Chapter 2 Winter
Months after the Death of Ganon, the tensions only grew. Not only had the assassin lived, but now a new face was there to take place of his dead father. Caesar Eclair-Lafayette, the sadistic son of the late Ganon Eclair-Lafayette. He was charming and charismatic. But he was also a snake in the grass, ready with venom costed teeth to do what ever it took to bring justice to his family name, and to complete a new vision for Bridge Town with him seated atop the throne.
In the south, lifestyles thrived without the looming pressure of Ganon at first. Business boomed and profited Valka Vex and her side of the river while this vacuum of power remained open. Ceasing the opportunity, Vex doubled down on her hold of the South. With magic staining the streets and buildings with even more of her witch sigils, her influence and grasp down here was unmatched and unquestioned.
Slowly it came to question, however, how the moths sanity was fairing. This deep, unknown magic she surrounded herself with. These calls from the void. Something outside of pure power and ego was happening behind her red eyes, and Anais took first sight of this with the Southside Queens slaying of a squatter within one of her abandoned properties. How unhinged she was becoming was now surfacing and raising many concerns!
Behind the scenes, the Eclair-Lafayette family did what they did best. Plotted and schemed until their machinations were in effect! Quincy Eclair-Lafayette, once the desk man for the neutral fighters guild, had disappeared and taken a revenge plot against his grandfather's assassin! Meanwhile Caesar staged his own taking of the seat as Mayor, framing an assassination of Bridge Towns current mayor as the doing of a Southside Beastkin!
With his political platform acquired, Caesar declared justice against all beastkin and their ways. Pitting the North and the South against each other violently with civil war, using hate and racism as the fuel to this fire! Meanwhile, Valka Vex secured her own placement further as the Southside Queen, with public executions of ghastly eldritch display. Openly sacrificing people and their souls to the great beyond as a reminder to all, who she was.
Anais had not remained idle with his revitalized self. Though he was plagued with hauntings and sickening sensitivity to magic and the great powers around him, he fought on still with the help of various allies in secret across Bridge Town. Clyve Longstaff, The Hanged Man, and even the mysterious Boros Island Demon Ilkya, had been lopped together about the various ongoings and how to proceed. Anais pursued his liberation from his affliction, all while trying to figure out how to break Bridge Town free from the rule of tyrants.
Armed with magic weaponry, and a determination to push on through the chaos, the fights took place at first in the shadows.
Caesar struck in numerous ways, with the kidnapping of The Hanged Man, and torture of him for information. Later as well with the kidnapping of Julie Thimble; Anais' current love interest! Some of the closest people to Anais were being targeted, and caught in the teeth of the devious serpent, Caesar.
A truly desperate measure granted Anais the knowledge and ability to find and Rescue The Hanged Man, with the help of Valka Vex. A memory which would harrow the trade master forever. As both a lapse in his own pride, and further discovery of Vex's own madness. The moth was truly unhinged, and beyond repair!
It was the people of Bridge Town itself which finally tipped the boiling pot over. Hatred could no longer be contained after Caesars poisonous words infected the minds of civilians. Up North, a mob broke out in a hate filled attempted to enact street justice upon beastkin. One act of violence against the town sweetheart, Sable, lead to total chaos afterwards.
Bridge Town, North and South, become a war zone! The town militia, active fighters guild members, and mercenaries from various outposts leapt to action. Whether for Caesar, Bridge Town, or outside influences. The fighting carried on and violence and bloodshed claimed the streets. Artillery was used upon the masses while Valka Vex mobilized with herself atop the great bridge. Watching. Waiting. And then casting true hell down upon the town.
A rain of eldritch witchfire showered the North, as heavily as cannonfire had riddled the south. The number of dead were truly fitting for a war. In the firey rain came the tragic explosion that consumed the town meadery, claiming the life of Sable, among others in the streets who were caught in the otherworldly blast.
In an attempt to claim the souls of the dead, Valka opened her realm defying gateways over the river, and called for the lingering souls to travel forth to the beyond. It was in this moment though that the unplanned efforts of the Mercenary Jekel, and Anais taking aim with his magical rifle, that they put a stop to Valka's assault. A gunshot claimed the witches left eye and the battlefield fell to silence.
Days later, the living mourned and cleaned up the ruins of battle. The meadery still smoldering its otherwordly fumes, while the changing season was melting the ice and snow. There was still much to do though, and many hands at work during the sobering silence. One battle was over, but many more were yet to come!
