As the sun slowly rose over Ekleposus, the capital of the Eclipse Empire, the people woke up and started their day. Slowly the city began to be filled with life, but there was an air of uncertainness in the city, which was uncommon in the capital. The people were all worried about their futures, after all they had recently heard the horrible news of losing a great battle in the north, and they even lost their emperor. And now their new sovereign, who had barely entered his teenage years, led an army to fight the invaders, while some cautious merchants had even given up hope, and already fled the Eclipse Empire!
Nizam woke up early in the morning as per his habit. Ever since his brother left for war with the Luminous Empire, his schedule became far more busy. So he quickly got dressed and went to his mother's room, since she insisted that they have to eat as a family. After breakfast ended, his brother and sister went to their lessons, while his mother stayed in her room, and began to review various reports from all over the empire.
Ever since Alexander left for war she was riddled with anxiety, so she buried herself in work to try to calm her restless heart, and no matter how many times Nizam or Darius tried to convince her to stop, she would refuse them, while promising them to not push herself too hard.
After his breakfast with his mother and siblings, he was scheduled to go take his royal lessons, such as math, physics, languages, history, etiquette, geography and many more tedious yet invaluable classes. Then he was supposed to have lunch with his family, around mid-day. After that he would take his afternoon magic lessons. And finally, have dinner, and play with his little brother and sister, and go to sleep afterward. But contrary to his expectations of this being just another mundane day, shortly after they finished their breakfast, they heard a loud cheering voice echo from the northern gate of the city!
When Nizam heard this he was confused, and asked one of the guards following him to find out what was going on. After a few minutes the guard he sent came rushing over, and said in an exhilarated voice "Your highness, great news! His majesty has won against the Luminous Empire! The messengers said that it was a great victory, and that the enemy was nearly destroyed!"
"And how is my brother?" Nizam asked with a happy smile on his face.
"They say his majesty is perfectly fine." The guard responded. Hearing this Nizam released a relieved sigh, before sprinting as fast as he could to his mother's room, since he knew that she was the one who was the most anxious to know what was happening with his brother. Once he got their, he opened the door excitedly, and said while panting slightly "Mother, news just arrived from the frontline!"
His mother who was buried in her paperwork, instantly looked at Nizam with eyes that threatened to cry at any minute, and asked hesitantly, worried that she would hear the news she feared the most "....What happened? Is he okay?" She didn't even care about the outcome of the battle, and was only concerned about her eldest child's health and well being.
Nizam showed a bright, and wide smile as he loudly proclaimed, his voice beaming with pride and joy "Brother is fine! Not only that, They're saying that brother obliterated the enemy! Brother won, mother. He won!" Hearing this she couldn't help herself, and cried tears of relief and pride.
Seconds later both Alisar, and Cyrus arrived, and shouted while jumping in their mother's arms "Big brother won! Big brother won!" And their mother hugged them tightly as her silent sobs turned into a joyous laughter.
After a few minutes of celebrating, one of their mother's maids knocked on the door, and said respectfully "My lady, Grand Vizier Darius Khan wishes to have an audience with you."
Hearing this their mother quickly switches back to her empress mode, and wiped the lingering tear drops on her face, as she calmly replied "Very well. You may bring him in."
A couple of minutes later Darius arrived and bowed deeply to them, and humbly said "I apologize for arriving on such short notice, my lady."
"It's fine, Darius. What brings you here?" Their mother replied in a voice that overflowed with the dignity of an empress.
"I'm here to report to you that his majesty has ordered 50,000 men from his army to immediately march to the frontline as reinforcements. This could only mean that this war is far from over, and if this war doesn't end in three months, that could cause us some food, and supply issues." Darius said with a hint of worry evident in his voice.
Their mother took a moment to collect her thoughts and said "Send them Darius. It's not like we have a choice, the emperor has given an order, and we must obey. Besides we have no authority over his army, it's called the emperor's personal army for a reason. As for the problems with food and supply, we will simply buy what we lack from the Yue Dynasty."
"My lady, is that wise? After all, similar to how the Luminous Empire is our rival in the west, the Yue Dynasty is our rival in the east." Darius said.
"Although they are technically our rivals, we have always been on good terms with them. We even helped them numerous times in the past against their greatest rival, the Boreas Empire. And I doubt their greedy emperor would deny us if we offer him enough gold." My mother said confidently, as her eyes sharpened.
"Very well, my lady. Oh, and before I forget, his majesty also sent you a message." Darius said as he pulled out a small envelope, and then he left her with the letter.
As soon as Darius left, she opened the envelope and hungerly devoured it's contents. And as she read her beloved son apologize, worry about her health, and apologize yet again for not coming home, she couldn't stop the gentle smile that formed on her lips. After she finished reading the letter, she held it close to her chest, and then she quickly began to pen her reply.
***Scene Change***
The sun had risen high in the sky, and I was standing on the blood stained sand of the battlefield, watching as my men looted the corpses of our enemy. Anything that could prove useful was taken, even the clothes that they wore were not spared! While their corpses were left in the mercy of the unforgiving desert and it's ravenous beasts.
After a few minutes Sodarus arrived, while dragging a man with golden hair and eyes. As soon as he got close to me he dropped the man and said "My emperor, I give you Grand Duke Marcus. I'm sorry for taking so long, sire. I accidently went a little overboard in the battle, and I wanted him to be some what presentable before you."
Looking at the state of the Grand Duke, I almost didn't believe him, if not for the man's golden hair and eyes, which were signs of the royal family. The man looked nothing like a Grand Duke. If anything he looked like a crippled beggar! His left eye and ear were missing, along with his right forearm, and I could tell that most of his ribs and several other bones were shattered horribly!
Suddenly the man released a distorted and pained sound that might have been a laugh, and said "A brat! HAHAHA. A damn brat, defeated me? HAHAHAHA!"
Seeing him act like a madman, I turn to Sodarus and say amusedly "You call this 'A little overboard'?"
Sodarus smiled awkwardly, before quickly shaking Marcus violently, while yelling "Wake up you bastard! You're Infront of his majesty, how dare you act like this?!"
And to my shock his method actually worked! Marcus slowly started to return to his senses. Seeing this I say "Good morning, Grand Duke. Are you awake?"
Marcus seemed to be confused, and he began to look at his surroundings, then he checked his body before he sighed and said "Haaaaah.... So it wasn't a nightmare."
I smiled slightly at this and said "I'm afraid not."
"Why am I not dead yet?" He asked.
"Because you're a valuable prisoner." I replied.
"I see. But it doesn't matter." He said calmly.
"Why doesn't it matter?" I ask with a frown on my face.
"Because Titus, my right hand man, managed to escape yesterday. He probably already reported what happened here, and now you will face the full wrath of the Luminous Empire! My rescue is coming sooner or later." He said with confidence, as he glared at me with hateful eyes.
"We shall see." I say with an amusedly smile.