A peasant tavern in the capital of the Cominius Empire was losing customers. A drunk lady at a tavern full of men is normally an attraction,. Still, this lady was dressed in noble regalia, accompanied by two knights who brandished swords, knights that she towered over.

The barkeep stood silent like a mouse with a look of nervousness. A peasant can’t talk back to a noble, and definitely not the empire’s general, even after she was louder than a crowd of jolly drunks, had broken six mugs, and chased away most of his daily customers by throwing one through the wall unprovoked. What could he do?

“Barkeep, another!!”

The general shouted as she slammed her mug against the counter, breaking her seventh.

“Yes, c-coming”

Replied sheepishly the barkeep as he finished serving another table, he ran to the bar, replaced her mug with one full of a mix of beer, wine and whiskey. Chugging it down, her guards, with a look of worry, tried to convince her to retire for the night, stating how drunk she was. In annoyance, she turned and threw the empty mug at another customer.

“Hahahaha, right on the mark… see that I’m not that drunk let me have my fill”

She turned to resume drinking, slamming the table loudly, demanding another, only to be interrupted by her guardsman clashing into the shelves in front of her.

She turned to notice the situation only to see other guardsmen being choked out by a tower being, dressed in black leather and light armour, his face was mostly covered, but the parts that weren’t were his charcoal black hair, with orange-tipped highlights the same shade as embers from a flame. Still, his deep crimson red eyes were the most noticeable part of him. The barman hid under his bar

“Not again, no, not again,, He mumbled as the general wiped her eyes

“I think you had enough” said the assailant as he reach for her neck but was stopped by the blow to his jaw, the assailant stumbled back, the general came charging in with another blow but it was caught, quickly she interlocked their hands with a firm grip, her assailant responds in kind.

“Let’s dance, big boy,” and dance they did, at least from the perspective of the onlookers. Two giants with hands interlocked spin and twirl around one another, each throwing blows and kicks, and the other dodging and countering while still interlocked at hand.

The cheers from the onlookers, the companions of the assailant, grew louder and louder, some even jeered and mocked them both

“What are you doing,, T’dregi? Finish her, “Is she really giving you that much trouble?”, “Dinner and a show!!! Whoa, “Such dances are only for the bedroom”,

The general didn’t care about the noise they generated, but this was louder. Was it the alcohol? But I’m no lightweight, and the noise is too clear. I’m getting dizzy, the general thought to herself, the man in front of her was starting to blur, he appeared to be more than one, throwing her off her pace and rhythm, and her assailant took advantage to swiftly knock her to the ground with a clear strike to the face.

She fell, the general vomits all over the floor, her mind disoriented, she looks at the tall man, whom she does not know if it is one or one person anymore, charges at him but is stopped by her guardsmen, they struggle to escort her out as she whines,

“Release me, I am Wania Sapphire, General of the Imperial armies, I will not be bested by some tavern thug”

She was too weak and disoriented to shake them out and was taken away. The tavern thug in question sat back down with his group

“It looks like trouble is coming our way,” said an elderly man in the group.

The morning after the fight, Wania sprung from her bed in shock, thinking all of last night was a dream but the headache from the hangover and the sting on her nose from the fight was enough to shake her delusion, quickly she ran to the training grounds on reflex demanding her soldiers spar with her on after the other, she spent the rest of the day remembering the fight trying to understand what happened, she was the general of the imperial army, a war hero, a grandmaster in the realm of combat, how could some no named nobody humiliate her in a common bar fight, as she looked to the sky of the setting sun while still practicing the bow her soldiers laid all over the ground, in a daze she recalled “Ah, my father and sister were never good with alcohol perhaps it’s hereditary” but she still couldn’t agree to the fact that mere alcohol could be her undoing, by nightfall she had calmed down but could not accept the defeat, her instincts tells her something was amiss in that fight but she could pinpoint it,

“My only choice would be to duel him again and figure it out”.

A knock on the door called her attention as the head maid entered

“Your grace, you have a summons from the empress, she demands you come tonight” Wania lets out a sigh of exhaustion; she didn’t want to see the empress, especially not now after her defeat

“The news of my defeat must have spread, did her she send a massager tell them I’m too busy ill visit tomorrow”, “I knew you’ll say that” a loud shout interrupts her from behind the head maid, “Which is why I’m here myself” the doors bust open to reveals a petite lady, with platinum blonde hair, sharp facial features excluding her eyes and nose which while mouse like in comparison, Wania noticed she was wearing a cloak

“Did you sneak out of the palace, your majesty?”

The empress flinched and rolled her eyes to avoid eye contact,

“You’re going off topic”

She regained her confidence and pointed at the general sternly

“You just attempted to lie and ignore an imperial summons, that’s a social crime”, said the empress

“I didn’t ignore the imperial summon, I ignored a summons from my sister who is abusing her power as empress”.

The empress of the Cominius Empire was Rosa Sapphire Cominius, younger sister to Wania Sapphire. Rosa pouted and crossed her arms to express her annoyance

“I wouldn’t abuse it if you would visit more often”

She stomped towards the sofa in the office and sat like a child throwing a tantrum,

“Helga, dear, make some tea for our guest”, Wania commanded, with the two sisters alone in the room. Rosa began her whining,

“Why don’t you visit me more? What have you been doing? You don’t even write anymore”

With a quick retort, Wania replied

“I’m busy maintaining the security of the empire you and your husband created. You could have left that to the minister of defence”

Rosa shot back

“You know damn well that I need to keep the capital under my influence for both our sakes”

She ran her hands through the silver blonde hair,

“The game of politics and influence, you either play or you fall in line”

Rosa said as she let out a sigh, walking over to her sister’s side

“I thank you for your tireless efforts, for it is because of them you have never failed me”

The general with a saddened expression

“And I will never fail you”

Just then, the maid came in with the tea, and Rosa quickly separated from her sister,

“So what is this I hear about the imperial army general losing in a bar fight?” Wania snaps out of her absentminded state and lets out a disgruntled sigh

“He didn’t beat me”

Rosa sips tea and ignores the words of her sister,

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t serious… and if someone would visit more often”, she whispered the last phrase in her voice, knowing fully well Wania could hear her

“The emperor already thinks it’s true, and you know that witch is already scheming to use this against us.” Rosa didn’t care much for Wania’s loss. No proper duel could be held at a bar while drunk on cheap mead. She only worried about how the rumour could affect her reputation as empress. Wania knew this and was bored with the false front of worry Rosa was showing.

“If it is a matter of strength, none in the empire are my equal, all will be well, now finish your tea and go home” Wania stood from her chair and matched out with a quickened pace, leaving Helga to attend to Rosa

“Shall I serve the sweets to overturn the sourness of the room, your majesty?” Helga said

“I’ve missed you too, Helga”,, Rosa said.

In any association of people, there is always the figurehead, the person others look to when they have problems they must solve. Usually, this person is a leader, a symbol of authority, but in the cases where they are not, the real leaders and the problem solvers always clash until one of them falls or gets in line.

To the emperor of Cominius, the general was said to be a figurehead. Now,, after so many years of waiting, when the news of her defeat in a fight, as patched up as the information was, he believed it was time for the general to fall or fall in line.

Grinning from ear to ear,

“An opportunity like this… the entities were be craving my worship”

Laughter was heard from the emperor’s office by his knights outside, who would later report the news to the first imperial consort. As the news reached her ears, she let out a wicked laugh. The palace was in an unusually mellow mood. Laughter echoed all around, but to the ignorant, there was nothing to celebrate. The maids wondered and worried, but carried on as if nothing new had happened.