+18 Chapter 23:

Chapter 23: Mourning for that which was lost is bittersweet.


Our first stop after abandoning that which is our home to protect it from divine tantrums was for a world that still died as it saw the clashing of swords between the madness of Boredom and Pride.

'The world of clashing blades' it is called, for here warriors test themselves in preparation to serving the divine by the clashing of the blades.

Here Sword Cults hone themselves to madness against the Sword Clans that are older than some Divine and wish to learn and relearn all that a blade could, for Eldar are swords and these the mightiest scholars of the soul and now two philosophies clash in jungles and plains and mountains for its victory will be one more dam that breaks or holds the onslaught.

"This world is watched, we can't look upon the divine for they will look back on us and we will be easy to squash by accident." My younger brother said.

Good, we're not here for our trade or peddle medicine, we are here to scavenge and recover clues and tools.

The Empire of Ten Million Suns, is both the body of a mother that is pregnant and a house in preparation for birth. All parts of the house are preparing for the birth of a new daughter for her name is sang in screams and black tears.

This world is a deliberation on her name and nature and unborn children cannot weigh in on this and thus if she wants to act here she needs to throw a tantrum and a kick.

Before I was born she had six left. It took me two years of plotting on a single world unnoticed to make her to throw one and is now down to five. Once she runs out of tantrums to throw around she uses up the best tool she has to stop my and my siblings and nephews meddling.

The original plan was that once we can meddle freely we can create an apocalypse that exterminates the eldar species and the Empire of the Ten Million Suns.

Once we do that we have clone vats prepared to start running one thousand years after the last Eldar dies. It is the preferred method my fathers and parents have settled on as ideal. The Divine can be reborn or survive without us for some time and if no eldar soul continues to be born for enough time that which is only partially an Eldar Divine will lose its claim to new ones by the design features of the Old Ones.

It is impossible to go with that plan now. If I was born perhaps a million years before now it could have happened. The rot spread too deeply now and its fruits spread too wide as some fools decided to run the from the Great Wheel in sleeper ships to prevent us from doing so.

They did so because a farseer forgot it should serve its master, saw doom and ran and we do not have the means to find the runners and kill them to enact the plan.

We will improvise again. I am already doing it by creating contingencies. If my plan works the descendants of my clan and those immunized by it will have only their genes added to clone vats and iron wombs so that the 5th iteration of the Eldar race will have immunity to what nearly killed the 3rd and killed 4th.

My medicine is a gambit, if I can get a population immunized from the vectors of attack of the New God and keep them safe on an Exodus world, that should keep them safe until another plan can be put into effect.

Exodus Worlds were created for a similar enough reason and kept empty and waiting to ensure a reborn Eldar species has the right environment to develop in once doom has passed.

They are meant as nurseries for baby empires and kingdoms, and the empires and kingdoms must be kept from being born for as long as possible to allow Doom to pass and only start expanding once it has been made safe.

The Empire of Ten Million Stars is the name of an organization of nurseries kept alive by my brothers and sisters and while we have to burn some of them every now and then, we've always rebuilt it.

But that is far ahead in the future and the past, now I need to scavenge from scrap metal and broken blades and before that I must mourn for the valor of my fallen servants.

"That should be it, I hope my loyal and bloodthirsty fools would have appreciated it if they were alive to see it."

I said to my siblings and empty air. They still knelt and bowed in respect to the sacrifice of my medicinal blades I used to immunize my medicine peddling apprentice.

All Eldar are swords, and my blades died for my purpose and I told Asurmen The Second who swindled me into granting him that name, that I will mourn them properly.

And so I did and I built them a monument in the shape of a pyramid with a soul-song message encrypted on it from my own bones, Wraithbone and rocks and put a sign informing others of what it represents. It was as tall as I am.

It said:

'Here stands a piddly monument to the great sacrifice of fifty blades who died and clashed to deliver medicine to a foolish apprentice.

This message is written by his Masters who had crafted those fifty blades and thus made this monument to honor them so, for their cuts were sharp and mighty and they died as they made them because his apprentice is foolish.

We built this monument to thank them for their sacrifice, so please do not disturb them for it will cause you no joy.'

I joined my siblings and knelt and bowed in front to the monument of heroes who were too young to earn a name.

"We thank the nameless ones for that which they achieved." We said.

We stood there for fifty heartbeats, one for each fallen, and left. We had work to do and the top of a mountain was no place for it, for we need to go near rivers and seas.

But first we need to learn the laws of this world, for we need to abuse them so that we may steal what we need.

The encryption carried each each of the names I have decided to grant them after death, and in it my and my siblings genetic sequence written in a language only Older Brothers knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am 'She who sings of the beauty of the seas and waterfalls.' sang in the language of the soul because thanks to the sins of my parents I am no longer allowed the honor of a spoken name.

I and my sisters lead my kin, as we number twenty thousands now.

Our numbers grow and our situation worsens.

We used to be eldar once, our souls still sing and old and new souls are reborn into our families. But no new eldar are born and no eldar souls are reborn, only that which is like us.

