Stop Watching

[Animael 1500]

 

"I am the Architect. I'm very much a coward and agree with most that can be spewed my way. I am only revealing this statement now that I am being hunted down by the Empire for utilizing the Arcane. I'm revealing this purely for the selfish hope that someone may help amidst the cries for my damnation and be better than me."

 

"It was confessed to me in private within the Palace long ago that the Crown Prince, the now Emperor, was diseased. I don't know whether it was used in the literal sense or just over the fact that he's a monster. Part of me doesn't want to reveal this and give an excuse for his actions."

 

"I have stood by and committed the crime of watching, doing nothing as innocents were murdered, executed for genuinely trifling things by those directly under his command. I've watched him murder innocent elves who clutched toys to their chest- a moth toy meant for anxiety relief- to try and stave off their fear. I watched him order the deaths of innocents directly for the SOLE reason of his personal joy. I've watched him treat his own children and siblings the exact same as the soldiers he abandoned. I watched as just before the attack came for him, he sought to strike Princess Livia, for the simple act of wanting to bury the head of her Knight, who had saved her life."

 

"His intent is complete domination. Because he can. The Elves, then the Orcs, then the Dwarves, then anything else that isn't human. Finally, it will be any ally that isn't directly under his command such as Kurai Kuni. Or those with mixed blood heritage under his banner. This isn't speculation, he treats his own family as pawns with no familial affection, they are treated of a higher station because they represent him and he knows that they have use at times."

 

"I do not expect it to reach this point in all honesty. I expect him to die before his own allies are threatened. I don't expect you to help, because truly this doesn't- shouldn't matter to you. Unless his enemies roll over tomorrow, you're safe. Those he's going for first are not. Like a child grabbing the toy closest to tear its head off."

 

"I'm writing this missive because selfishly, I have nothing to lose now. I have no family, loved ones, home. You do. I don't expect anything, because you have loved ones to protect or are useful to him and thus are spared for now, but I still beg that you stop watching. Take his sword from him- and hunt me for my sin of inaction when everything is over."

 

"If you are a knight considering desertion, do not approach the Grand Knight. There is no amount of convincing that will sway his loyalty to the Emperor and you will die. The Grand Knight is loyal and will never turn on him. Whilst Lady Andromede is not to blame for the Elves perishing- she's not to blame for the Emperors action. Those that have reached out about killing her, please do not, she is a healer and just another civilian living in an Empire, but no deliberate murderer."

 

"Harm NO innocent civilians.

Protect the weak. 

Please help."

 

• Architect

 

 

 

---

 

An innocent girl sat within a cell. A citizen of Caurost. Ark had stood and watched as the Crown Prince at the time, stepped inside. Declared to the guards around him that this elf- had suddenly lurched up to attack him. He explained the story with as much enthusiasm as someone coming up with a white lie to explain their avoidance of breakfast. Half hearted- there was no need to hide it. Why would there be… he was all powerful here. So when he had his children enter the cell to brutally stab the mute elven girl- who clutched a small toy she kept for staving off anxiety- Ark could do nothing but commit the sounds- those haunting sounds to memory. The sounds of exerted breath from his children as they ended the girls life for their fathers enjoyment. Ark watched and did nothing as the head was sawn off of the corpse- and carried to Caurost. A sick little hop to the Emperor's step as he left his horse, searching for the girl's friend.

"Take it." He bid, demanding the girl take the mess of- Ark blanched in recollection. On how he had forced her to take 'it' from him and be thankful. Her clothes, stained by its mere holding.

