When Alicia opened the door to her apartment, she was met with a disturbing sight. There, sprawled out on the floor of her apartment, lay her infant son, barely a year of age. It was evident that he had been crying, and for a long time at that. Both fresh and dried up tears painted a melancholic picture on his otherwise calm face.

Her heart skipped a beat, and maternal concern took control of her body. Ruen had never cried as much as other children. It wasn’t that he didn’t cry at all, he just rarely did, and when he did it was always for a short time.

She dropped the food she just bought without even a second thought and ran to her crying son.

“What happened, Ruen?!” The worry in her voice hung thick in the air as she sought an explanation.

“I-I’m all alone.” Einar sputtered between tears, uncaring of his mother knowing his true feelings. At that moment he couldn’t care less about keeping appearances up, he just wanted to vent it all out.

“Shhh” His mother hushed. “It’s okay now, Mommy’s here for you.” She took him in her arms and slowly rocked him around.

“No-no it’s not. Gone, gone… they’re gone!” He bawled, almost choking on his tears.

“Who’s gone, sweetie?” Alicia raised her eyebrow. She was quite sure Ruen had met no one outside of their household yet.

“Th-the… thing I-I love most” tears blinded his sight and hiccups interrupted his speech.

“Who is it, Ruen?” Alicia asked. She was getting concerned now. There was only one person that could be beside her, but she hadn’t heard of any bad news.

“It’s m-” Before Einar could finish his sentence he was rudely interrupted by a loud knocking on the door.

Alicia took a look at Ruen, who was still crying in her arms. She stood up, never letting go of him and walked over to the door. Before she could reach it another loud knock reverberated through the wooden surface of the door.

She hastily opened the door, revealing an unexpected visitor. A man stood before Alicia, and his demeanor could only be described as solemn. Dressed in armor that, while not as ornate as the Palace guards', exuded functionality. A sword hung at his side, making it clear that he was some kind of guard. The man's face wore a sullen expression, mirroring the melancholy undertone of his voice.

"Is this the residence of Vedel?" he asked, his eyes nervously shooting around the apartment in search of confirmation.

"Yes, it is. I'm his wife," Alicia responded, a hint of concern hiding in her voice.

The man rummaged about in a compact leather bag, his movements controlled, but without even a hint of grace. After a moment, he retrieved a carefully folded flag adorned with a small silver dragon.

Stolen story; please report.

"In that case, I regret to inform you that this is for you," he stated somberly. The man genuflected, right hand over his heart, while extending the flag and dragon with his left.

The moment Alicia saw the flag, her complexion turned deadly pale. The color left her face faster than her knees dropped to the ground. Tears streamed down her cheeks, turning her eyes into fountains of sorrow.

“NO!” She screamed. “NO! NO! NO! NO!”.

She held Ruen tightly against her chest with one arm, while her other hand delivered desperate punches to the armored leg of the man before her. The echoes of her wails clashed with the stoic silence of the guard, who absorbed her hits like a statue enduring the rain.

Her crying was relentless, and she was utterly inconsolable. The man didn’t even attempt to offer any words that might lessen her burden, for he knew that it was pointless. The news he had brought her was the worst one could receive, even though he hadn’t outright confirmed it.

Einar’s reaction wasn’t as severe, but only because he was already crying. At first he hadn’t understood the implications of the flag and silver dragon, but his mother’s reaction had made them all too evident.

Vedel was dead.

After crying until her body had no more fluids left, Alicia mustered up the resolve to speak up again.

“H-how did he d-d-die?” She looked up at the guard, her body trembling at every movement.

The soldier scraped his throat before speaking. “He died a hero, standing valiantly to serve the Empire.” Though his face betrayed no emotion, Einar could see the man meant none of those words. For he was a soldier like Einar had been, and thus knew there was no valiance in death, only eternal silence.

“C-can we see his body?” Alicia asked, trying and failing to contain her despair.

“I’m afraid the body isn’t presentable enough.” he sighed. “The Imperial government shall host a closed-casket funeral, as a last reward for his heroism.” His eyes dropped down again in shame.

“What will come of us? We can’t afford to live without him” Alicia inquired. It pained her greatly to think about their financial situation whilst still grieving her husband, but she had to for Ruen’s sake.

“The state will provide you with a standard Military Pension. It’s not a lot, but should be enough for you to keep living here.” The guard responded.

“Thank you” she whispered.

******

[Imperial Academy Headmaster’s Office: Same Day]

Egnatius Pendragon paced around the room, rubbing his chin and scratching his head. The warm light of the fireplace bathed his face in light, revealing a troubled expression.

“What did he mean, ‘A monster has awoken’?” He exclaimed whilst cupping his head in his hands.

“Careful Egnatius, if you scratch your head any more you will surely go bald.” Aurelius Valerius quipped, staring at his friend with great intrigue.

“How can you be so calm about this?!” Egnatius shouted. “You saw what the monster did to those men, this is terrible!”

Aurelius sighed. “Yes, and your shouting in this room will surely resolve this crisis.” He didn’t even bother hiding the sarcasm in his voice.

“You’re right” Egnatius exhaled, holding his hands to his temple. “But still, how are you not even the slightest bit concerned about this?”

“We’ve survived bigger crises than this.” Aurelius responded whilst crossing his arms. “Besides, I’m more worried about what to do with this Ruen, his father died after all.”

“You shall do nothing.” Egnatius exclaimed. “I’ve made sure his family will receive a Military Pension. Just keep observing him like I asked you to.”

“As you wish.” Aurelius sighed as he shook his head.