Submission and the Pasha

"Th-this Majesty has slain the efreet!" "By the gods..." "It's real! The efreet were all slaughtered! Not just slaughtered, but devoured by His Majesty!" "He is far more powerful than those efreet! This is the true master we ought to serve!" An elder salamander with an enormous torso and a thick, serpentine tail cried out in astonishment. These slaves had been subjugated by the efreet in the City of Black Iron for longer than memory served. The salamanders in particular had been bred as a slave race and kept in servitude across generations; trace their ancestry back a dozen forebears, and every one of them had been a slave to the efreet. Even when granted release, an image of an omnipotent "master" remained entrenched in most of their minds. It was a chain forged by the efreet over thousands of years to preempt rebellion—a chain sunk deep into their flesh and marrow, one that could never be broken easily. Erecting a new idol was always simpler than smashing one to dust. By the same token, transferring faith was far easier than destroying it altogether. And when the efreet they had regarded as all-powerful deities were effortlessly crushed and devoured by a vastly mightier, more colossal being, their instincts of obedience and reverence shifted naturally onto Cassius. A clamor of panicked murmurs rippled among the slaves. "He even granted us the status of freemen!" "What a benevolent sovereign!" "Truly!" They voiced their awe, each in their native tongue. Their myriad eyes shone with fawning deference toward a ruler and reverent awe for the strong. Though Cassius had proclaimed them freemen, most still clung to their ingrained habits, replacing the genies with this dragon sovereign and regarding him as their master. "Long live Emperor Cassius!" "Long l-live the Cinder Empire!" the salamander elder shouted, raising his arms. His grasp of Common was clumsy, faltering and interspersed with the breathy hisses of Ignan, yet it sounded profoundly devout. *Thud!* The salamander prostrated himself, his reptilian head pressed flat against the scalding flagstones, his thick serpentine coils twitching with excitement. As if triggered by primal instinct, slaves of countless other races dropped to their knees in unison. Foreheads pressed tight against the burning earth, they muttered soft invocations to their new master. The heavy chains wrapped around their necks and the iron shackles clasped to their ankles clinked and rattled together in a chorus of metallic clatter. "Tsk, tsk..." "Those efreet certainly knew how to domesticate their slaves." Hovering aloft on beating wings, Cassius looked down upon the kneeling throngs with his pale gold pupils, his dragon visage showing little expression. *Whoosh—* He descended slowly from the sky and touched down, stirring clouds of soot and ash. Ignoring the prostrate throngs, Cassius swept a razor-sharp claw through the air, carving open the fabric of space nearby with fire to create a massive rift. Over a thousand officers and soldiers from the Empire's Elemental Plane of Fire Expeditionary Regiment marched out in crisp formation, rifles held at the ready. Under their commanders' barked orders, they formed ranks before Cassius. Every man and woman was flush with exhilaration. To be reviewed personally by His Majesty was the pinnacle of honor! Countless imperial soldiers never had such a precious chance in their entire lives, yet here they stood, assembled directly before the Emperor! *Crack!* At an officer's command, the soldiers raised their rifles and fired a salute into the air. The salamanders and fire dwarves kneeling on the ground trembled in terror, fearing harm was about to befall them. Serkan dropped to one knee before the red dragon, pressing his right fist to his left breast in a crisp salute of loyalty. "Your Majesty!" "The Empire's Fourth Expeditionary Regiment reports as ordered." "Serkan, I need your troops to establish total control over this city, including these..." Cassius glanced at the kneeling, visibly terrified slaves before finishing: "...freemen." "Yes, Your Majesty!" "First Battalion! Secure the southeastern district!" "Second Battalion! Take..." The officers barked out commands in accordance with standard military procedure. Serkan looked down at the anxious slaves, his dragon-like jaws parting into a fearsome grin. "Lead the way, if you please." Guided by the slaves, the imperial soldiers swiftly took control of the entire city. Along the way, they encountered remnants of the efreet hiding within the walls, but through long experience in battle, the imperial soldiers had already learned the weaknesses of these elemental creatures and easily extinguished the sporadic resistance. Even so, a few peculiar customs of the Elemental Plane of Fire still took some getting used to—such as the fountains of liquid fire decorating the Emir's palace, and the efreet's collection of "trinkets" capable of reducing any mortal to cinders. Cassius returned to the ramparts. He gazed out at the billowing steam clouds churning across the orange-red sky and the steady rain of ash drifting down. A faint glow pulsed within his pale gold pupils, and puffs of sulfurous smoke vented from his nostrils. He felt a stir of anticipation. "Such strange omens in the sky..." "Are they finally coming? A true emissary of the Efreeti Grand Sultan. Even if the Grand Sultan cannot come in person, he should at least dispatch a pasha." *Rumble!* First came a dull, heavy detonation, followed by the shrill screech of ripping air. Then the rivers of magma across the ground surged violently. The wildfires across the wasteland blazed with renewed fury, scalding white steam blanketed the earth, and gossamer ribbons of flame danced in the air. Rivers of lava plunged over cliffs, forming magnificent cascades of fire. The sheets of liquid flame slammed into the ground below, creating natural whirlpools of fire that drove the surrounding elementals into a frenzied state. And across the heavens, a colossal vortex of fire over a hundred meters wide coalesced. It resembled the gaping maw of a lion, churning up flying rubble and spiraling ash, threatening to pull the entire vicinity into its vortex. "That is..." "The Blazing Lion!" The aged salamander elder stared up at the spectacle on the horizon, his body trembling violently as terror etched deep into his bloodline surged to the surface. "Lord of Flames..." "A pasha! An exalted pasha has arrived!" the elder couldn't help but cry out. Only once, back in his youth, had he been fortunate enough to witness the towering stature of a pasha. Nearly a century had passed since then, yet the memory remained vivid in his mind. "Exalted?" "Before His Majesty, no one warrants being called exalted. Watch your tongue," Serkan warned darkly, his arms crossed over his chest. "Y-yes... my lord," the salamander elder stammered, hurrying to apologize. High above, the phenomenon continued to unfold. First an arm reached out from the heart of the fiery vortex, followed by a massive, muscular body—an efreeti! This unfamiliar efreeti was vastly taller than an ordinary one, so much so that he scarcely seemed of the same species. Ten meters tall and remarkably burly, his skin was a deep reddish-purple, traced with intricate veins of flame. His glaring, round eyes blazed with intense fire, like a pair of dazzling stars. A set of black, curved horns jutted from his head, and plumes of dark smoke drifted languidly from his frame. Over the efreeti's coarse skin hung robes tailored from exquisite silks and satins. Gold bracelets and rings adorned his limbs, but most striking of all was the luminescent adamantine torc encircling his neck. It was a priceless treasure bestowed directly by the Efreeti Grand Sultan and a symbol of station—marking him as an exalted pasha, one of the six direct servants of the Grand Sultan. Only the mightiest of efreet were eligible for such an honor, serving as the Grand Sultan's right hand. "Red dragon!" "You have overstepped!" "The Elemental Plane of Fire is the realm ruled by the Grand Sultan! It is the glorious land of the efreet! Your insolence will not be tolerated here!" The roar echoed across the Scorched Barrens. Cassius watched the furious efreeti in the distance, his pupils narrowing slightly as an intrigued expression spread across his draconic face. "Just one of the pashas, and he already commands this kind of power...?" Ismail Enver Pasha Challenge Rating: 24 (65,000 XP)