Antonius was sitting in the library in the imperial city of aurora he was teaching for the knights academy on this occasion he had not been in combat for almost 13 years not since the great conquests of High Emperor Julius on this particular day he was instructing in imperial history "...and so on that day Emperor Martin II was fell from his imperial bedroom tower not far from here is where they discovered his body outside and his wife Lady Alyson was crowned Empress just half an hour later however Empress Alyson was found in this very library with a dagger run straight through her chest at the time it was ruled a suicide but in the time since it has been suspected that it was foul play the former emperor Ilisarius Murdered her do to trying to seize legitimacy for his son Ilisarius II he was ultimately acquitted do to the fact that they had no proof but it is suspicious as it was recently found in a doctors notes that he had examined her just 4 days before her death and concluded she was with child this child would have been their first and a threat to the powers of the elder council which is why it is suspected that they had done such a thing however emperor Ilisarius II had those same council members killed just over 30 years later after forcing them to confess to his uncles murder but it is still unknown if this confession was genuine or false but one thing is certain those 2 deaths almost ripped the empire to pieces" he finished his story and made sure everyone had taken ample notes before he sent them away seeing that another knight was approaching him he figured it must be another wanderer come to ask about old war stories from his younger days "what do you want he said to the young man who was carrying a scroll of parchment paper Antonius took the paper without question he knew what they were they were imperial summons he read them it said "to one Imperial Legate Antonius Cornellus your presence is requested in the imperial war chambers by the order of High Emperor Tiberius III and Knight Grand-Master Flavius Bellesarius as approved by General James Thorn and High King Ilisarius I" Antonius was stunned at all the signatures on the paper he was an old war hero but he was still stunned that that many important people wanted to see him that badly he gathered his scrolls and books returning them to their rightful places in the library he quickly ran to his quarters in the city hastily grabbing his sword (it was considered bad form in the army to appear before your superiors unarmed) he quickly fastened the leather strap around his chest and let the blade in its sheath hang proudly at his side the ornate golden handle gleamed the the sheath of red polished wood and bronze fittings similarly shone with polish he then bolted back to the palace and climbed to the tower in question he knew it quite well the captain of the Imperial Guards didn't even try to stop him and he entered the room the four men in question were huddled around a table looking at a map of the empire it sounded like the High King and High emperor were in a heated discussion "...its an unnecessary risk you could lose hundreds of thousands of lives! even your father would have never attempted such a foolish thing" said Ilisarius hotly High Emperor Tiberius III grew angry at this statement "Its a risk I'm willing to take my father was a fool concerned with trivial things" Ilisarius then became furious "even if this scheme works they will be trapped in the north during the winter for 5 months at least with no aid!" attention suddenly turned to Antonius "ah you're here imperial legate" said General Thorn who was Emperor Julius's Right hand man during the emperor's great conquests of the south and west continents the other men soon followed his gaze and Ilisarius said "come here we have a logistical nightmare for you to solve Emperor Julius spoke very highly of you in his writings now we would have summoned all the imperial legates at some point anyway but we decided to speak to you first and ask your opinion go ahead and tell him your ridiculous plan Tiberius" "very well see here this is a map of the north Continent and the short water passage between us and them in the summer months a passage opens up which can allow ships to come and go as they please during the fall the passage begins to close over a period of about 2-3 weeks i wish to conquer the north and capture the capitol city' he pointed to the four pointed star on the map labeled "Axon" "Their King Axuroth has defied the empire time and time again my father offered to buy a city on the coast for 1000 gold pieces but he refused then my father offered to buy the continent for 100'000 gold pieces Axuroth responded with a threat on his life despite my father meaning no ill will to him here is our dilemma if we leave in the first week of fall and the pass takes 3 weeks to close we can have the entire navy cross the pass and deliver the army to the shores do you think its possible?" Antonius thought for a moment realizing that he was practically in charge of weather this invasion went or not it was strange feeling to hold the fate of the the entire planet in his hands with on decision he then said slowly "well its generally accepted it take 15 days for a ship to cross the pass even at the best of times if its possible to somehow do that faster then its possible" Tiberius smiled "thats all i needed to hear" he turned to a young knight standing by and said "send for the Lord grand Admiral ask him if its possible"