The caravan was soon met by Pirunese Police that directed them towards the city center. At the city center there was a large open platform where dozens of hovercoaches were parked. There were even some wheeled coaches there, they all got out of their coaches and walked towards the center of the platform, where there was a raised platform where an entirely new set of Vehicles were parked. Lord Daron winced at his childhood memories of riding wheeled coaches and how sore they made his butt, running over all the cobblestones. Lord Kardo followed his gaze and chuckled.
“Ahh, The ricketies.” You were old enough to have used them, yes?
“Yes indeed.” Lord Daron said. “I don’t see them around Aku’anda these days.”
“Well it’s a terrible deal, you get a bouncy box that grinds your butt and also the road, leaving you sore after every trip.” Lord Kardo said. “You are a bit young, I was in my 30s when we started seeing Hover Coaches, just before that, we used to spend millions of Jowons on fixing roads every month”
They walked towards the raised platforms and climbed the stairs to reach the top. It was a wide circle called a jetstation where JetCoaches picked up passengers from the city floor to various floating buildings. The only Jetstation in Pirun was located at the city center, but Aku’anda had dozens of them.
A jetcoach was a cylinder with glass and stone bases, it was framed in galvanized steel coated with copper, gold, or silver, depending on the whims of its drivers. Each Jet coach had seating for four people, wrapped around in a circle.
The destination was the Divine Level, Lord Daron, Kardo and two Military Wizards entered the same Jetcoach. The driving wizard stood in their midst and called up his spell, the jetcoach began to vibrate softly as it rose up from the ground slowly.
“Gentlemen, we warp soon. Please bolt yourselves.” The driver called. The passengers found the safety belts and bolted themselves to the seats, as soon as the driver confirmed that everyone had been safely attached, he invoked a new spell and the jetcoach sped off towards the divine level. It took only 5 minutes. The jetcoach landed at a designated spot on the Divine Level. Lord Daron came down and marveled at the magnificence of the Divine level, Nothing in Aku’anda was this magestic. It seemed the Pirunese people really cared about their royalty. The courtyard shone brilliantly in the daylight with the white limestone and gold accents. The six towers rose meters up into the sky, glistening white, red, silver and gold.
The others in the peace envoy were arriving one by one and every now and then, someone uttered an audible “wow”
There were guards up on the towers and as soon as they saw the people arriving, they came down to usher them.
The large group of 30 were ushered towards the largest tower of them all, undoubtedly the palace. The doors alone were at least 3 meters tall, as the 30 walked towards it, it started to open slowly, revealing an opulent red, white and gold courtroom inside, with a figure seated on the throne on the other end of a very long walkway. Guard lined the entire walkway both on the floor, and in the galleries that ran all the way up to the ceiling.
The 30 reached the throne and gave a slight bow as is customary in Gan Culture. Lord Defon, The Speaker of the Aku’andan Lordmages was the spokesperson for the group. He had a loud, deep voice that commanded respect. He was also in his 70s and had served as a lordmage for several decades, and was personally responsible for many diplomatic solutions between the various Gan Kingdoms.
“My lord” he began, confidently.”We are a peace convoy from the kingdoms of Gan. We heard news from Pirun last week, and we humbly seek knowledge.”
The man on the throne was the 7th invader. Captain Rodo, the only man who could’ve recognized him on sight, was back in Aku’anda, For this group, he was merely a strange man sitting on the Pirunese throne. In the daylight, he had brown eyes and was clean-shaven. He was extremely handsome, almost unnaturally so, and his gaze was strong. He spoke.
“Welcome to Pirun. Gentlemen. My name is Ganz Lara.” he said. “I captured this city last week with a team of 12 men. I subdued its army, chased away its queeen, and assumed the throne.”
There was silence.
“Why have you done this, Lord Ganz?” Lord Defon asked.
“It is my right. I saw it fit to change the power structures of this city, and I had the capacity to do so, therefore I did.”
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Lord Daron, who had been looking at Ganz, glanced at Lord Defon, certain he was unsure what to do next. Overthrowing a government was treason, But what was it called when you were this good at it?
