Valamar was in the stables getting his travel mount Hoda ready for the march to Hutalaut. It was early in the morning when he had earlier along with his wife accompanied his parents to see off most of the royal guests. His wife's parents had set off to return to Florentia the day before. The Aurosian Imperial Family, the Slavic Royal House, as well as the Germanic Royals had also set off in the morning.

It came as a surprise to him when he saw his sister Valerie also leaving with her newly betrothed to see the Kingdom of Germania and Germania City. It came to no surprise to Valamar that his father was a little reluctant on sending his youngest daughter and child away from the palace, however, the Princess Valerie was nothing if not headstrong and she eventually got her way. Vera was also very protective of her sister, mincing no words of threat to Prince Albert if anything were to happen to Valerie.

Valamar looked to his surroundings as he saw Vald and Valantine were also getting their mounts ready. Cassandra along with the other ladies who were participating in the campaign had already rode out to the main gates. Cassandra herself had to welcome the arrival of her cavalry-company, 'the Violet Wolves' as they are called, named after their armor with helmets that resemble the fearsome heads of wolves as well as the violet cloaks they wear which were the colours of the Florentinian Union, a testament to the immense wealth of said country to be able to afford such an expensive colour.

"Well, I never expected to be facing a campaign this soon..." A young man beside Valamar said as he got up on his horse. The man looked young, with a regular if a little muscular build. He was clean shaven and pleasant to look at though a little peculiar in that he wore a black eye-patch over his left eye.

"Well, it seems glory awaits us, cousin." Valamar answered the man.

The young man was Christopher John Hasiholan York-Caster, the eldest son of King John VII and the heir to the Aerlish throne.

"Aye, glory... You know I came here expecting to be betrothed to your sister. But it looks as if my father has other plans."

"I heard your father and King Geirhard had agreed to betroth you to the Princess Hildegarde von Coburg, said to be the most beautiful woman in all of Ayros..." Valamar said as he too got up his horse and began riding along with the rest out of the stables and to the main gates "...well, next to my dear wife that is. If you ask me, that's leagues better than my sister."

Christopher only chuckled at the musings of his cousin as they rode out together with Valantine and Vald in tow.

"I suppose I should be grateful." Christopher said “I personally prefer the wiles of an older-...”

Valamar had raised an eyebrow as Christopher began his line of reasoning with a smirk.

“I uh… Nevermind, your Highness.” Christopher chuckled as he shook his head to shrug it off.

The four rode out to the main gates along with a company of soldiers and cavalrymen carrying many colorful banners symbolising Aerland and Rumasil. A tiger with golden fur and black stripes holding a sword with a gold crown on top of a red and yellow background signified the Valamen Royal Dynasty while an eagle on a red background with a white x-shaped cross signified Aerland. The foot soldiers also flew the national colours of Aerland and Rumasil as they rode.

“Sai tiop ma tanganku sai togu au! (Lord hold my hands as always, and be my strength!) Paima tos hosangku, ramoti au! (Until I breathe my last, Lord, please be my shield!)” The Rumasilian soldiers sang a hymn as they marched with strength and resolve “Dang olo au mardalan, sasada au! (I will not walk alone without Thee, Lord!) Sai Ho ma ale Tuhan, manogu au! (My everlasting strength, Lord, my God thou art!)”

Many children were running along in awe at the sight of the soldiers' grandeur. The people also flocked to see them off, mostly women and children, as they sang along the hymn with the soldiers to strengthen the soldiers' resolve. Many women were also crying as they waved what might be a last goodbye to their sons, brothers, and husbands who were going off to war. Valamar never liked writing the letters telling wives that they've lost their husbands or mothers that they've lost their sons. Such was the grim reality of war.

Valamar himself felt lucky he was able to go with his wife, though that in itself would pose quite a few problems in regards to safety. He found himself thinking of his own mother and how she must feel. She might lose both her sons, daughter, and her husband in this campaign. Valamar only shook his head off of such thoughts.

