As Pix was the last one to leave, Aluric let out a sigh of relief, he had managed to hold his composure until the four pillars had left, but a wave of relief had washed over his body while he told them, a weight had been lifted off of him, his body wanted to collapse from the relief of the heavy burden he had been carrying,

‘ I’m glad the rest of them agreed to support our plan, it would’ve been a lot harder to carry out the plan if I had to get rid of any of them if they had decided to get in my way”, Aluric thought to himself, he slumped into the chair taking a break from the paperwork in front of him,

“so, who are you ?”, Aluric asked, his Divine energy began radiate off of him, his eyes locked in on the corner of his office next to his desk,

“I am but a humble servant, a shadow, if you will, of the first prince Ea Dracht”, the strangers voice was smooth and snake like,

“so what does he want now ?”, Aluric asked, his eyes going back to the paperwork in front of him,

“his royal highness has asked of you to join him at the palace at once, he says it pertains to the war and your brother”, the servant said, steeping out of the shadows,

“That mask and those markings, you’re one of Marquis Korsana’s Dogs, How is she ?”, Aluric said, eyeing the golden markings that ran along the Collarbone and shoulders of the strange servant,

“Yes as you surmised I am from the deep woods of korsana forest, and the Marquis is is splendid as always, when she selected me to join the prince she spoke highly of you also, she noted that you are a man to be feared”, The servant said,

“ if I didn’t know her you would make me think she takes me in high regard”, Aluric said, “but I know what that badmouthed little urchin thinks of me”,

“okay, I’ll depart in a minute so you can leave now, by the way you still haven’t told me your name, tell me it now or you wont make it back to the palace, I’m sure the prince can just order a replacement for his expensive toy’, Aluric answered,

“My name is Kazak, but everyone calls me Kaz”, Kazack said bowing his head to Aluric, he remained still with his head bowed while aluric looked on in silence,

“I said you can go”, aluric repeated, groaning in annoyance,

“I was told to accompany yo….”the servant began to answer but stop when he felt the murderous energy pouring off of Aluric,

“if I told you to leave, you leave, Ea knows that once I get the message I’ll be there, so LEAVE”, aluric said to the servant as his voiced bellowed,

“yes, sir” the servant said abruptly, and disappeared into the shadows ,

switching over to the Dracht imperial palace

“I SAID KNEEL”, the voice shouted,

“I have no intention of kneeling, father, especially to a king such as yourself, if I could even call you that anymore”, another voice answered,

the old man sitting on the throne looked sickly and pale, the heavy crown tilted on his head, his grey hair running down to back as it looked messy and ragged, his clothes draping off of him, as if they were two sizes too big,

“may the goddess Arma smite you with madness and trap your soul in her cursed blades, my foolish son”, the king said with vitriol and venom in his words, the person standing before him, the First of the kings children, Ea Dracht, seemed unbothered by the venomous words shouted at him,

“look at you sickly and unhinged, why would I kneel to a shell of what was my father, I’m not as foolish as my brother or my sister to keep revering you when you your self have come to look so pitiful, but soon I will be taking your place father so you don’t have to worry, now, since the unpleasantries are out of the way, we have business to talk about since both me and you have a vested interest in this war”, he said to his father, the look on his face remaining expressionless the entire time,

“Remember who you are talking to, you may be the prince, but, he is still your king”, a heavily armored older man walked towards the Prince,

“Duke Viron Alamar, though your only a duke in title alone now, I commend you, you are a great friend to my father, but watch how you speak to me”, Prince Ea warned, gesturing towards the man next to him clad in red armor and towered over the duke,

“unless, my head guard here, Kosh, will send your head back across the river with flowers in a box to your son and his children”, Prince Ea finished,

the king sighed,

“despite your disrespect, you are going to rule this country with an iron fist, much like how I was, and you are without a doubt one of the most powerful people in this family’s long history, so what is it you have to say”, the king answered,

“I have learned that the church of Exxion will be making a move soon, they have determined that they can’t wait until we become a significant threat, they have somehow managed to learn of our plans to take them on after we finish up here on the continent, so I want the seal removed from Zara so I can wield her again”, Prince Ea stated,

“oh is that a bit of fear I sense….. you only call for that weapon when you think you truly need it, this war was your brainchild, you can’t get fearful now that the consequences are nearing”, the king said with a sinister look on his face,

“well if it was only the church of Exxion getting ready to reach for our throats I wouldn’t be so worried since it would take them at least a few months before they attacked, but I was made aware that today four powerful individuals entered the city, my watchful eyes have told me that they stand on par with the four pillars of the Artemis guild”, Ea said,