 

 

---

 

Ark watched as she was declared a fugitive for healing a princess and her husband. She meekly turned up to her own funeral. A court session where she was declared pardoned- and then to be executed for the crime of being an elf and wasting the Emperor's time… after being forcibly kicked into the dirt and dragged there by the man himself. She lived… protected at the last moment by Prince Maximilian. By the knights who sought to keep her safe, that she had bled for. She watched meekly, prisoner in her inaction as the Emperor ordered his people to bring him four innocent elves from the Empire, so he could butcher them for his enjoyment- no wait- a lesson. Right. This would be a lesson- 

 

Not four enemies. Not four criminals. Four innocents. Specifically innocent. Specifi- Arks mind shorted out, she stared in mute shock. Mute horror. Her allies helped the elves in the capital to escape- but no one reached Caurost on time save the dwarves- a dwarf that had spoken up in her defense- a dwarf whose death now filled her with such tragedy and woe that it became hard to maintain her connection when she cast.

 

 

---

 

A sword was drawn on the Princess by her own uncle. Multiple times it smacked down a shovel, threatening to skewer the servant acting upon the behalf of the Princess. And for what? Because she wished to bury the head of Redgar. Ark watched helplessly, in horror. Her stomach twisted and churned as the woman who had staked her life on protecting her now found herself in dire straights.

 

She had one gambit, something she had prepared such that she could cast subtly in an emergency. As the Princess was confronted upon the cliff's edge, a small shadowy black cat slunk out from the shadows of the tree she stood by and padded its way up the waterfall's edge. An angle that positioned itself behind the uncle of the Princess who claimed to be acting in her favour but held her at blade point. A spell slowly manifested, obsidian birds landing atop the cat's head in preparation to knock the blade away should it strike. Two more birds formed bit by bit- then her situation grew worse.

 

The Emperor trudged over towards them. Looked upon them. Demanded to be told what occurred. Having appeared out of nowhere to this remote location seemingly by pure coincidence.
"Whom are we burying" The Emperor asked.
"Sir Redgar."
“I do not think so,” The Emperor bid sternly, stepping forth; his left-hand extended outwards, awaiting for the head to be provided to him. “My daughter, hand me over the head.” Hadrian's features were stolid; it did not seem upset, nor did it bubble with rage. An odd smile plastered his lips, it sat there--a fake replication of joy, very uneasy.

 

When the Princess sought to explain she was burying Redgar's head- her knight. And then uttered her distaste, her sheer melancholy at being abandoned by her father who left her to die to Orcs…When his words morphed into a sly sadistic look of joy- He spoke with such bemused assuredness. He was an emperor, and she was a little girl who dared wish to do something that wasn't directly at his command. “Oh?” The Emperor leaned forward, and started to usher in cruel whispers. Yet they were so loud, most of those nearby could hear him. “I did not want to save you, though? Do you think yourself someone important, my daughter? An imperial princess? Your station is befitting your birth, but what have you done to risk the lives of all my men in saving you?” Hadrian's lips croaked, his bottom-haft twitched, and soon enough, the smile that festered upon his lips burried deep from each corner of his cheek. “You think yourself someone, Liv?” Hadrian's left-hand steadily rose, and slowly, it started to descend towards her face -- it was a long, arduous movement. “What would you be without your birth and blood, girl?”

 

“Give me the head, before you are buried alongside your saviour,” Hadrian smiled the sun's smile. Why should he send his men to protect her? To rescue her? When his intent revealed itself so brazenly beyond just the slaughtering of elves, but even an innocent girl she owed her life to - Something inside her finally snapped.

 

There was no pride, no ego. There was only terror. Her life was going to be over here. Everyone she knew she was going to leave behind.

 

As the Emperor stepped forwards and slowly raised his hand to beat his daughter, as his words snidely chastised her and echoed out his 'lesson' that he sought to teach her… a lesson. A lesson like those innocents he wanted to kill… a lesson like those dwarves he slaughtered… a lesson like the girl in the cells. Ark screamed, and birds flew.

 

Three spikes. As quick as an arrow flew point blank towards the Emperor's head. Ark wasn't sure how the knights surrounding him- moved so quickly as to be faster than speeding arrows that approached from behind them and outside of their field of vision- a tree between the feline familiar and their target. She could only be happy that one struck. With the power to pierce flesh to bone- striking like a sledgehammer it….

