Anonym gave the people, who had just now arrived, a curious gaze as they all looked angry and flustered.

Having had spent such a large amount of time to wait for their General to return, they had gotten impatient but still did not do anything, like continue to hold the funeral for the late Emperor.

In their anger, they had scolded quite a few people who were honestly doing their jobs, of giving them meals or tea, in turn making even their servants also unhappy with Anonym.

Each and every single one seemed to expect her demise, making Anonym feel quite special that they had all even made the trip out here!

How convenient that they have come as a whole to get rid of me…

After thinking for a moment, she turned towards Switch and smiled, “I believe the ones that need to be extinguished are right here Switch, show me your power.”

Switch was delighted, smiling very widely, he made his way to Anonym and looked upon the people that started to worry.

Seeing this young-looking, handsome man come to stand beside Anonym, they all started to panic, by taking a step or two back in retreat.

Tapping his staff on the ground, a drastic turn of events happened.

Laughter roared out of Anonym, she hadn’t believed that he could do something like this, but he did! All of the people turned into pigs! They were even confined into a fence that had been made by Switch as well.

How hilarious was this person, she thought, looking at Switch. He gave her a grin and stared right back to her.

Since Shapeshifting already existed, he was able to use that power. He didn’t particularly know how it worked but he was still able to use it.

When one uses the art of Shapeshifting, they become what they had changed into, so these people now, were practically one hundred percent pigs. They would oink like pigs and sleep like pigs…The only difference is, they were still able to think as they did before and remember their lives when they were people…

For a certain two Shapeshifters, they turned into an eagle and flew away, whereas the others, they had no way to transform back, they hadn’t learnt the art of Shapeshifting and would now forever be…A pig.

The two who flew away knew of this, but what are they to do! They flew so wildly that they ended up outside of Murkcloud continent within hours!

 

The General let out a gasp in horror, his…Highness…Her Highness…

Before he could take control of the situation of trying to choose, he had lost the chance! This person with the staff had seemed to choose his situation entirely.

Having seen that the people who had come were the ones that wanted to dominate the throne, he thought it had come in handy for this new Emperor. He had known for quite some time now, of the ones who were greedy, schemed and used their status for power.

How fascinating he thought it was, how different! Through the ages, there had only been male Emperor’s…There had been a royal lineage…Long fights for the throne. But she had put none of that into her eyes and just took the crown...And did it all in a day!

He let out a loud laugh, he found it completely hilarious!

Anonym turned back to him and frowned, “Is there something funny, General?”

The General tried to stop laughing, after a moment of letting out a couple of coughs in an attempt to become more formal, he said, “Your Majesty, I am overwhelmed with the power you possess.”

He didn’t know what other words to use!

Anonym nodded, satisfied with his acknowledgment, if they know how powerful she is, then they’ll never go against her, “Very well, continue your laughter, I’m going to my palace.”

Switch let out a chuckle and took her in his arms. He tapped the ground with his staff and they disappeared.

 

***

 

After Anonym changed out of her dirty clothes, she demanded to wear the Emperor dragon robes, even though they were too big for her. While she changed in her new residence, she let Switch organize a gathering in the throne room...

The people that stayed behind at the palace were all summoned and saw for themselves, the little twelve-year-old girl, sitting lazily on the highest chair.

Some wanted to say something, but didn’t. There was such a change that happened to the Rain Clan in such a short span of time, that people hadn’t been able to think straight thoughts.

As the people came in, they kneeled towards her and she smiled upon them, but didn’t say anything.

Ah, the good old days, she thought. Having so many subjects right in front of her made her remember her past life’s, for when she had been in this kind of situation.

Switch saw her drift off and looked at the people kneeling down in pity. This new Emperor of theirs is going to be a handful, he wondered if most of them will leave the Rain Clan.

“People! We are eating ham tonight. Have as much as you want!” Was all she said, as servants came in with trays that have cut ham, then trays of pig heads, hands and feet.

The people kneeling were still somewhat terrified and really didn’t understand what was going on. Where they going to be poisoned to death?

Anonym got of the throne, in a jump, and fixed the crown upon her head. She smiled at the thought of these little pigs, they will do well in fixing anyone that is hungry in the Rain Clan for now. Having sent out ham to the townspeople as well, she felt exhilarated. Her first act of being the Emperor was to feed them, they should be happy right?

Finally, looking at the people before her, she saw that they all looked scared…

Uh?

Why are they looking at me like I’m going to take them to hell?

She looked at Switch confused.

Switch laughed and walked up to her, picking up a piece of meat from a close by tray. “Eat it.”