“so, let the Pillars deal with them then, I’m sure it will provide great entertainment for us”, King Alexandar said,

The prince let out a deep sigh, a look of disappointment sank in on face, “we cannot risk any of the pillars being taken out, these four people have joined the ranks of the rebellion, which makes the rebel forces an even greater threat right now, the church may take months, but the rebels would only take days before they are one our door step, so again I ask, unseal my sword and give the full might of the army we have in the capital to Aluric so we can crush those rebels”, Ea said,

The decrepit king let out a sickly laugh, one that sounds like nails being scraped on wet stones, “you share the same mind as me, ea, asking for one thing but wanting two, fine, I will unseal Zara, but if you make any attempt to usurp me I will make sure you are exiled and made enemy of the kingdom if it is the last thing I do, though it is a shame you would have Aluric kill his own brother”, the king said,

“just as you killed yours, or just as you killed their mother and father”, Ea replied,

“Careful now, you are a the heir apparent because I wrung the neck that bastard bitch”, king alexandar said, letting out another sickly laugh,

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“I have what I came for so I will take my leave now, just be careful and watch your backs you old fools”, Ea said, walking through the large wooden doors of the throne room,

at the Rebel army base

Amon had been leaning against the wall for sometime now, he had been watching all of his men train, and occasionally corrected some of the mistakes that he could see being made no matter how small it was, he had been taking shade out of the sun, there wasn’t anyone he had wanted to spar with, so he just kept to himself, his view then went over to yumi and bard sparring, she had been sparring for a while now with the armor that brie and aster had made for her, because she wanted to get use to it,

however after watching them for a while his consciousness began to drift and he soon found himself daydreaming,

“aluric this plan is absolute madness, you’re going to plunge not only this country but the whole goddamn continent Into darkness”, Amon shouted at his brother,

“what are you saying, don’t you see this is the way to make our country powerful, so powerful and so wealthy no one would have to be fearful or poor like we were Amon”, Aluric said back to him,

“I get that we owe some people in this country a lot and I get that you have an unyielding love for it but with this you are going to destroy us all”, amon pleaded,

but his plea fell on deaf ears,

“Regardless of what you say you can’t stop me, Ea and I have already start to put things in motion, you’re powerless to stop it brother”, Aluric responded,

“well then I guess I’ll have to get the power to stop you then”, Amon responded as he stormed off leaving the guild doors swinging wide open,

Amon had decided to do whatever it took to stop the prince and his brother,

“AMON LOOK OUT”, he heard a voice shout, snapping him out of the daydream he was having,

it was yumi, and as soon as he realized he pushed both of his hands outward, stopping the incoming Bard from colliding with him,

“thanks man”, Bard said, before getting to his feet and walking back towards yumi

“pheew that armor sure makes you a lot powerful than before that’s for sure”, bard exclaimed,

Amon just smiled, he noticed four shadows coming from atop the wall, realizing the four boys were back he signaled to them to come down.

Back at the imperial palace

Ea entered into his Private quarters, in the dining area, where he was greeted by Aluric, who was standing at the end of the dining area staring through the giant door like window frame, Ea immediately had a slight grin running across his face as he had not seen his old friend in a long time

“you know it’s a shame that we came up with this plan yet because of it we can’t hang out like we use to”, Ea said, walking towards the circular glass top table, pulling out a chair and taking a seat,

“yes it is, but you know that this war has us both busy with some back breaking work”, Aluric answered not even turning around, to look at his old friend,

“I had always liked the view from up here, you get a perfect view of the city and its surroundings, it really makes you feel as if you live above everyone else”, Aluric continued to note,

“so what is it that you wanted from me ?”, Aluric asked,

“well there a few things I wanted to talk to you about, the first one is I found some very interesting information in the old library of the former king, I guess after all my father did he still couldn’t get rid of everything his brother owned”, Ea said, as a single loc of his red hair dropped down over his face as he leaned over the table,

“so what is it that you found out ?”, Aluric asked,

“it’s pertaining to your parents”, Ea answered, Aluric barely batted an eye, only slightly glancing towards Ea, because of what he just said,

“Go on”, Aluric spoke,

“ I remember a very vague memory of your dad, even though I was really young at the time, the one thing that always stood out about him was those deep green eyes he had, they were like if you were staring into a vast forest, you also have that same color to your eyes aluric”, Ea rambled on,

“what does my dead old man have to do with anything”, Aluric answered, as he stared at the people going about their everyday life,

“ well then what stood out to you the most about your mother ?”, Ea asked,

“her hair, that red hair that seemed to be on fire whenever we went outside, if you ask me it from what I remember it represented her personality perfectly, not to mention she loved outside so I would see that sight often”, Aluric answered abruptly,

