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, suddenlyIt was a few weeks later when Natalie was able to walk again with minimal pain, and the prefect was able to fully resume his duties. The building he lived in had been mostly restored to its former state, and the city had returned to normalcy. At that time the walls that were being built around the area were complete, as no rebels were trying to mitigate its progress. The city was peaceful and had become a formal client region of the Empire. It was a peace the region had never known ever since the Emperor's people invaded, and Kendrick feared that it was just a clan before the storm.What feared him the most, even above that was the fact that his daughter's wedding was coming up soon, and that would be the best time for some hidden rebels to cause a comeback. Because of this, he made extra preparations, expecting the worse.As a result of this, the day of the wedding looked more like a siege at the Prefect's home. But he didn't mind, as everyone
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
At that very same time, far beyond the many of the regions conquered by the Emperor, Queen Regina of Griffindale sat on her throne, staring out into the open space.Just like Athanasius, she was staring out into space, awaiting her noble subjects to discuss matters arising.She noticed three men coming in through the large doors of the throne room, each dressed in rich clothes, and recognized all of them. Sir Kendrick, Sir Nickson, and Sir Kingsley. All three were noble senators, and each contributed to making her who she was today and also suggested the ingenious plan through which she finally got rid of the bastard prince.Because of them, she had now enjoyed two months of leadership without any problems. Sure, some zealous enthusiasts loved Cyrus and looked forward to him being King, but they were given a false hope to confide in, one which prevented a possible rebellion from amongst his followers.They were told that the Prince had gone on a s
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
Cyrus called for a meeting of the Quad at Natalie's room, to discuss something of great importance. Based on what he had just discussed with the prefect, there were going to be some changes made to their plans.Not long after, the whole Quad was present, and Cyrus spoke out.“As you know, we planned to leave Fayhold by next week, but now there is a change in plans”, Cyrus said.“What is it this time?”, asked Felix. “Everyone is okay, aren't we?”“It's not that”, Cyrus replied. “It's something else. The Emperor, Athanasius, wishes to see me.”Natalie and the others widened their eyes when they heard this. Cyrus held off on telling Natalie first, wanting everyone to hear this at the same time.“I suppose he has acknowledged the Prefect's plea on your behalf”, Felix said. “It should be a good thing, right?”“Then why does it make us all feel uncomfortable?”, said Natalie. “Probably because the Emperor can't be up
He had spent over a month at Fayhold, and saying goodbye to everyone was hard. The prefect seemed to have prepared a whole party of elders of civilians to bid him farewell. Most likely the news got out to the masses that some of them had to come to see him leave. Few had seen him in action, and many had heard of his exploits with the others in putting down the rebellion. Praised as a hero for what he had done for the city, the party of over a hundred people cheered and waved as he left, dressed in his full armor and wearing a large backpack on his shoulders. Parting with Natalie was the hardest part of it all, as she and the other three were the only ones who weren't cheering for Cyrus as he prepared to leave. Her eyes were clouded with tears as she saw him walking away, trying her best not to run over towards her husband to stop him from going further. Richard put his arm over her shoulder, comforting her as she saw her husband go. <
The next two days were practical torture for Cyrus, having to go push on without food and water. The little he had left wasn't enough to be considered "food", as he found himself eating a few nuts every few hours to keep up his energy. He realized that he needed to find a sustainable food source soon, and hoped he would soon arrive at the Midlands.On the second day after he had run out of food was when he felt like his body was on the brink of giving up. He found himself falling to the ground and getting back up again, determined to keep going. It became so habitual that he lost count of how many times his body tried to give up on him but instantly got put under subjection by his sheer willpower.The last day felt like hell. The sun was high up in the sky at noon, heating the armor he wore and causing him to sweat profusely, losing the little amount of body fluids that had kept him going. This brought about a heavy sensation of thirst from within which almost made
The next dawn came, and Cyrus was already up, and Lydia prepared him a bath. After cleaning himself, he got back to the main room, put on his clothes, and strapped back in his armor. He wondered how he managed to get himself to sleep when still in full armor. Perhaps he was just so tired that the pain didn't bother him, although he was now paying the price for that, as his shoulders and hips ached like he had been laboring all night.While Lydia set down his breakfast at the table, she took note of the armor once again. “That is a nice armor you have there”, she said. “Even better than our grandson's. And he is of a higher rank than most soldiers.”“Interesting”, Cyrus said. “No wonder you said I remind you both of him.”Then Icarus came from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder from behind. “Good morning, young man”, he said after yawning. He got down to the table, wanting to cut out a piece of the bread on the table.Lydia