Chapter 4: Mommy

Note: Free of Tyrant Notes this time.

Welcome back, dear readers! It has been some time since this story has been updated and I am really sorry about that. Arturo has been busy drawing the last few pages of Chapter 2 of Mork, but then got distracted playing RPGs again.

In the previous chapter of this webnovel,  we saw how tense the situation got for Morkana and Flamewing and how the empress can be a bit… vengeful. It’s understandable why Morkana would behave like that since Flamewing was her True Love and she was the happiest by his side. Before Flamewing, Morkana’s first ex, Hellsnake, was a sociopathic human super soldier that manipulated her with his charisma and lies, and he then did unspeakable things to her and gaslighted her to continue being with him for weeks; Morkana beat the crap out of him after finding out that he did the same with her younger sister, Tessia. Her second ex, a dreik woman named Freyarmine, was Morkana’s best friend and had a big crush on Morkana, but Morkana only dated Freyarmine to deal with the pain of the things her first ex did to her; Freya became aware that this was a codependent relationship that wasn’t making Morkana happy and broke things with Morkana so the two would be free to find true love. When Flamewing appeared in Morkana’s life, she saw him as a rival, the hero that took away her chance to kill her evil father and the idiot that kept messing with her own plans; a year of conflicts later, the two became lovers and for 6 years they were happy and were planning to get married and have many babies.

This beautiful love story then got interrupted by Jen Arkwing entering the stage.

Look, I don’t blame Jen for what happened, but I am pointing fingers at her father. He wasn’t as evil as my ex, Aureon the [REDACTED] of Witches, but I will say Victor Karsh was a horrible person.

EXT. IMPERIAL CAPITAL CITY - AFTERNOON

Flashback.

It’s a cold and rainy day in the capital of the Fafnirian Empire, and King Aureon and his daughter the Princess Morkana were leaving the imperial palace after a meeting with the crystalized God Emperor Khaezar and the Regent Empress Meenervah. Morkana was dressed as a goth secretary, with an elegant black suit, a white buttoned shirt, a black skirt, her long hair styled as a ponytail and wearing special cybernetic glasses. She walked behind Aureon, who was covered with bandages and wore golden pieces of armor with a red cape.

Aureon: “This place is full of lies, my daughter. The buildings may look like gold, but they are just copper and steel painted to give the illusion of power. This is a decaying city of pampered aristocrats and slaves without dignity. They depend on niix workers to power their industries and haven’t innovated their starships in who knows how long. The old man envies me, my daughter. I have an empire that I made with my own hands, where the strong are those that create and destroy, and the weak either become strong on their own, or die to not get in the way. That is the true way of a dreik. That is the true way of life.”

Morkana: “Understood, father.”

Morkana was scribbling on a “digital clipboard” while her father continued his ramblings.

Aureon: “We will return to Blitz and begin the preparations for the campaign to conquer Rayga. I will need you to manage the scientific division as we discussed since I can’t trust Seltsamliebe, nor any of those mad scientists to keep things working. Remember my daughter, the crazy and chaotic only work properly when a powerful ruler manages everything.”

Morkana: “Yes, father.”

What Aureon didn’t know was that Morkana was already planning, not only how to usurp his throne, but take over the whole Fafnirian Empire. The quiet goth lady writing on her digital device was a multitasker already calculating the economics of the coup d'etat, drawing the schematics of a new water plant for Blitz, and also humming a classic Earth song.

Morkana: “I am the very model ta ta ta ta ta…”

Once in charge of the Think Tank, Morkana would sabotage many of the military projects, send military technology to Sparrow and the Birds of Blitz project, and steal the research of many of the scientists. The knowledge that was supposed to be used for war was repurposed for solving many social problems and making commercial treaties with the Coalition. This was the beginning of Morkana’s empire.

End of the Flashback.

INT. IMPERIAL PALACE’S LIBRARY - DAY

One of the benefits of being the empress of the Fafnirian Empire is to have access to the Imperial Palace’s library, one of the biggest libraries on the planet. It’s an ancient library founded by a predecessor of Emperor Sma-Ugh, and for thousands of years it has been protected and updated by a sacred order of knight librarians that worship many gods of knowledge. Some of these dutiful knights of knowledge have even transcended and became guardian spirits that guard the halls of this library. Sadly for the librarians and the guardian spirits, none of them were trained to deal with children playing with the books, so they just stared awkwardly as the son of the empress and a human girl were making a fake building with a section of civil engineering and the application of magic in architecture.

