First Draft First Person Perspective

Third Era, year 1589. Empire of Brania.

This was the year that signaled the beginning of the end for the third era and would bring a time where no one would be discriminated against. It all started with a decision from Emperor Brania, or better known in the future as The Tyrant Emperor. Till that day we were all able to live our lives peacefully, it was on the third month and twelfth day that the previous Emperor died, and his son took the throne. He was a man who was very clear, forceful tyrannical about what he viewed as right and wrong, and due to being the only heir was made Emperor.

It was this day in his throne room in front of the nobility, and his courtiers that he made a declaration. The atmosphere in the room was filled with tension, which was as palpable as the heat coming from a witch's pyre. The Grim Reapers scythe seemed to be hanging over the two men in front of the newly crowned emperor, both seemed to be of great wealth and were begging for their lives. He looked on this scene with eyes as cold as the depths of Tartarus, and ruthless as a predator on the hunt, uncaring of their cries. These two men were famous craftsmen, well known for their skill in their crafts as well as the quality of their items. None of this mattered in the eyes of The Tyrant because what they were, what they represented, was an unforgivable and unpardonable act against nature in his eyes. By ordering the execution of these two individuals, he was sending out a clear and loud message. Anything, as they were not people in his eyes, that was known or suspected to be homosexual would be sentenced to death.

Three years ago, I graduated from the magic academy, found to be a prodigy that came once in ten-thousand years I had the talent to easily learn the complex forms of magic, the vibrant imagination to bring the spells to life, as well as a mana pool to match. I was immediately recruited by the previous emperor to train under his court mage to be the next head court mage. Under his tutelage I soaked up his vast knowledge like a sponge, to which he responded in kind teaching me more and more. I knew everything I needed to create my own spells and eventually reach the stature of my mentor, and as much as he cared about me and I him, I knew that I no longer had a place in this empire. I knew from a young age that I didn't like the opposite gender, though now I'm even more grateful that I never had time for romance in my quest for knowledge. Knowledge in this world, especially for a mage, is equivalent to power, and I never wanted to be as powerless as I was as a child again. For this reason, I was in the throne room next to Calvert Conroy, the current head court mage to the right of The Tyrant Emperor. I knew that soon who I am, or what I am in his eyes would be found out. I had to leave before then, or my life would be in jeopardy. This is my story; this is how I, Setia Conroy, became ruler to an equal and fair empire.

----

I was still grieving over the death over the death of the previous emperor, he was a kind and honest man. He always put the needs of his people above his own, his taxes were fair only a little more than what was needed for the empire. Unfortunately, his son much unlike his father was the complete opposite off him. He was a greedy, scheming, and treacherous man and over the past few years sentiments to people like me grew worse and worse. Then most conveniently his father died, we all knew that it was him but there was nothing that we could do but accept fate and prepare for the worst. After the couple was sentenced to death, they were brought to the market had their crimes announced and were burned at the stake.

I started to plan my escape as soon as I found out why we were summoned to the throne room. Having grown up in the slums after my parents were killed, I learned to survive on my own quickly and easily, like everything else I learned. This also affected the spells that I first chose to create when I had sufficient knowledge to do so. These involved spells like a silent steps spell, an invisibility spell, as well as a spell that made me float slightly above the ground to not leave tracks while still having traction.

Several hours passed as a waited for night to fall, as the sun fell, and the new moon rose on the horizon the capital became cloaked in a tangible inky black darkness. I start casting my first spell of the night as thin tendrils of mana weave in a complex array of twirls, weaves, and sudden direction changes giving form to the weave. The weave was giving off a discreet and inconspicuous feeling as if trying to avoid attention as much as possible. Two seconds latter I finish the spell and disappeared, the light tightly bending around my lean figure, making me invisible to the naked eye. Following this I wove an air steps, deodorizing, disguising, and antidetection spell from magical means.

With all my espionage spells active, I swiftly make my way through the castle like an owl in the night, unseen and undetected. I start making my way to the treasury, when I'm a little ways away from it I cast my spell detection weave, seeing several alarm traps around me I make sure to temporarily disable them for the night so as not to trigger them. I weave a perception spell to make sure I can avoid the countermeasure physical traps, and make my way into the treasury. For my plan to work, I grab an aptitude sphere, which measures a person's mana capacity. I then make my way to the siege granary, quickly disabling the traps I take several spatial rings worth of clean water, meat, vegetables, and grains. With it I will be able to make a haven for anyone who wants to escape the Emperor's tyranny. Finally, I make my way to the most protected area of the treasury casting my weave, to see what I'm dealing with. I take my time disabling the traps making the duration of them much shorter, and therefore harder to detect. After half an hour I finally get to the protected space-time treasure, which is used in times to war, specifically for mass training with the ten times time dilation and easy transportation of troops. Having everything I need for my plan I quickly make my way out before the mage guards notice that the traps outside have been disabled, making a quick and silent escape from the castle.