“What is your plan for the rest of Gan?” Lord Defon asked.
“I have no intention of conquering any other Kingdom in Gan.” Ganz replied. “Not that it would be difficult,” he added.
“I intend to make Pirun the wealthiest and most powerful kingdom in Gan, it has been mismanaged for too long.” He continued. “I will deal with you, if you will deal with me. I would urge you to accept the new rulership of this kingdom, Make your peace with it, and let us move forward in future harmony.”
There was a silence more from surprise at how reasonable Ganz seemed to be, given his completely absurd rise to power.
Lord Defon sighed. “Very well, Lord Ganz. We will recognize you as the new ruler-”
“What rubbish??” General Makon of Sungan exclaimed, walking forward. The Aku’andans and Seyrulans sighed. These Sungans were insufferable.
He drew his sword and pointed it directly towards Ganz, alarming everyone in the peace convoy and triggering the guards. Before they could run forward however Ganz raised his hand to stop them.
“You Ursurper! You think us fools?” Makon shouted. “We will not accept treason in Gan!”
“General Makon…” Lord Defon began
“Silence, Aku’andan!” Makon cut him off. “You people have gone soft. Even your royalty has withered off, overtaken by bookish scholars and fat merchants.” he faced Ganz. “I am General Rubric Makon of The Sungan Empire. We do NOT play like that.”
“General…” Ganz started.
“You WILL vacate this throne and return it to its rightful owners. The very family that has ruled this nationstate for dozens of generations.”
“Or what?” Ganz asked.
“Or Sungan will rain down on you.” Makon threatened.
“General Makon, stop this madness!” Lord Defon shouted. Makon pretended not to hear.
“Does Sungan still use swords?” Ganz asked softly. “It is a primitive weapon.”
“It is a venerated weapon.” Makon replied. “Some of us value our culture and history.”
“History belongs in dusty library halls!” Ganz thundered. Leaning forward on his throne. “Culture belongs on the streets and theater rooms,”he said softly.
“On the battlefield, only those who embrace the new, prevail.”
“Only the strong prevail.” Makon replied. His sword still held up.
“Lord Makon…” ganz began
“GENERAL MAKON”
“Fine, General Makon, I will NOT vacate this throne. It is my right by competence. I was not born into this throne, I took it with my own hands and the spark of my own mind. It is more rightfully mine than those who have owned it by birth.” Ganz said. “And I will go to no limits to retain those rights. If Sungan stands against me, I will bring sungan to its knees!”
“Blasphemy!” The sungans cried and all drew their swords, joining general Makon, The Pirunese guards advanced but ganz raised his hand, holding them back
The Aku’andan speaker tried to de-escalate. “Gentlemen, gentlmen, We are NOT savages! we are civilized men, we can talk things over.”
“This bastard declared war on us, Aku'andan,” a sungan shouted. “This room is no longer civilized!”
“You threatened him first!” a Seyrulan Lady exclaimed.
“Be quiet, woman!” Lord Makon exclaimed. Pissing her off.
“I am a lady and you will address me as such!” she retorted.
“Silence!” Ganz exclaimed. “This is barbarism. I will have you all escorted out. This event is a disgrace to my court.”
The Aku’andan speaker stepped in immediately. “My lord, we apologize. Sungans are from the north. Lord Makon, Please, at least let us discuss this in Aku’anda.”
Lord Makon sheathed his sword. “Ganz… it is not over. You will pay for your actions.”
He turned and left, taking the sungans with him. They were allowed to leave, the Aku’andan speaker apologized profusely and Ganz waved it off.
Lord Defon spent the next 30 minutes making peace with Ganz, eventually getting everyone invited to a dinner.
They were given sleeping arrangements, Lord Daron and Lord Kardo ended up in the same room, Lord Daron dropped his luggage down and lay down on the bed, weary of the day’s activities, Lord Kardo, ever active, brought out a roll of fresh paper and started spell binding.
They were later informed that the Sungans had left the city entirely.