Ivar stood on the outer city wall of the Port City of Rellune. Ivar hated being a city guard, if it wasn't for the fact that they were paid a modest amount, he would've quit a long time ago. No one dared to cause trouble in Rellune, after all, it was the territory of Baron Gralis Herrona, otherwise known as "The Brute." He wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who caused trouble in his territory. Therefore, his territory was always rather peaceful, which led to a very boring job for a guard. Ivar gazed out at the lands beyond the wall. It was mostly farmland with a few patches of trees here and there.
"Why the long face Ivar?" asked Juniper, an acquaintance of Ivar's. "It's nothing." Ivar said with a sigh. It truly was nothing, and that was the problem.
"C'mon Ivar, you always seem so down. How about I buy you a pint tonight after we're dismissed?" Ivar looked at Juniper with a stoic expression, he truly didn't care for this job, nor did he care for his fellow guardsmen. He only wished to go home and sleep. Ivar then resumed staring out beyond the wall, not responding to Juniper's offer. "My offer is still on the table, think about it." Juniper said as he turned to walk away. Ivar sighed and shook his head.
Ivar turned to look at the sky, only to see something that shook his curiosity. "What's that?" he thought. It looked to be a piece of flying metal. Soon, Ivar noticed that more were showing up, and soon hundreds had filled the sky. By this time, everyone was on high alert. The Archers had already prepared their bows, waiting for the enemy to attack. "What are these things?" Ivar turned to see Juniper standing beside him. He turned his attention back onto the swarm of flying metal, "I don't know. Maybe they're some type of invention, created by one of those alchemists." said Ivar, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. "No, alchemists can't make metal fly. This is something different." Juniper said with a slight quiver in his voice. The flying machines continued to hover in place, seemingly waiting on something.
Ivar continued to watch them in part fear, part fascination. Suddenly, the machines began to move in formation. It seemed like a dance to Ivar, as if they were celebrating. The machines stopped moving, and Ivar noticed that they were in a circle. They all began to omit a bluish light and focused it to the center of the circle. The light made an image of a man, and the man began to speak.
"To the nations of this world, We are Aprolis. A City of Wonders." The image changed to a picture of a city with many towers that stretched far beyond the clouds. "We have observed your world with caution, as we are not natives. We come from a world known as Earth. We know not how we arrived, but we do wish to greet our new neighbors with the hospitality we wish to receive. We hope to form camaraderie with you, and show you the ways of Aprolis. We have surrounded every major city in a 2000 kilometer radius with our aerial broadcast drones." Images continued to be displayed as the man continued to speak. There were images of towers made of glass, people dressed in abstract clothing, moving metal tubes, and groups of green towers with plants hanging out of them. "We greet you, natives, and we wish you all the well. We invite the nobles and citizens of all nations to Aprolis, where all are welcomed. I am King Octavius Vicosia of Aprolis, and we, as a nation greet you all." The lights stopped, and the drones began to move once more. Soon, a woman was shown via the drones.
"Hello, I am Aprolis' travel director. In order to reach the City of Aprolis, one must journey from the mouth of the Enorth River to the Loraceian Exclave. Here is where one will find Aprolis. Thank you, and safe travels." The drones stopped once more. Ivar looked at his pike, "Aprolis, huh." he murmured. "Ivar, you can't possibly think about going. The Loraceian exclave is a war zone. My gut is telling me this is a trap." Ivar turned his head to look at Juniper, "What nonsense. If it's a trap, how do you explain those flying, uh, drones, yes drones? How do you explain the bluish light? How do you explain the images? I think this is the real deal!" Ivar said with excitement.
Juniper didn't know how to respond, "I don't know, But the Grand Duchy has been at war with the kingdom of Lorace for years, and the entire exclave has turned into a hellscape. I don't know who or why, but I believe that it's a trap." Juniper finished. Ivar threw his pike aside, "Well, I'm going, I have enough coins to purchase a wagon and head there." he paused, "You're welcome to join me." Juniper gave a long sigh, "Fine, but only because I'm concerned about my friend." Ivar put his hand on Juniper's shoulder, "Then go home, pack, and meet me at my place in three hours." Juniper nodded in agreement and walked away. Ivar smiled, his life was finally about to get interesting.
Meanwhile, in The City of Aprolis. King Octavius stood at the top of the stairs of Aprolis' parliamentary building next to his generals and governors. Overlooking a crowd of thousands, he began to speak. "People of Aprolis, though times are strange, we have persevered. We have secured Aprolis, and solidified its position in this new world. We have built a mighty wall surrounding the border, and rebuilt our satellite network. We have accomplished much during our stay here." The people began to clap, and cameras began to flash. "But to you, the people, are whom we must applaud. For it was you who held your composure, and thus fore, strengthened Aprolis as a whole. Together we stand on this fateful day, hand in hand must Aprolis stand if we wish to remain strong. For this world is filled with the unknown, and if we are not careful, the unknown will sow fear, and that will be our demise. So! People of Aprolis, together we will stand by our motto!" "Dream! Hope! Aspire!" The crowd began to chant. "Dream, hope, Aspire!" said Octavius.
