Daniel stood in front of the mirror, checking each and every part of himself. His clothes were immaculate, yet conservative. His hair was freshly cleaned and combed. His face recently washed. Even his fingernails were manicured. Daniel made sure that everything was perfect, even his wife was growing irritated at how much time he was spending in front of the mirror.

Daniel was not one to spend so much effort in his appearance, but the person he was meeting required it, even if the man himself couldn’t care less. Unfortunately, ceremony had to be upheld, even among family.

Brushing himself down one last time, Daniel grabbed his flamboyant hat, kissed his wife goodbye, and walked out of the room.

His Personal Guard took up formation around him as he walked down the hallway. Servants bowed as he passed, yet he ignored them. His thoughts were filled with what he was supposed to say.

The Duke’s residence was next to the Royal Castle, though Daniel spent most of his time in the Royal Castle. Despite that, no one ever saw the King or his family. The reason was due to them isolating themselves within the Inner Castle. Very few people were even authorized to see the Royal Family, let alone do so and then leave the Inner Castle.

Daniel knew of four servants within the Inner Castle that had been there since before they turned ten. Entire generations lived their entire lives in the Inner Castle. The Inner Castle might as well have been a separate world. The Inner Castle was fully independent of the rest of the Castle, capable of fully sustaining themselves even if the rest of the Kingdom collapsed.

The Inner Castle even had their own Guard Regiment, known as the Royal Guard. The Royal Guard numbered exactly one thousand, never more, never less. Each one lived their entire life in the Inner Castle, devoting their entire being to the protection of the King and his Family. They would step on their own parents to protect the Royal Family, and their parents would want them too.

Each member of the Royal Guard were generational warriors who ate, trained, and even bred, for the sole purpose of providing the best soldier and confidant to the Royal Family. They did not wed, they did not care for love, if they believed the genetics of two warriors would produce an even better warrior, they would.

The identities of the Golden Thousand, as they were called, were kept secret to all but the King himself. Not even the rest of the Royal Family knew. The Golden Thousand were called such due to the golden armor they wore. Each piece was meticulously crafted and maintained, not a single flaw was allowed.

Each piece was masterfully enchanted, countless enchantments with just as many effects. The material itself was not actually golden. The golden effect was an unintentional effect that eventually became the iconic symbol of the Golden Thousand. The material itself was actually a light blue. It became golden once the sheer magical weight of the Enchantments took hold.

The armor both protected and augmented the user. Capable of turning even the most mundane warrior into a threat capable of destroying a city. Each of the Golden Thousand were trained within an inch of their lives, with many trainees not surviving the process. Each one was a Master capable of destroying cities naked.

Very few knew just how powerful a single member of the Golden Thousand was, even fewer could understand the power. Just like how someone could understand how large one million was, but likely did not truly comprehend just how significant the number was.

The Golden Thousand only numbered one thousand, but in order to keep the number one thousand, they had a secondary force of two thousand. These were the true Royal Guard. They policed the Inner Castle and on the very rare occasions of the King wanting something done outside of the Castle, they were the ones to exercise his words.

The Royal Guard, clad in Silver armor that paled in comparison to the Golden Armor yet still transcended any other armor, were the trainees to the Golden Thousand. To be even considered for one of the positions as a Royal Guard, one had to be an Expert. And to be qualified for a position of one of the Golden Thousand, one had to have served in the Royal Guard for a minimum of fifty years and have become a Master.

To an Expert, while fifty years was by no means a short time, it was not their entire lives. To a Master, fifty years was a drop in the bucket. It meant nothing to their lifespans.

Few people even knew of the power level called Master. Many already considered Experts to be true powerhouses. Something to aspire to be. The existence of Masters was not a secret, merely not one that was openly declared.

It was a secret that both the Duke and the King kept carefully maintained. With most of the population believing that Experts were the pinnacle, what would happen if it became public that Experts wasn’t even in the top three? Or that their beloved Gods were in fact mere mortals, just like they were, and that they had shrugged off their mortality.

Daniel sighed as he crossed the single bridge connecting the Outer and Inner Castle. The secrets and responsibilities of such secrets were heavy. Many people believed that they could rule, to govern. Many people were wrong. Daniel hated having to lie, steal, manipulate, and even kill. But the masses had to be controlled.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Daniel had seen the horrors that anarchy brought. He would do anything he had to in order to avoid such disasters from falling upon the people he governed and loved. Even it meant controlling them.

The Duke’s Guards were the elite of elite, but they paled in comparison to the Royal Guard. They remained on the other side of the ancient bridge. They were the Duke’s most trusted personal, yet they were prohibited from entering the Inner Castle.

The Outer Castle was a complex of towering buildings, yet the Inner Castle, set in the middle of the Outer Castle and surrounded by a massive two-hundred-meter moat, towered over the Outer Castle. The Castle was seen from practically anywhere in Zolis, but most people did not realize that the massive building masterfully constructed over generations, that they saw every day, was in fact just a small fraction of the true Castle.