We are sirens now, a result of my ancestors wishing to experience the depths of the oceans, seas and dance across rivers and find relief from Boredom there.

They did, for we are no longer bored now, and we can be no more, for our lives are in too much danger and each moment too precious to waste with boredom if we wish to survive.

We have gained that which my ancestors desired of us and we lost our citizenship for it.

To the Maton we are no longer Eldar, we are animals. and animals are pets of the Eldar, pests to to the Eldar to be purged or feral things for the Eldar to ignore. We are no longer pampered and protected. To the Empire we are still subjected to the laws of mortal and divine and in theory granted protection by oaths made by the Phoenix King and the Divine.

But the Maton no longer reinforce such. Our songs remember why.

The Maton have forsaken us as kin. They have broken their own minds in the only act of rebellion they could do against the New God and modified their internal definition of the word Eldar.

The change was simple as it was ingenious and my people pay for it each day.

' All individuals born of healthy Eldar souls and minds are to be granted rulership over the Maton and must be treated as Eldar for that is what an Eldar is!' Said part of the old definition.

They made the modifications to say.

' All individuals born of healthy Eldar souls and minds and bodies are to be granted rulership over the Maton and must be treated as Eldar for that is what an Eldar is!'

We no longer had the bodies of eldar, even as we had the same minds and souls. We have forsaken legs for a water snakes' tail, our skin no longer unmarred by all, for it now has light scales growing in select parts of our arms, bodies and faces and our tongue is that of a snake and the same for our eyes. We were no longer born out of Eldar bodies.

The last elder who did so, died of old age two thousand years ago and apologized for failing us so, for they did it to escape out of boredom and knew not what it would grant us for they were too scared of it and refused to submit to the allure of the cults.

He died to the mourning of an entire people numbering a million then, for he was our last guardian that could order Maton to stay away, for we were legally his pets and killing the pets of the Eldar is harm against them.

And the Maton cannot harm that which is defined as Eldar and he was the last one of us to still be considered so.

They modified this definition in disgust of what the cults are and do, so that they may purge that which is born of Eldar but no longer shares their bodies as an attempt at containment. Said containment failed miserably so not even this sacrifice amounted to much, so now I slither and kiss and caress my own daughters and their bodies while naked as entertainment for the private duel of two sword cultist for a debt from one of them as they kill each other in the name of the New God-not-yet-born and love.

The Sword Clans kill us for they are disgusted by us when they see us but do not hunt us. Only the Sword Cults enter into favor and debt with us as they eat and hunt us.

We now seek another to grant us such protection, but until then we need to plot and gather favors and we have few of them.

I sucked on my daughter left nipple and played with her right one as the other licked and kissed my folds from where she came and we danced in the waterfall as we swam and danced in the falling waters and stayed above the surface where water fell.

It is my turn to kiss her folds now and we rearranged and continued our dance as my daughters continue our sensual dance and offering.

I will die today, for my dance is just preparation for the meal of the winner and I have been chosen as sacrifice and my daughters are forced to sing in joy as they prepare me and it is a sacrifice I give gladly as they cook me in my own passion and the song and passions of my own blood as they pour them into me.

I have brought another to bliss, I sup from my last source of sustenance before I become the same for another.

All of this for one of them to order the Maton to not spear us as we passed through the river passing near their grounds.

It is not even a guarantee the winner of the duel will do so for I am to be the meal of either winner and only one has agreed to give the order.

My sisters do the same to four others, their own daughters preparing them as my own prepare me. If any of them succeed, their daughters will be the new princesses for their sacrifice, for it was successful and it means they are lucky and have been raised well.

My sons and husband dress themselves in wraithbone armor and arms to keep the Maton busy and sacrifice themselves so their wives and children will escape in case the winner finds it funny to kill us or does not like the meal. No matter their victory they will have exile or death for they will be considered 'hostile fauna' and hunted with prejudice.

We need food, a thought Alien to any Eldar, but we do need it. Our old settlements are now in close proximity between squabbling sword cults and they consider hunting us and our prey and cattle an excellent tool for reconciliation and marriage proposals.

They love to take our dwellings too and turn their inhabitants into meals, for siren meal tastes better than Eldar meat to them, especially if properly prepared for consumption. Something which I am now experiencing.

We cannot try and sneak either.

The Maton have orders to hunt and cook us on sight. We need someone to order them to other duties, we need enough time to migrate and see if we can't offer ourselves into slavery to the Sword Clans or find a place near them that can sustain us. They always refuse and kill us themselves when we try to plead but they do not hunt us or our food sources too much and they do not burn our dwellings.

If we are lucky the ponds and depths we find will be near a Sword Clan and will be large enough to allow us to live and not be disturbed.

A cut and a cry of joy. The fool that convinced us to come here and owed us a favor for it is dead.

My sacrifice will earn us nothing just like that of my aunts and my mother. She failed too but my sisters and I shared enough favors to be elected princesses.

