The Prince of Demons

Azzeck

I sat at my desk and let out a long sigh; each report on my desk made me want to cry. Where was Nil? After the trap made him and Luna vanish, there was no sign of where he was. The only sign Nil was alive was the fact that Lux was still alive. I wanted to believe the two were safe, that they would be home any second, but how? Would they even know how to get back? I knew we gave Nil an emergency fund, but was it enough to afford the travel here? Being Emperor didn’t get to pause just because Nil was missing either. My parents at least were helping out the best they could, and covering for Senna who was not doing well at all. I was definitely worried about her sanity as Senna never let Ein or Riva out of her sight for longer than a couple of seconds now. She stayed locked in the upper floors with the two of them and Lux. Lux was not doing all that great either. Lux would never admit it, but she missed Nil. Not knowing where Nil was and if he was in danger clearly terrified her. Orga was on paid vacation for now as Lux was too distraught to pay attention to anything; she also refused to leave Senna's side. My brother and Nez tried locating the kids with no luck. Grand Archmagus Solomon discreetly put out some feelers with the Institution of Mages for some clue, but that also yielded nothing. I sighed again. Senna was utterly furious with Nox and Nez; she blamed the two of them almost entirely. Not that I would voice it, but I don’t think it would have mattered which of us were with them that day. That trap was something that seemed to come from another world.

I had to hold everything together the best I could. Try and console Senna. Make sure Ein and Riva were getting their lessons and play time. Cesar, Cleo, and Julius tried helping in their own ways, but what could they do? They were at least trying. I looked through the stack of paperwork; I just wanted to be holding my kids close and comforting Senna. I needed to keep moving though. Lords being Emperor sucks sometimes. One that caught my eye was a letter from Themys. I read it over. Apparently, we should be anticipating an envoy any day now based on the timing of this. Matriarch Uryana hinted the envoy would surprise us with the subject matter but didn’t discuss it further in her letter. I wondered what fresh torment that would be. If it wasn’t something to discuss in a letter like this, it was something that needed to be said in person. I thought we were on neutral terms with them. Maybe they wanted some form of trade agreement? It was a long distance to sail, and they neighbored that idiotic human kingdom. Technically, neighbored the Ahzen Forest which neighbored them, but close enough. Could they possibly want to assist us if we went to war with the humans? There was no point in speculating as I didn’t have a lot of information to go off of. My sources informed me Matriarch Apparent Ailla and her husband Lilas were the envoy which likely meant it was something kind of serious. According to my sources, the elves went incredibly secretive over something they found, and only kept the Matriarch’s family in the loop.

For now, I had other problems to address. Apparently, some people were zealously hunting as the population took a noticeable dip. Why? Their meat was hardly desirable. Maybe the pelts? Was this some grand scheme to have plenty of blankets to sell in the winter? It was a low priority for now. Wait, how was the envoy from Themys getting here? The likely port was Celsitu, but I had no report saying they arrived. Did they sneak in? Why would they? How would they? Please nothing have happened to them, I didn’t need another headache right now. I looked through the other reports. Several groups of bandits were apprehended. That was good. Wait. They were all near the path between Celsitu and Umbra. Did the Themys envoy sneak in and just quietly dispatch the bandits? That was an odd move if they did. I kept going through the reports, categorizing them on subject and priority. It was oddly peaceful on a global scale at the moment. I’d take it, as having to find Nil and a few minor domestic issues was about all I could deal with right now. There was a global report on the fact the pirate lord Nautilus was missing; I pitied whatever country she decided to show up in whenever she was done with whatever she was doing. I was thanking the Lords that was the most exciting piece of global news. Thinking about it, I should probably get a wanted poster of her so I knew what she looked like.

As for domestic issues, it was simply a few on the current tax rates. With the worker reforms passing the tax rates showed to have a few flaws, but we were working through them. The Court of Commons was generally happy and understood that rewriting the tax code took a bit of time. The nobles were a bit more irate as they protested vehemently. Being spiteful to the work force would only hurt us in the long run, but that concept seemed foreign to them. Happy people made a happy Empire. I was grateful my parents were helping on that front, as many didn’t have the bravado to argue with my dad. Things as a whole were looking good, except for the fact Nil was missing. I wrote up my directives for the separate issues and gave them to Cesar to address. I looked outside my window, admiring Umbra. I wanted Nil to hopefully one day get to enjoy this view. Where was he? I wanted him home; I wanted my family back. It was well passed dinnertime unfortunately.

“I think we’ve done enough for today.” I told Cesar. He nodded and didn’t argue.

We left my office and Cesar left to spend time with his family; it was hard not to be bitter and envious about that. I went to the dining room, where I ate my dinner by myself. It was hard to enjoy the meal. Nox and Nez were currently trying to avoid upsetting Senna any further. I missed having meals together with everyone. Hopefully when Nil got back things returned to how they were. I want my son back. I finished eating, going to see Senna. I entered our room, where Ein and Riva excitedly rushed to greet me. I put my best smile on as I saw a disheveled Senna on our bed, clutching her sword so hard her knuckles were white. Lux was by her, looking despondently at us. Senna had deep bags under her eyes, which were a bit puffy as she’d clearly been crying a little.

“Any news?” Senna asked. Even her voice sounded defeated.

“We should be getting an envoy from Themys soon. They hinted at a surprise; it might be pleasant.” I tried while picking up Riva. From Senna’s stare, I knew it didn’t help.

