Chains of Destiny: Inquisition

Chapter 1: A Queens Reason

The Young Princess was going through her start of the new moon routine, the hottest bath a fire could muster. It was just before dawn and the last of winter’s storms was letting go to a dew drop spring morning. She was in this moment free, hands and bod resting against the outer terrace and sucking in the crisp air, still having the sting in the lungs from being just a little too cold, her white and midnight blue trimmed silken dress not leaving much to the imagination.

Rays of sun felt intoxicatingly warm to her light bronzed skin as she looked back to the east, she felt apt in being on the western side this morning, where she was not interrupted by billowing smoke during her sunbathing. It was not there, it couldn't be there. How could the "emissary of defense" think not to wake her after an incident such as this? This was her city, the previous King declared her the next Guardian of Life but a few years ago. And she meant to continue his reign to keep in check all the magic’s that wildly exhausted life so that the magic of life can continue unimpeded.

Unfortunately, that meant the total eradication of all other magic’s. Life would consume and destroy itself when given the powers that magic possessed, and a long successful line taught to defend all life by taking the lives of others, was just a necessary evil. Evil would prevail otherwise. Men and women always have the capabilities to be their own worst nightmares, with the power of magic it was tenfold.

This world learns of it the hard way, and it would not go willingly back to unchecked chaos that magic rains on the normal, everyday citizens of the world.

That was her charge, in the tiny minute aspect of it all, let those that would otherwise be trampled upon, live freely their day to day mundane lives, and do thy best to keep that intact, at any cost.

Nikali breaths in her fresh morning air again, ready to start the day. She ponders towards the east looking upon the Dwarven diplomatic tower, its top struck by lightning the night before. She had happened to watch it happen, of course the expected response was going to be that of magic, or nighthawks, possibly a dragon. Why is it always the Dwarven house that gets hit by lightning? Her selection ceremony was altered near five years ago by almost the exact same incident. Rumor abound that a dragon had attacked the Dwarven priest and made off with babies and dragon eggs.

If only it were that simple to keep the babes in the cribs, and the teens in at night. Perhaps the time has come for a cleansing. It always creates more order in the city, sometimes for years. She smiles and squints towards the rising sun,

If only I could see inside you and delve the mysteries that of which this world holds. She thinks to herself. That hot ball of pure fire and life was the greatest of wonders. Why was it there, why was it sometimes so hot it could evaporate the bay, or so cold it could freeze the surrounding oceans?

Her thinking is interrupted by the slapping and pounding of skin contacting the marble stairway. She gathers he thoughts quickly, tightens her silken robes and grabs her fur outer robe, which is shades of black and white. The source of the noise is an enormous man giant, skinny as single straw of grass. It had the odd habit of looking 180 degrees back and forth from left to right. He had been handed down to her from the previous king so long ago, and as inept at his duties that he was, she couldn't quite figure out how to rid herself of the simpleton.

As he runs right past her, immediately turning around and following in step. He doesn't make much of an effort to inform her of her daily briefing. He knew she enjoyed her news after her morning meal, and apart from the midnight summer storm, a few lighting strikes to keep the kids scared, he thought better to not inform of something so mundane. The dwarven tower did have a long history of being struck by lightning. A smile creep along his face and he couldn't help but let out an audible laugh.

"What happens to be so amusing to you this fine morning, Wreen?" Nikali says

He giggles again, "The smallbeards, your royalness. The tower was touched by lighting, smallbeards have the worst luck. Hit all the time." He pounds his chest with his fist imitating the sound of thunder

"And of course, this would not be considered an emergency that I would have liked to have been informed of." She states flatly.

Back and forth back and forth his head doesn't miss a beat and responds, thinks of responding, opens his mouth for a few moments and thinks better of saying anything at all, just follow. "The flames were still on last night, thought you saw it and didn't need to hear it."

"Did eyes not deceive many the last time the dwarven tower was struck? Or am I remembering the week of my ascension incorrectly?" They continued walking down the marbled stairwell, it was not a spiral like many are when made of this stone, but long and the incline was not very profound. The previous King got quite old and had many renovations done that would be time and costly to correct now for things as simple as space. The Palace Island was on a smaller Island to the West of the main City Island. They had constructed it this way as this was to better fortify the Palace. No Boat could get within a mile and the moat created to part if from the city was well over 150 meters with a single bridge.

The Bridge had an island in the middle, where when the outer bridge was lowered, would host anyone seeing the council, prince, princess, king or queen. They could wait a day, they could wait well over a fortnight. How long a procession would wait on the Isle of Patience, is anyone's guess. Generally, it would have to do with the actual urgency of it all. The bridge was a factor risk, people lost their lives on the island. Many were able to withstand the risk but others, if they lost their own patience, could potentially try and swim back.

Fresh meat for the Hippos, 'gators and piranhas.

