"In this land, there shall be no injustice, no suffering, as lowborn and highborn alike will live in peace and harmony"
The first King of Vermilion's Epitaph
Galius stood tall overwatching his army as they prepared to march towards the Highway. His allies stood next to him with troubling looks on their faces.
"Speak, Before I make you lot talk via other means" He said dusting off his polished plate armor.
Krista, whose fair skin was looking a little tanned due to the summer looked at her conspirators. Elias was talking with the Knight Commanders the families had sent. The tall man was in his element ordering the Knights around like they were a pack of attack dogs, which made sense in a way.
Turius was parading with his new pet. The Arch-Mage's daughter was a pretty flower as always but it was the boy trailing behind the two who Krista had her eyes on.
Rare was the day the son of the two most powerful arcane masters of the kingdom showed his face, talk in the grapevine was that he had gotten a rare Blessing but no one knew due to his parents using some sort of anti divination spell to hide it from the movers and shakers of the kingdom.
He looked on edge, eyes darting around everywhere. Krista licked her lips in lust, She liked the nervous ones the best after all.
The woman took a second to focus and pulled a memory marble, pulsing her own mana along its smooth edges. Images forming in the air as they flashed at a sedated pace. "As you can see the Owl and his gang of cutthroats have killed the leadership of all 4 Diviner Mercs we hired, Without their support, we will have to rely on the Arch-Mage's daughter for it"
Galius took a glance at the young woman in question. She looked hale and in good spirits, clearly in love with the man who was parading her about like a piece of meat.
"And the boy walking behind them?" Galius asked.
"That's her brother, He will also provide magic support according to Turius" Krista responded.
"I sure hope I don't wake up with the Arch-Mage's son dead a few weeks from now on Krista, you hear me?" Galius spat on the ground "Well arcane-derived divination still works even if it's a bit too much most of the time, now I've received reports the bizarre snowstorm that had the Duchy on lockdown has ended which means we will be able to shorten that 10-day march"
Krista nodded and said "Will we raid the villages? according to the maps, there are two medium-sized ones we will go through and they are mostly for farm animals...Or do you have other plans?"
"I will not raid a village you daft broad, I have an image to maintain!" Galius smirked "I will simply get the King's tax from them as it should be" he laughed.
Krista nodded and went off to check with the mercenaries from Xie. Galius walked up to Elias and spoke to the Knights.
"House Sakkar, Uthe'Zie, and Farkas sent their best I see. Your names Commanders if you could, It's for the record keeper of course" Galius pointed to a shadow of a man who had a book on his hand and constantly taking notes.
A tall elven woman spoke first, her hair neatly done and face full of scars. An eye patch covering the empty socket. She spoke with a raspy voice. Galius could feel her tiredness.
"Knight Commander Wynather Enfir. Here on behalf of House Sakkar" the woman saluted and went silent, Galius nodded and turned to the man that was beside Wynather. He was on the full plate and had a mean-looking Warhammer on his back. His aura was thick, like summer heat with high humidity. Galius also noticed the number of wands on his belt. Small with Mana Crystals embedded on it.
"Knight Commander Uu'Kal-Vaar. It is an honor to bring the Knights of House Farkars to fight together with the Royal Family once again!" He took a knee then got up and said "It has been 30 something years ever since the war against the Mad King and his army. I and my men welcome the chance to bring honor to our families once again in the field of battle"
From meters away, a contingent of Knights cheered and roared. Galius ever the smart one went over and cheered them on as well. The Sakkar Knights on the other hand stood silent as a grave. Not even looking at him.
The final Commander did a salute and spoke with a loud voice "First Prince Galius! We the stalwart Knights of House Uthe'Zir came in this great hour of need to fight for the Kingdom once again. Together with our solemn brothers Of House Farkas and House Sakkar will stand fast against the darkness brought upon our northern brothers and sisters! United under the faith of Ummaries and Morugarius both Praise be the Goddesses!" he said then took a pause "I Var'yr Ether pledge my life and my men to this most righteous cause!"
The Knights cheered on again. Many shouting the name of the Goddess they believed. Galius smiled but cursed inwards "These bloody zealots chanting the name of those whores! Uumaries trying to save whatever scrap of the good reputation she has by not sending her people to aid me! oh, but they will know what's good for them. Once the one true God descends from the far reaches of space they will become ash!"
