Serena and her new friend, Richard sat at the balcony next to her room. The view outside was fantastic, and it was just now that he was starting to take in the beauty of Fayhold, which seemed hidden during the day. The night lights were spectacular, although the people on the streets looked uncomfortable with the soldiers walking around, investigating as they looked for the rebels. “Have they come here?”, asked Richard. “Yes”, she replied. “Yes they have. Not long before you three left.” “Wait, why was there only two of you?”, she asked. “If I remember correctly, there are supposed to be three of you.” “Good grief”, Richard said. “So it's now you realise that?” “Where did he go?”, she asked. “Let's just say something came up, and he had to stay behind while we came back”, Richard said. Then she looked down, taking note of how an unusual number of soldiers were talking the

It was dawn, and things in the town were slowly returning to normalcy.Cyrus and Felix had gotten out of bed, with the Prince excited to meet Natalie, even though she had not formally summoned him yet.Each of them was sure of what Richard was up to when he left but chose not to talk about it. But would each bring it up when they felt necessary? As we were getting ready for the day, they heard a knock on the door. Cyrus and Felix looked at each other, knowing that it couldn't be Richard.Felix walked over to the door and opened it, surprised to see the younger lady who looked a lot like the woman Richard was infatuated with. She looked tired like she had been up all night and craved several hours of long-needed sleep. “Are you Cyrus Theodore?”, asked the young lady. “No”, Felix said as he stepped aside, revealing Cyrus walking towards them. “I'm Cyrus”, the other man said. The young lady nodded wh

Several minutes later, the quad was reunited at the upper room where Natalie rested.“Alright everyone”, Cyrus said. “I'm the light of revealed circumstances, we might be staying around for a while longer.”“How long?”, asked Richard.“At least three weeks”, Cyrus told him. “Natalie cannot move around while her injuries haven't fully closed up yet.”“I agree”, Felix said. “It an injury like that, riding a galloping horse would be a nightmare.”“That's true,” Richard said in a tone that revealed that he was the one most tired of living at Fayhold, even though it had barely been a week since they had arrived.“How are you?” Richard asked Natalie.“Felt a lot better, but not as bad as it looks,” she said.“In the meantime, I would have to meet with the prefect so we could talk more about my marriage to Natalie, as well as our next destination,” Cyrus said.“And where would that be?” asked Richard, suddenly

Deep in the heart of the Midlands, at the very core of the Empire's capital was the castle of the Emperor. Here in the Midlands, he was known as the King of the Midlands, but to those outside of the territory, he was known as the great Emperor, Athanasius.He was a man in his early thirties, adorned with blonde hair and blue eyes. Looking ten years younger than his actual age. What made him look formidable was his near-perfect body build and his well-chiseled face He sat on his throne, staring into the space with his legs crossed and a signature smile on his face, one which looked way more intimidating than he would if he looked serious all the time.No one was in the throne room with him at that time, as it was still very early in the morning. He had planned for a meeting with the senators and nobles of the area to discuss their possible future conquests to expand the reach of the Empire's Sovereignty.What was going on through his mind was the

It had now been almost six weeks since Cyrus, Felix, and Richard had arrived at Fayhold, and word just came from the Emperor as a reply to the Prefect's plea for Cyrus.Now Cyrus and Kendrick were taking a stroll through the markets. As they walked, several children ran towards Kendrick, the smaller ones begging for the prefect to carry them. A few of them flicked around Cyrus, who had now been glorified as the one who saved the prefect.Given the subsequent peace which followed from the squashing of the rebellion, all the people developed a sudden love for the prefect and everyone close to him. It turned out that the past few weeks had taught them that they were better off without the rebellion. They had realized that they were lucky to have Kendrick as their prefect, even the most vocal yet nonviolent critics had begun to praise him for what he did.The new policies, albeit harsh were necessary to end the rebellion, and now that everyone could see it, th