"So has the procession for the royal princes and their families passed the Island of Patience?" She asked, as they were headed to her wardrobe room to get in a proper outfit for the occasion. This was going to be a very busy few weeks, potentially leaking into the entirety of the summer.

"Yes your royalness, the drawbridges were being lowered as I left to come seek you out. The council wishes to talk unto you and are not to think, to leave this alone for much days." Wreen's speech at times was difficult with an enlarged tongue. But out of most creature’s basic instinct is survival, and the young Princess quickly informed her new court hands that if they wanted to continue to serve, changes would be made. Wreen just happens to be one of only a handful that have continued to serve her hand.


She breaths out a heavy sigh, not responding to the information vocally. They make their way into her wardrobe room, once an office room for his majesty, now very wide open and stuffed with cloths from every corner of the land. It was a running joke that even a man would have a hard time picking out a proper outfit.

Nikali has come to find that the seasonal color change agrees with her best, having it be the Greens of Spring, the bright colors of summer, the falls browns and oranges. by far her favorite was that of the winter, Whites and grays, the magnificent colors of the aurora and the night. It may have been spring but today, a Queen in the coming. She would go for one of her many favorite gowns.

It was set on a type of marble carved mannequin. Long sleeved, to the floor gown that had an opening from just above her collarbone to mid breast. The corsets were a difficult part for her, aside from her breasts enduring hours of torture, they made it so damn hard to breath.

As she put on the Midnight blue dress with the center being a mother of pearl resemblance of the brightest lights of the north. The College said it had something to do with the sun. Her first year in the city was spent in the College. Many ruling hopefuls would spend some time, hers was different due to an ill King, or she may have spent twenty five or more seasons in study and learning the ins and outs of royalty. She had so much information loaded into her head, she joked it leaked out of her ears, nose and mouth while she slept, when she could sleep.

The handful of handmaidens jotted about, putting on fresh powder, shining her rings and putting on an elegant necklace with a center piece that was a tree with roots and beautiful pink & white cherry blossoms with the trunk and branches being a bright silver. Her hair was a coppered bronzed brown that was straight at the top tapering down to large curls to tiny little curls, her hair length was just long enough to brush her shoulders. Her eyes were a little large and as blue as sapphires with little speckles of white that could be seen from time to time under the right circumstance.

She was gorgeous, magnificent, a devilish smile that could knock walls down. She was professed by many in the city to be the most beautiful of all the ladies. She may have had access to more than anyone in the known world, she took great advantage of that. And now it was time to become a Queen.

Not of another small kingdom taking a place on a lower seat and next to a husband, next to a king. She was heir apparent to the professed King of life, and the cycle was always kept that one with gifts of magi specifically of life would continue to rule for all time. The previous 1000 years, the founding and building of the city Levinos, the capital of all the world has only had six previous rulers, all Kings. it was simple for the small kingdoms to bring the princesses and most beautiful women to court and lined up like prizes for the man.

The last king deciding it was Nikali to be named, would be the first queen. Now he had set up eligible husbands both of need, want, and convenience. But none of them were of her wants or needs, it had been about the peoples, the city, and the kingdom to be named gaining a significant amount of power within the city’s walls. She was young, confident and beautiful and she may not marry for love, but she was going to try as hard as possible.

I will not be able to hide from The College forever , she though. Although she had spent a year there, she needed much more study to be an effective leader. She could even use it now, but things have happened, the King's death highest amongst them that have thrown many plans into the fray.


The mother of pearl pattern on the front of her dress danced brilliantly in the morning sun, the midnight blue that surrounded it danced with its blues and blacks. I may not be the most beautiful women on the world, but damn I make this dress, she thinks to herself as she studies every curve in a very large mirror that covered near half a section of wall. A deviously confident smile crept across her face, "All right Handmaidens, let us find a King." And they were off.

Wreen has stayed outside her changing room the whole while she dressed, it was custom and someone of his size would generally just get in the way of everything. As Nikali passed she didn't even look his direction, her focus was on and beaming with confidence, swagger, and most of all, an authority. "I see you tonight, your royalness!" Wreen shouts, understanding quickly he is no longer needed while all the woman's most important shoes clinging on the marble.

"No council meetings until I decide so, stay in the grounds and I’ll call when needed." she stated flatly and almost with a dismissiveness.

Wreen had a long backstory about being in the right place at the right time when one of the King's younger daughters happened to nearly drown, otherwise someone with his ailment couldn't be caught inside the city, nevertheless the Castle. He always had a soft spot of children and their innocence and protection. Saving that daughter that day may have been the result of an attempt much more sinister.

Or Life and the fates had a saying in the outcome.

