“Also, about my daughter”, Kendrick said. “I think she would rather look after herself.” “Does that mean that I don't have to take her to safety?”, asked Lucius. “You can try”, Lucius said. “But unless you physically force her to come with you, she won't be leaving without me.” “I thought that would be the case”, Lucius said. “I was about to ask for permission to use force if necessary for her safety.” “Well, I wouldn't approve of it”, the prefect said. “I'm glad you've clarified that”, Lucius said. “But I can still endeavor to take her away, right?” “Again, you can try”, Kendrick said. “But if she refuses, leave her be. Your commander was one of those who trained her - albeit not personally, but he saw to it. I believe he also trained you in some ways as well. With that in mind, I believe she can look out for herself.” Then Lucius gave a bow and left. Lucius went into the Prefect's private residence with two guards and knocked on Natalie's door. He knocked a second time before
It was just about an hour before sunrise. It was still dark, and the men who were on guard were tired, looking forward to finishing their shift once the sun came up. This time, Lucius was one of them, and while other men were falling to sleep, he stood erect and only moved when he was about to hit a guard who was falling asleep on duty. Within the closed shades of the nearby market, Lucius could see lights coming up simultaneously from within the clogged areas of the closed tents. Then he realized that they were being ambushed. With a loud shout, he signaled for his men to gird their swords and brace themselves for an attack. But before he could complete his words, fiery arrows had been shot upwards from within the tents, forming a high arch in the sky before coming right down on the Prefect's home and some of the guards who stood outside with Lucius. The men screamed as they were caught on fire immediately after being shot by the arrows. Lucius looked up and saw more of those arrow
Thanks to the brilliant light given by the burning building, the brilliant silhouettes of both warriors could be seen fighting each other from over a mile away. The burning building was so bright that other soldiers had seen it from the far reaches of the city and had begun pouring in to figure out what was going on and hopefully resolve the situation. Lucius was brought down to a knee as he blocked a heavy strike from the Berserker. But that move was intentional, as he didn't want his sides to be open for another attack. The Berserker struck again, over and over while Lucius remained as he was, but when another strike came, he pushed back the sword, pressing it to the side before headbutting the Berserker's face. The impact of Lucius's forehead cracked the Berserker's nose, and he stumbled several feet backward, clutching onto his bleeding face. The breeding was severe, and within seconds, his mask was soaked in it. “You might want to take off the mask, Harold Hamilton”, Lucius
The rebels poured into the courtyard, led by Conrad and Olivia. And once they recognized the prefect, they pointed at him, and all the rebels poured in his direction at full speed. The prefect readied his sword, Natalie stood firm, and the others braced themselves as well. With a loud shout, they ran toward the rebels, but Cyrus and Richard overtook them, plunging headfirst into the crowd ahead of Kendrick and the others. Cyrus hacked and slashed with his sword, and as he did with the Dakra back at Sargath Village, he turned off his brain from holding back on anything. This was war, and the rebels had to die. Cyrus endeavored to stay ahead of Natalie, trying to keep as many rebels as possible from reaching her even though she was faring quite well on her own. It was an unsettling sight for the others (apart from Kendrick) to see the peaceful and pacifist Natalie slitting throats and stabbing men like it was nothing. The sight of bloodstain on her, while she remained nonchalant w
The Berserker stood before Kendrick, and they stared at each other. It was like the aura of hatred between the two was so strong that no one dared to interfere in the duel. As if the whole world had faded to black, with only the prefect and Berserker left behind, both combatants ran toward each other. And when they got close enough, their swords clashed. With neither side yielding to defense, each fighter struck continuously against the other, blocking and striking back immediately. Unlike Lucius, Kendrick was not put at a disadvantage by Harold's exceptionally long sword. And the more he struck against the Berserker, the more he could feel his old thirst for carnage coming back. It was so much so that Harold was starting to take caution, because among all the people on the side of the empire he had fought, never had he come across one who smiled while fighting him. Harold could see Kendrick's obsession with cutting him down. It looked like the prefect was craving it so much that
Harold watched as Felix's dagger plunged itself into Olivia's head. Calling out her name didn't prevent it from happening, and to his horror, she fell to the ground once she was hit, and her lack of reaction made him scream out her name once again. Cyrus didn't need to look back to know what had happened. He numbed himself to Harold's cry, refusing to feel any sympathy. “It hurts, doesn't it?”, asked Cyrus with a straight face. And Harold looked at him with renewed hatred. “You kill soldiers like they don't have families of their own, and yet you act all innocent when it's your loved ones that get taken away! Tell me, how does it feel?” “Shut up!”, Harold yelled at him as he moved out of the way, causing Cyrus to stumble forward. Then he attacked from behind Cyrus, whose rear was now exposed. But right before the sword could reach him, Cyrus brought his weapon behind him, blocking the attack. As Conrad wept, holding his sister close, Harold wanted to be with them. He wanted to h
When the prefect and the others needed help, the reinforcements arrived, but they had been around for some time. What kept them back was dealing with the residual units of rebels outside the Prefect's home, and it was after slaughtering the rebels outside that the veterans got inside the building to take care of the rest, and it all ended with the death of Harold, the Berserker. Now the rebellion was finished, and all of them were wiped out - save for the ones who fled. The Prefect's home was now in ruins, albeit still standing, while it's surroundings were littered with corpses. Most of the corpses at the front were dead rebels, while those in the surrounding areas were mainly Emperor soldiers. Most civilians were afraid of coming out to do business as usual, just because of the great destruction of that morning. In fact, even at the end of dawn when the battle was just starting, people were aware of what was going on, and that was what swarmed in most of the city's military into
About eight years ago, a young Olivia was walking alone with her brother, on their way coming from their parent's farm. They were instructed to return with food for the night. And as they were walking, Conrad noticed that she was barefooted.He clicked his tongue. “What is wrong with you?”, asked Conrad. “What happened to your sandals?”Olivia looked at her two feet and seemed genuinely surprised that she wasn't wearing anything, while her brother stood amazed by her ignorance. “You must have left it at the farm”, Conrad said. “Damn it!”Conrad notoced that she was getting tired, as the weight of the heavy sack of grain on her back was becoming unbearable. Her brother sighed, looking around several times before making a decision. “This looks like a safe place”, Conrad said. “You will have to watch over the food for a short while as I get back to the farm, alright?”“Let me come with you”, she said.“No, you are too
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