Running the large Kingdom of Lissura, where the authority was centralized, took a lot of people, a lot of space, and a lot of time. Daniel had stopped trying to remember just where each office was or what they did. In truth, he did not need to. Anytime he needed something sent to or sent from, he merely asked for it to be done.

There was only one bridge connecting the Inner and outer Castle. It was intentionally designed as such. A massive stone bridge that was twenty meters across and one hundred meters above the moat.

Only the King, the Duke, and the Golden Thousand knew that the bridge was enchanted to self-destruct, plummeting the rubble and whoever was unfortunate enough to still be on it, down to the moat. A moat that was ten meters lower than the bottom walkway, with smooth stone walls, anyone unlucky enough to fall into the moat would be unable to climb out without assistance.

While the Inner Castle had beautiful sheer walls and towers, Daniel knew that there were hundreds of Royal Guards and perhaps even a few of the Golden Thousand were manning the defenses of the Inner Castle. He also knew that there the two Golden Thousand standing guard at the Inner Castle’s Gates were eyeing him, even though they knew who he was, they were prepared to kill him if he presented any threat to the King.

Daniel’s Guards stood at the far end of the Bridge, equally prepared to defend their charge, even though they knew it would be pointless to try.

Daniel walked up to the Golden, “Duke Redmond to see the King.”

Behind their Golden Helmets, Daniel could not see who spoke, their bodies remained still. The only thing that moved on them were their heavy deep blue capes. Capes that had nearly three hundred enchantments, each one designed to repel, counter, or absorb magic, or empower the enchantments that did.

“Any weapons on your person?”

“No.” Of course they knew that he was a powerful mage who did not need weapons, but he was not an authorized Mage within the Inner Castle. The enchantments and spells of the Inner Castle would weaken any unauthorized spell as well as notify the Golden Thousand to its use and the location of it.

Several moments passed in silence as the two Golden Thousand listened to their commander speaking to them through the enchantments in their helmets.

“You have been granted a day pass. You are expected to report back to the front gate before the sun sets. If you wish stay later, you must receive permission from the Golden General.”

Danniel nodded, having heard the same thing ever time he came to the Inner Castle.

Once more, without moving a muscle in their armor, the two Golden Thousand alerted their two comrades operating the winch of the gate. The heavy gate slowly opened, allowing Daniel through. The door closed behind him, as did the portcullis above.

Daniel sighed as he always did when he saw the inside of the Inner Castle. It was like an entirely different world. Outside, much of the people, even in the Outer Castle, still used candles and fires to see in the dark. In the Inner Castle, if something could be done with Magic, it was.

Polished Marble floors reflected the bright light of the numerous Mage Lights lining the ceiling. Stories of the Nation’s history were carved into the walls. Magic kept the entire Inner Castle carefully preserved and cleaned. Chutes hidden in the walls transported anything the people in the Inner Castle required.

Pairs of the Royal Guards in their silver armor patrolled the many hallways. Runners ran messages or the few items that could not be passed through the chutes. Deep in the depths of the Inner Castle, massive smithies and factories continued to create and maintain the weapons, armor, and other gear the Inner Castle used.

Daniel had once been granted the privilege to tour the factories and it had stunned him. It completely changed his entire perspective of industry. But the foundries were not why he was there.

A pair of Royal Guards formed up behind Daniel as he walked towards the Throne Room. The most defended location in the entire Kingdom, and not just in manpower. Generations of Enchanters had been involved in the Inner Castle’s defenses and utilities, both in knowledge, and in lives. Many of the more powerful enchantments had required lives to be sacrificed. Just one such reason Daniel detested the prejudice that was consuming the Capital.

The Throne Room had a pair of large metal doors, each standing fifteen feet tall and together standing ten feet wide. Four of the Golden stood in front of the doors, with another eight lining either side of the hallway leading to the doors for a total of twenty. Daniel’s entire Guard Force would not be able to get past two of the Golden, though they might be lucky enough to injure one.

As he approached, the four Golden in front of the door stepped aside as the doors opened just enough for Daniel to walk through.

He was greeted by a massive one hundred meter long by fifty meter room of polished marble and gold. Eight massive pillars held up the arched ceiling fifty meters above. A blue carpet was rolled down the middle of the room, leading up the one hundred marble stairs to the large Golden Throne. An ornate chair with deep blue cushions sat to either side of the Throne, meant for the Queen and Crown Prince, though they sat empty at the moment.

Two hundred of the Golden Thousand lined the walls of the Throne Room with another fifty on the stairs. Each one held their massive tower shields and their long enchanted spears. Their swords remained sheathed at their hip.

Seated atop the massive throne, sat a handsome man dressed in flowing robes. His gaze held the weight of millions of lives. The aura that surrounded him was regal and strong, demanding obedience. Even if he was dressed as a commoner, none would dare to think he was not of Noble blood.

His very being was that of a King, a King who stood just one step away from divinity. A King whose strength required a dozen of his Golden Thousand to become even slightly warmed up. A King whose mere presence demanded respect.

A King whose voice dictated the lives of millions of his own civilians and millions more of other Nations, whose voice rivaled that of thunderstorms and landslides.

“Hello Cousin.” The Voice greeted.