It doesn't take him long to move on into outer sections of the Castle grounds, down into the depths of it. Wreen has such a long stride that it never took him very long to get anywhere. And before he knows it, he rounds a corner in a dark part of the castle during what is quickly coming up to midday. "Smallbeard." He states flatly, spittle flinging from his mouth onto the side of the wall he just cornered.

Dwarves always had a presents inside the castle and the grand city of Levinos. They had their own tower which signified them as a major race and contributor to the greater good and lifeblood of the known world.

"Tall touch inky, how is your day." His voice was raspy and covered.

"The underpire has a request to present the Queen....The Princess?" Wreen asked the stranger, but not that of a stranger to him. Anyone or anything with or about the dwarven kingdom of the underpire generally didn't see the light of the sky. This was unexpected for Wreen, and not at all what he was planning.

"This is for the Princess, the soon to be Queen needs to be informed and it had to be carried and not flown. Vasmoik our priest has the same information and even in more detail. The Island of Patients needs to be forgone as best as possible." The small one says with a little more command, and a huge influence of naming the Priest. He hands a leather-bound scroll to Wreen.

Wreen gives it a pull but the smallbeard doesn't let go.

"There has been a surprise run in with an advisory in the underpire." It lets go, shaking its head.

Wreen rubs his long fat pointer finger with a severely infected nail over the center press seal, showing it hasn't been opened by anyone. This wasn't the normal seal, which is generally a common type of wax central to the location from whence it came. "Is this bore hide?" Asking for reassurance that the hide is not exactly what he thinks it is.


"That's of elven skin. If an Elf saw me, or any Dwarf with it, it would generally mean war, there were three others just like this that were found on a scout far underground in our deepest of mines." He looks out, down the hallway reminiscing on his time below the crust, being above ground has always had its openness and potential for an attack, leading underpire dwarves to be considerably cautious above ground.

"The prince believed Nikali would find the skin, how should I say..." He puts his hand on his beard and contemplates a moment, "Inadmissible. So that is why I got it to who could give it to her in a more private setting. The information on the skin is most concerning."

Wreen takes a good grip on the skinned document and starts walking away, muttering things along the way about smallbeards, how tiny they are. It was near a seething hatred that he could keep in check while around one or two for short amount of time. He made his way to the Audience chamber, where there were several back rooms that allowed her royalness to take brakes and refreshments.



Nikali, adorned in all her greatness, stood atop of the chamber, a few of her handmaidens stood behind the duel thrown setting, King David III incorporated the Queens thrown as an equal to the Kings, they stood only about a foot apart. The Kings chair had no incorporation of pillows or comfort, where the queen’s throne had a few, plush feather pillow bottom and a lower back pillow to help with a queen’s posture.

Princess Nikali was looking at the thrones, she was not yet permitted to be able to sit in the queen’s chair, as was the custom until she was married. The chairs had their own discomfort, but the comfort is sitting is massively understated when you have to stand for hours on end listening to babble from citizens and senate complaints.

Like with those times of hearing the public, this was on par with equal or more importance, she was chosen years ago to undergo intense training and time at the college to be able step into the Queenship without skipping a beat as the King resigns and retires. His sudden death disrupted all of that, and here today, instead of being matched with an eligible royal on the Kings choice.

As she turns around motioning to the four guards that she's ready. Is flanked on both sides by the important and influential. All with their own political and power motives and will each advocate for whom they believe is the best choice, in their eyes.

The thrones were meant to be imposing and overbearing. They set upon seventeen layered steps that were just a little larger than a step but nearly three times as wide. They had inscriptions upon the flat side facing away from the thrones. Each step was its own element, or type of stone, be it granite, marble or obsidian. They were polished to a point that made it seem as if a layer of water always rested on them. The council or War, Magi, and Merchants. On her right, The Speaker, Order of Knights, Teacher, and The Iilo.

Other seats not currently in attendance had the extra responsibility to continue keeping the grand empire afloat for a few days.

The Guards struck their bracers against their shields and exited out the main door. This was not a normal door but off to the side for single guests. There was always the lingering thought of assassination and the palace took many measures to ensure that no one could easily encounter the Royals without the proper vetting. Guards were selected at birth and lived their entire lives inside the Palace. There were approximately 750 with 375 being active at any given time.

A guard re-enters the chamber and declares from a parchment paper, "Lelanos, son of Yelena, 4th in line to the Granite state." He slowly rolls the parchment as a Young dark-haired boy waltzes into the room.

With a raised eyebrow Nikali looks towards her chairmen, "whose brilliant Idea was this one?"

Adorned in a tall hat that came to an oval shaped tip in the front, long robes and tassels, was the Iilo. The Iilo was the free leader of all religions. The belief system, priesthood, Inquisitors, and Order of Knights all looked to this position of faith, strength, leadership and divinity imagined in the city of Levinos. He was much older, closing in on the age of 90, with the wrinkles to show it, a crooked nose longer than most, and very bushy salt n pepper eyebrows lets out a Cough,

"Your Royalness, it was I." He kept a keen eye on the man boy in front of them. He was extremely disappointed that this boy was the first presented, it showed he had the worst patience. One strong and knowing of how Granite worked, he expected to be near the middle of the pack. The pack wasn't exactly large, approximately a few dozen or so.

