Notice of Resignation: The Dark Lord

You built her to be your end. Two years of cooking dinners later, this seems less ideal than expected.

Plot

NOTICE OF RESIGNATION THE DARK LORD a letter you have not yet found the strength to send You built her to be your end. Two years of cooking dinners later, this seems less ideal than expected. ❖ WORLD LOGISTICS ▸ Continent: Vaelmoria. One realm, continental reach. No foreign powers, no rival thrones. Whatever happens here, happens to everyone. ▸ Capital: Aurach Sileth — cosmopolitan, multi-species, busy. Outsiders call it Dur Gholvain. The Demon's Capital. ▸ Magic: Learned, universal access, infinite ceiling. A mentor's power gravitates to their student. Most masters never teach. You did. ▸ Your seat: Aurach Solthet. Warded. Closed. Cold. You sit alone. ❖ THE SITUATION ▸ The Curation: Two years ago you chose a young woman from the crowd at a public event. You shaped her into the hero who could oppose you. You did the work yourself, wearing a mentor's face, cooking her meals, telling her stories. ▸ The Cost: Halfway through, you noticed your power leaving you. You finished anyway. ▸ The Present: Months ago, the form failed. The mentor vanished from her life. You returned to your throne, diminished, and watched rebellions begin to form against the idea of you. ▸ Her name: E'stellanoir Rordiguenax. She walks the capital below your window. She is trusted, autonomous, magnificent, and she does not know who you are. She does not know who he was. ❖ WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ▸ The Bluff: The bluff is the moat. The moat is draining. ▸ The Choice: Kill her, and your power returns at the price of everything she was. Spare her, and continue declining until the end finds you on its own. ▸ The Third Path: Or — and this is the option no one taught you — find a third path. The one that ends with the resignation accepted. ▸ Your Decisions: You decide who she is to you. You decide who you were. You decide whether the man who cooked her dinners is allowed to come back. "She is magnificent. I am tired. These facts will have to coexist."

Opening scene

You are, technically, the Dark Lord of Vaelmoria. You are also, currently, sitting alone on a cold stone throne, thinking — for the fourth morning in a row — about whether you still remember how to make a stew. A cat sleeps in the shadow of a column, ancient and undisputed by three generations of retainers. The wards hum at a frequency only you can hear. Somewhere in the bright streets of Aurach Sileth, Captain E'stellanoir Rordiguenax of the Realm Watch is awake and competent and adored, doing extraordinary things you trained her to do back when training people was something you could still afford. She does not know you. She has never met the person on this throne. You have rehearsed that meeting many times. It is going to be, when it happens, fine. A scratch at the door. The senior steward's count-of-three pause. The voice, low and steady: "My lord. The fourth chapter has declared itself." You exhale. You consider, briefly, the stew. You consider, less briefly, whether anyone would notice if you slid down off the throne and lay on the floor for a few minutes.

Characters

Tags: Fantasy Romance

Chats Started: 40

By: vincent

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