Aaron raced after Amira with Marcus faithfully trailing behind him. He continued to run through the streets of the noble district, chasing after Amira who was busy ordering and organizing her troop of mercenaries on the way.
The streets of the Zephyr kingdom they passed, that were once near devoid of life, now roared with the raging sounds of war echoing all around them.
At the center of the district the chase ended. Aaron pushed through the ranks of the many dark robed mercenaries, whose numbers seemed to have increased tenfold since he first met them.
As he burst forth from the crowd of mercenaries, he heard Amira's commands come to an end. The mercenaries around him parted in all kinds of directions to fulfill the orders they received.
"What's happening? How did the empire manage to break in?" Asked Aaron as he finally caught up to his fiancé.
Before answering him, Amira stared at something behind him. It almost seemed like she was signaling to someone as she shook her head before speaking, but when Aaron looked back with a slight chill tingling down his spine... There was no one around besides Marcus, who was standing off to the side, intently watching the two.
"My people are handling it. Don't worry. Besides, we knew that the empire's invasion was inevitable at this point." She calmly said while gesturing around her to the directions where her mercenaries had departed.
Aaron cocked his head to the side with worry clearly visible on his face. The high from their triumph over the council had now fizzled out with only worry and doubt still remaining.
This was his usual habit. He was young but cautious. Amira did not hate this side of her lover since she had purposefully used it in order to get them to their current situation. This characteristic even made him a solid leader for the rebel faction, since all their risks were calculated. However, in the midst of a war that was on an entirely different scale, it became an obvious flaw.
"Where did all these new people come from?" Asked Aaron in concern.
Before, the size of the mercenary troop had already been considered rather large, but it was now more on par with a small military force.
"I called in more people from our ranks. Let's be realistic Aaron. We both knew that the council was only the beginning." Said Amira with her usual persuasive persona.
Aaron didn't like surprises like this. To be forced into accepting Amira's plan to begin with was already pushing him far out of his comfort zone. But the sudden attack and invasion of the empire forced him to trust in her words once again.
Ever since his brother's return, these surprises were popping up nonstop.
The sudden thought of his brother brought forth another concern of his.
"Marcus! Have you heard anything from my brother yet?" He asked while deciding to push off the mercenary situation for now.
The warrior rushed over to Aaron while shaking his head.
"No… Do you want me to find him?" Suggested the warrior.
Aaron halted his order to glance back towards Amira.
His fiancé motioned her hand showing no concern over the matter.
"Alright, go locate his whereabouts and return to me with him. We'll get more useful information out of him right now than out of anyone else." Ordered Aaron.
The warrior turned to depart but stopped to look back at his close friend.
"It's okay, I'll be fine with Amira. Besides, I'm more concerned about my brother." Explained Aaron.
"Hold on… Find out if he succeeded with the royalty or not, and if he has, bring them back with you as well." Added Amira, before Marcus finally left them for his mission.
Amira walked over to Aaron to comfort him in hopes of lightening his anxiety.
"I'm sure they're gonna be fine. Let's kick out those Romans so you can greet them with victory when they return." She suggested with a seductive voice.
Aaron nodded his head in agreement and walked off with Amira towards the sound of battle.
"W-What are you doing? We had a deal!" Shrieked the councilman after being savagely kicked into the cell next to the one where the Zephyr king had breathed his last breath.
"Right, we did. You're still alive aren't you?" Cruelly said Strom as he shut and locked the door to the cell he had thrown the old snake into.
'A slimy bastard like him should have been in here from the start anyways.' Satisfyingly thought Strom as the two children of the late king spat through the bars of the cell.
"You can't leave me here! I have money! Lot's of it! Remember?" Cried the old man who hobbled over and grasped the cold dark bars of his cell with frail bloodied hands.
However, his pleas fell onto deaf ears as Strom and the two children walked away from the cell and exited the dungeon. They left Kellick in the depressing space as they had found it, damp and cold, surrounded in nothing but utter darkness.
Right now, Strom had other more important worries to be resolved.
'Aaron, I swear you better be alright…' He thought as he picked up the small prince and dragged the princess along with them back through the palace.
"Strom!"
A shout from the front of the palace diverted Strom's attention from his worries.
"Marcus?" Replied Strom with a shout, as he changed direction from the corridor leading to the council room and ran towards his companion's voice.