Nikali looks him over well enough to be sure and says, "We all know that the first handful of these men will not be chosen, let us not waist our times with introductions and pleasantries."


A shy handmaiden swung around from behind the thrones and said "Your Royalness, chosen or not it would be a great slight against the kingdoms that are turned around without even an introduction." she bows her head and returns as if she was never there.

The Iilo looks at the Princess with an eyebrow raised, "Care not for that, you may upset the selectors as well, no?" His labored sigh lets out a breath. "None of us know the order they come in, and this is very different than with previous kings whom, shall I say, had their taste of all the women and girls before deciding."


Nikali could feel her face flush with heat, was it her temper or jealousy?

The only general in the room spoke up, war torn and ready for battle, he was younger than one would expect being in the same room as the elder gentlemen and source of knowledge and much power to the sitting Royal. "Leave boy, you have been found wanting, linger and your life will end here."

"Stop it Xepar, he is not close to being even my age, you may make him piss himself." She lets out a small laugh, the General was quiet, intimidating. A jeweled sword, two daggers, and a small tomahawk axe were a few reasons why.

Xepar looks at her Royalness, without blinking takes the small axe on his right hip, with his right hand and throws it at the boy. The axe head digs deep into a rear pillar just above and to the left of the boy. His eyes don't leave the axe, and Xepar and Nikali have a momentary staring contest.

Before the boy knows it there is a puddle beneath him, his leggings are wet, and he can finally feel himself shaking. Three guards come in from the noise, the parchment speaker shakes his head at them and motions for them to take the wet thing away. Several handmaidens come in and the place is cleaned and perfumed in a blink of the eye.

Nikali leaves the generals game and speaks, "Next, at this pace we'll be here all day." she shakes her head and rubs at her temple, mindpains.

The parchment holder grabs another and replaces the last on a small pillar table next to the entrance. He takes a look around the corner wide eyed hoping these poor souls don't die here today.

"Lazarus, son of..." he starts speaking

A man in his 30's and a confident step swings into the chamber at a quick pace and grabs the parchment from the speaker’s hands, brakes it in half and throws it back near the pillar table. He squares himself to Nikali, makes eye contact with here, and holds it a moment.

He closes his eyes and kneels. While looking at the marbled floor begins speaking in a bit of a raspy voice, as though he has gone an age without talking.

"Your Royalness Nikali, soon to be the first queen of Levinos. I beg your forgiveness as I am in no position to be of use to you as a groom and king. I lost the love of my life only a few fortnights ago and pleaded with the commander of the Chaos Knights not to put my name forward. I have a young daughter and son and my only place now is with them." He stands, faces Xepar with a slight bow, leaves.

Nikali yells out after he leaves " Maidens, get enough stools for us in here, we'll all faint from exhaustion if it goes this way all day!" she quiets her tone, not by much "Xepar, if you know of that man’s loss and obvious turmoil, you chose very badly."

Xepar just shrugs his shoulders, he had nothing to do with that man’s name or having him here but didn’t want the soon to be queen to know too much about him and his choices.

This goes on for half the day and just before lunch someone peaks Nikali's interest.

"My name is Vor'goth, 1st in line to the underpires realm, Prince of house Ram, and would it not have been for the Eldora council of the Dawn and Under, I would be the next King of the Dwarves. I am here as a courtesy of the invitation. I don't believe you have interest in dwarves and..."

Nikali cuts him off as he stays kneeling, "This is purely political and not much more than that. Although over time the King and Queen have had children, they often are led to lesser roles as to show no favoritism to bloodlines. It had been this way since the first charter of laws governing Levions was created so many ages ago."

She looks to the Teacher, principle elected leader of the College, "This is your choice, Teacher?"

He looks to her smiling, with a half nod and shake which could have been interpreted as a yes and no. The selected leader of College returned to his previous stance and gaze, and blinks methodically.

"You may leave Vor'goth, but as of this moment you may very well be the front runner to be King of Levinos, and my second." Nikali smiled as the bronzed skinned dwarf paled a bit.

"Your Royalness." he bows slightly after standing and exits the chamber.

She claps her hands and in one of the adjoining rooms she exits, "If you brutes and scholars would like lunch, I suggest you come with me. Or go to your prospects that haven't been seen yet and try to impress me, please. This is getting very boring." She sits down to a large assortment of fruits, breads, cheeses and oils. There were no chairs only pillows for sitting, a low-level table that was extra-large. As she sits at one end she plops an several dried cranberries, and two very large blackberries.