Galius and his friends stood together as Krista came with a report "All the mercenaries are accounted for and ready the march, We also managed to grab two siege towers but they will have to be built on-site"
"Do we have the engineers for it? I can ask mother but the paperwork will delay us" Galius said.
"Yes, a few of the mercs can do it" Krista read her notes "Foodstuff is also accounted for unless any of you lot wanna do anything last minute I'd say it's about time we launch this godsdamned invasion"
"It is not an invasion Krista it's a punitive action to safe keep the good men and women of the Kingdom" Elias said smirking.
"Whatever you say, Elias now pass me the wine bottle" she fired back. as the man threw her the bottle "Shall we get going then?"
Galius barked orders and his army began to march towards the Highway. Their destination; The Duchy of Wulfgrem
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Galius watched from his personal carriage as the land warped and shimmed beneath the arcane field that surrender the Highway. Once upon a time, he wanted to build something grander than these roads. A young foolish Galius who was unaware of the reality he lived in.
His God cleared those childish ambitions from him. Granting instead true power and more importantly a true more worthwhile goal. Galius would spearhead a grand movement and through force of arms or diplomacy would unite this chaotic world under a single banner.
United in the light of his God, with Galius as his Chosen and Champion.
And the north, the godsdamned north was the most important step for his plans. The Wulfgrem would further legitimate his cause, the natural resources of their lands giving him enough power to take over his family and later other countries! Decades of planning, of painstakingly political movement all, broke to piece due to some womanchild with barely 18 winters on her name!
He would break Lucrezia, he and his fellows would inflict a thousandfold of pain and suffering on her as they did the Arch-Duke's daughter and once they were done he would personally offer her to his God as it was the plan all along.
Already Galius had turned several scions of noble families big and small to his cause. Sleeper agents were all ready for the call should it ever come.
He had tried turning his little brother towards the light of his God but the boy had keen senses, always avoiding Galius whenever he tried his hand. He would need to deal with that sooner rather than later. After all, by the start of next year, he would be going to the academy, and he couldn't afford to lose such a good pawn.
Still, a part of him felt paranoid, the reports about Lucrezia's absurdly fast takeover and involvement with Velkarius made him feel something was off about this whole ordeal. His friends thought he was wasting coin with the hiring of the extra mage leaning mercenary groups but when faced with extraordinary circumstances one must over-prepare, Not for every eventuality for no mortal could predict the future but solid foundations went a long way in any conflict.
And so Galius hired the mages, got his siege engines and engineers. A shame he couldn't get a detachment of Royal Knights, for if they went together with him it would mean outright war in the court and the noble faction would get upset for ages.
Oh how Galius longed for the day where he would rule all without the meowling from those parasites. Alas, patience was a virtue and he had plenty of that, to haste means to invite failure. One should always have a well-thought-out plan and contingencies for it as it was proper of anyone baring the Shatter-Spear name.
Galius felt a gaze on him and was taken out of his thoughts, the Arch-Mage's son was constantly stealing glances around him while writing on a small book, he looked nervous and had sweat forming on his forehead. Thin and of alabaster skin the boy was the stereotypical image of a would-be mage. The only thing that broke the norm was his blood-red hair tied in a nearly done ponytail.
"What's wrong Kaine? Haven't seen you this worried in a while" Margareth Antewood asked while hugging her lover. The daughter of the Archmage couple strikes an uncanny semblance to her older brother. Twins were rare in this part of the world after all. The only way to distinguish the two bar the clothes was that she kept her hair loose and all the way to her back.
Kaine Antewood didn't reply at first. He began muttering incantations and Galius felt mana flow from the boy as parts of his outfit glowed and shimmered in arcane blue. After a solid minute of light shows and whispered incantations he spoke, his voice raspy and with a rush to it.
"My divination attempts are being blocked by several Leviathan Class barriers...I was told the lady of the north only had at most 3 Gods backing her but these results tell me otherwise" he picked a silver medal and threw it at his sister who grabbed mid-air with magic.
A few seconds later Margareth spoke, "He is right my love, There are more Gods up there and something more...Older?" she turned to her brother and waited for him to finish up.
