In a room that had been messed up, a middle-aged man held a nineteen-year-old boy with golden-colored eyes and a mask on his face by the shoulder.
He stared at him with a guilty expression on his face and gently pulled him into a tight hug.
"Akai, you have to leave right now! Take this and go with it." The middle-aged man who was none other than Minister Artwander grabbed a letter from the pocket of his pants and handed it to the boy. "You must keep it safe, Okay. Go to a faraway country and once you're safe and ready, open the letter and read it."
"Father no! I can't. We are all obviously in danger and you're asking me to leave. Tell me what's going on!" He shook his head in disagreement, and Artwander's face clenched in annoyance.
"No, son. It's not like that! We all need you, and for that, you need to live. You must not die! The soldiers will be here any minute, and we will all be dead, so please leave and be safe. Go to the Nai lake, and you will meet Gordion there. He will take you away," he began to drag him along with him towards the backyard of the household.
They arrived at the backyard and Artwander squatted down, opening what seemed to be a passageway and pushing Akai inside.
Akai turned to look at him with reluctance in his eyes, and his heart skipped a bit when he heard the hurried stomping of the soldiers who seemed to have marched into the household.
"Go now!" Artwander smiled pessimistically at him and shut the door of the passageway.
He quickly turned around and rushed to their courtyard, only to be met with his wife and workers who were already being apprehended by the royal soldiers.
He halted and turned to glare at an ugly-looking middle-aged man with scars on his face, who was the emperor's right-hand man that does all of his dirty work.
"Bronco, what is the meaning of all this?! Let them go!" he questioned, and Bronco smirked at him with cruelty in his eyes.
He turned to a soldier standing beside him and collected what looked like a royal decree from him.
He rolled it open and spread it out, then parted his lips as he began to read. "On this day, March 15th, 1781, Prime Minister Artwander had been found guilty of treason and deserves no chance of trial. His majesty has hereby given the order to slaughter him, including his entire family, and none shall be left alive. Those involved in the treason shall also face the same punishment, and none shall be left alive. " He rolled back the decree when he was done reading and raised his eyes to look at Artwander, whose face had completely turned pale.
"That is impossible! This is a lie! His majesty would never-" he was about to finish his words when someone walked into the household majestically with his hands behind his back.
"Prime minister Artwander, did you say I would never what?" the person, who was the emperor, asked calmly in a soft but lethal tone.
He was the Stallard royal family's third and most powerful emperor to govern for more than forty years without dying or abdicating the throne.
He has sat on the throne for that long and will continue to sit on it till he takes his last breath. Anyone who dares commit treachery will not live to see another day, just like the fate the Artwander family is about to face.
"Your Majesty." Artwander quickly bowed in respect, and the emperor looked at him with a deadly glint in his eyes.
"Bowing to me while death is awaiting you." he sneered, and Artwander straightened up to look at him.
"Why? Why, your Majesty? Why do you want to wipe my family away when we have been loyal to you from the moment you sat on the throne? What have we done wrong?" Artwander questioned with tiny bits of painful tears welling up in his eyes, and the emperor's face darkened dangerously.
"Are you questioning me, Artwander?" He asked in a deadly tone, and Artwander gazed at him unmoving. "I dare not question you, your majesty, but I want to know why?" he replied, and a slow smile ensued on the emperor's face.
"Criminals like you do not deserve to live. The payment for treason is death and that is what you and your family, including the ones involved in it, shall suffer." He said, and before Artwander could utter a word, he turned to Bronco with a wicked expression on his face.
"Slaughter them all! Leave no one alive!" His deep, deadly voice flew into the ears of everyone, and Bronco nodded, then turned to the soldiers. "Royal soldiers! Kill them all!"
He ordered, and an animalistic roar fled from the soldiers' throats before they rushed off and began to slay each and every single soul in the household without mercy.
Artwander stared in horror and drew his sword to fight and protect his poor wife.
Since it had all already come to this, his only option was to fight till death.
His heart tightened within him and he rushed off, killing the soldiers coming at him.
However, while he was doing this, his eyes suddenly widened when he saw Akai, who was meant to be getting near the Nai lake, standing motionless with his eyes fixed on the pile of dead bodies of the maids on the floor.
"Akai!" he yelled his name, and Akai turned his head, his eyes widening on seeing one of the soldiers struck him with a spear in a moment of distraction.
"Father!" he screamed and rushed towards the soldier whose spear had stabbed his father and gripped him by the throat.
He snapped his head off from his neck and his shoulders rose and fell as he breathed heavily.
He raised his eyes, which were now burning as bright as a fire and balled his hands into a tight fist.
His father's painful cough resounded in his ears and he quickly turned around, catching him in his arms before he could fall to the floor.
"Fa-father!" His lips trembled and he raised his head, following the line of sight where his father's finger was pointing to see a very horrible scene about to unfold before his eyes.