“yes, it was indeed her hair, unlike the royal family whose hair is dark red and closer to the color of blood hers was vibrant and full of life, but don’t you find it strange that your hair even though red in color isn’t the same red as hers”, Ea said,

“what are you getting at Ea”, Aluric asked,

“while reading through my late uncle’s journals that I found in his library, I came across a bit of telling information, he fathered an illegitimate child with Marquis Korsana’s mother when they were both 16, he wrote that on his daughters birth she had hair like fire, but because he was already betrothed to one of the daughter’s in the Alamar family they gave away the child, because if found out it would cause a civil war between the families, another journal states that when she got older he sought out this long lost daughter and gave her a rank and station within the palace to keep her close, he was even wrote of how she had a child, your mother was the next in line for the throne had my uncle recognized her as his child, we are cousins Aluric”, Ea said,

“hmm…even if that were true why didn’t amon get red hair also, he looks everything like my dad, white hair and green eyes even down to the weapon they use it’s the same”, Aluric said,

“well your mother was only a half royal, and you and your brother only have ;like a quarter of royal blood in you so it’s possible the color just skipped him”, Ea proposed,

“well if anything that only makes our bond as friends even stronger now”, Aluric said with a small smile on his face,

“so what else is it that you wanted to talk about”, Aluric asked,

“don’t you want time to process what I just said”, Ea asked aluric,

Aluric gave pause for a moment, “I’ll deal with it later, for now tell me what else it is you want to talk about,

“well it’s pertaining to the little incident earlier today I heard about with those four individuals, my sources tell me that they are tied to your brother and the rebel army”, Ea spoke as he gauged Aluric, he sharply watched as Aluric turned from the window and took a seat across from him, resting his feet on the table with one arm over the back of the chair,

“so you heard about that already huh, I know that they are with the rebel army, Yumi recruited them herself, I even fought them already”, Aluric answered,

“yes I heard about it already, but if you knew that they would be a threat before hand why not eliminate them when you had the chance”, Ea asked,

“because they’re from Arteva, remember that incident outside the dungeon ten years ago ?”, Aluric asked,

“sure, we fought that famous adventuring party to a stand still, and one of them died”, Ea said,

“well the woman who went nuts on us, the one who can turn into a cat”, Aluric began to say,

“she rules Arteva now, yeah I remember, so what was she there when you guys fought”, Ea asked,

“no, but yumi was, and even if I killed them, you know I won’t harm a hair on her head, and it would be much more problematic if she got involved so I let them go, figured I could get rid of them here when they came, I wasn’t expecting them to get this strong in only three months”, Aluric said,

“I swear to the gods, every time we talk you give me a headache, but we’ll get back to that discussion later”, Ea said, palming his face and rubbing his eyes,

“on a related matter though, Aluric, it’s time, your brother has resisted our efforts long enough and at this point has enough people following him that he can make an actual difference in the war, his forces have already stalled us from completely decimating Bolterra’s military, so I’ve decided it’s time to put an end to him’,Ea explained to him,

Aluric looked at him taking his feet off the table and sitting up right,

“you sure don’t hesitate to ask a guy to kill his own brother, but why now I’m sure we don’t have to rush to take him out”, Aluric asked,

“well about that, the last time we talked, the church was looking to take us out if we became a threat to them after everything was settled leaving s some room to breathe, but I got a letter today”, Ea said throwing a piece of parchment towards Aluric, “they learned about our plans to attack them after we conquered the continent, and have decided to put us in our place before it came to that, we probably have two at maximum three months before they are on our doorstep, so we have to stop your brother as soon as possible”, Ea said,

his eyes slowly drifted to the window on his right side, and Aluric’s eyes slowly followed, when Aluric felt it, the slight presence of Divine energy mixed with a slight sense of bloodlust,

“how long have you noticed him ”, Aluric asked,

“he’s been spying on me for about two days now, however, the servant I sent to you earlier says he’s been spying on you a lot longer”,

“and you decided not to tell me because ?”, Aluric asked,

“didn’t want to tip him off or spook him”, Ea answered,

Outside the Palace

‘shit he noticed me’, the stranger thought to himself,

‘well I’ve heard and seen enough from both of them, so I think I’ll go ahead and tell that damned priest he can send in one or two of those so called heroes to stop this mess before it goes any further’, the stranger continued in his train of thought,

“why hello there”, A smooth snake like voice said,

“what the”, the spy said, before a web of shadows wrapped around his mouth,

“no, no, no, we can’t have you screaming now, the prince is in a meeting, we can’t have you disturbing him”, Kaz said, a cruel smile peeling it’s way across his face