I make my way to the merchant's district and stop in front of a run-down house on the edge of the district. Tears well up in my eyes as I remember what happened that fateful day when my parents were killed, while I hid in a secret compartment. What looked like mercenaries broke into our home my parents tried to defend themselves but were killed, while hiding I saw one of them had a strange insignia on his chest. That insignia etched itself into my mind as I never forgot it. Years later I found that the insignia represented an organization who the Emperor's son used to do his dirty work.

-Why am I so powerless too everything that this wretched man does in my life? First, he destroyed my life and killed everyone that I held dear, putting me on the streets, alone and helpless to the world around me. Now I must run and hide from him again, either choosing to run away like a coward, die under his tyrannical rule, or die fighting against it.

I kneel on the ground, my scarlet hair running down my warm ivory skin along with my tears. I pull myself together, as a look of indignant fury and determination appears on my face.

-No! I will not, be powerless anymore! No one will trample over me again! I'm tired of living in fear of those who may oppress me, and that ends now. I will free this country from such a tyrant or die trying, and if I cannot, I will sure as hell go down swinging with everything I've got.

I stand back up on my feet, my back straight as an arrow, as a profound sense of confidence and determination etches itself into my very being. I swiftly make my way to the slums as I arrive in a specific alleyway known by many in the slums and pull various materials out of my dimension. I start casting a supremely intricate spell over the course of a minute as the materials float in front of me. As the intricate and elegant weave coalesces into a spell the materials turn into dust and merge into the mana as the weave settles onto the ground before disappearing, as a feeling of mental transparency settles on the area. This array as they are called, makes it so that whoever has control of the array can discover the intentions and thoughts of whoever is in it, otherwise know as the Clear Intentions Array. I pull out the Space-time treasure before looking into it, seeing nothing but the inner landscape inside, I slowly but surely activate the treasure binding it to me, and the gate to this spot until it is otherwise moved. I bind it to myself knowing that no one will be able to go inside without my permission. To start my plan people, need to know the truth, so I need to spread and get people to believe what happened to the previous Emperor. With those thoughts in mind I activate the treasure, disappearing from view and appearing on the vast landscape inside

----

-These past six months have been very successful, I'm even in the final phase of my plan. Inciting the publics wrath worked better than I could ever imagine, even reversing the public opinion on people like me. Even many of the old Emperors guards and generals were very willing to listen to my plan after finding out that The Tyrant, as we now call him, killed his own father. With a clear intention weave, I was able to weed out any potential spies. Not only that but he is basically bringing his own demise with how high he set the taxes.

Thinking this a confident smirk emerges on my face knowing that we could overthrow The Tyrant in just four months' time if everything is within my calculations. With all the food I have stored in various spatial rings, we could train up for years before making our move. With all this in mind I walk into an alleyway and disappear.

"Everyone, everything is in place on the outside. The people are dissatisfied with The Tyrant, many court magicians, guards, and others are on the inside ready to rebel at my signal. Many who had no choice but to flee because of who they are, like General Amaurri the Warrior former general of the Hellfire Legion, which became the spear of the Brania Empire due to him. He will begin to train all of you into the soldiers you've dreamed of becoming today!" As I finished exclaiming this to the thousands of people in front of me I turned around and walked towards General Amaurri,

"Good luck training them, I know I won't be disappointed, here are your portion of the food. You know what to do with it, I'm excited to see your results," even despite the serious expression I show, a glimmer of excitement shone in my eyes knowing the things he'll be able to accomplish in the next few years.

"I also look forward to the results you'll be able to create with a cohort of war mages," he said to me with a deep and strong voice that commanded the respect of everyone around him. Everything about him demanded respect, from his 6'4" stature and his mountainlike body, to his serious and commanding eyes. Knowing everything will be fine I smile and nod to him, then make my way to the cohort of mages casting a flying and haste weave to get there faster.

Landing in a large clearing of trees, my eyes scan the cohort of people in front of me, well-tempered from six months of training under General Amaurri. "I'm sure all of you want to know why I had you train under General Amaurri for six months, yes? First was to test your mettle, see if you had the drive to become great, but more then that a mage is more than just their mind. To have a healthy mind, you need a healthy body. It allows you to think faster, smarter and with more clarity. All of these are needed to be a war mage. You are all now prepared to become mages, and that is what my job will be, to train you in the art of magic."

Over the next four months much of my time was spent teaching, observing, and helping the mages in their work. Every tenth day I would exit, while making sure public sentiment didn't undergo a negative shift and continuing to look for people in danger of execution to take in. With everything going within my calculations I had nothing to worry about. Finally, after over four years of training in the space-time treasure all the pieces had fallen into place, it was time to take down The Tyrant.

