So I decided to do a small story to start fleshing out some ideas for my Ashen City characters, I feel that since chaos is always represented as hate filled people who abandoned their humanity that it would be quite fun to try and explore those that couldn't quite fully abandon everything that made them then, to explore how they deal with repressing that tug of it. I figured it would make for better protagonists to not be completely devoid of humanity and emotions. This is very much a first draft and subject to change. At the end of the day chaos is still a collection of people, and especially an empire couldn't just run itself on greed hatred and strife alone.

Maeve stared at the mirror, she could see her reflection staring back at her bearing the same fair skin, short black bob of hair and athletic frame. The reflection even wore her clothes and mirrored her movements as one might expect but it was the red eyes instead of her usual amber that drew her gaze coupled with the wicked smirk the reflection bore even as Maeve herself frowned. She should have been used to seeing this but it always made her heart sank when she was force to remember that her mind and body were not fully her own and hadn't been for longer than she could remember. The daemon inside laughed silently at her from the mirror, taunting her as it often enjoyed doing. Maeve's vision turned red, with a yell she unsheathed one of the many daggers hidden in her dress and hurled it at the mirror, the crackling red crystal blade shattering the glass on impact. 

"Is everything alright in there your highness?" came the deep voice of one of her door guards.

"Send a raven to the fighting pits, tell them to ready their best fighter. I need to kill something." Maeve yelled back. She took a deep breath, composing herself before beginning to head to her personal armoury, rage and bloodshed should sate the daemon for now and at the very least a good fight always helped her feel alive.

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Maeve ran a bloody hand through her hair, smoothing it back as she leant against the wall. She couldn't keep the grin from her face, her heart was still racing from the match but as alive as it made her feel she couldn't quite quell the sadness in the back of her head, the lamentations for the loss of her humanity. She wondered why she still felt this way, she was so sure that most of the warriors within her empire had long since abandoned their hearts without regret but for her she could never quite let go of those feelings no matter how blessed she felt by the gods and no matter how many empires she burned to the ground. The door creaked open and Maeve looked over to see a large armoured woman enter, spiked of red crystal jutted out from her armour accompanied by a large horn of the same substance implanted into her. The woman gave a nod to Maeve and moved to sit next to her.

"I saw the fight." the woman said, her voice rough and deep far unlike the softer more pleasing tones that Maeve would speak in though this woman was a fighter rather than Orator. "You scared the ****** out of some of the new bloods when you disembowelled the guy, they're gonna need to toughen up if they ever want to see real combat."

Maeve gave a grin to the woman, nudging her with her shoulder "That it? No 'well done Maeve you're the quickest blade I've ever seen', just 'recruits these days are soft'" she joked, mocking the other womans gruffer tones.

The horned woman just frowned at her, if anyone else spoke to her like that she'd have ripped their arms off and beat them to death with them but she had history with Maeve, the closest thing she had to a friend. She knew full well how much of a weakness it was to care for another, especially one who could resurface the humanity she buried long ago but she also couldn't do without the woman, she found the reigniting of emotions to be almost addictive.

"Adira..." Maeve began, voice faltering slightly as she looked toward the other woman "I saw her again... the Daemon." she said, voice a mixture of worry and anger "It's getting more frequent, the ****** really wants control."

Adira simply looked at Maeve and shrugged "You'll just have to keep fighting it." she paused, sighing a little "If it takes control I'll kick its teeth in till you're you again... you know that." her voice quieting a little, as if part of her was ashamed with wanting to help someone "Just... don't let anyone else know you're like this." she said, almost scolding in her tone "You'll look weak and then there'll be a coup. And I guess.... I'd rather not see you killed by some muscle headed upstart who doesn't know how to run an empire." 

Maeve gave a soft smile to the woman "Thanks..." she said quietly as Adira simply gave a grunt in response and began to move off. She sat in contemplation for a few more moments, she had to keep up the persona of the Emberqueen, the fierce and unshakeable leader both charismatic and brutal enough to rule. If anyone besides Adira knew about her doubts, about her weaknesses she'd likely have a knife in the back and watch all she had built turn to ashes. She'd come too far and sacrificed too much to lose it all now and she wasn't going to let anything stand in her way.