She took the ham happily, after having to shake her hand out of the big sleeve. Taking a huge bite of the meat, she smiled and nodded, “Ich gord.”

A few breaths were let out, at seeing her do this and Anonym looked back at the people kneeling in front of her.

She finished what was in her mouth and laughed at them openly. “Haha, you thought I’d kill you right? Don’t worry, I think we’ve killed…Enough today…”

Her devilish smiled froze everybody, who had only just started to relax.

Switch sighed, she has no idea!

“Give em all freedom elixir, lets party. Come, talk to me, tell me who you are!” Anonym yelled enthusiastically.

 

The people continued to kneel and did as they were told but they were still obviously scared. Anonym felted irritated, seeing that it would be up to her to talk to them herself…Then she noticed the Empress.

“Empress.”

“Emp…Emperor.” She said, kneeling even lower then she was before.

Anonym watched her and then helped her stand up. “You can sit here.”

She took her to the throne and let her sit there, making other people gasp in horror.

“Emperor, I can’t, this is your seat!” She tried to get off but Anonym stopped her.

When she realized that she was too weak to do anything, she looked at Anonym with a panicked expression.

Anonym smiled, rendering her still and speechless, “Trust this little girl.”

Turning to the others, Anonym smiled at them as well. “As Emperor, I will not always govern this land. I will even go into secluded cultivation shortly and need someone to help me.”

She turned towards the Empress again and said, “You will help me.”

The Empress breathed in, startled.

Silence had overwhelmed the throne room and Anonym sighed. “Do you not want to help me?”

The Empress looked around, she didn’t know what to think or say…

“Have you not been supressed for some time, due to Imperial Concubine Dawn? Don’t you want to be the Empress?”

Hearing the name of her enemy, she looked up at Anonym. Where was this enemy of hers? How could she dare even think of being on this chair? How will she be tortured, when her enemy returns?

“Ah. I was right, you have nothing to fear then, she’s died.”

A few startled gasps were heard, one came out of the mouth of the Empress…

“…Dead?”

Anonym nodded, “She was a pain in the ass, don’t you think?”

Seeing as the conversation had turned a death of a concubine of the late Emperor, into something simple, the Empress let out a small noise. Her eyes became red as she held back her tears.

For so long she had been suppressed, since she had given birth to Mark, she had lost all her power…

“That’s right, you have a cry now, then you’ll feel better. Here have some ham and freedom elixir.” Anonym filled the Empress hands with food and drink, then took a cup and drank herself.

Being Emperor, Anonym knew was a lot of work, she honestly wanted the least amount of work possible…Having decided that the Empress would not go against her, Anonym just gave her all the power. While she still had to cultivate, it wasn’t a big deal. Having the title as Emperor is enough, for now…

Letting out a satisfied sigh, she turned but tripped on her dragon robes and fell to the floor. Seeing she had lost the freedom elixir, Anonym showed quite an unhappy expression.

Switch sighed and gave her another cup and instantly she was happy again. But, because she had tripped, Anonym decided to sit down on the steps where she was already. Trying to act as if nothing happened, she pointed to the Princess, who had been initially worried about her mother. “Come er. Let’s talk!”

Looking at her mother, who was trying to hide her face because of tears, the Princess stood with courage written all over her face.

“Haha, very good. Don’t change young one. Come speak to your aunty!”

Seeing Anonym being happy, the Princess sat down and nodded to her. “Aunty.”

 

 

Everyone found themselves stuck into a strange situation. They seemed to have to accept a female as the new Emperor and knew that if they didn’t, their fate would be like that of Imperial Concubine Dawn. Of course, they only knew of Imperial Concubines death, not how it had...Occurred and...Taken place as a feast afterwards.

Anonym saw that they already had troubles accepting her, but having the Empress have the power for now, was her only answer! She wasn’t going to yield to the people! If she saw that they still couldn’t handle it later, she’d send them off or kill them…

The party went till dawn, as General Clish had finally arrived, he ended up joining in too.

It had taken about two hours, before people calmed down enough to realize that Anonym seemed happy and that their lives weren’t on the line anymore. They still took precautions but as they started to drink, they started to relax and four hours in, the throne room was filled with snores and laughter.

What helped them a great deal, was that Anonym told them about Great Master Belwin, in finer details, and they had started to really believe that Anonym could indeed be this ‘Great Master Belwin’. They hadn’t known that Great Master Belwin had actually run away in the end…Anonym made it bluntly clear to them that he faked his own death because he just wanted to have some peace and quiet.