Octavius finished speaking to the crowd and walked back into the grand parliamentary building. Followed by his advisors and personal guard, Octavius walked into the great entrance hall. "Your majesty," said Kian, Ocativus' closest advisor, "Our broadcast project was a success, all of the cities with 10,000 plus people in a 2000 kilometer radius have received our message. Our drones are en route back to Aprolis as we speak." Kian said in his nasally, high pitched voice. "Excellent. I hope the King of Etrye comes, I would really like to meet the most powerful man on the continent." "I'm sure he has, your majesty. From the intell we gathered, Etrye's capital, Zarcasea, falls within the range of 2000 kilometers. Even if he had not witnessed it personally, I'm sure he'd heard of the news by now." "As usual, you're probably right Kian." "I'm not worthy of your praise, your majesty."
Octavius pulled out a small metal ball from his pocket and tossed it into the air in front of him. The ball began to float, and display a holographic screen. The screen gave Octavius a briefing on all of his duties and all new news. Octavius saw a news report on the speech he just gave.
"I'm Velma Harris, and I'm down at the Parliamentary Building, and we have just witnessed King Octavius Vicosia give a heartwarming speech. As you can see here, the crowd is still a bit excited. The King's speech has given us much needed insight to the current condition of the nation, and in which direction he wishes to take it. Soon, The King's second in command, Prime Minister Veronica Porter, head of parliament, will come up to the podium and speak to the crowd. I'm Velma Harris with Aprolis Broadcasting Company, Back to the studio."
Octavius closed the screen and grabbed the ball to put it back in his pocket. "Your majesty," said Kian, "Speaking on miss Veronica, I do believe she is not yet here." Octavius continued walking through the grand hall, "Oh, how come?" "Well I do believe she is still busy attending to her duties at King's Tower." Octavius sighed. "Ring her up immediately, tell her to take a helicopter to the Parliamentary Building right now." Kian nodded, "Yes your majesty." and soon sped away with haste.
"Veronica." thought Octavius, "How could she be so careless? To almost miss a public event? We can't keep the public waiting." Octavius stepped onto an elevator and took it to the third floor. This floor was reserved for Parliament members and the press only. A parliamentary session would soon take place here. Despite being an absolute monarchy, Octavius allowed a parliament to exist, but only to let it act as a lower governing body. Octavius still held all the authority. Octavius created the parliament to free up some of his time, allowing him to focus on the advancement of Aprolis which was his utmost priority. Octavius instructed his guards to wait at the door of his parliamentary office whilst he went inside.
The office was spacious and had no elaborate decorations. All that stood was a large desk, a chair, and a few monitors on the wall. On the wall facing opposite the desk was a large window that overlooked the square where he gave his speech. The square was more of a really long rectangle, and it could fit 200 thousand during an event. At the other end of the square stood King's tower. Not only the tallest building of Aprolis, measuring at a supreme 1654 meters, it was also the official workplace and residence of the king.The second tallest building, Aprolis' Administrative and Educational offices, only reached 1340 meters high. King's Tower was not only a feat in engineering, it was also a symbol to the people of what Aprolis could achieve.
Octavius sat down at his chair and pressed a button near the edge of the desk. Immediately, three screens appeared before Octavius displaying a gargantuan amount of data. This console allowed Octavius to view anything in Aprollis. He could access anything from police databases, to real time agriculture statistics. Of course, some things he vowed not to view out of respect for his citizens. But the truth was, Octavius had no use for most of the information, as a lot of it was just not useful when it came to his position.
Ocatvius pulled his chair closer and started to sort the new data. What he needed right now was info about nearby ore deposits. He had sent a group of scouts when the first arrived to survey the surrounding 75 kilometers for anything useful. So far, the only useful ores were found within the nearby Duchy of Laer. Octavius sighed at the inconvenience, for now, the only thing they could do was substitute plastics for missing ores. Octavius still abided by the principles of Earth, so he refused to just walk into the Duke of Laer's territory and take his resources. While he was excited to meet the King of Etrye, the Grand Duke was much more crucial to his plans. Octavius wanted to expand his empire, he wanted to go from citystate to Kingdom. Of course, development would be hindered by lack of resources, and that is the exact problem that Octavius is facing.
"Duke Sebastian of Laer." the name circled around Octavius' head. He knew that if he could forge an economic pact with the duke, those mineral rich mountains were as good as his. But the question was how. How does one persuade a duke? Octavius thought of giving the duke firearms from the 17th century, but not only would this upset the balance of power, it would cause many unnecessary deaths. After all, what would stop the duke from taking the Loraceian exclave. Or, what's to stop the duke from taking the entirety of Lorace? This was not something Octavius wanted to do. While this might give him short term benefits, who's to say what the long term consequences are.
"I could provide him with superior agriculture technology. Something simple, yet so complex that they can't make themselves." Octavius thought long and hard, but he could still not come up with anything. So he decided to set the issue aside for later. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door. "Come in." "Your majesty." said Kian, "Prime Minister Veronica has arrived, and she requests an urgent meeting with you."