Valantine kept on looking at Christopher with a puzzled expression which made him uneasy.

"Is there something on my face, Lord Valantine?" John asked finally addressing the stares he's been getting "You seem to be bothered by something."

"Why are you wearing that over your eye?" Valantine asked about Christopher's eye-patch "Is your eye wounded or something?"

"It was slightly damaged in a battle with some pirates a few months back, but fortunately, it's made a recovery."

"Then why do you keep wearing it?"

"Because it looks awesome and intimidating?" Christopher said which made the others laugh

"Well, I can see your point." Vald said after recomposing himself "I honestly thought you were a thug hired by the Aerlish king when I first saw you."

"Hahahah... I've never heard that one before. But I was only joking with you. In reality, I've worn this thing for quite a while."

Christopher then opened the eyepatch and showed his cousins there his eye. They were surprised and bewildered as they saw the colour of his eye being different from his other blue one. The iris appeared to be of a very acute amber colour and felt as if it had a shine to it. When he closed his eyepatch again, the others looked as if they had been snapped out of a trance.

"Your eye colour... It looks like grandmother's..." Valamar said as he noticed Christopher's eyes were identical to his maternal grandmother's, the Empress Rena.

"Aye. I have a Razyan eye." Christopher said "The peculiar thing is, I'm not related by blood to her Imperial Majesty as you two are. As far as I'm concerned, I have no Razyan or even non-human ancestry to speak of... at least that I know of."

"Did you take this up with Empress Rena herself?" Vald asked

"Oh yes, my mother brought me to see the Empress when we were at the wedding. Suffice to say, she was as surprised as you were when she saw the eye. The only thing that she could remember that could possibly contribute to this was a cousin of hers that eloped with a human a thousand years back. Apparently, that cousin of hers might've been the basis of the 'Angel Prince' fairy tale all Aerlish-folk have heard where a winged prince from a far off land came to Aerland and fell in love with a princess. Supposedly that is where the York-Caster house descended from, but I've always been skeptical of the story, thinking it was only a propaganda tale for my house to claim legitimacy. I was surprised when I found out there was truth in the tale."

"Sometimes I forget our grandmother is quite literally an ancient relic." Valamar said "But anyways, does that eye have any special abilities as I know that Razyans do have such attributes?"

"As you would expect of a Razyan eye. I can see farther and better than most. I can see clearly in the dark. And this eye also has a peculiar power as well."

"What is it?"

"I can read your minds."

"Really?!" Valantine asked a little excited

"Sadly no, I was just joking with you, mate." Christopher said again "I can only see bits and pieces of someone's past. Your grandmother said that some Razyan have special abilities like that and I most likely inherited said ability."

"You say that like it's the most normal thing ever to you." Valamar said

"Well, I was born with this. And trust me, it gave me plenty of weird dreams and nightmares. When I was little, I would be stressed out by this, hence the eye-patch. Fortunately I have been able to control it a bit. Want me to try?"

"Try it on me." Valantine said with a little excitement

"Alright. You asked for it." As Christopher said that, he opened his eyepatch and shifted it to close his other eye and focused onto Valantine as his eye started to glow marvelously.

"This looks interesting..." Valamar said as their horses continued to ride on

"...I can only see certain bits and pieces, so bear with me here." Christopher said "...hmm..."

"What do you see?" Valantine asked

"I see... a... girl?... She doesn't look like your average person... She looks like a moslem girl. Pretty one, I'll give you that... She is looking at you with a sweet expression... you're caressing her hair and she's laughing, though something's odd... it looks like you're somewhere... on a bed! And she's... oh dear me." Christopher began to blush and smile sheepishly

"Alright, alright! That's enough!" Valantine said as he acted suspiciously while waving his arms around, quickly making Christopher stop seeing into his memories and quickly putting back his eyepatch on his Razyan eye.

Valantine then looked to his cousins who only stared back at him with a mixture of a shocked, surprised, and teasing expression.

