Five years ago

Alexandros enters the lavish office of the king of the Sacrosanct Empire.

“Brother,” the word escapes his mouth eager to deliver what in his eyes is joyous news.

“Alexandros, you know you should not be calling me that,” the king notes, his position as king more important than familial relationships.

“I apologize my liege, but I have news. A boy that has just become a priest within the Purity… I believe him to be my grandson,” Alexandros explains; keen to bring him into the fold.

The king’s eyebrows raise, “And what would you do if he was?”

“I find it obvious my liege, I will take the boy in and raise him, as it always should have been,” Alexandros proposes.

“I discovered he’s been with the military and before that he lived with commander Waltz. That conniving old fox hid him from me for all these years,” Alexandros explains, getting angrier at a dead man with each passing word.

“I know, I was the one that told him to hide the boy from you,” the king informs him.

“You what?” Alexandros is shocked by the notion.

“I knew your plans, what you were going to do to that village. I couldn’t stop you, but I could get a message to Waltz to snatch the boy out from under you,” the king further elaborates on his plot to thwart Alexandros.

“Why would you do this to me? He is my grandson, the last of our line,” Alexandros cannot believe his brother was in on this from the start. The king rises from his desk, standing level with Alexandros, who was towering over him.

“Because your son chose to leave this life behind. I am respecting his decision and what he would have wanted for his son. We both know he would have never wanted you to raise his boy,” the king explains, not afraid to expose the truth, no matter how harsh.

Alexandros tries his best to mask his anger, even if he cannot stand his brother’s actions.

He must appear calm in his eyes or rouse suspicion, “If the boy finds out on his own and comes to us on his own accord, will you consider it then?”

“I will certainly consider it, but I trust you won’t force him to agree,” the king makes sure to call out what he suspects will be Alexandros’s next ploy.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Alexandros lies through his teeth.

“I am glad we have come to a compromise my liege. I only bring this up because you have no children of your own and our line will die out without anyone to succeed us, this child is all we have left to ensure the Athaulf line continues on into the future,” Alexandros reminds him, trying to justify his actions to his brother.

“Yes, I have been thinking about that for many years. Since I learned my wife was barren, I’ve thought a lot about the future of the Empire. Over all of these years, I have finally come to a conclusion, I will select the next king from the general populace. The Athaulf line will end and that will be it. We no longer have to be the ones to rule, we had our chance and now it is someone else’s turn to right our many wrongs,” the king makes his decision known.

Alexandros stands in shock, the notion is traitorous, the Athaulfs have ruled the Sacrosanct Empire for millennia, there is no way he will play a part in the end of this noble lineage.

“This is ridiculous! Do you even hear yourself? You are spitting on the face of our father, no, of every king that came before him as well,” Alexandros can no longer pretend not to despise his older brother.

“I do not care what our dead father thinks of this, he was wrong and I have to start righting his wrongs and the many wrongs that came before him. That starts by ending this cycle of hate and bigotry perpetrated by the Purity,” the king argues, trying to truly do what is best for the people he rules over.

But to Alexandros, ruling was never about that; he storms off unable to hear the treasonous words coming from his brother’s mouth. He wasted no time filling the archbishop in on his brother’s plans and the two of them came up with a plot of their own, to kill the king and pretend he was ill on his eventual deathbed.

With the king out of the way, Alexandros approached the archbishop eager to reunite with his grandson, “The boy, let me take him now”.

“I understand how much you want to see him and raise him in your image, but the boy is progressing unlike anyone else with the technologies we have inherited from that scientist. I am afraid that if you take him in and give him the comforts of one who will become king, his astounding work ethic will fall off and he will never reach his true potential,” the archbishop implores, wishing to make the most out of his finest new product.

Alexandros refutes the idea at first, but the archbishop’s words eventually sway him promising Xander will be all the more powerful with a greater mastery over his abilities. But not taking him in would only turn out to be a mistake; something happened that neither of them could have anticipated.

The military had gotten word that Xander had stolen rare and irreplaceable technology from the Scientist. A priest around Xander’s age, by the name of Godric, received their report to the Purity. Instead of notifying those above him, Godric looked at this as an opportunity to get rid of his biggest rival and the peer he despised most. On his own, he gathered five priests to go along with him to assassinate Xander in his own home.

