A full day had passed since the ruling monarchs went into motion. From their sovereign dominions, these continental powers all but responded in kind to their neighbors' threat of conflict. "...Did you hear? I heard that his majesty and that crony lord commander of his have finally begun planning on positions for candidate queen consorts." A woman at the city square exclaimed to her young companion who merely scoffed at the idea and went on about her day. "Never mind that! We best not speak ill of his highness or his commanders, lest we too face his wrath." The ladies nodded and smiled. "That I can agree to, my dear..." The two proceeded through the crowded markets of the capital and disappeared into the myriad of people who packed the streets with their numbers.
"Make way! Make way! Can't you see this is a road...!? There's a sidewalk for goodness sake!" A taxi driver exclaimed, seething within his automobile as his radio played tunes to the hooded passenger who remained seated at the back, reveling in his disrupted silence to the extent of bitter eeriness.
The hooded figure, dressed in velvet and red, sat idly and looked at the vast cityscape that was Fergus. "Apologies for the delay, sir. But it appears that traffic is at an all-time high... I'll shut off the engines for the time being, I hope you won't mind the wait..." The driver remarked. "Walking won't be of much use either, we still have many more miles- Well, I won't lie, there's still a long way to go before we reach the parliament facility." A brush of wind blew gently across the passenger's frame, his armor of metal and fabric brushed by the breeze as he kept silently gazing out of the transport. And with an idle yet firm nod of acknowledgment, the passenger maintained his enigmatic stance.
"...Ah, here we go." The taxi driver exclaimed as the pedestrians began to disperse. He flipped his key and the engines roared once again. With the road cleared of traffic, the taxi renewed its journey across the capital. Yet to his surprise, his passenger was long gone, replaced with a handful of coins. "That sneaky little soldier." The driver muttered under his breath but proceeded nonetheless.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned individual advanced along the alleyways between two structures. Through distant halls and darker corners, he pressed through the shadows within the winding passage that led to a secluded area, where two more individuals in hooded cloaks awaited. "...It took you long enough..." Said the first hooded figure who pulled back her hood and brushed her brown hair that cascaded down her delicate brown skin as her brown eyes gazed upon her silent guest who merely nodded in turn. "Pardon me, Catherine, but are you so certain this choice of fellow is of your choosing? He appears rather strange, so to speak. Quite perplexing..." The second figure prodded and followed, gradually pulling back at her hood to reveal her similar features before taking a step forward next to the woman now known as Catherine. "Why, of course, Madeline... He may be enigmatic, but he is a dependable companion nonetheless."
Madeline, the cynical woman beside Catherine, responded with a sigh before fixing a mask to her face, one which resembled a winter wolf with blue lining. A testament to her hardened nature and proficient character. "I certainly hope that that is the case." Madeline quipped. Adjusting the hilts of her swords loosely on her hip and taking her time toying with the belt wrapped around her waist that tugged at her plated armor.
"Doubtless!" Catherine replied. "I've been with him long enough to know that. Nomad here is a loyal and reliable confidant, so much so that I owe him my life... Twice." The news broke Madeline's suspicions like heavy artillery to a brick wall. Her eyes slowly widened as the realization pierced hard at her skull.
In retrospect, Nomad was the individual, or rather, the entity that led Andorra's leased army through the Barren Wastes of the southeastern borders of Andorra. This barren wasteland in question was home to Liondel's highly dangerous sandfolk and insanely mutated insects. Although this was twenty years ago, these mutated were primarily thanks to Ethos's chemical experiments gone awry.
Further on to the subject, the Barren Wastes, as most would call it, was a desert filled with undead and death. Yet contrary to the anticipated consequence of the corrosive compounds that had long polluted the sands from the many Andorran installations scattered across the dried riversides, the outcome was instead in favor of evolution. Thus did the desert's residents evolve into the savage predators that made them all those years ago, even till this day. However, those were yet to be proven by the king, the state, the public and private institutions, and any local witnesses with substantial evidence to support or denounce these unbiased theories and speculated fantasies.
"In any case..." Catherine added. "We should proceed as planned." Catherine turned and took off into the shadows behind her while Nomad and Madeline followed close by. An eerie silence infected the air as the sounds of birds and people were quickly muffled and impaired by an unknown sorcerous force. Not before long, the very plane around them began to distort. Reality itself was shifting to another. And just as the world went dark, they were now atop the very roof of the Andorran parliament. "Looks like we're all here..." Catherine remarked, taking in the grand scenery of the parliament rooftop after sharing a few glances with her trusted associates. "Now then!" Catherine began, whilst her hands clasped together before she huddled back to her group with an innocent little smile. "Please allow me to reinstate the plan that was previously mentioned..."
