep tabs on them out in the world."

"Madame," stammered Lady Alvarez. "I... I don't really... Like how will I..."

"Lady Alvarez," said Princess Margaret. "Your Empress has told you what you and her government will do. You aren't so fresh that you don't remember how this works. We're going back to the old school. And don't worry about Mary. She's almost 50. She knows the kayfabe of politics." Margaret leaned in and put her hand gently on the Chancellor's hand. "We have your back, in this and in all things. Do you understand?"

By we, The Chancellor knew that Margaret meant several things. She didn't use we the same way the Empress did. By "we" she meant her and her sister individually. But also the entire Royal Institution. And the entire IBSI, and the entire nation. And, probably five other groups that Lady Alvarez couldn't even imagine. She nodded.

"Now, that business is concluded. Her Imperial Majesty would like you to call the rest of the Government here tonight so we can brief them and decide how we will handle this Istalian visit."

The switch in tone was jarring to several of the ministers present, who didn't often deal with one of the Ananto sisters, let alone both of them at the same time. They attempted to ask questions about what had just transpired, but Margaret waived them off with a simple comment, "While we wait, who wants tea and cookies?"

Quote:"Come in Your Highness," said the Lady Companion Victoria. "Mary is expecting you, but she was napping until you got here."

"How are you Victoria?" asked Margaret.

"I am doing well, Madame," said Victoria. "We've had such a nice week, but I think Mary has something on her mind, and it sort of put a damper on things."

"Yes, that's my sister for you," said Margaret. "I think she's obviously concerned about Rildanor. It's been all she's talked to me about for the last few months..."

"I think she's upset about Egelion in Rildanor specifically, Madame. It feels they are aggressively expanding while Kalistan is left in the dust."

"Well, that's a standard concern of hers," said Margaret. "What she doesn't understand is that Egelion has a certain privilege that we don't share. It is what it is, but people tend to roll over for Egelion. It's no fault of Kalistan's, of course. She should just be grateful that people aren't paying much attention to Kalistan. Whenever we do anything outside our own borders, we become a lightning rod. So... It's better that nobody is paying any attention to Kalistan, especially right now."

"Do you mean..." asked Victoria

"Athosia..." said Margaret with a smile.

"She's not actually gonna..."

Margaret nodded and then smiled. "Ha, of course not. What kind of rapacious imperialists do you think we are? We're not Egelion after all!"

Victoria, who wasn't quite sure if Margaret knew something she didn't about the land her partner routinely called "the jewel in my crown" nonetheless breathed a sign of relief. "My Lady, I knew you were putting me on!"

"Or was I?" asked Margaret mischievously as she ominously shook her head, but then smiled.... but then her face grew serious and she shook her head 'no' again. But then she smiled. "Haha... I'm only playing. Who knows what that woman will do when she gets it in her mind to do something. But the real truth, the one nobody except Mary Ananto seems to take seriously is, Athosia already belongs to Mary in her mind. Those of us who were born to this family know its kind of a mental illness of sorts, an unnatural obsession that captures us all more or less, but it is one that affects the monarchs most seriously. To Mary, a legal title recognized by others isn't really necessary: Athosia already belongs to the Empire, whether a Baltusian flag is flying there or not. So if she makes any announcements, they are already after the fact. We never lost Athosia and we Anantos, at least, know it. Even if Mary was the only one in the whole world who believed it, her claim would be 1000x times more legitimate than the Egelian seizure of that naval base in Rildanor. And that's all that matters to her."

Lady Victoria smiled. As Margaret finished speaking, Mary stepped into the room. She sat on the couch next to Victoria. "Give it to me, Meg."

Margaret mimed taking off her "sister" hat and putting on her "IBSI Director" hat. "We can't determine that there is any racist component to Rildanor's Government. I mean to say, they seem like your run of the mill stateist authoritarian governments. They don't even feel all that personalist to our analysts. Just a pretty solid centralized regime. Do they care about civil liberties? Probably not. Do they have a pretty strong police apparatus? I would say no stronger than all these so called 'liberal democracies' whose cops drive around in black cars, flash guns everywhere, summarily execute people for minor traffic offenses because they are 'scared' and get away with no charges because of qualified immunity, whatever that means. Will they put people in concentration camps or gas chambers? That is highly unlikely. I'd say you can deal with them. They certainly are not fascists, and anything that says they are is probably propaganda to mask much more cynical motivations."

