Prologue
“General, sir! Have you heard the news?” A young energetic man, frantically waved a letter of utmost importance in a careless manner.
“What are you doing, silly boy. Don’t you notice the King’s stamp on that letter? If he could see you treating that letter in such a way, he would have you beheaded!” The youth shivered and paled before gently handing the elder man the letter.
“General, news has arrived that the Empire of Thrasia has declared war. It’s only a matter of time before I personally head off to battle! I’ll, without doubt, endeavor to gain honor and fame for my family.” The general shook his head at the naivety of his subordinate.
“Don’t believe the stories they tell, boy. There is nothing good about war. Even the reason the Empire of Thrasia declared war on us, Aether Kingdom, is simply a matter of jealousy and survival. We have the resources their desert cannot produce, forcing them to declare war,” As he spoke his middle-aged fingers nimbly gutted the letter. The general visibly aged as he examined the contents and a sigh escaped his lips. Tired eyes listlessly watched the babbling, young man hopping between each foot, before dismissing the youth. “So, it’s true. This means, the King will call for a war council.”
Suddenly, the letter curled up and burnt to ashes on his palm. A maid gasped in shock at the display of ability. Simply judging by his cold and calculating exterior, no one would expect the general to wield fire. Only with his family did he act with any warmth, a sight that few ever truly see, and therefore, his reputation as a cold man even preceded his reputation for his battle prowess. The maid hurriedly bowed towards the general, apologizing for her rudeness, “I apologize sir, for my outburst. His majesty is calling for you to join the war council.”
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
“Thank you for coming today. Our glorious kingdom, Aether, has encountered its first major issue since I have assumed the throne. As the King of Aether, and head of the royal clan, I hereby announce the start of the war council. The Empire of Thrasia has officially proclaimed its intention, to attain the vast resources of the Aether Kingdom. The reason was never stated, however it’s common knowledge they lack the proper resources to support their Empire. As I am sure many of you know, they are located north of our Kingdom, and situated in this barren desert. Here is the location of their capital, Thain.” A thin, straw-haired King unenthusiastically waved his hand over the enormous map, stretched along the board. Luxurious clothing hung loosely on the King’s wiry frame, and swayed with each gesture at the map. Six wizened men, arrogantly sat towards the head of the war table. Each medal embedded into their uniform, represented their positions as ministers and their ranking in the royal clan. With each word from their King, they would scoff or sniff at the audacity of the Empire of Thrasia, as if they simply could not believe they would declare war.
Seeing the behavior of the leaders of the country, the general interrupted, “My King, do you not find it odd that the Empire is actually declaring war against us? You know as well as I do that they do not have the military or individual might that we of the Aether Kingdom do. We may be a small country with a much smaller population, but we are fundamentally much different. The people of the Empire of Thrasia are all Mundane, people without a hint of magic, Aether ability or any type of racial trait. We Aethers, on the other hand, are not born Mundane. If you do not mind me rudely saying, your highness, but I believe that we should send information specialists to spy on the Empire of Thrasia. By declaring war on us, they must be confident about victory!”
Roaring laughter filled the room, the King shook his head, wiping off nonexistent tears. Soon, the six ministers joined in, an obvious show of support. ‘The King is young, and has never seen war nor properly met his responsibilities. These ministers, no, halfwits, cannot see from neither their hearts nor eyes. They will be eternally blind to obstacles they must face, and obstacles they will force others to face for them. I have a truly bad feeling about this war.’ The general sorrowfully thought.
Seeing the general back down, the other participants in the War Council could no longer stay quiet. A charismatic and well-spoken man in his late twenties confidently voiced his opinion, “My good King, I must also approve of the matter the General speaks of. I have received intelligence on the Empire’s state of affairs. Emperor Seydoux has passed on. His second born heir, Emperor Keon, has allegedly organized the assassination of his elder brother, Emperor Reid, so that he can assume the throne. The previous year, the Year 9975 on the Elderian Calendar, Emperor Keon was officially crowned the Emperor. A man who would have his own brother killed for power wouldn’t lack the backbone declare war on us, should he have a reason and a method to do so. My King, have you heard of those mechanical body parts using special alloys and runes to function?” The young King frowned, unused to having people speak back to him in a reproving tone. With a quick glance at his ministers for assurance, he nodded his affirmation.
“I have indeed heard of these mechanical body parts, vice-general. They are used to replace missing limbs or organs. However, they are not instruments of war, but rather for the disable or deformed.”
