James stood in a line before a massive stone palace built atop a mountain that had had its top sheared clean off, leaving a platform for the castle to sit upon. He was still tired from the hike up the mountain from the city at its foot, and was grateful for the chance to catch his breath. What awaited him was a considerable worse than a hike up a mountain, as he had been selected in the draft. The draft selected a tenth of all 17 year olds from every city in the empire, boys and girls, and he had had the misfortune to be chosen.
He looked up as a man in gray armor with a red peacekeeper insignia on his right shoulder walked out the doors before him, and he followed behind, it was his turn. As he walked his fear was replaced with awe as he took in the massive hall before him. The walls were at least 15 feet tall, and covering either side were two murals, telling the legend of the conquest, only interrupted by a door on either side and occasional torches, which were often worked into the mural.
The mural on the left side was a mess of color, different armies clashing, each army holding a glowing figure bending the elements to their will to strike those around them, with a single grey figure looking down on earth it all, frowning. The right mural told the end of this story, a gray field filled with corpses, with each of the glowing figures killed by a grey spike in the chest, the only living figure was the same gray figure, in the same place as in the first mural, now with a crown of jagged iron, Talgyrium, God of conquerors, Conquer of gods, and the being he was about to meet.
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He followed the peacekeeper to the end of the hall to a massive 12 foot wooden door, blunt and I decorated save the two iron handles halfway up each side. The peacekeeper reached up and grabbed each handle, and the massive doors swung open with ease despite their size, revealing a massive unadorned room, with one key feature, a 10 foot throne made of iron that was as simple and brutal as the person sitting on it, Talgyrium, the emperor. Though the throne was massive, the emperor was equally massive, and fit it perfectly, he had ash gray skin and crimson eyes. He wore a simple gray robe and held a massive iron spear in his right hand, and all around him the air was dyed red as if his very presence made the world bleed. He froze when he noticed another thing, a small lantern of of gold and crystal that shone with a multicolor light, hanging above the emperor, it was completely out of place, and James know it could only be one thing, the divine lantern, holder of the divine sparks of the gods talgyrium had slayed.
“Come, stand before me.”
The emperors voice boomed, and James realized he had stopped moving when he saw the lantern. He rushed over to the throne of the emperor who spoke once again.
“You have been chosen to be one of the lucky few,.” He said, raising his spear, as it approached red filled James’s vision.
“Welcome to the peacekeepers.”
The cold iron of the emperors spear touched James’s head.