A turn has passed

In the heart of the Drummend Empire, stood a beautiful palace occupied by the royal family of King Irvin. Currently at the peak of the hierarchy, King Gurdrick Irvin; The Wise King of Drummend was sitting on the throne in the main hall of the palace surrounded by his trusted advisors. Unbeknown to his advisors, he currently formulating numerous outcomes from the current situation that he’s being presented with. Even though he is currently in his mid-forties, his face has not shown any obvious sign of aging that could compromise his position as the king of the empire. Streaks of white hair perfectly positioned themselves at the side of his head creating him an aura of intimidation and supremacy perfecting his title as the Wise King of Drummend.

“Your majesty, all of the preparations have already set. The only thing we need to do is waiting for your orders.” The knight kneeled as he addressed King Irvin. Clad in enchanted steel armour, Bahrut was ordered by the king yesterday to handpick several of his finest man and lead them to accompany a certain carriage travelling to Amarath Kingdom. As one of the influential five generals of the Drummend, Bahrut the Axe abide the Wise King instructions and prepared 13 of his finest knights and paladins for the task that has been decreed upon his squad.

King Irvin, a true believer in aristocracy reign as the true patriarch of the Drummend Empire. He believe in creating different opposing factions aside from his in order to maintain an order of self-evaluation in his ruling. Like the proverb said; keep your friends close but keep your enemy closer. Closing his eyes for a moment, he reminisced his ascension to the Drummend throne two decades ago after the death of his father; King Marcus IV Irvin.

“I rather die and chop into pieces than letting the Drummend Empire fall,” the young king declare to himself when he rose into power. He managed to stop the chatters and provocations done by the noble faction concerning his ability to lead the nation with his triumph in halting the advance of the Nerissa Kingdom Invasion. Nerissa Kingdom; a nation based of military supremacy had launched a full scale invasion and declaring war to numerous kingdoms and empires in the continent under the pretence to unite the humans’ nation into one single flag. King Irvin managed to quell the invasion by using his vast information network that spied and sabotaged from within the invading kingdom and ultimately confronting and crushing Nerissa’s vast army by leading his impenetrable army in the battlefield. This war has lead into signing of a peace treaty between the two countries which more favourable towards the Drummend Empire as the victor of the aforementioned war.

Aside from that, the introduction of the new trade system by the king following the empire’s need for raw materials had brought along a wave of prosperity throughout the empire. The introduction of a fixed rate of materials’ price had unsettled the merchants in the beginning and stirred a commotion among both of the nobles and royal factions alike. Some even doubted King Irvin’s innovation and labelled him as a mad man that will bring forth the downfall of the empire. However, after a few short years, the fixed pricing introduced had attracted neighbouring kingdoms’ interest and waves of trade envoys began to pour into the empire bringing trade opportunities and materials for sustenance of the empire. As predicted, commerce bloomed rapidly and Drummend Empire had become the focal point for merchants and traders from all over the continent.

King Irvin is not only held high by the Drummend citizen after his numerous successes in both commerce and military prowess but he also managed to charm even the opposing nobles’ faction and influencing them to join the royal faction. Bards and minstrels all around the empire was singing and circulating the heroic tales of the young king that bring forth light and prosperity to the empire.

“I see. Then, Bahrut, please stand by at the entrance and Merianne please call for the prince.”

As instructed, Bahrut ready himself with his squad after excusing himself in front of the king. One of the servants, Merianne excused herself and disappear through one of the palace large doors. A few moments later, Merianne returned to the chamber with a young kid walking by her side. Judging based on appearance, the kid was wearing an attire that fit for royalty. His handsome figure was perfected by his short auburn hair and an aura of importance wafts and enveloping the kid.

“Well, Faris, I hope you are prepared for the trip. I heard that the trip will be taking one whole day,” the king spoke as the young prince entered the main chamber. His face clearly painted with a smirk teasing his only heir for Faris first trip outside the empire. Despite his calm and teasing countenance, King Gurdrick also harboured a hinge of uneasiness in letting his son travelled to Amarath.

“Yes, father. I can’t wait to travel to Amarath. I heard that Amarath Kingdom are holding a large festival at the end of Rjutal.” Replied the young prince full of vigour. Apparently, contradict to his father assumption, he was really excited with his trip to Amarath.

“Okay….”Said Gurdrick in reply to his son enthusiast answer. He raises from the majestic throne and walks towards Faris. Without hesitation, upon confronting Faris, he hugged his son before watching the later leave for the trip.

“Be careful out there. Just remember that you can send me a letter every month. Last but not least, “Strength in Principle”.”

The king gave his last reminder to his son. The hall parted as each occupants of the great hall accompany the king in giving a final parting wave towards his son. The entirety of the hall wish and pray to the gods for the prince safety and well-being.

“Please forgive me your majesty. May I inquire why did you send the royal prince to Amarath?” Lord Sweiss Galahard, King Irvin’s right hand man asked the king about his decision to send Prince Faris abroad. Even though his position signified his servitude and loyalty as well as the time he spent with the royal family especially King Irvin, he cannot grasp the train of thoughts running in the Wise King’s mind. He tried several times and utterly devastated by the short sightedness of his way of thinking.