 

Didn't kill him? The Emperor gurgled and gasped but an arrow to the head- it did nothing?? It didn't kill him. It didn't just not kill him, he remained conscious… how???

 

Ark fled. She shed her guise and returned to check on the Princess. When she saw her being accused of treachery despite this being impossible - despite no one having a clue the Emperor would ever show up- The Princess was being dragged around by the hair, treated like a criminal despite having no part in it- despite being completely innocent. Knights prepared to kill her or worse. So Ark hastily wrote missives stating she intended to kill the princess and he appeared at the last moment.

 

She couldn't cry, or be sick. She just had to accept what had happened. She was terrified, she kept her head down- she protected people. She never wanted to be reviled or hated or hunted. She worked an ordinary job, tried to heal- and was almost killed for it. There was no way back for her now, and she had no choice but to accept.

 

Accept. Keep her head down, follow- like a sheep. Docile. Subservient - in hiding-

 

She was not noble. She was not selfless. She had no divine mandate, no protection from the gods. Her pride didn't exist, her ego had been shattered. She hoped that Princess Livia would not be killed thanks to the letter that claimed the attacker sought to kill her, but even that she couldn't be certain. Nothing was certain- doubt filled her entire being alongside the terror and dread at her own actions.

 

She needed to bury herself, to adopt a new identity- to be meek- to hide and keep her head down-

 

"Or…" She muttered to herself, her form turning translucent- the arcane that composed and kept her mortal 'shape' flaring. Maybe… she needed to stop watching…

 

 

---

 

She wasn't a hero, a saint, a god. She was just a woman that wanted to stop feeling so scared and useless.

 

She hoped others would stop watching.

"Please help…"

 

---

 

[Yeetboy0206 1574]

Maddock gaped as he read this. For once in his career, he could think of no respond to write. This was…He ran to the nearest lavatory and vomited, his own hatred for bad parents boiling over as the abusive parenting described by the Emperor convinced him he needed to do something about it. No child, no matter what, should have to fear their own father. As he returned home and saw his twin girls sleeping, barely a year old, he made a resolve within himself, and started drafting a letter. “To Her Imperial Highness, Princess Livia…”

 

Lilac Rae con Rhoswald gaped in horror at the evil she had just read about. She tried to imagine what it might be like, if her father were to try and strike her like that. She could not. What kind of monster was Hadrian? It was as though he had his soul ripped out of him and his body was instead stuffed with the worst of mankind’s sins, a divine punishment upon the human race. “GOD protect us…”

Edited December 30, 2025 by Ryfin Chany
Changing font color for easy reading

[Aftrballini 450]

     Somewhere in the depths of a cavern illuminated by feint blue light, a large blonde woman read over the message. Hilda. Though her smile had faded. Her facade melted away in streaks of dye as masked servants ran their hands through it. To wash away a great lie. A fake life. Bearing fruit after all. 
 

  Left behind— long red hair and a sharp toothed grin. 

 

   “My my.. The dear Architect is finally.. awake..”

 

    

 

 

[Mescaffier 6197]

"Slop!" grumbled one old de Senna, who was sorting through their mail bin. Three failed An'thrāx (an Orcish drug) letters to her husband, the Archchancellor, and many threats, failed bribes. "Maybe they ought to push an exterminatus order for the elves, next ..." 

 

@cadazio

[ChainedDragons 1374]

Bron read over the missive his eyes narrowing in  disgust. If this didn't sway those of Idunia to turn their backs on this tyrant what would? When would Idunia let go of their fear? He hoped soon.. he had invested too much in this country he had been enamored by. 
He didn't want it to be a waste.

[Casualty 77]

Trodding through the arid shrubbery upon Tanglefoots back, a trusty mare once granted for loyal service, did a cowboy esque dressed vivurian read the missive. 

 

"hunted down by the empire?.. let em try"

 

Pensive, with a hint of amusement, did she gnaw on a reed stuck between her lips. Moving it up and down, up and down, before resolution set. Hand reaching down and giving the mares neck some soothing pats.