"Did he just see what I think he saw?" Valamar said in an excited voice

"Oh, you did not just do that Bang Antin..." Vald said as he shook his head at Valantine

"Shut up! It's not what you think it is! It's..." Valantine started to panic as his voice heightened slightly

"Wait 'till his majesty finds out about this. We're gonna be having a second marriage on our hands soon, boys." Valamar said as he immediately quickened his pace towards the main gates

"Now, you wait there, Valamar!" Valantine said frantically, chasing after Valamar

Vald and Christopher only laughed as they quickened their pace along with the soldiers there.

***

At the main gates, a great number of soldiers were already lined up preparing for the march. Valamar had arrived first as he reached the gates before the others. When he entered the gatehouse, he could see his father conversing with his uncles.

He also spotted Vera inspecting the lines of a regiment of female soldiers with Amara next to her. From afar he could also spot his wife in armor speaking with a group of soldiers with wolf helmets and purple cloaks. That must be her Violet Wolves.

Valasaire immediately spotted his son and waved at him to come over. Valamar galloped to his father's side in compliance.

"Ah, I see you've made it. We will be marching off to Hutalaut shortly..." King Valasaire said

"Where is my son and the others?" King John said as he noticed Valamar had entered alone

All of a sudden, a worried Valantine galloped into the gatehouse along with Christopher and Vald in tow. Valantine had ridden as if escaping the chase of demons.

"Your majesty!!" Valantine shouted "Whatever Valamar told you is a lie and not true! I repeat, it did not happen! And only making things up!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Uda (Younger uncle)?" King Valasaire said with a confused expression "Did you wake up on the wrong side of bed today? Valamar hasn't told me a thing."

Valasaire immediately looked to Valamar with a raised eyebrow.

"What the hell happened?" Valasaire asked his son

Valantine only lowered his head, trying to accept the fact that he might be forced to come clean of his relationship with Amara but when he was about to come clean, all of a sudden Valamar said,

"I accidentally saw him barf in a well. It looks like he's been hitting the tuak a little too hard last night, father."

"Goddamn it, boys. What are you, eight?" Valasaire said with a slightly annoyed tone "Uda Valantine, inspect your regiment quickly, we're about to head out. Same goes for you, Valamar. Your wife has done her counting. Florentia provides us with two thousand of their VIolet Wolves. We have an estimate of about five thousand of our own men here ready to march, and more have already made their way to Hutalaut from the other cities. We'll be leaving after some final preparations!"

As Valasaire said that, he turned his attention back to the senior generals there as Valamar and the rest made their ways to inspect their troops.

After about half an hour, most of the soldiers had already lined up in front of the city, ready to make their march. Valasaire had stood on the front of the army as he gave the signal to a soldier beside him who nodded and immediately blew a horn which signaled for the army to begin their march.

As they were marching, Valasaire started singing hymns which were followed by the soldiers while marching in line. Singing has always been a tradition for Rumasilians, and the military was no exception. Song is useful to lift up spirits and the soldiers sang heartily following their King.

"O Debata sangap do Ho! (How great Thou art, How great Thou art!)" they sang

“O Debata, tung longang do rohangku, molo hubereng na tinompaMi! ( Oh Lord My God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hand has made.)” Valasaire started off with his solo baritone voice which somehow reverberated amongst the crowd of soldiers “Saluhut bintang hilap dohot ronggur manghatindakkon hansangaponMi! (I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder! Thy power throughout the universe displayed!)”

And soon after, the entire Rumasilian army responded in a loud reverberating chorus as each section of the army had spontaneously divided itself into singing bass, tenor, and alto to form a massive choir.

“Marende au Tuhan mamuji Ho! O Debata, sangap do Ho! (Then sings my soul, my saviour, God to Thee! How Great Thou art, how great Thou art!)” The soldiers sang.

Cassandra greatly enjoyed the spectacle and her sense of hearing appreciated the beautiful voices of the Rumasilian army as well. The hymns did well to strengthen the soldiers as they marched.