epilogues:moore_and_battly [Reference II]

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
======No More Battling======

//Editor's note: The Bookworm experienced a mild issue during this Story, and so output this Epilogue with some additional error and warning logs, which have been removed.//

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

██████████████

The clinking of clashing blades rings out from the courtyard for the entire high court to hear. The echoes are cut off by a scream, as Aimee's body falls to the floor of the courtyard, motionless. The Lord Regent, remorseless, looks around to see who else he could ruthlessly target.

The prolonged pause is interrupted by the sounds of people shuffling out of the doorways to witness the fight. A few generous souls rush to Aimee's side to try and help, but find they are too late to assist. Some Battlys in the crowd, rudely disrespecting the deceased, jeer at the slaughter of a Moore. The majority of those gathered, in solidarity with the fallen Orliss, turn their attention towards the Lord Regent.

Avery and Ballan (who you might know by her undercover name, Ax) look at each other, too shocked to say anything. Eventually, Avery says: "I really hoped we could save her... I can't imagine what a death in this machine would feel like. I hope she is alright. But-- and I hope we can sort this out peacefully. Nobody else has to experience--". They abruptly stop once they notice Lord Regent staring at them down with bloodthirsty eyes. Benny Battly (who pretended to be Eli Battly) lunges aggressively at the Lord Regent, almost catching him off-guard. He immediately retaliates, outmaneuvering Benny time and time again. Ballan rushes in to help Benny, but Avery stays back and calls for peace.

The Lord Regent is surrounded from all sides by the crowd. Even Battlys, who hours earlier would have celebrated the Lord Regent for anything that helped in their feud, are now standing up for Moores against their cruel, cruel oppressor. Somebody from the crowd grabs the Lord Regent and knocks him to his knees. Benny takes this opportunity and delivers a final blow.

A dark thought visits Avery's mind, and they try to sweep it away. "When Ballan suggested rising up against the Lord Regent, she probably didn't expect the other Moores and Battlys to join in. In a grim twist of fate, starting a rebellion is somehow a better way to unite them than anything else we could have thought of".

-----

██████████████

The clanging of clashing blades rings out from the courtyard for the entire high court to hear. The echoes are cut off by an ugly scream, as Orliss' body collapses onto the courtyard’s cobblestones, motionless. The Lord Regent looks at his assailant with contempt: "I hope this helps you remember what the word 'loyalty' means".

The excruciatingly long pause is interrupted by the sounds of people pouring out of the doorways to witness the fight. Some of the crowd rush to Orliss' side, trying in vain to resuscitate the lifeless body. The majority, however, turn their attention towards the Lord Regent.

Arty and Eli look at each other: "Did... Did she feel that? We'll need to ask her if she's alright". Arty responds: "I... I hope she is. But-- and I hope nobody else has to experience death like--". They abruptly stop once they notice the murmurs in the crowd growing louder, as if trying to drown out the sound of their words. As the Lord Regent anxiously scans the faces in the crowd, Ax suddenly charges at him, hoping to take him by surprise. The Lord Regent immediately retaliates, but cannot find an edge over Ax in the duel. Eli bravely rushes in to help Ax, but Arty Moore hesitates for too long to be helpful.

The crowd surrounds them, forming an inescapable ring. Battlys, nobly putting aside their differences to help the Moores in need, aid in the fight against the Lord Regent. Somebody from the crowd grabs the Lord Regent and knocks him to his knees. Even in this situation, he somehow manages to give Ax a nasty wound, but this isn’t enough to stop Ax from using this opportunity to bravely deliver the final blow. Looking Lord Regent in the eyes, they cheer victoriously.

Thoughts rush through Eli's head. "This is getting somewhat violent. I wish that Orliss and Arty went with my idea of a wedding between a Moore and a Battly. This bloodshed feels... a bit too unpleasant and way too real". Eli interrupts themselves on this thought, and tries to sweep it away.

-----

██████████████

After generations of competing for power and influence over the town, the houses of Moore and Battly were finally confronted with the power vacuum they had been aiming to fill. The ensuing skirmish for power saw claims of being the true and rightful successor from virtually everyone who had ever stepped foot in the High Court. At its conclusion, the title of Lord was given to Ria Gahl’s father, who had been closely linked to the previous High Court. However, after some persuasion from Ria believing the “time-travellers” to be useful advisors, the powers were de facto split amongst various members of the houses of Moore and Battly. The Consortium, which would have been unfathomable even days prior to the Orliss Uprising, proved to be effective for governing, and popular with not only the houses of Moore and Battly, but the population as a whole. Even Gorre Moore and Barty Battly, who had previously dueled each other several times, found they could agree on many of the Consortium’s decisions.

The laws of the imperial government of the Cherkersk Empire mandated that the death of a regional Lord was to be commemorated with an elaborate multi-day funeral and procession. The Consortium’s decision, to instead spend the allocated money on a memorial to those who lost their lives at the hands of the former Lord Regent, was immensely popular locally but was a source of contention between the consortium and the Cherkersk emperor for many years to come.