“Well my old friend, how long have we’ve been together? 30-40 years? And I’m still amazed that you still couldn’t read the initiatives that I took by sending my son to Amarath.” The king smile for his advisor and best friend. It is uncommon for the king took in his family or close friends to be his advisor however King Irvin unlike many others have considered Sweiss as the best candidate for his right hand man. Sweiss; a man well versed with the politics among the factions and a familiar face among merchants and traders was elected among numerous nobles due to his competency, secrecy and efficiency. Sweiss was always beside him whether in implementation of new ideas in the empire or marching towards the battlefield decimating empire’s enemies.

“As you know….” King Irvin continued before halting abruptly staring at a document he picked among the pile of documents arranged neatly on top of his hand carved desk. He seems have lost himself deep in thoughts. It is rather comical but familiar to the scene Sweiss quickly tap on the table and urged the king to further explain his ideas.

“Your majesty!!”

“Yes!! I’m sorry. It seems the local sanitation unit is broken and we have to fix it as soon as possible.”

“What about the prince? I mean what is the plan?”

“Well, as you know, Faris has awoken his magic tendency a few months ago.” Gurdrick still remembered the day as clear as day. During that faithful day, Gurdrick, some of his advisors and the royal prince was having a group of delegates from a trade point city of Earstein; located south from Drummend. Faris as the royal prince has excused himself and turned in for the night as he had an early swordsmanship class the next day. Faris, 7 turns this year had been numerously invited to meetings and discussions by the king to familiarise the young prince on how to manage a blooming empire. Faris on the other hand exudes the amount of maturity rivalling a young adult often being tease as a precocious brat by the king. Being surrounded by advisors, administrators and warriors of the Drummend Empire, Faris gained an insatiable thirst for knowledge and often pestered Lord Sweiss with questions on everything.

On that day, after the meeting had concluded, King Irvin had the urge to visit his son’s chamber. He felt something was wrong and his gut’s feeling has always hit the mark concerning most matter. As he left Lord Sweiss and wished the later good night, he walked briskly towards his son. The room is on the left wing of the palace and pass the enormous indoor garden created in honour of his late wife. Suddenly, the wind started to pick up pace and the breeze easily turn to gust. Surprised, he quicken his pace towards his son’s room. Questions started pouring inside his clouded mind. Much to his surprise, as the distance to the room grew shorter the wind now roaring to a constant gale.

Gathering the last of his strength, King Irvin peeked into his son’s chamber only to be surprised by the sight of Faris floating above his bed. Enveloped by the strong wind like a wind chain mail, Faris exudes brilliant sparks from the tip of his fingers that illuminated the dark room with eerie light works. The Wise King lurched and bewildered by the sight displayed in front of him. His thoughts halted and failed him in conjuring ways to save his son from what it seems the center of a natural disaster. After what it seems to be an eternity, the wind stopped suddenly returning the room into its original state; pitch black with extinguished lantern and grave silent with occasional blow of wind. Slumped near the door was the king, dumbfounded and stumped.

Regaining his composure, King Irvin rushed to his son’s side and checked the vital of his precious son. Everything seemed normal however he could faintly heard the sound of heavy thumping from the dark room. Apparently the king’s own heart was still pounding heavily from the previous event. Slowly, he shook the prince in order to wake the later up.

“Hmmm…huh…who is it? Father? What are you doing here?” Alarmed, Faris sat up quickly just to adjust his view upon his father worried face.

“What is it?” He continued asking his father who remain speechless in the dark room.

“Yes, indeed your majesty. The whole advisors was immediately ordered to gather at the royal palace that night but what I want to know is why do we need to send the prince to Amarath? We have one of the best magic academy here in Drummend; Mawra Magic Academy and the headmaster of the institute, the Sane Veng Hau is one of the nine powerful mages in the continent.” Like a broken record, Lord Sweiss repeat his question for the third time to the king.

“Well my friend, you are right about everything. We do have one of the best magic academy in the continent however it is not the best. Mawra Magic Academy pales in comparison with Amarath School of Divinity. In the country of sorcerers and high wizards, one true talent as a mage can fully be explored and cultivated. Don’t you agree? Plus, wouldn’t you want the next successor of the throne to be train as a great mage which greatly will secure Faris position among the nobles?” Replied King Irvin revealing his plans and future predictions to his best friend.

“Also, it seems that the royal princess of the Amarath Kingdom; Princess Keera Sirvin also currently attending the same magic institute as the prince. My information network confirmed this just before I enrolled Faris into the institute. Let’s just say that the princess and the prince were to be engaged, wouldn’t Drummend Empire will gain most benefits from such unification?” Continued Gurdrick with sheepish smile towards Lord Sweiss.

Upon the revelation of the king’s plan, Lord Sweiss just amazed with the king’s detail plan. A smile slowly decorating the lord’s face as he fully understand the king’s plan. His heart once again gripped with a sense of awe towards the king as well as an overwhelm feeling of anticipation for the future events.

Thank you