“I meant on Nil.” Senna told me, clearly about to cry again.

“Not yet.” I informed her, trying to sound optimistic for her. It was hard.

Senna just curled around Lux when she heard that. Lux and Senna both deflated more somehow. I wish I had better news. I was Emperor of Speranza and still felt so powerless to help them. To find Nil. I needed to keep on a happy face for Ein and Riva though. Riva hadn’t exactly caught on yet, but Ein clearly was starting to pick up on it. I did my best to play with Riva and Ein to distract them. I wanted to go out onto a more open floor, but I knew Senna would not handle that well. I was getting very concerned about her. Her parents were doing their best to cheer her up and take care of the kids, but Grisbane was not that great at it to begin with, and Surdel could only do so much. Maybe I should send them away to help look for Nil. I wasn’t sure how Senna would react, as the grief was clearly crushing her. After playing with my children for a bit, I tucked them away for bed, before just collapsing onto mine. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold everything together. This was so difficult. I held Senna close, doing my best to comfort her as I fell asleep.

My alarm went off way too soon; I felt utterly drained despite having slept for a solid six hours. I just wanted to lay there with my wife so we could cry together. But I had a job to do. I had obligations to fulfill. I kissed Senna good morning, before struggling to get ready to face the day. It took everything I had to even leave the room. I dragged myself to breakfast, sitting in my chair. I solemnly looked at the wall, hoping someone would join me. Nil, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I choked back tears as Nox and Nez filed in. Both of them looked like they were lifting the world. Cesar and Cleo joined in a few minutes after. Breakfast felt more like a wake than a meal despite everyone that was there. Nox and Nez both tried their best to comfort me, but the guilt was clearly destroying them. Nez looked like he was hanging on by a thread as he tried to lift the mood at breakfast. What more could be done? We just had to hope Nil miraculously returned, ideally with Luna.

Duke Dawnsfield was understandably quite bitter that his daughter went missing with Nil. He didn’t voice it, but his eyes were so angry at us. Could I blame him? How would I feel in his shoes? His daughter got wrapped up in our problems and has been missing for around six weeks now. I wanted to believe if any children could find their way back, it was those two oddballs. Senna and I would joke behind closed doors Luna might be the next Empress. They were kids, so who knew. I let out a small chuckle. I want to go back to being able to joke and think about things like that. It took all of my willpower not to start crying as I thought about it. Lords I wanted things to be back to normal. They would be. They had to be. I didn’t want to lose my son like this. The not knowing made it so much worse. That blasted tiny sliver of hope was almost suffocating. I dreaded the day Lux might fall over dead. I’d lose my son and wife that day for sure. I hated this feeling. Why was I so powerless? What were my last words to Nil? It was something mundane. Why couldn’t they have been I love you? My heart hurt so much. I forced myself forward, going to my office. I slammed down in my chair, just putting my head in my hands as I tried composing myself. Please just let this hell be over. I sighed, knowing it could easily go on for a lot longer. It might never end. Please; I need it to.

I looked at my paperwork, trying to distract myself. That was fruitless. I just couldn’t focus yet. I got up, looking at the sun rise over Umbra. I wanted to believe today it looked better than usual. More hopeful. It was a delusional thought, but I just. I needed something to be looking up. Things across Speranza were going fairly well, things were a bit tense between us and the Modinar Kingdom but that was normal, and there were no major crises going on. And none of it mattered without my family. I slumped back into my chair. I needed to keep moving forward. Someone had to rule while my family was slowly crumbling. These were the moments I truly disliked being Emperor. As I was lamenting to myself, Senna entered my office carrying Lux. Ein and Riva were with her, as she shuffled down into the nearby seat. I wanted to make her pain go away. I. I just. I just couldn’t. I tried everything, but it wasn’t good enough. Nothing I could do could fix this. We sat in silence as Senna tried reading a few reports. Around nine in the morning we got word from the city guards that an envoy from Themys had arrived. Why would they sneak all the way to Umbra? I took a calming breath. For some reason, it really pissed me off. I took another breath. They probably had their reasons. Senna, however, looked even angrier than me.

“When they arrive here, tell them we’re busy and won’t be able to see them for a few days.” She snarled. Her face was downright wrathful. I nodded in agreement. About five minutes later Cesar walked in.

“Do you really want to relegate the Themys envoy to wait a few days?” Cesar checked cautiously. He could feel the anger rolling off Senna in waves.

“They somehow snuck into Speranza and all the way here. That’s beyond insulting.” Senna snapped at him.

“I unders-“ Cesar began, until a glare from Senna even made my blood a bit chilly.

“Five days.” Senna declared. Cesar nodded with understanding, before going to leave.

Should I try and calm her down? Probably should wait until at least lunch to try and maybe push up the time table. How did they manage this though? It seemed like a lot of effort just to anger us. Maybe they were trying to be discreet for some reason. I could see the mass of the envoy walk towards the castle. Why didn’t they have carriages? Did something happen? I sighed, knowing this was likely going to be a headache, especially with Senna demanding they wait for insulting us like this. Before I could try and say something, Lux perked up immensely. What caught her attention?

“NIL! HE’S BACK!” Lux declared happily, launching herself out of my window. What? How? Was she confident? Please be true. Please. Please be true. Senna looked like she was processing what Lux just said.

“CROWN PRINCE NIL AND LUNA HAVE RETURNED!” Cesar cried a few moments later. Senna perked up as we both rushed to the front gate.