With a momentary silence, Catherine began. "As you both know from your ledgers, this facility was built for one purpose... Legislation. And where there are legislative duties to be upheld, there are papers to be signed. Therefore, key information... Information that is or IS crucial for the success of our mission's initial purpose... The king's orders."
"Everything relating to his majesty always correlates to matters of the state. Matters that involve compulsory requisites to integral establishments and special directives." Catherine took a moment to catch her breath, before adding to her statement. "Four out of the nine executives of the parliament have access to the Aetherial Vault stationed deep within their underground complex... What we need are their Aetherial Keys. Although every executive has one, only a select few truly maintain access to the internal domain, which brings us to the reason for our mission's purpose, to bring about an end to the royal authority that frequently capitalizes upon its hold over the populace. Whether corrupt or just, and regardless if it involves an upcoming conflict of empires..."
"A-About that..." Madeline interjected. "...Are you seriously about to rebel against the very founder of this kingdom...? I understand that your pursuit is just, though, this quest is simply suicidal. Even if we were to somehow succeed, what are the chances that the public will even consider our charges with all the considerable evidence at hand...? The sovereign's influence is absolute...! Our chances of survival are slim at best. Not to mention that the king's zealous fanatics are at every doorstep! This is a guaranteed death sentence!" Madeline's cautions were not without justification, however, defying a ruler regardless of intent, is a capital offense punishable by death, should it be deemed necessary to fit the crimes committed by the offender or culprit.
"Furthermore..." Madeline added, composing herself to a more appropriate condition, so as not to utterly dissuade her associate from her chosen path. "Considering the former member of his majesty's army..." Madeline's eyes pointed to the ex-participant who led the barren expedition to her side, ever so silent in his gloomy stance, before proceeding with her added statement. "We ought to allow him direct authority to this precarious operation. Lest we fail miserably and lose our lives in the same process..."
Catherine, somehow becoming as dense as her purity, beamed like an utter fool in a complete stupor of amazement. It was almost as if she could be seen drooling. "Wow...! Really? You were a part of the great eastern expedition...!?" Nomad nodded without a single word uttered. Crossing his arms while affirming Catherine's belief in his ability, and turning to the glass canopy nearby.
"Oh...!" Madeline said with a smile and faced the canopy that her male associate had gestured to nearby. Her gaze became fixed on their would-be secret passage as she approached with caution and slowly leaned forward to further inspect what troubles awaited beneath. "...We best proceed with the plan post haste my friends, we have already expended enough time on idle chatter..."
The trio quickly gathered around the glass canopy and gazed into the opulent theater within. Guards in blue uniforms patrolled the levels by the thousands. For every servant there was, a hundred armed sentries followed, as every hall and corridor was overseen by more than a dozen gunmen who carried state-of-the-art weaponry and literal mobile artillery. "Oh, wow." Catherine and Madeline spoke in unison with surprised expressions. Then Madeline turned to Nomad, who kneeled between them. "I forgot..." Madeline scratched her head as she smiled nervously. "...How exactly do we get past them?" Nomad, for a brief moment, stared at Madeline with a blank expression, before his lips slowly parted into a rather sly and quite devious smirk.
Hours later, beneath the foundations of the parliament structure, Madeline, Catherine, and Nomad dug and dug through hardened soil and tunneled into fractured concrete. Nomad's formidable lance drilled into the very basement of the underground until the tip of his blade finally penetrated past the smooth surface of the vault's diamond-hard walls. "Oh, finally...!" Madeline exclaimed. "I see the light! Freedom is at hand!" And with a final push of Nomad's lance, a gap was made into the dark-red bedrock wall of the Aetherial Vault. And when glistening light flashed through the crevice, the trio rejoiced with glee, thankful for the end of their nine-hour journey, which ate away at their sanity, even though it was only the third floor.
