The Witch of Nivar

The general stood at attention, spine rigid. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he gave the report.

“Still no finds, my lady,” he said, “of any of the relics you specified. The border teams all report dead ends and leads. Several have faced casualties in the ruins as well.”

From her seat at her desk, Auvray Sydell didn’t even look up from the document in her gloved hand.

“And the glaive?” she asked.

The general shifted nervously.

“All attempts at capture have failed,” he answered. “Same goes for attempts at communication. All groups that have come close have been… massacred.” The general swallowed, like even that word fell short.

Auvray set the page down with a slight sigh before finally raising her eyes to the general. Her expression was calm, but that did little to rid the general of the uneasiness he felt while being in the office of the Emperor’s right-hand lady. She had an aura around her, one that almost made the room feel freezing, which was an accomplishment in itself under the warm sun of the Nivarian Empire. Whispers often spoke of the witchcraft she practiced, how she controlled the Emperor, and how she could slither into the minds of those in her presence.

Auvray was well aware of this. The thought was often one of few things to amuse her nowadays, with more disappointing news coming her way most days.

“Then the teams will continue,” she said. “Increase our presence along Regnum Aurelia’s borders. I want eyes everywhere. Surely one ruin has what the Empire seeks. And we will make sure that we find it.”

“Yes, my lady,” the general replied, then hesitated. “There is… a complication.”

She gestured for him to talk, hiding her pleasure as the general took a deep breath before continuing.

“Most available teams of Electrum rank and above are already deployed. Most of what remains is Copper, Tin, Iron. They are mostly unproven, and barely trained.”

Auvray’s lips curled, not quite into a smile.

“Send them anyway.”

The general blinked questioningly before she continued.

“We must find the relics before Regnum Aurelia uncovers them, and if that requires sending more people, then that is what we will do.”

She rose from her chair slowly, a strand of her dark hair falling in front of her face. “Think of the glory, should they succeed where their betters failed,” she added. “Surely that will inspire them to push themselves further.”

The general bowed, unease flickering across his face once more. “As you command, my lady.”

He turned and left, and as the door slammed shut, the chamber fell quiet once again. For several seconds, Auvray did not move. Only now that the general had left did she truly let the disappointment settle across her face. She spun towards the back of the room and made her way through the secret passage that led to her study. Even the Emperor was unaware of this little lair of hers with the number of wards she had put on it.

Inside, shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, packed with ledgers, scrolls and various magical oddities. Each was something she had personally uncovered and studied. A single lamp burned on her desk with a Continual Flame, its light falling over a pile of papers. Auvray removed her gloves and set them aside before reaching for the nearest paper.

Aschenwald.

The name appeared again and again. Fifty years had done nothing to quench the irritation Auvray felt in her chest at the reminder. They had been the leading force in researching ways to help bring more power to the real Empire, to the Nivarians, but suddenly, without warning. They had left. It had been planned, clearly. They grabbed all they could, and what they couldn’t, they burned, and they defected to Regnum Aurelia.

Auvray ran a finger across an old report from one such burned laboratory, reduced to ash. Fragments of a ritual circle, half-remembered symbols and glyphs. That was all the Empire had managed to confirm. The Aschenwalds had been working on some old ritual, and they had defected once they had come close to understanding it.

For fifty years, mages, researchers, any smart mind within the Empire that Auvray could get her hands on had tried their hands at replicating the progress the Aschenwalds had made. Gold had been poured, minds broken from overwork, countless theories discarded. And still, the Nivarian Empire had not come any closer to a power that would give them the true upper hand like that ritual would have.

Until now.

Auvray reached for another paper. It was a report from one of her private scout teams. An old site that had been uncovered by a spellstorm, its ruins dating back thousands of years. This had not just been any ruin, but one meant to seal, contain something. A relic. Something ancient - old powers from a bygone age.

This time, her lips curved fully into a smile as she read the report again.

Her attempt at capturing the relic had failed, yes, but it had not been for naught. No, it had shown her that this power was very real. Something ancient was stirring for the first time in millennia. Auvray would find a way to control this power, for the betterment of her Empire. And she would show the Aschenwalds that their defection had been in vain.

This power would be hers, eventually.