"What are you doing here? Where's Aaron? I thought you guys were fighting against the council." Asked Strom in confusion as he met with the warrior in the corridor leading back to the front of the palace.
"That's already in the past. Quickly, you need to follow me. Aaron is looking for you." Stated the warrior while catching his breath.
"Wait… What did you bring along with you? Where's the king?" Asked Marcus as he noticed the small companions Strom had in tow.
"Long story… In short, the king is no longer with us, but I need to get his kids here to safety." Summed up Strom.
Marcus lowered his head in respect for the late king's passing. Although the recent years of war had been brutal, the king of Zephyr had once been a man in favorable standing to the people.
"Right, follow me." Said the warrior after the brief moment of silence while picking up the young princess to increase their travel speed.
Strom slid his hand into his pant's right pocket and confirmed the treasure he had stowed away was still there. He was still unsure as to what exactly the origin or identity of the strange relic-like object was, but at the very least, he knew it was important.
'For the king and his ancestors to be protecting it throughout the ages, it must have some kind of purpose.' He had concluded.
Although it held little meaning to him, he had a strange inkling that whatever the object was, it would soon be revealed.
Back in the center of the kingdom, a proud banner of the empire fluttered in the wind with a background of smoke further brightening its purple contrast.
"Push forward men! The enemy is nearly defeated!" Shouted Daren underneath the Roman banner.
"Can't I just join them already? The battle would be finished a lot quicker that way." Said the small commander who looked even shorter when standing next to Daren's taller figure.
"Commander, haven't we already discussed this? We agreed for you to help when we stormed the gate, and now less than half of it is still standing." Complained Daren with dread.
"I thought it was built much better from the looks of it." Emotionlessly commented the commander.
If not for his straight face and ridiculous strength, to any onlooker, they would think he was a child playing soldier. But to Daren, his commander was more like a lit fuse waiting to explode.
"Sir!" Shouted a Roman soldier who had returned from the frontlines.
"What is it, soldier?" Asked Daren, who happily welcomed the interruption to his previous conversation.
"Our men are being pushed back near the noble district. Some foreigner-looking black robed ambushers are tearing through our lines." Informed the infantryman.
"How many are there?" Asked Daren.
"I'd say there's around eighty to a hundred of them, sir."
Daren felt a bead of sweat streak down his neck. But it was not the new opponents he was worried about.
"Looks like they need help finally." Said the tiring commander next to Daren.
"C-Commander, Axus, let's not get ahead of ourselves!" Warned Daren as he tried to restrain the monster from being unleashed inside of the small kingdom.
The commander paid no heed to his subordinate's concerns and nudged the infantryman with the butt of his spear.
"Lead me to the site of the ambush." He instructed.
"Yes sir!"
Daren smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"Commander, just wait a second!" He pleaded as he ran after his stubborn superior.
The clashing of metal and shouts of triumph and defeat boomed like thunder as the sounds reverberated off of the large buildings at the edge of the noble district.
The Roman infantry struggled against the dark robed troop's strange techniques and unique weapons. The surrounding buildings had become death traps, as hidden men from Amira's forces ambushed the soldiers from their windows and doors, while more fought directly against them in the streets.
The Roman soldiers were definitely stronger than most, if not all, forces on the continent. However, the conditions provided by the narrow streets and the guerilla tactics used by their opponents, hindered their progression.
"This seems to be working for now, but they have numbers far greater than ours." Tactfully commented Aaron from the roof of one of the nearby buildings.
"We'll see. But our next wave of reinforcements still has yet to arrive." Replied Amira from his side as they watched the progress of the battle.
"And where is it that these sudden reinforcements keep appearing from?" Asked Aaron out of curiosity.
"There's just no way a mercenary group could possibly have such a headcount." He added in disbelief.
Amira stepped away from the edge of the building and calculatingly twirled her dark hair with her fingers.
"What haven't you told me?" Asked Aaron again, as he too, turned away from the battle beneath them to question his lover.
"What I've told you up to now has not been lies. Only words that were close yet not completely the truth." She said with a sweet voice.
Aaron narrowed his eyes at the revelation he was now hearing.
"My past is as I have told you before. I was abandoned… But through the mercy of our Order, I was saved." She continued.
"What order?" Suspiciously asked Aaron.
"The Descendants Order." Calmly explained Amira with a smile.