Mary listened closely and nodded. "And what about Meriath?"

Margaret kind of shrugged a little. "It's doubtful that they are as committed to democracy as they claim they are. It feels like they really just wanted to protest an election they lost, not on ideological grounds, but because they didn't like the results. The Government may have gone a little overboard in repressing them, Meriath may have jumped the gun in announcing independence. It really feels to me that they wouldn't have done that if they hadn't lined up support for the move with a self-interested Egelion beforehand, and got the green light. Text book imperialism and destabilization. We've seen it a hundred times before: It's so nakedly transparent, and we'd say its pretty amateur if so many people weren't in complete awe of Egelion. They leverage the fandom to their advantage, I have to give them that."

Margaret paused here, inhaled, and then began again... "It does however certainly have some of the markings of Beiteynu, the way they used to do things, and Amudim's rush to immediately declare support is one of those telltale signs of a resurgent Beiteynese meddling. Without some external mover, it is doubtful that Egelion would have been as insanely eager to grab the base on the other side of the planet like it did and then openly brag about it. We don't think Egelion is as weirdly expansionistic as that. It really feels like something we have seen before, something you, Mary, have seen before. And you know the author of that-- the true author. And it isn't our cousin in Altea.

"But is Meriath communistical? Nope, not in a million years. There are real communists in this world, and the folks who run Mariath for their new imperial masters are not that. Their first public statements were about economic development. So unless Communists talk like liberals now, which they don't, we can't say with any degree of certainty that they are communist. That too is just straight up propaganda."

Mary smiled and nodded her head. "So maybe I will reach out to them too."

"Well," said Margaret. "Here's the rub. You work with one, you don't get the other. And at this moment, the Mainland Government is far closer to where we are ideologically than the Island Government. Plus, we gain nothing from working with Meriath. Egelion has already set up shop there; they were quick, they were diligent, and they were surgical. There's literally nothing for anyone else there, because Egelion had planned this all along, which leads me to believe they played a role in greenlighting the entire 'conflict' to begin with.

"But Rildanor itself may be a different story. They want to meet with you. Perhaps this may be an opportunity to at least come out even in the region. The 3rd Fleet, stationed at Bentasur in Gaduridos, patrols the Schismatic Sea. What if you proposed, say, the 3rd Fleet extending its patrols further south to Northern Rildanor? Mordusia is in no place to object right now, and you could make the case that Kalistan could provide Rildanor additional protection from an 'aggressive' Egelion who has already demonstrated its willingness to simply take whatever it wants. You don't even need to address Egelion if you don't want--You currently outgun them everywhere in the Anantonese: you could just ignore them and talk to the Government of Rildanor. Egelion has their military base in Meriath. But the Mainland is at least as important, and by the way, its connected to the Trans Seleyan Railroad, if I am not mistaken. This might be an opportunity."

Mary thought for a moment. "It is true. We will be meeting with the Rildanorean Government in a couple months. We could offer them an Embassy to start with. We'll have to be careful to not inflame the situation with Egelion though."

Margaret shook her head slightly. "Egelion is not the issue here, Mary. This really feels to me like Beiteynu. Egelion is not the prime mover of this situation."

Mary looked quizzically, "Do you think? Beiteynu?"

Margaret turned to Lady Victoria. "Do you still have your contact with that fellow from AYIC? Mr. Romero?"

It became clear to Victoria that this was why she was asked to be present at this meeting, though she was usually excluded from affairs of state. And she, at that moment, knew it was Margaret who wanted her there--Mary would have been satisfied to not invite her at all. She thought to herself, this is how these Ananto women work when they work together. She knew now, more than ever that Mary was the Empress, but Margaret was by far the more intelligent and calculating, and therefore more terrifying of the two women. Mary always said she and her sister were a team, and Victoria had long accepted that fact, but Mary was a kind of gun loving hippy and naturalist, while Margaret, while maintaining the perfect physique of a professional surfer, has probably murdered more than one person in her career, and definitely knew where hundreds of skeletons were dropped into the Morass, never to be seen again. She did the things Mary needed done, but couldn't do herself, a real enforcer, a true operator. Victoria gulped slightly as a drop of sweat formed on her brow. She nodded. "Mr. Romero and I had lunch last month in Kaliburg," said the Lady Companion.

