"So, where are the rest of you?" Cyrus asked as they approached the door. The other two remained silent for some time, unsure of what to say. It seemed as though all the optimism they had just felt had fizzled out upon hearing that question. "Let's just say that they are the only ones eager to join you in the fight," said Felix from behind. Cyrus turned back to face him, as did the others. "You can't force them to protect their own home, Cyrus," Felix said to him before turning to face the others. "But there has to be something we can do, right?" asked Eros. "Three days might sound like too little, but I believe we can use it for something worthwhile." "Two days," Cyrus corrected him. "What?" he asked. "We cannot assume that those bullies will keep their word. Chances are they will group up and attack when our guard is down," Cyrus replied. "We can't take them at their word on this." "Good point," John said. "But that only makes things harder." Cyrus smiled as he faced Felix.
Richard looked at Felix, who was now frowning at him as if he had broken a sacred promise. "He wishes to fight the Dakra with us," he said to Richard. "What happened with the Dakra?" asked Richard. "They came to cause trouble at the tavern, but the Prince single-handedly fought and sent them walking away in shame," Felix said. "Now they wish to come back for revenge, promising to be back with an army in three days to return the favor because they think we hired an outsider to make a mockery of them." Richard arched a brow, trying to comprehend that line of reasoning. "That's silly," he said. "I know, right?" replied Felix. Richard sighed before looking back at Cyrus. "Tell you what," he said. "Prove to me and everyone that you would be a far better leader by leading this village to victory against the Dakra when the time comes. If you do so, I will put my faith in you and follow you for the rest of my days. Does that sound good?" Cyrus sighed. "That would be quite difficult, not
Cyrus had to sleep, but found it difficult to do so, perhaps because he was nervous about what to do next. By his estimation, it was less than two days before the Dakra would invade the village, and he would somehow have to teach the villagers everything they needed to know before then. Basic combat was something he was taught in three weeks and mastered over two months. Now he had to magically compress the entire course into 24 hours, not accounting for rest and timeout. Realistically, he knew that the village was screwed. There wasn't another way to put it. But at the same time, he just couldn't think like that. He realized several hours had passed while he was still worrying about this, and he had a long day ahead of him. So he had to force himself to sleep, and eventually, he succeeded. But it wasn't long after when he heard a loud knock on the door, immediately jolting him out of slumber. By the time his eyes were open, he closed them back immediately as the sudden rush of dayl
Robin got to his feet, swatting off the dust from his clothes while the others looked at him without saying anything. He didn't need them to say anything, though, as he knew they were all disapproving of what he had done. In that same manner, Robin turned away, dragging his pitchfork as he retired to his home. "Aren't you going to stay with us?" asked Eros. "We are just about to start." Robin gave no answer as he got back into his hut and shut the door closed. He couldn't even bring himself to look back at them, thanks to his hurt ego. Eros called his name one more time before another one of them placed his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "Let him cool off," he said. "Don't force it." "In his current situation, we'd be better off without him anyway," John added. Then the man who had stopped Eros looked back at Cyrus. He was a tall man with a great muscular build, probably the largest of all of them, and had a docile outlook. Cyrus was starting to like him. "What is your
Of course, Cyrus couldn't sleep well that night as nightmares of the worst-case scenario tormented his mind. It might have been that he would die in the upcoming battle, that he would never be King of Griffindale because of it, and that his quest would end with the destruction of the village. These were the nightmares that tormented him, and when he woke up, it was almost daybreak, and he couldn't get back to sleep. He had struggled to sleep because of his anxiety, but when he finally could, the bad dreams wouldn't let him be. He got out of his bed and strapped on his armor and weapons. Somehow, he knew this would be the day, even though it had only been two full days since the promised Dakra invasion. After getting ready, he left his money and other things that weren't needed for the battle behind and left the room. He walked out of the Inn and into the tavern, where he saw Felix cleaning the tables and setting the cups and plates at the counter. "Good morning," he greeted, and Fel
The men turned back to join Cyrus, but for some of them, it was already too late as the burning arrows had impaled them. The others ran forward while the unfortunate ones fell and perished with burning arrows in their chests. Some had arrows run through their bowels, and others through their hips and thighs, but they persevered, knowing there was no other way forward than to fight or die in complacency, and they had chosen the former. Cyrus clicked his tongue, angry with himself for not seeing this sooner. Of course, he had heard of strategies used by leading governments to quell rebellions in lower regions, but he had underestimated the Dakras' ability to use such tactical moves, given their savage tendencies. All surviving men had reassembled at the front of the village, and the downpour of arrows had ceased. Multiple villagers had died, along with a few of the men who were to defend the city. But now wasn't the time to mourn; they had to act as though some of their own had not die