"Dear gods, to hell with all this digging!" Madeline exclaimed once again, throwing her shovel to the ground before she passed through the crevice alongside Catherine who quickly followed from behind. "Davis Marianne Valiance..." A mature woman with blond hair and orange eyes in a silver-tailored suit addressed Nomad with a commanding yet gentle and soothing voice, whilst the trio stopped dead in their tracks. "...Art thou not a welcome sight, ashen lord? Wherefore hast thou come for? 'Tis not proper to present thyself before thy administration... Without appropriate deliberation of thy intent." Her steely gaze froze the two women beside Nomad, who choked on their own words that could momentarily never leave their throats. "Lady Marianne Valiance, I assume..." Catherine responded, and the fair lady in silver nodded. "...Indeed, Catherine Goodwill." With eyes met and words spoken, introductions were no longer in order.
The noble before the trio bowed in a fairly swift manner, before then addressing her only child who stood idly by. "Come then, dearest child. Thy desired grail awaits." An epitome of soothing silence hung in the air as Nomad's, or rather, Davis's mother strode far into the lower levels of the Aetherial Vault that was the King's Domain.
Ideally, the marble floor of the complex was bright and clean, in contrast to the trio who followed the noble through the vast golden and diamond halls of the vault. "...Pray, dost thou require his majesty's work in thy virtuous quest or merely arbitrary ambition? Regardless, do take heed... Thy purpose here is naught without consequence. Provided thy monarch is within mental capacity."
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"Lady Marianne, do pardon this lady for her honesty, however, I deem my cause to be as just as it is true." Catherine, with a firm hold on her virtues, retorted against the noble who belittled her and her mission. "I fear not his majesty, for I believe even tyrannical overlords can be brought low to their knees by courageous men and women willing to take up arms and fight..." Marianne nodded to Catherine's acclaim for heroics while they all continued down a flight of golden stairs, coated by spiraling golden carpets that led to the lower level that was twice as large as the third. "'Tis the predator maketh the master. Not the prey..." Marianne replied. "'Twas then thy monarch brought forth his makings, hither aloft profane savagery. 'Neath godless heavens whence chaos reigned. Now, paradise true to hold, order ordained..."
"Gallant though be thy ordeal..." Marianne added, with a subtle smirk followed by a light chuckle. "In thy rebellious entails, 'twas not thee who sown dissent, no?" The four came to a sudden stop, as a man dressed in pitch-black attire slowly approached from afar. The echoing steps resounded across the halls, while Marianne turned to face the trio. Then, she proceeded with her statement. "...Trouble thyself not with these meager intrigues, lest thou be condemned to death by thine oblivious folly..."
"Yep, that's about right...!" King Ethos exclaimed with a smirk. "What FUCKING luck!" He added. His velvet eyes shone like an infernal blue blaze as he opened his arms wide for mockery with a hint of irritation and infuriating madness. "And here I thought I'd have to search the entire kingdom for you three! I'll confess, I almost got a little nervous..."
As Marianne bowed before her ruler, both Catherine and Madeline stood in absolute fear and horror, while Nomad remained indifferent to the power right in front of him. "Commander..." The young king greeted his former officer. "I would've thought you out of all the people in the world would be the last pieces of shit to double-cross me. Hell, I'd even go so far as to admit that I'd believed you were just some guy trying to make a living on this god-forsaken continent...! But you caught my curiosity, commander. Why though?" Ethos and Nomad momentarily met eye to eye as their gaze pierced deep into their very souls. Their hands tensed, before clashing in a collision of fists at the center of the fourth domain. "Not bad, Davis..."
The instantaneous binding of fists resulted in a blinding show of shockwaves reverberating across the entire underground complex. The ceiling and walls around them began to collapse, revealing an even wider space that resembled an arena-like testing ground, albeit in disarray. "...You're here for my records, aren't you? Well, why don't I show you my latest achievement!" The young king disengaged with his former commander and leaped back a hundred feet away, where the grounds behind him began to shake and deform into an enormous hole before dark smoke began to rise. "Behold!" He continued. Arms wide open once again. "Andorra's first Neosteel Titan!"
A one-hundred-million-foot-tall silhouette arose from the depths beneath the abyss. This towering figure of black steel raised its right arm and slowly lifted the smoke that had hidden its form from view, revealing its mechanical structure of pure hardened metals derived from long-refined Andorran specialized manufacturing productions.
The Neosteel construct gazed down upon its targets with its titanic blue-glowing lens that shone from the domineering glass visors of its shielded face, looming over like death from above. Its gauntleted right hand eerily shrouded over the trio, where the little group stood in shock and awe. "You're dismissed, Lady Marianne. You take good care of your son... Let NS-Titan Alpha deal with this mess!" With that single command, the battle was on. Marianne wasted no further effort in teleporting herself and her child from the upcoming conflict, as the steel titan's hand tightened into a fist and slammed hard upon the crumbling platform.
