As a bonus, here’s a singleton scene I wrote a little while back, set close to 1,000 years after “The First Sacrifice”. (If you’ve read “The First Sacrifice”, you’ll recognise one character who appears here.) One day, I hope to expand this, but for now, enjoy the snippet!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fiat justitia et pereat mundus.<\/em> – Let there be justice, though the world perish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nThe Vermilion Empire has endured for hundreds of years.<\/em><\/p>\n But now, the conquered nations grow restive.<\/em><\/p>\n The emperor lies dying. He has no heir.<\/em><\/p>\n There is but one man, Grand Duke Koh, acceptable to all.<\/em><\/p>\n If anything should happen to him…<\/em><\/p>\n \n Conjuring up Nemesis: The Scholar Tian Kizo<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tian Kizo met the spirit in a desert, under a blazing hot sun. The ruins of battle surrounded the two men: swords and bows and guns, discarded shirts of mail glittering so brightly they hurt his eyes. Though he still reeled from the vision he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen, it was the other man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words that were his focus now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen my story,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the spirit \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Artorius, that was his name \u00e2\u20ac\u201d spoke. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Your turn. What do you want of me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Justice.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For all Kizo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rehearsal, all his careful thought, the words came tumbling out. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My son is dead. Murdered. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no warrior \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but you are.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have no magistrates in your empire?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hah!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It was a short, bitter laugh. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153None who would arrest the greatest lord in the land.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ah.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That was all Artorius said. He folded one arm across his chest, the fingers of the other tapping on the hilt of his sword.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Please. Help me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kizo could hear the desperation in his voice. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You ended your mortal days when you were betrayed. Murdered. Your wife, too. You must know how I feel. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you want to deliver justice?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Justice.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Artorius stretched out the word. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At what price? The world is not a fairy tale.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If it were, my son would still be alive!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artorius held up a hand. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Listen to me. What will happen if I kill your empire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest lord?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kizo breathed deeply. He had to stay calm, convince the spirit with his logic. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have a plan. With your help, I can summon another spirit \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the Phoenix Prince, the founder of the empire. No matter if one lord dies \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the people can rally to the Prince.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Instead of replying, Artorius gazed off into the distance. Kizo felt sick. He could not tell what Artorius was thinking, not under that hard veteran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mask. This was by far his best chance for justice\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The world is not a fairy tale,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Artorius repeated. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be damned if I make it worse. All right, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll help you. And the name of this man I should kill?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let Kizo never again look forward so much to another man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Grand Duke Koh.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a bonus, here’s a singleton scene I wrote a little while back, set close to 1,000 years after “The First Sacrifice”. (If you’ve read “The First Sacrifice”, you’ll recognise one character who appears here.) One day, I hope to expand this, but for now, enjoy the snippet! *** Fiat justitia et pereat … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-snippets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}