His plans were ultimately unsuccessful, allowing Xander to flee north back into the mountains. Alexandros was furious, overcome with anger at listening to the archbishop’s words. He wanted to cover it up and bring Xander back, but it was too late, Xander, who was already well known due to his time with the Purity, became a thief in the eyes of the people.

Alexandros waited three and a half long years until finally, his grandson returned back to the Sacrosanct. Wulfric enters Alexandros’s office much the same way he had entered his brother’s all those years before.

Wulfric kneels as he delivers his report, “The one who branded himself Xander has returned”.

Alexandros stands from his chair, realizing he once again has a chance to right a great wrong, “What news do you have of him, Wulfric?”

Wulfric stands before explaining the circumstances, “A subordinate of mine, one that was once acquainted with him while he was a part of the church, was visited by him and a blonde woman who we have identified as the leader of the Silent Brotherhood, an organization residing in the desert”.

“Yes, yes I know of them. So he has spent his time in the desert since his ousting, that’s good now that he is well acquainted with the geography, he will be able to utilize that when he becomes king,” Alexandros starts to think to himself out loud.

“King?” Wulfric questions, out of the loop when it comes to knowing Alexandros and Xander’s relationship.

“Yes, you have not been informed of this but Alexander, who you know as Xander, is my grandson and as such he will become king once my time has passed,” Alexandros catches him up on things.

“No disrespect my liege, but Xander has been labeled a thief, the people won’t accept someone like him as their king,” Wulfric raises his concern.

“It was an incident years ago, and he is known to them as Xander, by the time he is king, he will be Alexander Augustus Athaulf, the people will forget as they always do,” Alexandros quells his doubts.

“Now tell me your subordinate’s entire report,” Alexandros requests, wanting to know more of why his grandson has returned.

“Yes, Xander and the Silent Brotherhood woman approached Juliana in her home. They attempted to appeal to her for information on the Purity to aid in their attempt to dismantle the church,” Wulfric informs him of the further details.

“What of the woman from the Silent Brotherhood, what else do we know of her?” Alexandros inquires.

“She recently took over the mantle of leadership from her father, and her dead mother is from here, she was that Kinneck girl that fled around the same time as your son,” Wulfric gives him the particulars of Gwendolyn’s lineage.

“Yes, I remember her, I’ve had many conversations with the Kinnecks about our shared disappointment,” Alexandros notes, recalling his usual dinners with some of the other noble folk within the empire.

“Did your subordinate determine the relationship between her and Alexander?” Alexandros asks, already having his suspensions.

“She did not confirm anything, but she believes them to be a couple,” Wulfric explains, remembering that part in the report.

“I see, it is a shame, she cannot be allowed to be his queen. The bloodline has already been diluted enough by that mountain whore I cannot allow desert blood to sully it further,” Alexandros reasons, not able to perpetuate hate towards outsiders if their leader appears to be one of them.

“My subordinate set up a meeting with them in the central city square tomorrow. We are setting up a team to have them captured as we speak,” Wulfric bluntly explains his last piece of information.

“Yes, very good. Make sure to capture the Silent Brotherhood woman as well, it will be easier to bend him to our will if she is in our clutches,” Alexandros plots.

“It will be done my liege,” Wulfric bows before taking his leave.

The next day Wuflric returns to inform Alexandros of the results of their mission. Alexandros stands when he sees the sour-faced man enter, keen to know the results.

“We were able to capture the boy sir, but the Silent Brotherhood woman was able to evade us due to circumstances we were unable to foresee,” Wulfric braces himself, expecting to be chastised.

“What were these circumstances?” Alexandros asks sternly, moderately annoyed by this development.

“Two things, the lesser being the involvement of a man from the desert named Drakthar, but mainly we failed to capture her because your grandson is more adept at wielding the Scientist’s technology than we could have anticipated. Unlike the rest of us, he is able to use his abilities twice within the usual range, whereas we can only use them once. Utilizing this, he was able to get the woman to safety,” Wulfric recaps his failures, readying himself for the consequences.

“This is fine, the woman was just an added bonus. We got what we wanted, Alexander is all that matters,” Alexandros sets him at ease.

“Thank you my liege… but I must warn you the boy, he’s a smartass,” Wulfric comments, giving his impression from his single interaction with Xander since he’s been back.

“All Athaulf men are. Have him sit for now; I need to think carefully about how I am to approach him,” Alexandros states, beginning to plan out how he will get Xander to take his rightful place by his side.