With barely enough time to react, Catherine and Madeline teleported themselves away from the massive construct and its gigantic fist, as it tore through the marble grounds that were crushed and shattered in an instant. However, this was only the beginning, as the Neosteel Titan, with its numerous advanced deadly weaponry, fired its two hundred shoulder-mounted rockets and two one-thousand-foot-wide laser shoulder cannons directly at the duo, in hundreds upon hundreds of multiple simultaneous successions.
Rockets flew as beams of flashing lights extended to meet their mark. The duo ran and ran, spent spell after spell, and used every fiber of their beings, just to avoid the chaotic mayhem that was the Neosteel Titan's minimal weaponry. The size of such destruction was comparable to a city-wide devastation. Almost as wide as an undersized region.
The duo ran and ran for their lives, rockets homed and whirled in their wake, as lasers whizzed past over their heads, before bursting dozens of meters away. The Neosteel Titan hummed in a deep tune and distorted scraping, its visors glared with a bright otherworldly glow, its shimmering eye gazing down on its targets, as they proceeded down a nearby elevator to the lower level. "WHAT MANNER OF ABOMINATION WAS THAT!?" Madeline exclaimed. Her hands gripped tightly on her breastplate while the elevator descended to its destination. "I... I don't know..." Catherine replied, her back leaning against the wall as her chest heaved in distress. "It's... It was like a monster."
Moments later, the distant sound of titanic movement quickly became muffled within seconds after they had lost sight of the Neosteel construct, replaced by the soothing noise of harmonic melodies as well as the smell of flowery fragrance that permeated the air. Eventually, as they fell deeper into the darkness, the two came upon a secluded haven of dystopian cities within bountiful caverns filled with life. This continental-sized hidden region was as vast as the entire continent of Liondel, stretching for many many miles wide. Its beauty was comparable to the tales and legends. An isolated paradise beneath the lands of surface civilizations. The fifth floor.
"Welcome to the Grând-Frontiér, Andorra's experimental paradise. Do enjoy your stay." A smooth robotic voice spoke over the radio before the elevator momentarily stopped by an opulent station, then cruised along the clear riverside below the false sky, closer and closer to the pristine cities of ruined silver that had stood the test of time and change. "Now arriving at the Celestial Hall... Please pack your belongings and retain all personal items within your possession at all times!" The elevator slowly but surely came to a halt on the open fields of a soaring silver platform, the winds howled as the false white sun above shone high like its counterpart. All too bright, but not too hot. "Again..." The voice added. "We wish you all a pleasant stay in paradise..."
After what seemed like a decent amount of minutes, the two wobbled their way out of the elevator. "...Haha, I guess, it was indeed fortunate to have bought this lucky mask!" Madeline quipped. Adjusting her legs and body to the extreme aftershocks of a hellish encounter she will never forget throughout the entire rest of her miserable life.
Meanwhile, Catherine threw herself atop a nearby sofa and groaned. Her face gazed upon Madeline, who sat herself on the soft grass, next to an advanced terminal that constantly beeped to a familiar tune. "Hoho! Travelers! How quaint!" A metallic young boy dressed in all white exclaimed, his shimmering blue eyes shined with wonder and delight, as his silver hair reflected the false white sun above. "Or perhaps interlopers?"
The boy smiled innocently as he menacingly pulled out a laser rifle from his back with his left hand, and a steel lance with his right. "Thou shall address me as Noed Adams! Ascendant Custodian of all Frontiér!" The boy added. "...Address thyselves with haste, oh foul evildoers...! Lest thou be condemned to death! To demise unfortunate!"
And so, the two were once again back on their feet. Their hands clasped on the hilts of their swords as they both huddled together at the center of the pathway that led to the main structure where millions upon millions of metallic constructs poured from their posts, armed with every standard weapon of the medieval era. "Very well then..." The Ascendant Custodian smirked and nodded. "...Come then, friends! To battle!!!"
Back on the Vnerman territories, to the western borders within the Vnerman port city of Goldshire, a light sparring match was held in the late morning, on the grounds of a respected knights' academy. Two young lads clad in fine golden armor and enchanted weaponry stood a respective distance away from one another, surrounded by a crowd of rowdy knights of both honor and virtue under the rays of sunshine from the morning sun above. "Have at thee...!" A blond-haired knight with blue eyes exclaimed.
