Valence hung his head, in response. That voice- it just punched him, it felt. He could hardly breath, and he knew what was about to happen.
"I'd say I saved you, but that's not entirely correct. I killed you. Quite thoroughly. You were dead for about three days."
He wrung his gloveless hands. Half because it was freezing cold, and he hadn't yet let his runes restore the protection over him, and half because he felt horrible. Unconsciously, he traced the disfiguring on his palm, of the lightning rune.
"And I used Renascens to bring you back. Renascens being the rune of 'rising again'."
He sighed, and dropped down, head lolling a bit as he tried to distract himself a little.
"You know, my own parents are dead. I never really knew them. They lived near the southern border of Valryk- just outside a fort. When the Southern Empire came knocking, they burst through the borders and surrounded those forts- slaughtered everyone outside them. Right now, they're trying to starve the soldiers in the forts out- I went out there as a messenger, for a short time."
He wiped his nose; it was running a bit, and he could feel the liquid starting to freeze on his skin. Unconsciously, he rubbed his eyes, as well, staring at the icy ceiling.
"We had too many runes on the walls, too many soldiers inside. They couldn't break through. So they resorted to using their trebuchets to sling the bodies of dead villagers inside the walls. That's how I knew they were dead. Teleported into a fort, and saw the piles of bodies, of body parts. Saw part of my dad. The upper half. My mom... I guess she hit real hard. Only a couple parts of her I recognized."
At this point, tears ran silently down his cheeks. Before they even got to his jaw, they were slowing, icing up. He wiped at them, absently.
"You haven't seen anything, until you've seen the Southern Empire. Imagine thousands upon thousands losing their mothers and fathers to fates worse than your mothers'. I guess I'm just total shit at plans, right?" He laughed, pitifully and weakly.
"Wanted to show you and your father and everyone else what it'd be like to lose a very dear loved one to an invasive outer force. Wanted him to understand. But no. He's not. Your father, the King, is going to sit in his walls and wait, collecting taxes and buying and selling, until the Southern Empire arrives. And at that point, all of us down South that refused to be assimilated into this new empire? We're all gonna be dead. All our mothers and fathers and cousins and sons and daughters, all our aunts and nieces, uncles and nephews. Our grandparents. Dead, to people who could care less."
He was crying, now. Sobbing, even, chest heaving in his armor, slowly freezing, slowly falling apart. He heaved in breath after breath, and continued.
"I am going to be a monster. I am going to force people to accept what's going on. I'm going to try my best to force your greedy father, counting coins, to come to our aid, to come to the mothers' and the daughters' aid, so that we won't be taken over and destroyed. Imagine soldiers marching over the bodies of your armies, and slaughtering your people in their homes. And then slinging your mother and your father at you as you try to resist."
"And if I fail here, if I fail to bring in aid to my people, then I won't have anything left. I grew up among the Royal Family and their protectors and advisers. People died to get me the powers I have now. All these runes, the knowledge I know. I could stop an army, given time. But I don't have the time. And there are too many armies. Once my people are dead, I will have nothing. None of the other Southern Conglomerate nations will come to our aid; foreign nations are attacking the coast, and the Southern Empire is chewing up the most powerful of us, if they haven't already taken it. The Northern Empire is too far away and already occupied with their northern defense. You're the only ones with idly manpower, and you won't move because you are all just gonna sit here and count your coin and wait for the Southern Empire to reach you, and then expect them to stop and trade with you peacefully! Look at what's already happening! The Vale doesn't stand a chance on its own! I got in and ruined so much so easily! What do you think they're going to do?!"
He shoved himself abruptly to his feet, forgetting he was on ice. His feet fell out from under him, and he faceplanted into the Renascens rune, sliding somewhat, sobbing and just generally grieving. His nose was bleeding, a splatter of blood covering the rune, and he kept his forehead to the ice, feeling it stab into him. It didn't matter anymore; there was no way to solve all this.
"Go ahead, Princess," he managed, thickly. "Cut me down and get your revenge, and go back to living in your palace until they come knocking, and then see if they're interested in negotiating! What do I have to lose, right?! My people are dead anyways. My family already is."
He turned over, sliding his back towards her, and curled up.
"At least your people know your name. At least you have a father."
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