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Author's Chapter Notes:

A little short story I wrote a while back. Debated on posting it before figuring, eh, why not. 

Mavia applied pressure to her temples, a weary sigh escaping her lips as she did. It did little to alleviate her growing headache of course as the throbbing sensation just seemed to grow with each passing day. Considering the stress of her duties it would come as no surprise to hear she felt stress. It didn’t help that there was a constant weight of gold upon her brow and with that the weight of an entire people. To think she had actually wanted to do this. She might as well have wanted to have a wagon roll over her head repeatedly.

Currently she sat at the head of a long table, one covered in parchment, ink stains, and platters of cold half eaten food. Her brown eyes flicked over one such platter and noticed a fly sitting upon the partial eaten chicken leg. She watched it for a time, the table of men silent as the woman observed the creature. The insect’s wings fluttered and it rubbed its legs together before it took off. It buzzed around the platter for a time before flying off for another place. Mavia frowned before forcing her attention back to the matters at hand.

“Ahem. My God-Queen. As I was saying, troops have moved into the Sashra Basin. Likely the region will be ours within the next month or so.” General Ryssil said, clearing his throat lightly.

Mavia nodded. “Excellent. The Basin will make a good staging point for further incursions to the west.”

These meetings were more formalities than anything else. Mavia was not mortal. She knew full well the forces were approaching the Basin. If she needed to know something finding out was as simple as thinking. It was more for the sake of the council all around her. Governors, generals and guild masters. Despite all her power she could not be everywhere at once. Regulation was one of many things she was learning as she took the reins of ruling properly. To call it difficult was an understatement.

The God-Queen of Rysia was certainly one who fit the image of a deity. Her skin was dusky and smooth to the touch. Black hair fell about her head in softly curling glossy strands, a golden circlet upon her brow gemmed with sapphires. She was tall, a full head taller than any mortal man and wore thick cream robes trimmed with gold with leather sandals upon her feet. Her brown eyes had flickers of gold within them, beyond her height it was the only physical indication of her divinity.

As the general wound down his report another man stood, a painfully thin and painted thing. Governor Silis, member of some former noble house of a country recently conquered by the Empire. He bowed in exaggerated manner. “My God-Queen. I would like to request troops deployed to my province.”

Mavia arched an elegant brow. “Oh? This wouldn’t have anything to do with the recent riots in the area would it.”

To his credit, Silis was not caught off guard by the statement. Good, her inner circle was learning. Mavia had lost count of the number she had executed for trying to sneak illicit crimes or backroom politics under her nose. It had been a good way of weeding out the more corrupt certainly. A fun game really. Give them positions of authority in the new Empire and just wait for them to start acting up. The purges were something she admitted she enjoyed to some degree, as well as coming up with creative ways of disposing of the offenders. Pity most were starting to wise up.

“Indeed the common- I mean, the citizens are getting uppity over drought in the region. As though I can control the rains. I would simply like to restore your order to the area. With your blessing.” He requested, his voice quite reedy.

Mavia frowned before closing her eyes. In the span of a nanosecond she took in information that would take most months or years to amass. She could see the province in her mind’s eye, reaching out with her Will to view it. It was as though she possessed perfect 360 degree vision and could see as far as she desired. Geography, socio-economic issues, crime rate, it was all taken in as she could see it all from the past to the present. The dark haired woman would have equated it as looking through a multi-faceted glass where each facet held another image.

When she finished her viewing she opened her eyes and looked right at Silis, her frown still very much in place. He did a very good job of hiding the very thin sheen of sweat upon his stretched brow, anyone but Mavia might not have noticed it. There were few things; however, one could hide from a God.  

“I see. As I understand you turned away those seeking to resettle from the region, forcing them back to their homes to work their dry fields. Furthermore the cut of their harvest you require of the leaves many starving. Why?” Mavia inquired simply.

Silis licked his lips, standing up a little straighter. “The region is vital due to the vast farmlands in the area. This drought will pass eventually; it’s not the first time it has occurred. The cut I require is what has traditionally been due to my family for generations.”

The God-Queen took up a jeweled goblet nearby and sipped at it, deliberately creating a long pause. She set it down loudly upon the oaken table. “Interesting. And you have made no efforts to attempt to improve the water situation in this vital region… why?”

“My God-Queen, the expense alone of redirecting the nearest river would be astronomical!” He protested.

She raised a hand. “However you do recognize it is possible. You also admit to this region being vital to the health of the province as a whole, Governor. I have one final question for you then. Were all of your ancestors incompetent, or are you a special case?”

Mavia would be lying if she said the sputtering fit that sent the governor into wasn’t immensely pleasurable to witness. She pushed out her chair and stood, starting to pace around the long table. Her steps were slow and deliberate as she looked over the faces of all those upon her council. The only sound audible for the next few minutes was her sandals clacking loudly against the bottom of her feet. Her arms crossed under her breasts as she finally came to a halt, spinning on her heel and pointing to the nearest man who was munching on a piece of spiced chicken.

“Tell me, where is the food on your plate made?” She asked the man, a general of the Imperial Army.

He swallowed before standing crisply to attention, his ample stomach just barely behind the waistband of his trousers. “The farms in the countryside, God-Queen!” He shouted.

She nodded. “Yes. And who tends to these farms?”

“The common citizens of your Empire!”

“Exactly so. And what would happen if these common citizens suddenly decided to stop tilling their fields as their Empire clearly does not have their best interests at heart?”

The general gave her a confused look. “My lady certainly that wouldn’t-.”

“My question, general. Answer it.”