They also hadn’t known several other things, and even though they questioned if it were actually true or not, they seemed to place the current Anonym into their minds of the story character of Great Master Belwin and could see a similar personality…

The Princess and Empress ended up being very happy, they had forgotten what it was like to be able to let go and relax. The General ended up having a good chat with Switch, which made Switch happy. He changed his mind about the old man, realizing that he was more like a doting father figure.

As the General became drunk, he even put his hands over his shoulders and told him that he might be strong but he must protect himself and the Her Majesty well!

 

Funnily enough, the late Emperor was sort of forgotten for half a day. Before Anonym left, being picked up by Switch, she told the Empress that the funeral for the late Emperor will still take place. That matters of Murkcloud continent were now in her hands and that she will see them again soon.

Switch then took Anonym to the Emperor’s quarters and laid the girl to sleep. He laid down beside her for a couple of hours, before he put all her treasures in the room and closed it up. He put a magical barrier up around it and walked off to find Presley. He was sure that on this planet a magical barrier wouldn’t be too much use, but it would still let him know when she would leave the quarters…

 

***

 

11 Months later

 

Switch had been very busy this year. He, along with Presley, volunteered to help the Empress with the Rain Clan at first, then ended up helping the rest of the Murkcloud continent.

As he fixed up a recent problem just outside of the Rain Clan, at a river side town, he felt a disturbance within the magical barrier that he had put up around the Emperor's quarters.

Smiling for the first time in months, he looked up towards where the Emperor's quarters would be, from where he was. The little runt has finally come out!

He hadn’t seen her once this entire time. Feeling like if he saw, she would probably get mad at him for not leaving her alone!

So, he had missed her but found other things to do, to attempt to occupy his mind with something else…

When he had openly asked the Empress to be of help, she had freely smiled at him and nodded. He had then been somewhat of a loyal subject since, becoming a very popular citizen of the people in the Rain Clan. He was even more popular than the current Emperor!

He had gone to help clean the town, fix houses, fix the poor and homeless. Everyone had a house now and food. He would talk to people without work and give them specific jobs that they would be happy to do.

This job now, it could have become a problem in the future, if left unattended, so he had come to help. The water could have become either contaminated or flood the area, so he had fixed the problem, even making a slightly higher edge to the river, just in case.

Quickly finishing and saying goodbye to the residents there, he teleported back to the palace to search for Anonym. He hadn’t been back to the palace in a couple of days, as he had travelled all over the Murkcloud continent, with a few jobs in hand. It was really quite a normal routine for him now.

What he saw really made him stop breathing for a moment. The palace was in ruins and people's dead bodies were found scattered around the place.

Instantly, he teleported straight to the Emperor's quarters, to find that the place was knocked over, fallen bricks everywhere...

Where was she?

He didn't find a body in the room, even her treasures were gone. But what he found in a corner, was blood, it was a decent amount of blood that made his heart stop. To bleed to that degree could be life threatening!

What in the world happened here!?

He ran around the palace to find anyone that was still alive, but found no one. It had really only been a short time since the disturbance, but no one in the close proximity could be found…

 

Racing out of the palace, he pulled up the first person he saw and asked them what was going on.

They shivered and didn't look at him in the eye.

"Tell me!"

The person looked at him and then away again, "During the night...Everyone died in the palace…During the night. Even the Emp…Empress. When dusked arrived, we saw that they were using any means necessary to get to a part in the palace. Their force was so strong that we didn't dare...Didn't dare to stop them! They told us that the palace was off limits…That we wouldn’t get hurt if…"

They started to whimper and apologize, they all had become very loyal to the new Emperor and late Empress, but...How could they have done anything against the people who could do that much damage!

Presley...Switch tried to think of where Presley was right now. In the last year, Presley had become very well known, he started off by flying people around to help make them happy. As time went on, he ended up helping with long distance trades within the Murkcloud continent...What was he doing when this happened? Was he possibly taken too?

Switch panicked even more. This wasn't the first time that something like this happened to him...

Trying to calm down, he sat on the palace stairs and tried to think. What could he do? What could he do? Why did this happen!?

Breathing in and out for awhile, he then stood up and got out his staff. Then he disappeared.

 

 

Pain...

Anonym was kicking herself for not cultivating further in the art of Rejuvenation. Some of this could have been healed due to that! Even if she didn't do the art of Rejuvenation, she could have advanced in the art of Healing. Sadly, she hadn't, she had chosen another stupid talent that doesn’t help stop the bleeding!

Trying to focus, instead of falling unconscious again, she knew the best and fastest way to cultivate the art of Rejuvenation, would be exactly like this, thirsty, hungry or bleeding.

Since they had interrupted her cultivation, she was going to continue it!

