Marzophine, delicate in her white blouse and shadowed by her wide hat, tapped her fingernail against the porcelain rim of her cup, awaiting Anastelle's response. The Argemenes matriarch remained silent for a moment before finally exhaling through her nose.
"For now, we should be able to handle the situation at hand. There's a far greater storm than my children being stuck in a Fluve Field. The Moth Maiden has awakened."
Marzophine froze, her pink eyes narrowing dangerously.
"What did you just say?"
Anastelle's crimson gaze did not falter.
"The Moth Maiden woke up. Three Russian officials, through some madness or miracle, managed to rouse her from her long slumber. Not only that, but they actually struck a deal with her to allow themselves to experiment on her."
The Chancellor sat straighter, the usually calm tilt of her hat dipping forward as though to sharpen her expression.
"Experiment… on her? You mean to tell me that fools in the Russian government have poked their knives into something they do not understand? Anastelle, how did they accomplish this?"
Anastelle shook her head slowly.
"I don't know but the result is undeniable. Those three officials have already been promoted for their 'success.' They are hailed as innovators, pioneers even."
Marzophine's lips thinned. "Idiots. Blind people playing with an immortal flame. Do they not know what they've meddled with?"
"The Moth Maiden is vengeful. You know her kind. The Seryen was slaughtered to extinction. She is the last. Do you truly believe she will turn a blind eye to exacting revenge on the Russians who wiped out her people? To them, she may wear the mask of a docile subject but inside, she is waiting to burn their empire from within."
Marzophine leaned back in her chair, her hand rising to adjust the brim of her hat.
"Immortal beings grow stronger with every passing year. Even if she appears no older than eighteen in her mind, her body has endured for more than a century. That makes her a walking calamity. I wonder if those officials even sense the scale of what they've unleashed."
"Yhe Northern Axis already scrambles to contain her. Fortunately, the Head Scientist assigned to her is one of ours, an Officia Fluxer of House Argemenes. He has the experience and the clearance to handle her. He swears she's compliant, which is actually surprising."
Marzophine's laugh was short and humorless.
"Compliant? No, Anastelle. She's biding her time. The Butterfly Race never forgot and never forgave. She will play the captive until the moment her chains are weakest. Russia will need to involve their best Fluxers. If she escapes, there won't be a corner of the Northern Hemisphere left untouched."
Anastelle finally touched her teacup. She lifted it, sipping with military precision, as if even drinking was a march to be executed flawlessly. Marzophine sighed, her fingers tightening around her own cup.
"That means I will have to go to the North Pole myself. The seals there were never meant to be left untended for so long. If she's stirring now, they must be failing. I'll have to reinforce them before her strength grows beyond what even a World Commander can tame."
Anastelle raised an eyebrow. "You? Leaving the university unguarded?"
Marzophine gave her a soft smile, the kind that never quite reached her eyes.
"I have no choice. If the North Pole falls, the university and even your House will follow. The world balances on these seals, Anastelle. They're not mere barriers. They're cages for calamities."
The Argemenes ruler leaned back, her cape shifting against the chair. Her eyes softened slightly.
"Then go. Handle it. I'll remain here in your stead. You said it yourself, I should wait for my children's return. If they survive, I will be here to greet them."
Marzophine tilted her head, her pale lips curling into something more genuine this time.
"Live here with me for a few days then. Your soldiers can bark orders in your absence, but your children cannot be embraced by anyone else but you."
"Fine. I will stay. But don't think this means I've grown soft."
Marzophine chuckled, leaning back as she poured herself another cup of tea.
"Of course not, Anastelle. You will always be the iron wall of the Argemenes. But even walls need foundations. Perhaps… it's time you remembered yours."
°°°°°°°
The Northern Axis research facility was buried beneath kilometers of ice and iron.
Across from her, standing at a console of flickering glyph-screens, was the Head Scientist. Clad in the silver-and-black uniform of the Northern Axis, with the crest of House Argemenes etched on his chest, he was calm despite the thing watching him from the glass.
The Moth Maiden's voice drifted like smoke curling into words.
"Tell me, what Flux runs through my veins?"
The scientist hesitated only briefly, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Your Flux is… unique. We've identified it as Concept Flux. It's an extraordinary rarity. In fact, only House Argemenes is known to possess it. You are… an anomaly."
The white eyes narrowed slightly in the mist inside the massive tube.
"An anomaly? No. Both my parents were of the Butterfly race. Neither bore human blood."
"Then that makes this even more remarkable. Your Flux is unknown. What we've observed suggests that it manifests not only through manipulation of your own form like your ability to shift your size at will or to unfurl your wings, but also through the creation of… constructs born entirely of Flux itself."
For a long moment, the Moth Maiden said nothing. Then her voice dripped with quiet disdain.
"You speak of me as though I am a specimen."
"You are, but you are also more, perhaps the most important anomaly of this century."
A sound rippled through the chamber. The fog around her stirred, and the white eyes glowed brighter.
"Important… or dangerous?"
Before he could answer, the Moth Maiden stiffened. One hand shot to her head, clutching at temples that the haze itself seemed to claw from within. Her scream tore from her throat.
The sound shook the facility. Lights flickered, consoles cracked and the outer seals carved into the chamber walls shuddered violently. The seals strained, glowing red with effort as they bled sparks. Scientists in adjoining rooms scrambled, alarms howled, and the floor trembled beneath the weight of her anguish. The Moth Maiden writhed in her tube, her inky shroud boiling like a storm. Pain lanced through her skull, carving visions into her mind. And suddenly, she wasn't in the tube at all.
Her vision bled into a snow bound world.
A vast winter landscape sprawled out before her with mountains rising like teeth into a silver sky, their slopes glistening with ice. Wind howled, carrying with it the scent of frost and stillness.
And there, nestled against the cliffs was a small tent glowed faintly with warmth. Inside, a man sat.
Long crimson hair spilled over his shoulders, catching glimmers of firelight. His eyes, silver as polished steel, seemed to pierce everything they touched. His skin had a deep like tan glow against the cold world that surrounded him. His features were sculpted, handsome yet softened by the way he leaned back.
Beside him sat a woman with golden hair. Her crystalline blue eyes sparkled yet her gaze was not on the flames of the fire nor the snow outside. It was locked firmly on the man.
The Moth Maiden stared. Her heart lurched. The longer she looked at him, the stronger the link became. Something about him pulled her closer, until her misted hand lifted, reaching out to him.
Her inky black fingers trembled as she tried to brush his face but before her hand could reach him, the world tore apart.
She was back in the tube.
Her breath came in ragged heaves, the white glow of her eyes pulsing erratically. The Head Scientist rushed to the glass, his calm demeanor cracking into urgency.
"Moth Maiden! Speak to me, are you stable?"
She pressed a hand to the glass, her massive fingers curling it.
"I need… I need to see someone. A man."
The scientist froze, his face blanching. Her glowing eyes flared, stabbing through the smoke like moons.
"If you will not bring him to me…"
The seals screamed as the haze boiled. Cracks began to appear across the reinforced tube.
"…then I will escape and I will find him myself."
The alarms wailed louder, red light flooding the chamber. The Head Scientist stumbled back, shouting orders into his comms, while the Moth Maiden's laughter echoed in the trembling dark.
The seals began to break.
Two hours later, the Russian government received information that the Moth Maiden escaped from her cage.