Kaine tapped his forehead "Draconic and Spiritual in fact If the records are right and I believe they are. Lucrezia will have the support of the White Dragoness and the Winter Spirits"
Turius spoke from the bosom of his pet "Nothing to worry about young master! We have accounted for the dragonkin and the spirit menace! Xie mercenaries are constantly hired by both the empire and other nations to deal with the latter and some even have hunted Water Dragons before!" he finished by taking a good swig of his wine flask and kissing Margareth.
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Krista sat down beside Kaine and spoke softly "Don't worry Young Master, I will make sure you are duly protected" with a sweet smile planted on her lips.
"That won't matter, Unless any of you can become a Divine Avatar there's no way we can survive an attack from a fully grown Land Dragon like Kallista!" Kaine was getting more worried by the second before his sister snapped at him saying "Pipe the fuck down Kaine! I will not have your crazy ramblings ruin this vacation of mine you hear?! I swear why did mom even deign to throw you in this last minute..."
The young man narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the carriage, Galius felt his stare hold on him for a second longer before he fell silent and continued to write on his book. Krista tried to strike up more conversation with him but the boy was ignoring her in a way Galius had seen few men and women do, for his friend was one of the striking women in the whole Vermilion court.
"Forgive my brother Turius, he only has a mind for magic and lacks the social graces that someone of his stature should have" Galius heard Margareth whisper to his friend and then saw the young man scoff at her.
Another pawn that would take time to turn it seems.
He opened the window and spoke to the rider "How long until we hit the waystation?"
"Five hours milord!"
Galius nodded and closed the window, soon his forces would take over the north and his plans would get back on track.
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Knight Commander Wynather Enfir stared at the empty waystation as the mercenaries were put to work to establish fortifications. According to her mages and the Arch-Mage's daughter, nothing would strike them here so close to the Highway but the elven woman felt the whole thing was off.
Born in the Principality and exiled for her tastes in conflict. Wynather was welcomed with open arms by Vermilion 200 years ago, the country made by Imperium castoffs had even graced her with a loving wife and son who was by her side in this frankly absurd battle the noble family she pledged herself to had sent her and her men. Wynather didn't like Galius or his goons.
High Elves were more attuned to the world around them, the mortal coil sang to the music only they could hear as they were the firstborn of All-Father, this music was everywhere and everyone had a piece of it singing at all moments, it took decades to master the gift but Wynather had done it to further her battle prowess and the song that was being sung around Galius Shatter-Spear was one of pure evil.
The land on the other hand sung a myriad of songs, of toil and suffering, of rage and despair, and finally of deliverance and vengeance, brought by fire and sword. So powerful it was that Wynather could hear the echoes of the battles waged as far as the capital city of the Duchy! War and more War! Revenge paid back a hundredfold!
Blood called for Wynather. Its sweet allure and coppery smell making her drunk on violence and bloodlust. It took a solid minute for the elven Knight to snap out of it and she stared in sheer horror as the song of the land warped right in front of her eyes!
ANATHEMA! ANATHEMA! ANATHEMA!
Wynather snapped into action as she tapped into her Knight's Blessing "TO ARMS MY MEN TO ARMS!"
The mercenaries dropped everything and ran to their commanders, as for her fellow Knights Commanders they flared their own Blessings and together with the mage mercenaries enacted two barriers around the perimeter. Magic and Miracle intertwining in a display of skill few could boast about.
Galius and his goons stared from their command tent, no doubt with their own wards already in place.
Great spikes of solid iron came from the earth around them. the peaks slightly edged towards the camp as they began to enclose around them like a dome without a roof. Wynather gasped as she recognized the tactic being employed here! Standard ritual procedure from Granarius in order to deliver a magical payload potent enough to wreak such devastation in the back of the enemy line!
Time slowed down to a crawl as Wynather saw a dot flying from the north at high speeds. She beheld as Lucrezia herself had come to give her greetings to the prince. Wynather focused on her song and found herself nearly shaking as waves upon waves of bloodlust and rage hit her like a sledgehammer. Together with that, she felt a lust so strong it felt akin to a deep drum beating every breath she took. And beneath all that the fires of war raging like a mighty inferno made real.