While the celebrations died down, the village had gone to work. Some children under supervision had ran to the battlefield to gather the spoils and clean up the messes. Fathers who had returned home worked to reconstruct their houses with their families. While this was happening, Cyrus had gone back to the stalls at the entrance of the village, hoping Ceres, his horse was alright. When he got there, he was glad to see it alive and well, without injury. Though it's back was covered in straw, thanks to the collapsed roof above her head. Cyrus examined the roof, and as he did, Julius came from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Those arrows really did a number on my stable", he said. "Thankfully I was around to put out the fires before they could harm any of the animals, including your beast." Cyrus looked back at him and bowed in gratitude. The old man brought him back up. "Come on, young man", he said. "There is no need for that." Cyrus thanked him one more time before reach
Frederick wanted to question Cyrus's right to put him in the spotlight that way, but decided to be held accountable first. "I recognise that you are not from around here", he said. "But I digress. The main driving force behind I and my brother's success in joining the King's Diamond, unlike the others, was not by sheer talent or hard work. But rather, it was by bloodthirst. I and my brother, deep down had a thirst for blood. Growing up in the streets, we had the little we needed for survival by killing, and ever since childhood we had been that way, ever since we watched our parents get killed in cold blood and avenged them immediately. We thought we would never kill again, but what we failed to realise was that one never turned back once he goes down that path, and we learnt that the hard way. Just as we had killed our parent's killer and got the things he had on him for ourselves, we went on by that example, using violence to get everything what we wanted. After all, we were bot
Three years later... Back at Frostfall, Faora sensed a disturbance coming from the cave at the other side of the village. She came out of her house, looking around with a worried frown on her face, expecting to see obvious threats like she and her husband did the night that Dorcas and the other two dragon Slayers attacked. But there was nothing noteworthy going on outdoors. The weather was wonderful, and the mood was serene. That's why, just past midnight, everyone was still sound sleeping despite the strange feeling in her gut. The only strange thing was that she wasn't alone. At the far end if the village, right where the entrance was, beyond the barricade, she could see Nebula's blue eyes staring back at her. Though they couldn't communicate telepathically at that moment, Faora instinctively knew that they were sensing the same thing. There was trouble, and were sure of it. But Nebula wasn't getting the same sense of fear that Asherah was giving off. It was like Faora was
When Wayne returned with Natalie, Aurora, and Serena, the palace seemed elated. Richard was happy that Serena had come to be with him, and Cyrus's family had been reunited. Now that everyone of interest was present, it was time for the formal coronation to mark the young Cyrus as sovereign King, and his wife as ruling Queen. They divided the kingdom into new provinces, a few of which Natalie would rule over, leaving the majority for her husband. After signing several scrolls and getting married for the second time in line with Griffindale's royal tradition, the day of coronation finally came. It was a day like no other, but since Cyrus didn't want to lavish the Kingdom's wealth at a time when the city was still being rebuilt, he made it modest, only prioritizing hygiene, food, and wine. Decorations and other accessories were ruled out of the budget, still, it was a day to remember. That day, King Cyrus was formally coronated as King and was no longer acting as one. He reinstated
It wasn't too long afterward when the Warlord and his soldiers returned to the Midlands. By head count alone, they had not lost a single soldier. 3,000 went to battle, and 3,000 returned. There was nothing credible to report, as it was difficult to believe that 3,000 men went to war against a great and powerful city and none of them died. Worse yet, what credited them with such a flawless victory was the fact that they were assisted by two dragons that did most of the heavy lifting for them. Sure, there was an occult following of fable enthusiasts who believed in dragons like they were their bread and water, but reporting it in a battle account felt off. He was conflicted on whether or not he should account for that part of the battle. Still, it would be impossible to explain how no one died in such a war. Soon, he gave up on making up a story and decided to report on what truly happened, though he was afraid that the impulsive young Emperor would thin
