Puppeter's fall (story) (Patreon)

As time goes by over several months in Ardeal, Hermes does not stop recovering, first slowly and subtly, but then more and more quickly and aggressively, especially as the women of the kingdom disappear and reappear as puppets in stores or even losing track of the missing ones completely. Hermes thinks, while drinking wine and remaining hidden from the public eye in an old castle he got after turning the previous owner into a puppet, that if the two great conventional empires, including his own, have been completely destroyed in the war, and only Ardeal is left standing as the last human kingdom and guarantor of civilization, then Hermes himself must take over Ardeal and re-found there his old and disappeared kingdom, now in a unified form and without opposition from any feudal lord or anything else that comes in the way. He also thinks that, if he himself takes the reins of Ardeal taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the missing warrior queen, he will also be able to find his daughter or know what became of her more easily, since his daughter disappeared months ago and this fact was certainly one of the triggers of the war that defined the massive destruction of both great empires.

[Drawing 1]

All of Hermes' plans were already underway and going quite well. Once Hermes turns all the women of Ardeal into puppets, he will use them as a huge army of puppets against which no one will dare to counterattack since they are the wives and daughters of the warriors of Ardeal, it is a plan that Hermes considers flawless and impeccable. Hermes is still upset for not finding that puppeteer with black hair and red eyes that he was told might know the location of his daughter, especially because one of his puppets was very similar to her, but in the same way, when he takes the whole kingdom, he will surely find her easily, so he continues to execute his plan patiently.

[Drawing 2]

However, one day a strange shadow with deep red eyes covered with a hood appears at the door of his palace. That shadow introduces herself as a messenger of a feudal lord who believes she has information about Hermes' missing daughter. Hermes, after one of his subjects told him that there was someone waiting at the entrance of the castle, found himself curious about this information and, above all, about the fact that someone had gone ahead in the search for his daughter, so he gives the order to let the hooded shadow in.

Once the hooded shadow is inside the castle, in front of Hermes' makeshift throne, she shows him her find. It is a small puppet, with deep red eyes and black hair in a beautiful dress, which seems to match the physical description of the puppeteer Hermes has been looking for. Hermes then floats the puppet in his hands. Hermes wonders himself about who would have been able to get ahead in his quest and turn his target into a puppet before him, as he sees the puppet, yet his whole paradigm changes radically when, in front of his eyes, the puppet asks him if he "wants to play a game", leaving Hermes astonished that the puppet can still move and talk.

[Drawing 3]

Suddenly the puppet quickly regains size in front of his hands and he, barely able to move, and with his powerful magical powers blocked, finds himself pierced by a great sword wielded by that giant red-eyed puppet.

Hermes, mortally wounded, falls from his throne and rolls down the stairs shockingly, leaving his subjects surprised, who do not know how to react to the threat since that great winged puppet has just killed who they believed was the most powerful master of the dark arts in life.

[Drawing 4]

Meanwhile, the great winged puppet sits on Hermes' throne. It seems that the winged shadow's plan has worked, since Hermes did not imagine that his enemy was going to present herself as a puppet in his own hands. Then the winged puppet presents herself as the new feudal lady to her new subjects, formerly subjects of Hermes, who are still stupefied but, perhaps, do not have many options but to accept their new leader.

The winged puppet issued orders to free most of the kidnapped puppets, since she is not interested in the conquest or the power of the kingdom, and neither is she interested in having a bunch of anonymous puppets, since the fun is, she thinks, that it is only fun when each victim is special and when she has a story to tell behind that puppet, doll or toy added to her collection, or that is what the winged puppet woman thinks, while playing with her albino puppet that before was Lys, the daughter of Hermes.

[Drawing 5]