The glance did not go unnoticed by the vice-general, he sighed inwardly at the daft, young King. “Of course, they are not enough to even single-handedly defeat even the average citizen of Aether, however, what if they were to be weaponised? The Aether Kingdom is overall small, in population and land, especially in comparison to the large Empire of Thrasia, despite the more abundant resources of our kingdom. Imagine this, that enormous army equipped with weaponized mechanical body parts and augmentations? Incidentally, the Emperor has already been using these weaponized parts for governing their capital with brute force. They named this type of mechanical soldier a ‘cyborg’.” For once the King paid rapt attention to the words of someone he saw beneath him. To everyone’s surprise, the King tilted his head and seriously pondered the vice-general’s words. A glimmer of hope ignited within his heart, perhaps the King will finally take this issue seriously.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“It’s obvious that the method of weaponisation will be applying offensive runes to the mechanical parts. If we could gain knowledge on these runes, we would be able to formulate our war strategy. My King, all is not lost. If we are to move quickly then we could save thousands of citizens!” The words stoked the fire in the hearts of many of the War Council. The general nodded happily towards the vice-general’s words. The vice-general sat, inwardly smiling with pure joy. He had a family that did not deserve to suffer from this war. Who knows how many would be sacrificed if the King did not take this seriously, perhaps the Aether Kingdom would even be conquered! He had personally witnessed the frightened words of the informative the general had sent. These runes, in combination with mechanical body parts, did not lose to the innate abilities of the average citizen of Aether. In fact, if there was enough energy powering these runes, the combat potential even exceeded that of an Aether. Fortunately, according to the very limited knowledge gathered from the informative, both runes and the mechanical body parts are expensive to manufacture. However, the issue still remained- the longer the war goes on, the more cyborgs the Empire of Thrasia would be able to create. By then, with Aether’s meagre population, the war could not be won.
“My King,” One of the six ministers finally opened his mouth, to the annoyance of the participants who did not agree with the royal clan, “If you fund the war, and halt the investment plan, we would lose millions of gold! It is an idea so foolish, I feel absolutely revolted. Ha! Mundanes could never achieve our level of power. It is common sense that Mundanes could never defeat an Aether. Vice-general, it is clear as day that you are scheming, and trying to fool the King!” The King glanced at the vice-general in alarm. His face contorted from shock to anger to outrage.
Another minister voiced his agreement cutting off any retorts from the vice-general, “Such a deed is on par with blasphemy! These blatant attempts of manipulation of yours truly sickens me to the bone. My King, let me lay it out for you; a single Aether has the physical strength of five men, but if he were to be using his Ethereal, he could defeat tens of men, whilst some of our more powerful warriors such as our dearest General here, could easily slay hundreds or possibly even a thousand men! Even useless attribute Ethereals would allow an average Aether soldier to be worth that of ten Mundane soldiers from the Empire. Your royal highness, imagine the fortune that would be lost if we funded a war we could win with our arms tied behind our backs! I say we allow the war to run its course. It’s pointless funding a war we would win anyway.”
The other ministers nodded their heads, and even those not within the royal clan’s faction nodded their heads. It truly was an arrogance etched into their very bones - a belief as strong as a mantra repeated every single day, that Mundanes will always remain at the bottom. No one is willing to believe that the Mundanes they ridiculed would be able to claw their way to the top.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
“It is a shame. A real shame. No matter what I said, the others in the royal clan would rebuke me. After much thought, I’ve come to a decision. Sir, I’ve decided to retire from this post. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” The vice-general bowed deeply towards his superior. The war council had long since ended, as did any of the futile attempts to convince the King. Leaning his back on the door, the general rubbed his forehead, releasing the built-up tension from his continuous frowning during the War Council.
“Although I shouldn’t say this, you’re doing the right thing, Taylor. You wouldn’t want to leave your lovely wife alone and pregnant in this kind of situation. That idiotic King and his flock of self-obsessed ministers are truly going to ruin the future of our Kingdom. I’m sure that the previous King is rolling in his grave at this very moment!”
The general cleared his parched throat, “In fact, I’ll compensate you for all you have done. Use that money for yourself and your wife to travel to south to Magus. No one dares threaten the Magus Association, so you will be safe there. Who knows, maybe your son will be one of the lucky few who can become a magus.” Tears of gratitude welled up within the eyes of the vice-general, Taylor. His eyes gazed at his superior in worship, a man outwardly cold and reserved, but a caring heart of gold. Taylor silently lowered his head, an action a thousand words of appreciation could not match. The anxiety for his family and his future slowly dissipated. Taylor was still quite young, and had never experienced war or hardship, he had no confidence in his ability to sacrifice himself for his country. To him, only his family was worth dying for.
The general smiled gently at the myriad of emotions on his subordinate’s face. He understood a little of what Taylor was going through, after all, waiting at home was his own wife and daughter, plus his three-year-old son. In truth, the general was worried about his lack of experience in organizing the war campaign as he was only promoted to the position of ‘general’ not due to his leadership capability or as a strategist but because of his extremely powerful Ethereal. It has just been a little over ten years in this position, and yet it had resulted in him looking much older than he was, and that was without having to receive the duty of war. The past ten years will soon seem like a vacation. What truly caused him to fear for the Aether Kingdom’s future is the royal clan. It was full of inexperienced leaders and old men who could not look past their greed. Quenching the depressed and helpless feeling, his expression settled back to its former cold look. “Go. I will send a trustworthy servant to deliver the money at your house by the morrow.”
Wordlessly watching Taylor leave, he sighed once more, lost in thought, ‘I should see my family once more before I leave. Elisa should be helping Tilde leave for the Academy. I still can’t believe she was passed that exam. No matter how many attempts I did, I could not pass it. When she comes back, she will be twice the warrior I am!’ The general now experiencing slight homesickness, hurriedly prepared himself for his journey home. ‘Perhaps my little pride and joy, Oryn, has manifested his Ethereal. Wouldn’t that be a surprise!’