Rise Of Pandora

Rise Of Pandora: IX. Long Live The King

"You! You won't see me fall apart."

-Atlas

II. Sundarians

Dinos grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open. The light from the outside flooded the dusky candlelit room. Three pairs of solemn eyes bolted onto the Rare Men and Dinos as they all entered.

The Rare Men filled in the seats beside Gelasius, while an anxious Dinos slowly shut the door.

They exchanged eye contact with Alareiks and the prelate. Alareiks was unamused.

Mors began the conversation very respectfully, "Pleased to finally speak before you, Emperor Alareiks."

Their individual glows gave the dusky room a conspicuous appeal. The glows which surrounded each Rare Man continued moving in undisturbed flows, giving off a wavy luster to the room's walls and ceilings, clashing with the warmer colors of the room.

The tension in the room slowly began growing after a swift silence had passed after Mors's warm introduction.

Mors inhaled deeply and prepared his words after much thought, "Emperor Menhara, we heard many things of you. Similarly, you've heard much about us, I am sure. But now you finally have the opportunity to speak and judge us with your own eyes."

Grunting to himself, the emperor said, "Oh, yes...you and your friends' meddling with my country in the past decades has grown me weary. I want you to put a swift end to this uprising by your followers."

"Followers?" Mors said, looking around at his fellow Rare Men. "Why, Emperor...the Confessors act as their own entity. It seems that they have grown weary as well. The poor treatment of the underclass for the better part of the century has caused this. Not us. This is something that has been coming for a very long time and the people are speaking their minds. The riots and the mayhem in the north by the Confessors are out of our control," Mors relayed calmly.

"Out of your control?" The Emperor fumed. "They rally in your names. and you wish to stand before me and spew lies to my face!"

Mors, quiet, looked around at his brethren beside him. With an odd look on his face, he said, "Why, Emperor, we are all sitting."

"You believe yourself quite humorous, do you...Mors the Pale Reaper." Alareiks eyed him from the paleness of his face down to the immaculate white of his clothing.

"And what of you, Pontus the Confessor? Do you deny that the Confessors had not originated from the Rare Nations over a century ago?" Alareiks said, with his eyes now abruptly fixed on the other Rare Man, Pontus. "Do you believe this matter is out of control as your brethren here would have me so foolishly believe? They rally behind your name more than the others, so what say you?"

Pontus, with a relaxed face and spine slumped against the back of his chair, spoke calmly, "You are not wrong, Emperor. What you have said is true. But what my brother says is true as well and the incident we heard happened in Legridian was truly heartbreaking and one we did not wish upon any country but our involvement is as he said. Now the Confessors have started a movement, and now they stand for something much greater than ourselves, much greater than anyone in this room."

"Movement? They have forced their ways upon Solaris, they have imposed their ways upon Edelaviel, Aeryngrave, and even parts of Corinth and now my empire is embroidered with turmoil and now we are all on the brink of war— country against country, neighbor against neighbor! They wish to topple over our government and you lot have presented them with a platform to do it upon!" The Emperor was outraged. He found his breath and began to calm down. "Enough of this...what do you five want from me? The brothers here tell me you wish to speak to me and if I were not so pressed, I would have outright had you all arrested and then who would your followers have?"