 

"This most certainly gratin ma nerves here, Tangle"

Joelina spoke to her steed, leaning even futher back, almost tumbling off the saddle as she rummaged about a saddle satchel for pen and paper, there was a teacher to write to. 

Edited December 31, 2025 by Casualty

[KeiaTypeBeat 3277]

Spoiler

What a post, not many make me feel such strong emotions. This really rocks 

 

[The Vulgate Cycle 577]

Arthur read slowly, very slowly, for the first time in a long time, he could not peel his eyes away from the words. Something instinctive and almost primordial was set alight inside his soul. An old flame that, over the years had been beat down by reality, the idealistic ambition of a greater future, stomped on over and over again, came back with avengeance. A father's rejection that any harm should come to his children. A knight's fury at too many crimes, left unanswered. 

 

Tempered and stoaked in equal measure by thoughts of his own family. His wife, a mage who had served Idunia faithfully, was spared only because she was in Idunia. Sons with grand ambitions of their own. A daughter, who wore all black and yet was a brilliant light as powerful as any sun.

 

He had to ensure their safety. He could not continue to support this madman, even indirectly.

The Orcs were genocidal in their own right. Tiberias and Hadrian are godless.

We could resist. We would die.

 

The Lord in Tirgoneth had nothing close to resembling a coherent thought the rest of that day. War had come, to have its savage battle in his minds eye and he could not look away. 

 

So for the first time since he was a boy, he departed for the autumnal Woodlands. As he had when an old, hillfort upon a rise had been cracked asunder. So that he could lose himself in Aeradar's creations and seek forgiveness for all he had failed to do. And for his people, who he did not wish to see cast within a sepulchre.

[Navigator 4260]

Vihimsa read it over a cup of tea, leg resting over the other, leaned slouchily on a chair. Amused, he set it aside and stood up. He brushed his new hair, gingerly traced fingers along new ears, and adjusted the new armor over that new body.

 

"About time I dip my feet into the slaughter. Perhaps finding this 'Ark' for the Emperor of Man would be enough for an audience." He hauled that maul and hoisted the shield, rolling his neck idly. "Time to go impure-hunting..."

[Sr_Dimentio 586]

"Hurting his own daughter... And children...?"  Dementio, a father before a villain, crumbled the paper furious while reading "That's all the damn small respect I had left... That pathetic little man is nothing but a coward if he has to hurt his own children... Shame... Shame is what those who obey him should feel right now... Do any of them has children...? And they're not dying of the embarassment of obeying a little man that hurts his own children... That hurts defenseless children... That's the definition of COWARDICE!!!" he slammed his fist on a table, panting from the anger as Squeakington flinched, putting a hand on Dementio's leg, the two went quiet.

[Rulf Bypharrk 74]

Rulf reads the missive, a blank expression at the words that have been written. For some it was just slander to the Empire... for some it was a wake up call, for Rulf... he's been awake for a while already, even if it took time on his end. As he turns around to walk among the masses, disappearing within the crowd as he makes his way home.

 

"Ich hope you're fine, Ark, meine Freundin. Not only does a coward live longer, but also have time to grow und reflect."

[Chuuwys 502]

"Oh, so when I say it..." She sighs. 

[Marthia 273]

R

[Reckless Banzai Screamer 15456]

“Eh if they kill me, they kill me. I would much rather die a man who honors his promises and stand on business even if it meant I was damned than to concern myself with or fear the what ifs of the world,” commented Kato Ena to himself believing in the power of friendship. To die alone is sad but to die with friends is beautiful. He slips the missive into his desk drawer at the teahouse and continues his reading though his mind did linger some on his former contract companion and how much the world had changed since they last met.

[PolarLoLs 984]

 

The warrior sat among grass after the battle, blade leaned against his shoulder as he rest with it

“Let the enslaved fight, for no right has ever been earned peacefully”