About a week had passed when Wayne rode off on his dragon to bring Natalie to Griffindale. He too had decided to settle in the new land, and since he was going back briefly to get Cyrus's wife, he would use this opportunity to tell his family about his plans to relocate. Despite the ruins half of the city was in, he liked it at Griffindale. He felt at home there, as it was refreshing living somewhere where it wasn't snowing all the time. His dragon, Kyron, also seemed to love the climate at Griffindale, perhaps due to his natural affinities as a reptile. Wayne got in his dragon that morning and took off to Frostfall, it took several hours to get there despite how fast the Dragon flew, and he arrived by evening. Everyone was glad to see him, all asking questions that excited them. Children asked what it was like to live in a place where there was no ice and snow, others asked what other fruits in the area tasted like, and how easy it was to access them. Wayne tried to
It was almost noon when everyone had gotten out of their slumber, ready to take on the rest of the day. The Emperor's soldiers who at first tried to remain sober and disciplined at the start of the feast the previous night ended up being the most wasted. The generals and commanders assembled all their men, and they were all ready to leave. However, the 25 veteran soldiers were to stay behind to help Cyrus maintain order until the city could reestablish its military, as most of its fighting force had been eliminated during the war. The time for war and victory celebrations was over. Now was the time to rebuild. Cyrus and the Warlord, Jin Tsung bid each other farewell as they each went their separate ways, with the great Legionnaire taking his soldiers with him, along with all his captains and commanders. Frederick and the young men from the village were about to bid the acting King farewell also, but Cyrus was not going to allow it. He insisted that they stay behind with him to take
While Cyrus was still speaking, Kamala sent a message back to him. “I am with your mother”, she said. “Should I bring her to you?” “She's dying” Cyrus sent back. “Get her something to eat. Take her to Wayne. He must be outside the city. Let him see to it that she has everything she needs. I don't want to see her looking like that again.” “Understood” Kamala sent back. While he was still sending, he looked at his stepmother. And after communicating with Kamala, he picked up his sword and walked toward Regina. The Queen braced herself, lifting her son towards Cyrus, who raised a brow, wondering what this was all about. “I know this is too selfish of me to ask, but before you kill me, promise to take care of my son”, Regina said. “He has done nothing wrong. You can raise him without telling him anything about me, you can even tell him made-up things to make him grow up to hate me. Just give him a chance to live. I beg you.” Cyrus sighed, taking the son in his hand, but not for th
“My mother” Cyrus cried out towards her. “Where is she?” Then all of a sudden, the Queen's look of desperation turned to quick sadism. “What is so funny about what I asked?”, asked Cyrus. “I am not the same naive young man you sent on exile. I have killed a lot more people than you think to get to get here. So don't think I can't just run my sword through this child if I want to.” Then to make things worse, the Queen began to laugh. The laughter was so hysterical that she almost choked on her saliva, coughing profusely after a few cracks. She held on to her chest as she gave the last cough, struggling to regain her composure while looking back up at him. “WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!” Cyrus yelled out as loud as he could. “When my nightmares of you doing exactly this became worse, I knew you would soon come back for me. So I thought of the best collateral through which I could make you do as I want, which would be by putting your mother in misery, putting her close enough to the point o
She looked around, but it seemed all the Knights around her were dead. She was ready to meet her fate, but she didn't want any harm to come to her child. At a time when she was expected to cover up her shame with pride and charisma, she was not ashamed to show that she wanted to protect her child. The look on Cyrus's face didn't suggest he wanted to spare any of them. After all, if he truly came back to get the throne and her head, there would be no point in leaving any of them alive. Why would he let the son of the woman he killed remain alive only to enact revenge decades later? There was nothing to gain in keeping any of them alive, so she prepared her mind for the worst. Clutching onto the child in her arms, she prayed hard that their killer would make things quick and painless, especially for her child. But as she heard the footsteps approaching, her heart sank with fear. This was it. All her nightmares were coming true this very minute. Cyrus would take her head, just as h
While the fierce battle took place behind him, Cletus kept his sight on the higher provinces, particularly the Queen's residence, where his comrades were guarding Regina, the sovereign ruler. The next move the dragon made confirmed his suspicions that an attack on the Queen was imminent, as the beast landed on the pinnacle of the highest point of the castle, where the rider jumped off and went in through one of the large windows. “Cyrus”, Cletus said as he gestured for the horse to run even faster as it sprinted towards the palace. “I have to protect the Queen, no matter what.” ********* Cyrus got down from his dragon, swinging himself by the ropes connected to the dragon's saddle to break through the tainted glass of the nearest large window. As he got inside, he was assaulted by multiple guards who were alerted by the noise. He brought forth his self-defense skills and managed to take down the guards, hacking and