"I know," said Margaret. "Do you think you could find some excuse for him to meet me in Kaliburg this month? I think we need to bring some more guns to bear. I need to talk to him about visiting Valruzia."

Victoria nodded. "I can set up a meeting." She said they could meet at Sympatico, an extremely high end restaurant in Port Davon overlooking the Bay. Its all glass exterior belied the fact that many a high level and often secret handshake agreement was set there over the years. "Do you need a room there?" asked Victoria.

"No just a seat near the window. I like the view," said the IBSI director.

Victoria looked at Mary who simply nodded once, and the meeting was as good as set. And with that Victoria's part in this little play was unceremoniously over.

"I'll have you in when I meet with the Rildanorean rep," said Mary to Margaret. "And I trust you will brief Lady Alvarez on your findings, Meg?"

"I'll return to Kaliburg tomorrow," said Margaret. "Meanwhile, what's for supper?"

Mary smiled and looked at Victoria. "For you ladies, pizza and beer. I have tofu schnitzel and spaghetti. And I believe dinner is served. I'll get Nicky and be right there."

Quote:Somewhere in Los Altos, Gadur City

A black man, in a stylish tuxedo, looking around 56 years ago, standing in front of a door with a plate having "Ximona Otero García, Presidenta del Gobierno" written on it. Standing next to him, a woman around the same age, maybe older, with brown hair and glasses. Both stood there for a while before the man knocked.

"Come in", the voice of Ximona said. Both slowly walked into the cabinet of Gaduri Prime Minister. Not much, not quite grotesque, but certainly, you can feel the power and the position of a person who resides in this room.

"Madam President, you called", said the man, who was revealed to be the nation's foreign minister, or commonly known as the Chancellor, Victor Goyri Jaramillo. And next to him was the governor of Marligantos state, Ahtziri Zamora, whom many consider the successor of García.

"Yes, and thank you both for coming, it is quite important, I believe, for us to discuss and come up with a strategy, or generally, what do or can we do in a situation like this", said García.

"You saw the interview, right? He is not wrong, really, but it also really puts us all in a very bad light. We cannot be seen siding with the radical right-wing governments, who diminish democracy no less than the very same Kundrati legionnaires the Empire fought", said governor Zamora, who looked rather annoyed, with her arms crossed. "He simply said that Kalistan and Rildanor are the same, believe in the same stuff, and just dismissed all accusations of hypocrisy here, despite there being proof", she continued.

"Calm-calm. I understand the annoyance, and it boggles me too, trust me. Their recent move to completely dismantle all the very small glimpses of democracy and democratic institutions, because the Empress got offended, or whatever, was disappointing", Ximona interrupted Zamora, sitting in her chair. "But, we are still a very close union of two nations, and in the end, they still love us, right? The best we can do for our nation is just sit this one out and let them do the foreign affairs job, while we can put our full focus on the development of Gaduridos".

"Madam President, sitting it all out is, obviously, a better decision economically, and diplomatically, but only in case with the Empire. Ignoring something we may not agree on with the office in Kaliburg will not damage our relations with them, and we retain our neutrality stance we have kept for decades, if not centuries. But at the same time, do we really want to be associated with someone who stands for the undemocratic and reactionary ideas in southern Seleya, and quite frankly, right on our borders?", Jaramillo entered the discussion slowly.

"Look. In this situation, I fail to see how anyone is on the right side of history here. Egelion's intervention in Rildanorian affairs is obviously a blatant imperialist move to assert its interests and possibly create a puppet state across the ocean. Egelion has no place in southern Seleya, period. But at the same time, Kalistan taking sides with someone as the current mainland government of Rildanor, who caused this whole debuckle in the first place?", Prime Minister García paused.

There is a sudden moment of silence in the room after Ximona abruptly ends her speech. Neither Jaramillo nor Zamora speaks, and only the birds and the flow of a Gadur river can be heard at that moment.

García sighs. "We have no interest in saying our opinion on this; we are simply a part of the Empire, and we follow whatever Kaliburg says. But, evidently, we are drifting away from Kaliburg when it comes to foreign policy. Our best bet in this whole chaos is probably to keep being quiet. This way we are not taking any sides, we are keeping our relations with the Empire well, and we keep our neutrality", she finished.

