The Dramaour Empire: Part 1

'Dear Mommy, I love you very, very much.'

'I know that you have no choice, but I wish you weren't away from home so often. It is so boring having tea parties without you here. Fwee and Trayla are dollies and they can't speak. I like to pretend they can, but I know they can't.'

'I miss you. I can't wait for you to come back. You always come back, I'm sure it's because you remember the promise we made for my tenth birthday. You said that, even though you're a holy-knight of the Twelve-Head, you would never leave me alone. No matter how busy you are, you promised that you would always come home. That was all I wanted for my birthday, you know.'

'That's why I know you'll come back. No matter what. So please, mommy, hurry back so we can play, okay?'

'Defeat the 'Dramawar' or whatever they're called, and come home. Okay, mommy?'

'Okay?'

|A Daughter's Letter To Her Mother, A Holy-Knight of The Twelve-Head|

The Northlands, as they are called, are a separate land from the island on which Eusia is situated. It is a continent, united under a single banner- the banner of the Twelve-Head.

It is governed by Emperor Ezzat and his many lords, at least in name, but lorded over by the Twelve-Head.

Following the deaths of the Twelve, the Twelve-Head was lost and without direction. Their only purpose in life, implementing the will of the Twelve, was now void. There were no gods to serve, therefore their lives lost all meaning.

Within the Temple of the Twelve-Head, sitting atop the highest mountain in all the Empire, the Mother Superior had asked her trusted aides to gather so they could discuss things.

Seha Helal Barakat was, perhaps, the oldest being alive in all the world. Thanks to her devotion to the Twelve, she had been granted a temporary pardon from death. In actuality, she was given a lifespan of 20,000 years, of which she had lived just a bit over 6,000.

In the main hall of the Temple of the Twelve-Head, a circular room housing naught but a giant round table, twelve individuals had gathered, standing at one of the thirteen seats available to them.

These were all odd individuals, having an air about them that was incomparable to any other mortal in all the Empire. One of them, an elderly man with scars on every inch of him, cleared his throat.

"Fellow members of the Twelve-Head-"

"Hmph, if it can even be called that" A young lady, petite, wearing the garb of a wanderer, spoke up and cut the man off.

"Agreed," A cloaked person answered, their face obscured by shadow. "We are no longer the Twelve-Head, for the Twelve no longer exist in this world."

"Ilyana, Morguth, please," the elder pleaded, "allow me to finish."

They both nodded, silently apologizing for their actions.

"Mother Superior has asked us to gather here to discuss our path forward. As hard as it is to accept, we are now powerless. Without the Twelve who have guided and directed us all our lives, our influence is forfeit. The power we once wielded has been wrested from us by 'Gilgamesh.' I believe that our first action should be learning everything we can about them."

"Seconded." The petite woman, Ilyana, responded.

"Tch! Foolish." A man, wearing light armor and straps, each of which contained a knife or blade of some kind, folded his arms as he said this, turning his face away from the elder.

"Whoever Gilgamesh is, they are responsible for the death of the Twelve. The Twelve! All we can do is fall to our knees and beg for mercy." The cloaked person, Morguth, slammed their hands on the table, angered by his own helplessness.

Someone else, another woman, said, "We may be able to join their side- serve them. After all, they dwell in this world, and we control a large part of it. We would be used by them, but we would survive."

"Why do you think Gilgamesh would even want us? They could very easily destroy us and run the whole damn thing on their own." Someone else said this, and for a time they erupted into such back and forth conversation.

However, as the thirteenth and final person entered the main hall, they silenced their bickering and bowed their heads. None of them had taken their seats yet, since none of them dared to sit before she did. Such was their respect for her.

"Please, sit," Seha Helal Barakat, with a wave of her hand, caused them all to take their seats. They looked to her, awaiting her next words with bated breath. Whatever she decided would lay the foundation for their future. No matter what she proposed, they had to agree and follow her. This was not just because they owed her their lives, but because they were utterly afraid of her.

Fear was a great motivator, as they all had come to know- even the Mother Superior herself had gotten a taste of her own medicine thanks to Gilgamesh.

"The Emperor has already surrendered his life and the lives of his people. If 'Gilgamesh' comes here, it will be up to me to decide how we deal with them."

Seha looked at her subordinates, and she frowned. Her thin, glossy red lips pursed and she furrowed her thick brows. She folded her arms under her chest, only exacerbating the tightness of the robe on her explosive assets.

"As servants of the Twelve, it is only fitting that we emulate their wills until the day we die. Our Masters are dead, so we must die with them." After this much, the collective had pretty much accepted their fates. This was what she had decided; it was now the only option available to them.

"I only wish that..." For the first time in all their lives, the twelve heads saw the Mother Superior's face contort, a look of pure regret, sadness and unwilling melancholy.