Morkana: “What is happening here?!”

Prince: “M-Mom…”

Helen: “We made a fort!”

Morkana looked down at the two kids inside the small fortification. Prince looked scared and Helen was confused.

Morkana: “Agh! These are ancient tomes of magic and engineering manuals, not building blocks for forts or whatever! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to maintain knowledge from before the Cataclysm, little devil?”

Helen looked sad and didn’t want the tall lady to be angry.

Helen: “I’m sorry, miss. I will be good.”

Prince: “W-we will put the books back! I promise!”

The sight of two sad kids was enough to make Morkana feel guilty of raising her voice, so she calmed down before talking again.

Morkana: “Prince, take Helen to play in your room. There are actual toys there.”

Prince: “C’mon, Helen.”

The kids got out of the library thanks to Prince knowing how to move through the library on his own. If there’s one ability Prince inherited from his father was the ability to navigate through dungeons.

Morkana: “That boy is his father’s son.”

Then, Morkana noticed the cloaked figure of the Karsh in a corner. He was reading a book with the initials T. P. and the cover had a turtle with some elephants on it’s back.

Morkana: “Can’t you do your job and keep the kids safe?!”

Karsh: “THEY WERE ALWAYS SAFE. ONLY A FEW ENCYCLOPEDIAS WERE DAMAGED AND YOU HAVE ANGER MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS.”

Morkana: “Anger management problems?! Do you know how stressed I am every day?! Every day I have to moderate political discussions, negotiate peace treaties and commercial treaties with close to 50 people, listen to updates about all the engineering projects my administration is managing, be informed daily of the socioeconomic problems that affect our interstellar society, work on my own research projects, have a good public image, do the usual shady works of every government, plan the strategies for ending the recent war, be a good godmother to all the children of my employees and use the little free time I have to raise my son as a mother should! At least Flame is working to make up for his mistakes, you are just walking around the palace eating, reading and stalking people!”

Karsh: “MY MISSION IS TO PROTECT HELEN, AND SHE ISN’T IN DANGER.”

Morkana: “You insufferable jerk!”

Morkana left the library very angry and half transformed into her Nobilis form. The librarians knew it was better to not get in her way.

INT. MORKANA’S ROOM - DAY

Flamewing had just returned home after a day training his new company for rescue operations. He was tired, but not from the exercise, but from dealing with all the personal dramas, like breaking a conflict between a human and a dreik because the two had lost family members on opposite sides of the Coalition vs Blitz conflict, and the situation with a microwave that exploded. Returning home and hearing from Karsh what happened made Flamewing be more stressed, so he went to talk with Morkana.

Flamewing: “May I come in?”

Morkana: “It’s good you have manners, or the snipper outside my room would have shot you.”

Flamewing: “Sparrow, or Robin?”

Morkana: “That is classified.”

Sparrow (as a voice coming from a communicator): “I can shoot him if you want.”

Flamewing: “Mork, I heard what happened this morning at the library.”

Morkana: “Don’t call me by my nickname. I know I got angry and shouted at your daughter, and I am sorry for that, but don’t expect me to treat her with the same kindness as with my son because she isn’t my daughter.”

Flamewing: “Mork-Morkana, she is just a child, just like Prince. They need to have fun and get in trouble. Does he even get out to do something else besides school? Helen is the only kid I have seen him socialize with.”

Morkana: “Don’t talk to me about how I raise my child!”

Morkana was holding her tears as much as she could and even if she wasn’t using her Voice of the Void Flamewing knew she was in pain.

Morkana: “Do you know what it’s to raise a baby while being the busiest person in the Known Worlds?! He probably has spent more time with Robin than with me, asshole!”

Flamewing: “I’m sorry.’

Morkana: “You weren’t there! You wouldn’t know how I felt all these years!”

Flamewing: “I wish I could have been there.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment and there was so much Morkana and Flamerwing wanted to tell each other.

Morkana: “I-I have work to do. Please leave my room.”

Jesus, these two have a lot of marital problems to sort out.

Karsh: “BUT THEY AREN’T MARRIED.”

Karsh, don’t break the narrative!

Karsh: “I WANTED TO RETURN THIS BOOK TO YOU.”

Not now! I am reading the events of this story to our viewers!

Karsh: “HAVE YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT FAUST TENENBAUM?”

Later! That isn’t relevant to what is happening!

Karsh: “BUT SHE IS IMPORTANT-”

Spoilers! We have to return to the narrative!