[EDIT]: Hopefully this will work.
So let's just jump right into it, shall we?
I'm still messing with formatting and such, so if this fucks up somehow, it means I'm fixing it as you read this, haha.
Some of you may have read this on my myO page a while ago, but I've tweaked it a bit since then, just to tighten things. The tweaking process is certainly not over, though. Notes and such will be after the chapter. I really hope you guys enjoy it!
Warnings for this chapter: Just violence for now.
***
There’s no history that’s completely accurate except for the one you see with your own eyes.
So if you’re going to throw a tantrum over historical inaccuracy, I don’t want to hear it. I’d rather you hear about this from someone else, too. But the fact is that there aren’t too many people who know of everything that was involved in Myrrh’s war for independence, and. Well. The rest of them decided it would be amusing to make me write all this out. “Oh, Cat, it would be so much more entertaining if you did it!” Assholes.
I’m not that great of an observer. There’s plenty of things I don’t know, as well. And I’m – I’ll admit it – extremely biased. But, I was there, which I guess counts for something. So since you’re stuck with me, I’ll try to be as factual as humanly possible. Somewhat.
Before I get ahead of myself, I should explain the wonderful system that was Ancient Law. I’m not exactly sure who or what to blame for that, but since before recorded history, the five empires of the Isalix continent have followed it without deviation, and the Myrrh Empire was no exception.
One of the principles of Ancient Law states that the Emperor or Empress should have a small, personal guard of six highly trained soldiers. Besides commanding the army, these six people would serve the ruler exclusively, and they would answer to no one else. They would be expected to lay down their lives for their master, and if that master were to die, they were expected to follow without hesitation.
To a normal person, that kind of life doesn’t exactly sound appealing, does it? Serve the same person your entire life, be ready to die every time some idiot invades, and cut your stomach open whenever your master decides to kick it. But to the people in the Isalix empires, being an Imperial Guardian is a romantic ideal. Aside from the rulers themselves, those six people are the most revered in the empire, and however short their lives may be, they’ll live it out in luxury. Which sort of takes the sting off the life of servitude.
The Myrrh Empire followed that system without incident for hundreds of years. Then things got changed up a little when Emperor Cadon the Eighth got himself killed at his private skiing resort. (His death went on the record as a 'short illness,' but in truth? He was trying to do some tricks and hit a tree instead.) And the only heir he left behind was an illegitimate kid he’d had with an exotic dancer about seventeen years prior.