Getting into a more comfortable position, very slowly, she closed her eyes and focused on picturing herself. She wasn't very good at this part, hence why she hadn't learnt it beforehand. But there was nothing like the present to give it another shot!

Not letting the chains, that held her prisoner, and the sound of the carriage speeding away with the horses, get to her, she focused extremely hard.

The first part of the art was understanding the water in your body, what it did and how it flowed. Understanding it that much that you could feel it naturally and at any time. It was much the same with the second art of understanding nourishment, but instead of water, it would be the process of food. The third art was more intense, as it didn't consist of just blood, but flesh, muscle, bones and nerves. Each one had to be observed and understood, to understand how to complete and master the art.

Luckily for Anonym, the people who had taken her, only checked on her a few times, but they had a long way to go. They would only save her enough to have her weak, they had finally caught this powerful person! There was no way they would let her go now!

 

***

 

Switch had found Presley, he hadn't been hurt or taken away. Luckily, he had been doing a trading trip and Switch had given him a rare hug.

Presley was really happy to receive such attention from Switch, who had inattentively gone back to his expressionless ways since Anonym had gone into secluded cultivation.

But his happiness had dwindled into nothing, upon learning about of the abduction and possible life-threatening situation of Anonym.

Switch looked at him seriously then, and said that he was going to find her. Presley didn't want to stay behind and forced Switch to take him with him.

After Switch had relented, together they went back to the Rain Clan and looked for clues on how they were going to find Anonym.

It was at this time that Mark appeared in the Rain Clan. Seeing that something bad had happened to Anonym, and Switch and Presley had also gone, he wanted to take over for them…At least until the same ‘Crowned Prince’ returns. He showed himself to the townspeople and stated that he will make sure that they are safe to the best of his ability and continued as a substitute Emperor. Within the day, the people changed the town to white, in mourning for the late Empress, and Mark situated himself with the highly valued General Clish, because of the ruins of the palace. Mark felt happier upon finding out that his sister had finally wed someone and had been out of the palace for two months. The General was also very thankful, deep in his heart. He had worried about Prince Mark very much. Having him return and even looking healthy, the General happily let Prince Mark take the position.

 

 

A week later, Anonym was no longer pale and weak. She opened her eyes and breathed out in frustration. She had no idea where she was because she had to concentrate so hard!

The people who had forcefully taken her, only checked her to see how strong her pulse was and felt that they didn't have to do anything, so they didn't worry about her this whole week.

Feeling herself being constricted, she remembered she had chains connected to her. Unable to look outside, she sighed...

This is a bit nasty...These bastards obviously want to die...

Should I leave or take revenge?

...

In the end, she decided to test out her new mastered Shapeshifter talent. Honestly, she was curious on what would happen, so she didn’t run away, instead…

 

 

Presley flew on, following tracks that they had found. Switch watched Presley and teleported towards him. In this week, Switch had realized what must have gone wrong.

Not thinking it to be a problem, news of Anonym, Presley and himself had gotten out. But a secret he hadn't even known, was that people have come to know that there was a powerful person on the land and people have come to think of it as Anonym. He hadn’t thought that the earth trembling in the books, that he had read, were actually true. It seemed like he should have known it earlier and felt ridiculous that he hadn’t…

Having seen someone in a close by inn from where the tracks went by, they questioned that somebody because he looked suspicious.

The person didn't know how the news of Anonym being the ‘power person’ had gotten out, but he had told them where they were going and that the Emperor of Parched Badlands wanted to tell the world that this ‘powerful person’ was in their hands. They thought that since she was a little girl, they would get her onto their side and in the end, she'd willingly do as they bid.

 

Switch had used what he had learnt from Anonym after that, to kill that man, because of what he had said.

Does everyone think that she's just some kind of play toy? Some kind of thing? That she can't think for herself!? People are pathetic!

As they raced off again, Switch had shaken his head to these people, they are idiots if they think she'll do as they ask her to! They brought a demoness of hell to their front door!

Still, he didn't slow down, the blood he had seen in the Emperor’s quarters haunts him and he wanted to see her as soon as possible...It had been a really long year, and now, he had to wait even longer!

Being a week behind, Switch was still able to find the tracks that lead into a small clan, the problem was, he didn't know what happened to them after that.

The man that they had found, a couple of days ago now, had said that they had taken her to Parched Badlands continent. Switch had preferred to see her before then but how was he going to, if he couldn't find her. Only having one lead, he went in that direction, making Presley invisible again. 

Another week went by and Switch hadn't seen a hint of Anonym. He had changed his clothes and even covered his face with a mask. When they made it to the biggest clan, the Barren Clan, Switch made a cave outside for Presley and closed it up.