"Madam President, but what about our partisan support for the left in Rildanor, what about simple humanity, solidarity and principles?", Jaramillo angrily asked. "When I joined your tea-", he's suddenly interrupted with a slam on the table.

"Quiet! Vi, I understand your anger, but truly. We have no, and must not have any interest in this", she looked him pleadingly in the eyes.

"I don't get it. I am sorry", Jaramillo replied and swiftly left the cabinet, with a slam of the door.

Prime Minister turned to the governor Zamora, and took her both arms. "Ahi, you may be disappointed too, and I will not criticise or lecture you on it, but please, keep it quiet, for now. Until we can understand what we can and must do here, I will not ask for much. Observation may be our best option right now. With the information we will get from watching others act and speak on this, we may be prepared for later, but not right now Please", García calmly finished as she looked her in the eyes.

"Only because I respect you", Zamora took a second before replying.

Zamora took her arms away, stood up, and walked out of the room, leaving Prime Minister alone.

Quote:Somewhere in the Federal Chancellery office, Gadur City

Jaramillo returned to his office in the Federal Chancellery after storming out of the presidential room in the Los Altos. He was visibly angry and disappointed. Quickly, he entered the room, swiftly ignoring all of his colleagues and the secretary. Victor took a moment on his soft chair, gifted to him by his wife.

He signed, turning to his phone, and looking at it for a minute, before calling Jatziri Lara Caramacho, who is the current PSSG secretary-general, being elected to her office alongside García, as her close ally and secretary, when the latter served as the leader of the opposition.

"Jatzi? Hello, are you free to talk right now? It is important", he calmly began the conversation, once Jatziri picked up the phone.

"Oh, yeah, hey, Vi. Uhhh, yeah, I am free right now. What happened? Did the meeting with Ximona go south, or what is up?"

"Yeah, I guess you can say that. She gathered us to discuss the Rildanor chaos and how Kalistan replied to it, meeting with the Rildanorian foreign minister, and then trying to justify himself on liberal networks. She wanted to get our thoughts and assessment, but it seems like she has already figured it out herself", Jaramillo spoke, with a sarcastic and annoyed expression.

"I can absolutely feel, even through the phone, that someone did not like that, huh?", Jatziri replied, laughing.

"Well, duh. I just think that it is unfair and unjust for us to sit this whole this out like this, ignoring the blatant endorsement of those fascists in Rildanor by Kalistan. And, it is not like Kalistan just met with him: Hewlett just full-throatedly supported Rildanor and their actions. This is insane", Jaramillo continued, talking angrier with each next second.

Jatziri sighed on the other side of the phone. "Yeah, it's hard and disappointing. It takes enough power to keep the youth wing up, without revolting against the monarchy, and Kalistani attacks on the democracy. They are not helping in any way here".

"Regardless, I am calling you for a slightly different reason", Jaramillo paused.

"Which is?"

"It is still connected to this whole thing, but it is rather your area of expertise and job. I want you to initiate the repeal of the Neutrality Act", he didn't manage to finish before being cut off.

"What?! Are you crazy?", Jatziri jumped in, interrupting Vi. "Okay, I do get everything you are being annoyed at, but is this not a step too far? This will cause a shitstorm here, in our own country. Just calm down, we don't need to go this far".

"That is why I called you, and not Ayala", Jaramillo calmly replied. "You know how it works and what will happen. But it is getting quite hard to stand aside when our Seleyan brothers and sisters are being occupied, and I can't say shit publicly, other than 'we're so concerned, blah-blah'. And I feel like García especially wants to say something, but she knows better as PM, not to anger the Empire".

"Vi, look. Repealing is possible, we have a solo majority that is more than enough to just vote this tomorrow, if we want to. But, this could cause a revolt within the party, outside of the party, and 100% in Kaliburg. They will not like us trying to get not neutral, because why would we, and because it is against the Treaty. And, I think you specifically wouldn't want to go through all that Treaty nonsense again, wouldn't you?"

"But if we will be scared about everything, and not risk it for the solidarity and whatnot, what kind of pan-Seleyan and Social Democratic party are we? I am tired of pretending I don't care", Jaramillo almost shouted.

"I will see what I can do. But, I will tell you in advance that this is crazy, and you might be risking your own seat in the chancellery, as well as any future government", Jatziri replied disapprovingly.

