St Abbaddon

OOC
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RP: Return of the Dragon Prince

CLICK!

The sharp sound of the heavy iron latch on the Inn’s back door turning broke the stillness of the garden.

Elizer’s eyes snapped open, his hand instantly flying to the holster at his hip. He shoved Elizabeth gently behind him, pivoting on his knee to shield her as the heavy wooden door creaked open, spilling a long rectangle of dim, yellow light from the kitchen into the dark garden.

"I really am sorry to intrude on you both." a grim, familiar voice said from the doorway.

Elizer drew his sidearm, the training of the Steel Wolves kicking in, the muzzle leveling directly at the man stepping out into the garden. But as the moonlight caught the battle-scarred features and the regal, albeit exhausted, posture of the intruder, Elizer’s finger froze on the trigger once he realized who it was.

Behind the man, the massive, hulking form of Jake stepped quietly out of the kitchen, having to duck slightly to clear the doorframe, his heavy cannon slung across his back.

"Jesse?" Elizer breathed. He slowly lowered his weapon, his mind struggling to reconcile the ghost standing in front of him with the reality of the apocalypse overhead. "I thought you were dead? Or hiding in the mountains?"

Elizabeth peeked out from behind her brother, her breath catching in her throat. Even through the fog of her exhaustion and grief, the sight of the Dragon Prince—the symbol of the Empire she had adopted, the Empire she had fought for— she knew he still deserved her attention.

"I was." Jesse said softly, his boots crunching lightly on the gravel as he stepped down into the garden. He didn't look like untouchable royalty. His armor was scorched from the battle at Mount Kadar, and he carried himself with the heavy, ruthless weight of a frontline commander.

"But the world is ending again Elizer. And I need your help."

Elizer stood up, keeping himself between Jesse and his sister. "Help from us? Have you looked up recently? The sky is falling. The one your father called Galen is here. My PMC channels are screaming about orbital strikes and a full-scale planetary invasion. We're locking down."

"Locking down won't save you and you know it." Jesse said flatly. "Galen isn't just here to conquer. He's here to rewrite reality. He took Bahamut. He shattered the fleet."

Jesse looked past Elizer, his gaze settling on Elizabeth. His expression softened marginally, recognizing the raw, devastated state she was in.

"Beth..." Jesse said, his voice quieter, though no less intense. "I know about Henry. I know about the Draikans."

Elizabeth stiffened, her hands balling into fists, her defensive instincts flaring back to life. "Then you know why I'm staying right here. I have nothing left to fight for."

"You and I both know that missing doesn't mean dead." Jesse corrected her, his eyes locking onto hers with absolute, unshakable conviction. "And I know that right now Galen's forces—led by my father's brother Victor—are mobilizing to find something buried on this planet. Something that will give Galen the power to erase everything we've ever known."

Jesse turned his attention back to Elizer. "We need to find the Mother. Tiamat. She sleeps beneath the Dark Islands in the Rowandale Remnants. If Victor gets to her first we will lose everything."

Elizer scoffed, shaking his head. "Tiamat? The Dark Islands? Jesse that's suicide. Those islands are a labyrinth of primal magic. And the Pyramids have orbital supremacy. The moment we step out of this town in a transport they'll destroy us."

"Which is why we need to be a scalpel and not a sword." Jesse countered, stepping closer. "We need to move off the grid. Slip under their radar. I need your smuggling routes Elizer. I know the Steel Wolves have assets hidden in the coastlines here. And I need the best trackers on Abbaddon to navigate the islands."

Jesse looked back at Elizabeth. "I need you Beth. Both of you."

"Why should we?" Elizabeth asked, her voice raspy, fighting through the nausea and exhaustion. "Why should we follow a dead Prince into hell when we've already lost everything?"

"Because the route to the Dark Islands cuts right through the western territories." Jesse said, his voice steady, offering the one thing he knew she couldn't refuse. "It cuts right through where the Draikans operate."

Elizabeth stared at him, the words sinking in through the fog of her despair.

"You help me save the universe..." Jesse said, extending a hand not as royalty, but as a fellow soldier. "And I give you my word. We will tear through the Draikans. We will find out exactly what happened to your husband. And if he's still alive we will bring him home. So now I am going to ask you both the most important question I ever have... Will you follow me? One last time?"

Elizabeth and Elizer both looked at each other and then finally nodded in agreement before looking back at Jesse. "What is it you need us to do?"

RP: DEMOCRACY ABOLISHED

Fortitude and Truth Newspaper: Rebranding
HAIL TO THE MILITARY!
The constitution has now been cancelled. The Republic of Fortus-Vertinax has now been fully taken over by the military, and the new constitution will now be in place. The Fortitude and Truth Newspaper will now be fully state-owned, and majority of government funds will go to the military.

The Supreme Leader, President Varaon, has now been taken out of power, and the General of the Republic, General Trevor Stetson, will now be sworn in as the Supreme Leader, although he prefers the title President.

Term limits and Native representation have been cancelled, and all democratic elections will now be cancelled for the foreseeable future.\

"To a new tomorrow!", President Stetson says. Indeed, this will be a new future ahead, dear citizens.

For Progress, Strength, Truth, and God!