Insidious Flame

Aatish emerged from the dark cave and looked directly at the sun, the day was just about to begin, sunrays danced and settled deep within her stony body, a second later, a pillar of flame shot up at the sky.

She had greatly increased in her strength and experience during the previous brutish years, countless seemingly impossible missions had carved her hollow and strong.

The stone beneath her gave up as she shot up in the sky, leaving a trail of smokeless fire behind, her crimson cape wildly fluttered with the wind.

A scheme was underway, and what she was about to next was the most crucial part of it.

After reaching the camp, she circled around the carefully laid out tapestry of tents, her forces had suffered enormously during the previous battle, it ached her to see the state they were in from above, the damage looked too catastrophic.

She dropped right in the middle, upon a low heighted stone altar, gaining the attention of nearby scores of soldiers, they immediately stopped what they were doing and raised their fists at her. She raised her fist back.

Her demon squire quickly joined her as they both strolled through the narrow makeshift pathways.

"Hootchie, gather everyone to my camp. Tell them it's urgent," she said without looking back, and the owl abided.

Aatish entered her camp and quickly summoned a small, revolting being made of darkness, placing it covertly in the corner.

Minutes later, the camp was jam-packed with all the leaders and their respective squires. Ardavan walked in, followed by Sarvar, the same leader he had killed just last night. They talked and joked with each other.

Everyone settled down.

"We have received a report that a few hours from now, the mercenaries will launch an offensive on Rohaan's camp. We will aid him in his battle. We have also been promised help against the sovereign. Abandon the village and start moving towards Rohaan's camp. We will make our stand there," Aatish said.

Everyone nodded, but one leader declined and said, "All respect and glory to you, my commandress, but this is clearly suicide. You cannot hope to go head-on and die fighting against the sovereign. You barely survived last time. She is too powerful for you and Commander Rohan. Talking about the help that may arrive from Shomaal, I personally don't believe anything of that sort will happen. I cannot hope for any good coming out of this. I will pull out my soldiers if you go ahead with this," Sarvar said.

Aatish glared at him, Sarvar had openly declared to commit mutiny but his point made clear logical sense, conflicted with feelings, Aatish looked around at the others, they were truly giving it a fair thought.

"What do you all suggest we do then?" she asked.

"All respect my Commanderess, i would suggest that we go into temporary hiding, wait until the help actually arrives and then face the sovereign," Ardavan said.

The proposal meant abandoning Rohaan and the division they had been forced to make recently,

Aatish stayed quiet for a while.

"Very well then, Summon a latifkar, i will inform Shomaal of the current development,"

The royal latifkat assigned to commanderess Aatish also wore a similar fluttering cape, vermillion in color with deep orange underglow, it entered the camp and bowed down Infront of the leaders,

"Come forward" Commandress Aatish said

It strolled through the middle of the cloth, carefully dodging any strategy pieces. These were little perks that latifkats enjoyed of being extremely tiny.

"Start writing"

The Latifkat took out a closed scroll from his tiny bag, placed it upon the floor and bent down upon it's knees.

His posture looked comically funny, but noone ever dared to question them on their methods, they were overly sensitive about carrying the news and letters, it was one of the main reasons latifkats were so successful and non biased.

Upon any unwanted intervention midflight from planet to planet, they would start crying extremely loud and immediately burst into flames. Then get reborn again under the supervision of their high oracle.

It was an odd system but it worked extremely fine.

"Esteemed highnesses

Due to a certain disturbance within our ranks, we have lost another three thousand soldiers. I have decided to spare the main culprit involved.

For the welfare of the creatures under my protection, we cannot go into a battle in the current state.

We will go into temporary hiding and await the solution against the sovereign, once the help arrives from Shomaal, we will advance then.

I humbly decline the royal order, and hope that you understand.

Yours truly

Aatish"

Aatish looked at Sarwar, he shook his head in affirmation.

The leaders could not believe their own ears, their Commandress had declined a royal order just to save them. This sole act reaffirmed their faith deeply in Aatish.

"I will tell everyone around me, that our Commandress unlike those tyrant sovereigns, listens to us. Thankyou so much my lady" Sarwar said, then settled back.

"Yes! she is our true protector," another leader said,

The Latifkat looked around after finishing the scroll. Then bowed his head again and took his leave.

It jumped atop a tiny carriage, led by extremely tiny horse like creatures with wings, placed the scroll safely in some locks beside it's seat and took flight.

After leaving the strong hold and soaring high above the clouds, out of nowhere a tiny pool of darkness appeared and suddenly ate him along with his carriage.

*********

The citadel of Gulestaan was an extraordinarily large building made of purely reflective glass, it was a work of pure art, taking one of the most skilled Nakshaayir of shomaal several years, Its positioning and angle was placed with delicate detail that it reflected off the sunrays into a wide condensed beam of light known as the "Queen's mercy". It was a gift from the Queen of Luminaras to the Empress Golden.

All those who traveled within the beam would be revitalized with strength and warmth. Below the Queen's Mercy, the city of light lay on the ground in an extremely pristine shape. From a bird's eye view, the entire city depicted a flying simorgh bird, with the glass structure in the middle symbolizing the clear heart. Thanks to the Luminaras and their artefact that allowed them to control luminance, the entire city shone. It served as both a mark of honor and a warning to all the worlds that Shomaal was now liberated, that now Shomaal had an empress to look after it.

The genius behind designing the city was Sarhad, an emerging talent who recounted the tale of the old gateway in Shargh, providing one of the most vital hints and solving their problem.

In the city of millions, right in the middle of the grand bazaar, was a tiny shopnamed "Gimpi's honey soup".

Gimpi wasn't present at the stall, but a female was and a small kid, that resembled alot to gimpi. Their tiny shop was the honor of Gulestaan in its true meanings, the honey soup had become so famous that according to reports, Wasl the sovereign had it raided from Aatish's store house, it was growingly popular in the two worlds.

Waiting in the crowd like ordinary creatures was a humble looking dragon bird, much smaller than the dark queen but with the same eyes, and a tiny tail that followed behind.

Azlan was the eldest son of the Dark Queen Hira, he had grown to be an extraordinary fan of the Empress Golden during her time at the grove and by the time she departed, she had decided to keep him with herself, serving as the closest squire.

The little lady that looked like Gimpi, spotted Azlan standing in the crowd and fixed her apron, then went running pushing creatures that were feets taller than her aside.

"Please Ser Azlan come" Gimpi's wife, Rimpi and his son, Gimpi the second, managed were spitting images of Gimpi himself, they spared no effort in remaining humble and keeping the population fed.

She pulled Azlan by his wing and took him to the counter, he was dressed in the Queen's colors, pristine white with golden.

then handed him a beautiful jar filled with glittering honey soup, it was of deep sea green color and had linings of golden swaying in between. It looked ethereal. A tiny paper was attached to the jar with a crown drawn upon it.

Azlan held it, then quickly dismissed it in his domain, he had recently learned how to store and dismiss things from his domain, he felt extremely proud of doing so. Empress Golden had told him several times not to overcrowd the domain with useless things on several occasions.

He bowed his head down to Rimpi, Gimpi the second kept looking at him in awe, it reminded him of the time he used to gaze at his empress the same way. He smiled and flew away.