It was no wonder the land cried as it did. Lucrezia Wulfgrem was not normal.
The young woman went up into the clouds and for a second time halted as Wynather could hear the Prince nearly giving the order to stand down. The word barely escaping his lips as Lucrezia came out of the clouds clad in lightning and slapped both palms together.
A bolt the size of a hurricane slammed into the barrier. Wrath of Gods made manifest as every soul inside of it struggled to keep the damn thing from breaking when Wynather noticed the spikes were empowering the magic! with a scream, she hurled herself to the nearest iron spike and cleaved in two with her Claymore. The other Knights and Mercenaries seeing this started doing the same.
It took 5 minutes before they managed to take all of the spikes down. Galius started barking orders before a mighty roar blasted the nearby trees away. Everyone stood in awe once again as an enormous dragon, her scales silvery gray flew by them and roared once again.
The message was clear, There would be no peace talks, no parleys. No compromise as Lucrezia and her armies poised themselves for the slaughter. Wynather thought of her wife and son, of the oath she took for Morugarius and the vow for House Sakkar who sheltered her after she got kicked from her home. She prayed to her Goddess for a good death. One that wouldn't make her fall in the bitter cold and snow of the north.
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It had been a day ever since the madwoman tried to alpha strike Galius and his army. The sheer amount of mana she had to deploy in that strike was so big, Turius's pet was sure she had to be bedridden at this point.
Galius doubted that. He drove the mercs harder and soon they had established a mighty fortification with wards to defend them from any unseen strikes she could launch. Morale was not high sadly and he needed to turn that around and fast.
"There is a village near here that according to reports is a hub for produce and wine if we can take it and fortify it would serve as a great FOB and the foodstuff there would raise the morale for the men. After all hard biscuits, salted meat, and bread that's as solid as a stone isn't the best meal" Krista said as she pointed to the map "Lend me a few men and I'm sure the villagers won't resist Galius"
"You can have them, Take Turius and his pet as well just in case" the man spit but got up to call the girl "Now Elias what is this report I have? something about a snowstorm?"
The man smiled and said "It's what says on the tin Gally, according to the mages we will be hit with an unnatural snowstorm in two days' time so I told them to shore up the wards a bit more. But I need your orders to get the men to gather wood, there's a rumor going around that men are going missing when they go take leaks in the woods but so far the headcount is the same"
"Winter Spirits" Galius spat on the ground, he knew one that lived in the winter palace in the capital. The thing was always in a foul mood and hated him for no reason at all to the point Galius asked the Summer Spirit that was around the Palace for the why of it only to get the equivalent of "She is throwing a temper tantrum" Damn thing should've been killed years ago in his opinion but Killing Spiritfolk was a capital offense even he would be hard-pressed to slime out of it.
After all, they could muster an army of specters and siege the city, not that they would last against his mother but still, not good for his image and could blow up a number of plans he had going in the capital.
"You have my word. Get as much firewood as you can so we can weather this storm. Krista I want that village ready for the rest of the army as soon as you can, staying here will no doubt leave us open to more attacks from these godless wraiths"
"You got it, Gally" She said as she left the tent, Elias did the same as Galius stared at the map.
He felt the room grown warm, like a soft blanket was placed around him. His mind went blank as a voice spoke softly inside of his mind.
"GaaalIussS! wEEE DEMAND! heeeer blood! The interlopeeerr must dieee!"
"I hear and obey master"
"GoooOD, it is oUR WILL!"
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Kaine watched as his sister and her boyfriend broke off from the group as they explored the abandoned village. That woman Krista hounding his every step like a starving god. Gods fucking damn it he thought. This was going to become an issue.
Never mind the fact they nearly became dust via a lighting strike on par with something his parents would throw out! He also didn't miss the panicked reaction from that elven Knight. No, he knew shit was going to be bad the second his blessing began manifesting itself.
An unknown blessing! was he that unlucky that the Goddess of Magic would forsake him?! everyone in his bloody family had the greater blessing of Fae’Zhurar, except him! an entire childhood being told he was "second best" to his sister only for the Gods themselves to join in the mockery! Kaine seethed with rage day in and day out, the young man tried every ritual on the book and more than a few that were off the bloody thing.