Swords clashed as nobles cheered, women laughed then boys jeered. Commoners alongside aristocrats mocked jovially at their counterparts. Dressed in their golden attires and armed with their subjective pride, both peasant and entitled parties encouraged their champions in a bout of wits and mastery. This luxury of life was primarily due to the extensive distance between the city of Goldshire and the Vnerman capital of August, far from where the calamitous storm shrouded the central, northern, eastern, and southern sections of the Vnerman imperial domains.
"...Have at him, Peter! Crush that commoner filth!" A noble knight from the aristocratic party proclaimed with an arrogant zeal, to the participant knight with blond hair. "Take off his legs, Sethris! Show that bastard why you're the guardian knight!" A commoner knight from the civilian party clamored about to the muted knight with no prominent features to discern. "BRING HIM DOWN...!!!" Both parties exclaimed in feverish unison.
Hours after the battle, both combatants were nearing their end. Assertive powers collided like a winding typhoon of aura and strength. The blades of their swords struck at their tips, resulting in a blinding flash of white light engulfing the arena, along with all the bystanders within the interior academy grounds.
Crowds of knights praised the bright spectacle before them, just as looming shadows emerged from the horizon. Thunderous roars echoed across the vast expanse of the western region, clear yellow fields of grain and greener pastures shook at the very deafening sounds of burning engines and the noise of flaming passage. Neosteel Titans. All landing by the hundreds of thousands.
"...Incoming enemy attack! It's an aerial invasion!!!" A nameless peasant knight from a nearby watchtower declared at the top of her lungs before she was instantly crushed, then utterly buried by the incoming debris that shattered the entire tower within mere milliseconds of impact. But as the alarm bells all across the city quickly tolled from the impending incursions, the massive metallic constructs from high above obliterated this once proud city alongside its surrounding forests and vast plains in their infernal wake.
Seas of polluted fire engulfed the entirety of Goldshire and its territories, dust and ash arose from the flames as titanic movements shook the earth to its very foundations. The Neosteel Titans found their mark, and with an overwhelming force numbering twelve hundred thousand, they were all but unstoppable.
The clouds became red whilst the air went dull, and the stench of death permeated the lands that quaked under the footsteps of the Neosteel Titans, as nightmarish misery and calamitous disasters ravaged the now bleak and grim western region. Millions, all slaughtered in seconds. This was the true beginning of a bloody conflict where legends and heroes, villains and myths alike, were soon to take center stage within the limelight of Liondel. A power struggle of rulers and pawns, tools and masters, good and evil. The advent of the continent's lasting battle for resolution.
However, somewhere beneath all the tremulous rubble of the ruined city, beneath the very arena that was reduced to earth, and below even the catacombs under the dark chasms of the deepest depths, a sword on a stone awaited its fated champion. Amidst all the turmoil above, a guardian knight stepped forth from above, and into the clear waters that claimed his mortal vessel. The lonesome guardian approached from the wet shores that impeded his advance until he was within reach of the sword's dusty emplacement, where the crystals and sigils glowed with a hum.
The sword on the stone was a dull weapon that seemed without strength or significance, yet it spoke to the muted knight. "...Dost thou require this meager blade, oh sundered knight...?" The sword's ethereal voice sounded itself into the mind of the knight, who gripped the hilt of the sword, and then closed his eyes with a lowered head. The sword chimed in acceptance before responding. "Ah... So, 'tis thine own hand that yearns release, to deter thy threat of cessation in casualty to peace?"
The sword on the stone gleamed as it was pulled from its station, whilst the guardian knight gazed upon his great heroic weapon. "Go on, hero... Let thyself be known to all injustices... Vanquish thy foe with relentless ardor!" The Guardian Knight Sethris turned to face the gaping maw from which he fell, raising the blade of his sword as it began to shed its tattered form, revealing a blade of radiant blue diamond and a hilt of brilliant silver steel. "...Bring forth, thy eternal legend!"
And with this herald of a declaration, the Hero of Knights came to be. A pillar of light shot through the sky as the clouds parted, into the stars past the heavens, to the very foundations of the Starry Sky. Here, on the continent of Liondel, the first among many heroes was made into existence, within the vast realm of Sythria.