"I don't care about your threats, or whatnot. Either we are going for it, or I am leaving this ship and defecting to...I don't know...fucking Workers Party. We need to express our solidarity openly for the democratic social democratic government in Meriath. Get a spine, or I am out".

Jaramillo hung up the call and lay down on the couch in his room, hiding his eyes behind his hand, while sighing. The dreadful feeling of inability to do or say something was going hard on him. And even though he was almost in his 60s, the youthful spirit of solidarity and revolt against the system conquered his mind.

Quote:Ludvík read the newspapers regarding his address. He smirked to himself in his cigarettes dim glow at his father being quote, "The picture of health". Ludvík knew full well of his fathers chain smoking, drinking habits, and appetites. Ludvík thankfully had quit smoking after the war, and swore off drinking after a drunken stupor of a bar fight in Lirnak. He was the only one who could bring Kundrati to greatness, all the lackeys in the Politburo who whooped and hollered in empty hearts for the presidents speeches, only to turn around and enjoy a night at home with a prostitute while their wife was away with some illicit drugs. The moral decay of the nation was rotting its foundations from within. His father was a hero in the eyes of many; He had done much to recover the economy with the so called "free market", repaired much of the post war infrastructure and housing, gave power and water to millions. But a nation no matter how wealthy fiscally can never truly succeed if it is morally bankrupt. Ludvík had championed the new kuno, backed by the bullion and bond notes, which were finally beginning to show returns after the abrupt and difficult transition. Kundratis purchasing power domestically was now far more powerful, damned be the foreign economies of the corrupt demagogues and "democracy makers". The people needed a true free economy, and a currency backed by real tangible assets, not wantonly determined rates set by speculators and pencil pushers a continent away. Ludvík had great ambitions for Kundrati, to finally be a power feared again, to be a power that instead of receiving aid from the world sends it out once more, to plant its grip firmly in Artania and defy Luthorian dominance.

Ludvík sighed to himself in a bit of sadness, he knew his father was unlikely to live from the ordeal. In the months prior like one smells the rain before a storm he could read the signs of his fathers declining health, he'd already forgotten his wife's name on multiple occasions and begun having tremors. He was already imagining the state funeral with bugles and drums, but this was not a time for melancholy. His father was strong, he had fought in Legionaria, killed invaders and destroyed machines of war, there would come a time for mourning and reflection.

But now the time was coming for the separation of the wheat from the chaff, and above the heads of 50 million people united, a scythe swept forth as a unified voice cried out in Ludvík's vision;

Glory to Kundrati!

Quote:Ludvík sat in the quiet, empty church as snow whistled outside the dusty windows. A small memorial sat at the foot of the cross in the front of the room, a portrait of saint Sladek hanging over its golden tip. He had been coming to this place for decades, the same church he grew up in, regardless if abandoned, was his sanctuary and place of reflection. It too was the only place he could see the signs. It had come to him in dreams and visions, but it wasn't until he was 14 that he began understanding their significance. At first it frightened him, he had believed it to be demons or devils spiritually attacking him, but then he saw the light and heard the voices, and they spoke of a holy purpose. All the raptured crowds and speeches he delivered, all the realizations of his holy preordained destiny forged in the stars, all of it had been given through him to the people by god himself, and gods signs came to him time and time again, it was his purpose, a vessel for the divine, a reincarnation and destiny. Ludvík tensed his hands as he felt the lord preparing to speak to him, his eyes rolled back and he clenched his jaw, teeth gritting. In the darkness he saw the light emerge and the lines form, angelic voices spoke to him without a voice, images appeared without a frame. He saw a flaming sword in a distant galaxy, he felt scars run down his face to the bone, a radiating heat spreading throughout his body as he sweated profusely despite the cold. Finally he saw, he saw saint Sladek himself. He rested a palm on his shoulder as Ludvíks veins bulged in his neck and his legs curled, he saw a holy Kundrati in the distance flanked by monsters and horned beasts. Ludvík gasped a breath through his beleaguered throat and shook as a radiant golden city beckoning in a far distance, just out of grasp, stood on a hill. Shaking violently Ludvík prayed, and appeared before a mirror in the deep. The mirror floated mere inches from his face, Ludvíks fit only worsened until finally he finally, truly saw clearly, it was not his own face in the mirror. Saint Sladek looked back into his eyes, yet shared his own hazel features.

And finally he understood