“Uh, there would be no food.”

Mavia nodded slowly. “There would be no food.”

She turned on her heel and walked back to her seat, lifting her goblet and taking another long drink before regarding the rather red in the face governor. The God-Queen could feel his embarrassment at being humiliated before his peers as well as his indignation. Beneath that though was fear. Fear of the judgment of the living goddess before him. She set her goblet down once more.

“Corruption is one thing I completely and utterly despise, as you well know governor. However if there is one thing I hate more it is incompetence. Through your inaction you have alienated an entire region, allowed the starvation of hundreds, and given rise to riots in your province.” She stated easily.

“My God-Queen I-!”

Mavia raise a hand. “I decree, henceforth, that your land holdings and office be stripped from you. You will be given a chance to repent for your incompetence however, which may see you keep your life.”

She snapped her fingers and Silis was gone. His departure was sudden and immediate, empty air being where he had once stood. There was a dead silence that had fallen over the room as Mavia leaned back in her chair. Good. She had their full attention then. The dark haired deity leaned forward, steepling her fingers out on the table before her. She glanced around at the faces looking back at her, gauging the nervousness of all those gathered here.

“In any event. I will be attending to this crisis in the region personally today. You are all dismissed.” She said, waving a hand.

The men shuffled out of the room, the massive doors shutting behind them. Mavia closed her eyes once more as she searched around for something. For what she had in mind she needed a place with wide open space. She found it quickly enough. A vast open plain rather close to the nearest couple of villages. Little to no farmland, relatively unused so far. Miles of useless land it looked like. Uninhabited but for the odd animals in burrows. The God-Queen nodded to herself as she took it in, it would be an excellent place to resolve this drought more permanently than calling for rains.

The living goddess vanished from the chambers quickly enough, winking out of existence as abruptly as Silis had. She left behind her sandals upon the floor where she had once sat. Where and how she appeared was certain to change up the geography of her empire a bit. Towering far into the night sky Mavia floated gently above the ground, her robes fluttering slightly about her. Below her were the plains she had seen in her mind’s eye.

To call the God-Queen massive in that moment would be underselling her scale. The villages near the open plains were barely visible and without her divine sight those dwelling within them would appear as smaller than even flecks of dust. Those that saw her fell to their knees, gazing up at this living goddess before them. She smirked, of the many perks of her existence this was certainly one she enjoyed most. She could see with her normal sight for miles untold, likely she was visible even in a distant city.

She gazed down at the ground at her feet, the vast plains barely large enough to contain one foot. Her toes wriggled slightly in the cool night air, their gold painted nails glinting in the moonlight. Mavia held a golden pitcher of water in her right hand, as pure and fresh and cool as it came. Little bits of moisture formed along the sides dripped down below, splashing into trees and flooding uninhabited wilderness. She angled her right foot just so as she considered the ground below, trying to get a good space.

After she was satisfied she curled her left leg back and lowered herself down to the earth, the shadow of her foot becoming all the more inky and black to those few wild creatures dwelling upon the plains. She lightly touched the ground, at first doing nothing but compressing the grass and crushing those poor critters that had not fled in time. As she applied more weight however the ground began to crack as the crust of the world was compressed and yielded to her incalculable weight.

Greenery was buried as once solid earth crumbled and broke beneath under the foot of the God-Queen. Living beings that had managed to escape death were quickly ground and obliterated completely under the sole, toes, and heel of the woman. She let out a booming sigh as she pressed down just a bit more, compressing the ground deeper. The earth shook and shuddered under the relentless strength of the divine being, the nearby villages experiencing tremors that knocked over a few houses. Those inside would find themselves shielded by golden light, the crumbled ruins of their home shattering upon the barriers.

Her foot lingered there in the crater she had just created before she willed herself to levitate once more. Boulders and debris fell from her rising dirty sole, the slightly wrinkling caused by her flexing and curling her toes freeing more of the earth. Left behind from her foot was a massive series of impressions. From her toes were created five huge soon to be lakes and the impression left behind from her foot proper was unto a new inland sea miles deep.

Mavia lifted her pitcher up and changed her position in the sky, appearing to lie upon the very air. She carefully upended the pitcher, allowing crystal clear water to fill the newly created crater to create a massive and deep sea. The water dribbled into her footprint, countless of gallons of water filling the sea and the little lakes of her toe prints. After she was satisfied it had been filled well enough the goddess dismissed the pitcher and levitated at her full height once more, her eyes searching out across the land.

She reached out with her Will and placed her next words into the minds of all of her mortal subjects. “I am your God-Queen, Mavia. It came to my attention that your region was withering in the hands of the incompetence of our ancestral rulers. I have cut out that incompetence tonight and have given unto you an answer to your prayers.” She said.

“Never again will the region want for water. I shall see to it you will prosper and flourish and grow strong. I ask those of you who have raised arms against your fellow man, lower them. Return to your homes and to your loved ones. None shall harry you, I guarantee.” The God-Queen finished.

The goddess herself vanished soon after delivering her message, appearing back in the council chambers. The servants jumped at her appearance, Mavia putting them out of mind as she slipped on her sandals and vanished once more. This time she appeared upon her massive throne of gold, sitting back with a sigh. The room was as empty as ever, the God-Queen hardly being one who needed to waste coin on personal guards.

The woman sat straight in the throne, smirking a little as she felt a wriggling beneath her right foot. Tied down and restrained there was the tiny form of the good former governor she had deposed. The God-Queen wriggled her toes in response to the tiny mortal. She certainly hoped he was comfortable, it was going to be a very long repentance for him. 

 

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