My daughters sang in joy as they finished preparing me. They have kept on keeping me on the edge of bliss and terror for the entire three hours long duel. I will experience it fully as my heart is ripped out of my chest and my soul fed to the New God, for I have chosen this gambit willingly to give my people a chance at life.

'I hope that my sisters did not die in vain like I did.'

We were the last four princesses of the depths. If we all die and achieve nothing there will be need of another vote to determine a new princely bloodline and we do not have the food or time for such a vote.

We have enough food for one week more for the small lake we are in had had all that could feed us hunted to extinction yesterday.

I was brought on the table of the winner. Her two matons protected her from the manfolk wishing to spear her for eating their mother and wife. My beautiful and brave boys wait at the edge of the cliff where rock meets air and water falls. They will jump as I am eaten in case it looks like their sisters will be attacked so that one of them might become princess if my sisters fail as well.

The fool that we offered my sacrifice to wished to marry her and he failed because he could not last for six hours against her. Now he is dead and my daughters must sing in false joy and praise her for killing him and eating me.

"We thank the valorous and mighty lady of the sword for she had allowed us to see slain that which it believed that it could eat swans while it was swine." My youngest, 'Songtress of Twilight' sang.

Her mouth was deep into my folds to prepare me.

"Please accept a meager offer of our mother as thanks for allowing us to observe such a show for she has been prepared to serve you in all your needs." My eldest , 'Dancer of the Waves' continued.

She was tying my hands as she kissed me my face, my cheeks and lips then started going down.

None sang me anything and I sang to none yet, it would ruin the taste and if the lady of swords found anything unpleasant she will order the Maton to hunt them and my sons will die too for nothing to try and save their sisters.

My youngest pulled out her mouth from the depths she spawned from and pinched my left nipple as she set me on the wraithbone table they have made to put me on it.

My sisters failed as well, their cousins confirmed it. I hope my despair will make me tasty enough so I do not lose more family today.

"Yes, the Foolish rat thought he could feast on swan meat but he is dead and I have a feast to celebrate!"

The sword mistress sang as she looked upon my body in appreciation. She was pleased she does not need to marry now, for while she might have loved the fool herself he still failed to last for six hours and thus proved him, his dedication to the blade and their love would mean nothing for whatever children they ever made would not be any good with a sword for he wasn't either.

"And what a feast it is! Siren meat so tenderly prepared." She screamed with joy.

She ripped out my left breast and in doing took my crystal bones with them. My heart continues to beat in the open air.

"We are very tender to our mother my lady." My daughters sang as one.

They could not speak with their mouths for they were full

The oldest begun supping from my folds to offer the liquid to be drank as I was not quite in blissed release but the liquid would still have a purpose to be offered and poured on my heart.

She collected enough and started to kiss my heart as the liquids of myself and my daughters. The eldest came and kissed my still beating heart and left the liquids to drop softly on it. When she was done my other daughter that was busy collecting some of mine did the same so that my heart would have a pleasant aftertaste that was different from that of only my meat and blood and liquids.

They finished and I looked in the eyes of my devourer with love and care as I caressed her face in the same way I only did it to my daughters that helped me rehearse my final moments.

My mouth was still empty so I could speak.

"Oh , mighty conqueress whose valor is sang across the lands, accept the ripe fruits of your conquest and feast on what you have learned."

Her eyes were as green as mine and hair blue. From the look of her face she looked no different than any of my daughters and we have made ourselves as such as we made our features harsher to appease to her sense of vanity.

I used to have blue yes, and my hair was blonde and my face so much softer.

Now I caress the face of my devourer with my left hand and open the buttons of her white and black blouse with my left one so that I may play with her breasts as she eats my heart that is still marinating.

"Take that what it is yours Conqueress, for you deserve, so. much. more." I sang sweetly after my hand came down and I played with her breasts for sixty six heartbeats as my heart soaked in fluids.

"Thank -" I wished to say as her mouth approached my heart but my words were stopped for another overtook them in volume and importance.

"You dare show your face and feast on that which is mine SWINE? I Bessar, filial disciple of the family of the Laughing Blade and son of the Silver Hand and my lesser siblings will kill you for your insolence and take that which is ours!" I young voice shouted in hate.

A sword swung and the head I had just looked upon died.

The Sword Mistress looked at where the voice came from and the cut came from the blind spot created by this action.

Her head fell and she died and I sang for the first time in four hours to my daughters and they sent my orders to my sons and husband.

A silver bracelet graced my neck and my hope rekindled.

'Do not run or flee or fight, he has claimed me at least as his. I might be able to use this to our people's advantage.'

My heart continued to marinate in the open air but it was now burning with hope for I might be able to make my death mean something.

The Maton left for they did not care.

They never do and I ignored them, they weren't important anymore for I might become queen and turn my people into the pets of an Eldar to save them.

I silently prayed to the gods we have been Forsaken by that they were a part of the Sword Clans and not the Sword Cults, for I refuse to put my people into bondage to that which eats us even as me and my bloodline accept to be eaten for a chance to save our people.