He had Fallen try to contact him, terrors from beyond the stars and a small host of devils and demons. All thirsting for his soul and mana reserves. And nothing, not a single ping of divine intent to tell who had done the deed. All he had was a staff symbol with a broken something on top of it. He was glad for once that the silly custom Vermilion inherited from the Imperium of not being forced to disclose your blessings was upheld to this day.
Of course, his harpy of a mom bugged him every waking hour for it. Forcing him to hide in the many libraries of the Capital to further his magical knowledge and hopefully find out which God blessed him. His sister for all the forced competition their mom tried to make them do was nonplussed as always. Ever since she got together with Turius and the first prince gang it was like he didn't exist.
Kaine didn't forget that up to last year Galius was in a relationship with Viviene the daughter of the Arch-Duke. Only for the girl to disappear from public life and then come back with some sort of obscure condition that made her unable to leave her state. Kaine was raised together with Viviene, she knew the young woman wouldn't waste her youth inside those musty halls!
He didn't fail to notice something had gone very wrong, for starters he wasn't welcomed in the Arch-Duke's estate anymore, then said Arch-Duke's faction began a cold war against the Royal faction! Whispers told to him by fringe elements of both factions made the picture clear, his parents choose the path of neutrality in this dispute and thus became persona non grata for the Arch-Duke.
No matter how much he dug the answers eluded him. Until he had a dream that is.
In the dream, he saw a great bonfire burning in blue flames and the snow peaks of the northern reaches of Vermilion. So when he heard about her sister going with Galius and his "punitive force" he jumped on it.
With this, he could study the man and his goons, and Gods above something was off about them! Kaine turned into a corner and popped his Advanced Invisibility spell as that Krista woman came bolting after him. Yeah, they were up to no good, Kaine knew that trusting his gut now would likely save him from whatever they did to Viviene. He would find out what happened, even if he had to fight for it.
His Divination collar pinged 5 times, another snowstorm would be hitting the village. Apparently, Galius would be leaving the waystation to a skeleton crew and moving into the Village tomorrow. So far they haven't seen anyone bar the initial attack.
Kaine entered the main tavern still invisible and watched as the mercenaries ate and drank without a care in the world. He had run a gauntlet of spells on the foodstuff they found and got nothing but still, that voice in the back of his head told him not to touch the damn thing. Ever one to er on the side of caution he secluded himself in a hidden room behind the second kitchen of the establishment.
The gods were kind enough to make that creepy woman be good enough on magical or miracle-based divination, so he could rest easy in this corner of his. For tomorrow they would be marching towards the second village and then crossing a vale to reach the capital of the north.
His first time in combat, Kaine prayed to whoever was listening to grant him luck enough to not die in this bitter cold.
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3 days, It took 3 days to set up their final FOB at the second also deserted Village, Galius watched as the mercenaries made marry with enough wine and foodstuff to feed a thousand more, he turned to Elias and asked "Did the food and wine got checked for poison and such?"
"Yes, multiple times as well, it is safe for consumption as long you don't mind watered-down wine and salted cheese that smells rank," the man said as he drank from his pouch "The skeleton crews at the waystation and the first village also haven't reported a thing, I must say Gally this is looking very strange"
Galius stayed silent for a second, watching as the engineers finished building the siege towers "Turius's pet told me that the "Duchess" most likely burned her life force to cast that mighty spell and will not recover it in less than 3 weeks" he pointed towards the map "This vale is called the forgotten vale said to be the final place of the 4th Legion of the Imperium"
Elias hummed and spoke, "That's the one with the bronze bulls right?" Galius nodded "Well as long we don't get attacked by undead legionaries It should be a 5-hour march towards the city gates" Elias finished.
"Can we trust Turius's pet, Elias?" Galius asked.
"She's the real deal Gally, it will be fun breaking her" the man laughed and went outside leaving the prince to think to himself.
Just a few more hours and he would be done with this charade, ready to go back to the capital to deal with the real issues his faction was facing, his one true God ready for the next step in his master plan!
A beautiful perfect world, ruled by his patron deity and him as starward of the mortal coil! Their dream made manifest after nearly a decade of planning, sacrifice, and enough blood to float a navy vessel through a river. Mighty and strong.
And all he needed was Lucrezia's head on a pike and her lands under his heel.