Far to the south, beyond the Teilen mountain range, stood the prosperous city of Latis, the capital of the Kerania kingdom. In its very center, behind no less than three nigh-impenetrable walls, was a grand palace. In that palace was a large, heavily decorated throne room. It overflowed with expensive decorations in a manner many found gaudy, yet no one could deny the power and wealth it represented. In that, it achieved its purpose splendidly. Behind that throne room existed a much smaller and more tastefully decorated chamber. There, King Joseph Kirslev sat with his two most trusted advisors, along with his two sons, Marcus and George, discussing their current situation.

“Still no signs?” The King, an imposing man with greying hair asked, his voice dark. He turned towards his spymaster.

A smaller man with an almost too-pretty face, black hair in a ponytail and extravagant clothes responded “Nothing, Your Majesty.”

“What will we do, Father? They killed Violet! We can’t let that go, even the commoners agree!”

The King and patriarch of the Kirslev family turned his head from the spymaster to his son, Marcus. The crown prince was in his mid-twenties, wearing a simple black mourning outfit and a faux-outraged expression. He might be capable of fooling others, but the King had known him since his birth. The Crown Prince never cared for his sister.

Yet, even unknowingly, he had a point. His sons had been quick to whip the commoners into a frenzy when news of his daughter’s demise arrived.

Kicking the Chuch out of the country alleviated the public out-cry somewhat, yet the King now found himself in an awkward position. His preparations had been extensive. Turning the people against the Church had not been easy, even with a large amount of money siphoned out of their country through the Divine tax.

Unfortunately, his goals had never been particularly ambitious. He had intended to renegotiate the contract between his kingdom and the Church. Aggressively, yes, but it was never supposed to devolve into an actual war. His ultimate, and in his own opinion, rather humble, goal had been to get the Church to agree to let him dedicate a large portion of the tax to the improvement of the kingdom. They would be publicly credited, letting them regain some goodwill.

The Church would have slowly regained its believers while the kingdom as a whole would have benefited greatly. After all, the Divine tax was no small amount of money.

Yet somewhere along the line, he had lost control. His sons had thought his plan too unambitious, especially after the knowledge of the alien visitors spread.

He had to wonder where he had gone wrong with his children. While there was little love for the Custodian, he did respect both her station and what she had achieved. He did resent her for killing his only daughter, yet at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that she did so without reason. You could not achieve what she had while being incompetent.

Joseph sighed and slouched a bit in his chair, “This plan of yours was always a great gamble, Marcus. We do nothing because we can’t do anything else.”

The eyes of his oldest child flashed in actual outrage, this time, “The Terrans-”

The King snapped at him, “Yes, I know of the Terrans. Yet they are not here, are they? There is no opposing Eternity’s chosen without their help.”

He wasn’t sure if he believed they’d have a chance even with their help. Sure, they might be capable of actually fighting the Custodian instead of just dying, but that hardly guaranteed their victory.

His sons had been fools to gamble so much on a practically completely unknown faction, no matter how seemingly powerful.

The chamber descended into silence. They all knew their situation was terrible. It was only a matter of time until the fragile southern alliance fractured. The King did not know for certain why the Accad and Faras joined them in their rebellion, but he could guess.

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Without Terran intervention, they stood no chance even together. Should nothing change, they’d probably turn on each other in an effort to curry favour with the Church.

“That’s not quite correct, Your Majesty,” The extravagantly dressed spymaster said.

The King turned his tired eyes on the short man.

“The Custodian and the vast majority of her forces are still not moving. At this point it is likely that they won’t unless the situation changes,” The spymaster continued.

“See, Father, I told you! She is afraid of them,” Marcus exclaimed victoriously.

Joseph looked at the overconfident brat in annoyance, “Maybe…”

“Ah, there is more,” The spymaster added awkwardly.

Everyone turned towards the man, the crown prince with narrowed eyes, “Well? Out with it!”

“There have been reports of magic and miracles on the front-”

“Didn’t you say that the Custodian was still hiding in her hole?” Marcus interjected.

The spymaster winced.

The second, until now silent advisor spoke, “Let him finish, boy. And stop underestimating that old crone, it makes you look more stupid than you are.”

The crown prince started going red in the face after he parsed the meaning of the old advisor’s words, but before he could say anything the spymaster quickly interjected, “Apparently the magic is the work of ordinary-looking knights, though no one is too sure.”

King Joseph shot the wizened advisor an annoyed look. That child of his was being stupid, but he was still the crown prince.

The annoyance didn’t last for long though, as he parsed his spymaster’s words. Soon, he just looked tired.

“Shit.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Frederick, or as his former peers referred to him now, The Twelfth, was happy. He had grown up as a mere orphan, his talent and intellect eventually granting him the opportunity to join the Temple Knights. In a single moment, he had become someone. Pitying looks transformed into respect, former bullies averted their eyes and girls started stealing glances when they thought he wasn’t looking.

He had thought that he had made it. Perhaps in a decade, he’d make captain, but he had not thought that he’d rise any higher. Frederick had little talent and even less interest in leading men. No, his sword was sufficient to serve Eternity.

Frederick grinned as he made another rock levitate next to his horse. He had been an idiot.

“Hey, stop spacing out, dumbass,” Thomas, his partner for the foreseeable future, chided him.

They both rode on horses in full plate mail, surrounded by thirty other heavily armoured knights. Both Thomas and Frederick were amongst the youngest there, but the others treated them with undisguised reverence. Though envy sometimes showed as well.

The twelfth of the chosen knights shot his comrade an annoyed look. What was power for, if not to get intoxicated on?

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t quote scripture to me,” Frederick responded testily.

Thomas rolled his eyes and looked away.

Their group had been travelling for quite some time, assigned to the Sarak Archduchy by the Knight-Commander. There they were to wait for a Terran-led offensive, or, should it not come, help the Archduchy crush the southern rebels.

Frederick would much prefer the latter, but for the power he had been granted, he was more than willing to face the powerful aliens again.

He could still vividly remember how helpless they had been in front of the Custodian’s might. With the power of a Goddess at his side, surely the challenge would not be insurmountable for him either. And Thomas, of course. He’d be there too.

Though such a confrontation was likely still far away, both in distance and in time.

As the youngest pair of the thirty-seven sent to the south, they had been assigned to the Sarakian Order in the Archduchy, perhaps the strongest of the kingdoms just north of the Teilen mountains. Another pair had been sent to the Kingdom of Caspa, while the last six had gone straight to the mountains, reinforcing the chokepoints there. In other words, Frederick and Thomas were held in reserve.

Once upon a time, he’d been quite insulted by such a posting. Now he was quite content to let others test the waters first.

He did envy them a little, though. Frederick was really looking forward to testing his newfound powers in real battle.