"I wish... I wish that I had not given up on my pursuit of power... If I hadn't, then maybe... maybe today I would be powerful enough to save you all."

The twelve people seated at the table did not know how to respond. After decades of fearing the blind wrath of this woman- this monstrous sadist- she had showed them a side of her that reflected her truest heart. She was not harsh with them because she hated them. she did not scrutinize thier every actions because she looked down on them.

They realized in that moment that it all boiled down to one single fact: she cared about each of them. She cared enough to ensure they learned, and to ensure they grew in a positive direction.

As they looked at her now, all they could see was the image of the woman that was more of a mother to them than anyone else had been. They all felt this way, even the ones who came from fully functional and healthy families.

Tears welled up in their eyes, and compassion erupted amongst them. This was the woman they would be willing to die for. She was their reason to remain prideful and passionate, even after their gods had been utterly destroyed.

She would give them hope in the place of the Twelve.

"Ahem!"

But what is hope in the face of Gilgamesh?

"That was quite tear-jerking, I almost felt sad for a second."

All thirteen people turned their heads towards the same direction, toward a young boy no older than twelve. His black hair was muddled by streaks of white, and his eyes almost seemed to glow with silver light. He wore a simple training vest that just barely covered his abdomen, allowing some of his abs to peak through, and long black pants.

"Who-"

"When did he even-"

They all rushed to their feet, aligning themselves in front of the Mother Superior, ready to fight to the death. Gilgamesh stood on the opposite side of the room, where there were only windows, guiding the light of the sun into the hall. As he stood there, basking in that light, his eyes met Seha's eyes, and he smiled.

"No need for that. I still time, so why not have some fun?"

"Are you Gilgamesh?" Seha narrowed her eyes, though she was already sure of the answer.

Even so, it was hard to believe. This was Gilgamesh? A little boy with no presence whatsoever, not even an ounce of power emanating from his spirit? It was almost impossible to believe.

"I don't like answering questions to which the answer is obvious. If you have nothing else to say, then I'll begin explaining the situation."

"Tch!" Ilyana relaxed her posture, and seeing this the others did the same. Still, they remained as a resolute, albeit fragile wall between the Mother Superior and Gilgamesh.

Morguth glared at Gilgamesh recklessly, uncaring of the disrespect his actions reeked of. What was the worst that could happen? His death? He had long prepared himself for that.

"Explain it then," Morguth growled.

"Hm... Actually I don't think I will. Come here."

Gilgamesh smirked. The order was given, and they could not resist. After what felt like a blink of the eye to them, they each found themselves kneeling in a circle around Gilgamesh, uncertain of how they had even gotten to that point. The Mother Superior was no exception.

"What!?"

"You!" Morguth had only just said his first word, but Gilgamesh's head snapped over to him in that instant.

"I find your attitude offensive. Is it that you have not yet truly grasped the gravity of this situation?"

Gilgamesh, ignoring the others, leaned over until his face was less than a foot away from Morguth's.

"Those twelve fools that you worshipped were all killed, and I consumed their spirits. Any authority they had been granted by Heaven's Laws is now mine to exercise. Do you know what that means?"

Morguth struggled to move his body, but because it was still under Gilgamesh's influence, he could only move if he was ordered to move. There was no way out for him.

"It means that, if I so wanted, you could cease to exist in this plane, and be removed to the plane of nightmares, where all you will experience for the rest of your meagre mortal lifespan is the horror of your own mind. Or, if that's too boring, I can destruct your physical form and separate you into independent parts. It will be far more painful that being dismembered, and you shall be spared of none of the pain."

Morguth's body started sweating, and his heart was beginning to feel the insane stress of true terror. Even so, he could not so much as tremble without Gilgamesh's 'okay.' All of that negative emotion simply riled up inside of him. It did not help his conviction; it only weakened it.

"There are so many things I can do to you besides kill you. Sadly, you're not worth the time."

After that, Gilgamesh returned his attention to Seha.

"Right then. Tomorrow, the full of might of House Dramaour will be brought down upon this Empire of yours. You have until then to employ whatever methods you can to prepare. Rally whatever troops you can. plan whatever defense you can; do whatever you can. This victory will be my parents' first, so make it fun for them."

At this, the eyes of the Twelve-Head members showed the slightest bit of confusion and outrage in their eyes.

"As for you," he poked Seha's nose with his finger, "you and I will sit up here on this mountain and watch the whole thing unfold. Sound good?"

Seha could not move, and Gilgamesh snickered at this yet did not free her from this temporary stasis. He simply laughed at their plight, and at the eventual war his parents would wage against the world's largest empire.

For once, he wasn't entirely bored, and as he peered closer into Seha with more than just his eyes, he smiled even brighter.

"Sounds very good to me..."