----

I slowly walked towards the legion of well-trained soldiers a look of satisfaction clear on my face. The Legion was well disciplined and gave off an oppressive feeling like standing before a mighty dragon. Each soldier had been trained in combat as well as body enhancement magic, which further boosted their prowess. I stopped at the edge of my twelve-foot platform and cast an amplification weave so everyone could clearly hear my voice. "Everyone, we used to be powerless, unable to escape the river of fate that dictated our lives. We let those who were more powerful trample over us, in fear that is we tried to stand up they would kill us. A Tyrant rose though, and he threatened everything we hold dear. Many of you would have been killed, some of you have family or friends who were. We no longer must live in fear that we or a family member will die due to injustice, because we can change the way things are. We will dethrone The Tyrant, and we will start a new era, where no one will be terrorized for who they are. From this day forward, we will be known as The Crimson Wings Legion. We will be the bastion of hope for the oppressed that will let them know that they can freely be who they are. Now let us go free OUR people from the rule of The Tyrant."

A roar erupted from the mouths of The Crimson Wings Legion, as hope and ferocity shone in their eyes. Just after they roared, the image of a slaying angel with a great sword and crimson colored wings appeared above the legion, further adding to the oppressive feeling they gave off. "Now is the time, first we will lock down the imperial palace, and then we will remove The Tyrant from the throne! We march!"

"I trust that your soldiers know what their part is General Amaurri?" I asked in a quizzical tone, though I already knew how the would answer it would help curb my anxiety.

"Of course, as long as you were able to move the exit portal to where we previously discussed, everything will go according to our plans," he said in a level and calm tone, knowing I was only anxious for what was to come as he put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. "Don't worry Setia, everything has been within our plans, this is going to work. Okay?"

Hearing the level tone of voice and the confident look in his eyes, helped ease my concerns for the moment. Quickly confidence in what I had planned and everything we had done instilled itself in me as I calmed myself.

-I guess it's true what they say, the smarter you are the more you overthink and doubt yourself. Now isn't the time to be doubting myself, it's time to move. This is for mom and dad, as well as anyone else has lost a loved one.

That fire from almost a year ago reignited as determination reaffirmed itself in my heart. I swore that I would take down The Tyrant, or I'd go down trying, and that's what I'll do. "Okay. Thanks for that I really needed it, let's head out." Saying this the mages and I started to cast our espionage spells on everyone before I opened the portal and we all silently made our way out.

Everyone quickly made their way towards where they needed to be as we surrounded the castle, carefully making sure to stay a certain distance from it. Because the soldiers didn't cast their spells, once we crossed the cancelation array all the soldiers other than the mages would be exposed. So instead of being exposed by the array, we decided to draw a portion of the guards away from The Tyrant by causing a commotion. I tapped General Amaurri on the shoulder as a signal for him to expose soon as I gave the silent signal for the mages to move into the castle. Each of us went into the castle hiding ourselves and waited for Amaurri to make his move.

"Tyrant Emperor Brania, today is your day of reconning, today is the day you will meet your end! We have you surrounded so just surrender yourself to us and you will have a clean end." General Amaurri's voice boomed from outside, amplified by my spell reaching the throne room of The Tyrant. In the throne room I saw his shocked face as he ordered that half of the imperial legion face the men outside. The fight was quickly brought into the throne room as spells flew and spears clashed. To his surprise half of his guards had joined the ranks of The Crimson Wing Legion further boosting the disadvantage they were at. At that moment, the sound of an Owl hooting sounded in the room, when it happened Calvert Conroy finally appeared in the room much to The Tyrants joy. That joy was crushed as quickly as it appeared when Calvert loosed a powerful bolt of lightning towards him. Instead of hitting him though a barrier flashed around his before dissipating along with the lightning, no longer effective.

"You thought a single bolt of lightning would be able to kill me, I never thought you would be such a fool. I'll make you regret the day you ever decided to betray me," Tyrant Emperor Brania sneered as if he was speaking towards a complete and total fool.

"If you really thought that I didn't know that, then you're a bigger fool than I thought you were Tyrant, I'm the one who set up that barrier. Besides It's not my place to remove you from the throne."

As soon as Calvert said that, with a smirk on his face, the concentration of mana in the room shot up. There in the corner of the room I stood as I cast my newest and most powerful single target ice weave, Frozen Eternity. A terrified expression appeared on The Tyrants face and before he could even scream, his whole body froze solid then shattered into tens of thousands of ice shards. The whole room went silent as the fighting stopped and everyone looked at me as I walked towards the throne. This was the beginning of the Fourth Era, when no one had to worry about being judged for who they were. An era of equality.