The Union

When he convinced the others to defect to King Leopold? When he proposed they capture Lucia Vanadis? When he failed to persuade the other Magistrates to just ignore the Castonian civil war?

No, he decided. Everything went wrong from the start. Those two- King Timothy and Queen Luci were born for greatness. Even without his intervention they would have broken the balance of power anyway.

Chen sheathed his hand into his sleeve and pulled out a vial. It was a small gla.s.s vial filled with a silver liquid.

The Wismarines called it Silver Moon after its silvery appearance. They say the poison was tasteless, odorless and painless. Good, he thought. He doesn"t want his last moments to be that of agony.

Chen popped the tiny cork open. He swirled the liquid in the vial, it"s silver hue made it look appetizing.

Once more he turned his eyes to the Castonians. There were so many of them that he didn"t bother making an estimate of their numbers. As far as he knew, they will soon trample what was left of their forces.

The Castonian Cavalry were already positioned behind them, ready for a flanking maneuver. The people around Chen were shaking. Many of those at the front lines had routed-only to find that there was nowhere to go.

Honor demands that Chen drink the poison and enter his eternal sleep. He failed and the price for failure was death. Now the world will be engulfed in war.

Power corrupts. That was Chen"s philosophy in life. Power makes a person mad. He had seen many fall evil because of power- merchants, aristocrats, n.o.bles, Kings. They were all fine people at first, but they turned evil after tasting power.

The powerful oppresses the weak. That was the natural order of things and even animals know that. That"s why he wanted power to be shared. If every person in the world had the same level of power, then there will be peace and none will be oppressed. Timothy and Lucia would surely fall into corruption soon. The two will oppress the other Kingdoms. He didn"t want to live and see them do that.

Chen lifted the vial into his lips. But when he was about to pour the liquid into his mouth, he stopped. A thought came fleeting through his mind.

But what if he was wrong? What if Timothy and Lucia were different?

If that was the case then that would be interesting. His beliefs about power would be wrong but he would be happy to be wrong. Chen then decided to give Timothy and Lucia a chance to prove him wrong.

His honor requests for death but his curiosity prompted him to keep on living.

He was curious of the future. He wanted to see it.

He threw the vial. The gla.s.s broke, spilling its contents on the ground. He will not die today.

"Drop your weapons!" he shouted to his men.

"We will surrender. We lost" he said while unfastening his breastplate. The heavy thing dropped on the ground.

The flag of the republic was lowered and his men dropped their weapons. It was a defeat- the first defeat of the Republic of Inkit in a decade.

Skall and Sachi also did the same. In fact they surrendered first, lowering their respective flags.

Chen failed and Timothy won. But at least he will live to see if people like Timothy and Lucia, who were blessed with strength, could indeed deflect the corruption power brings.

**********

The sun was already at its setting direction. The day was more than half spent. But there was still enough sunlight left for this event.

Timothy was standing on a hill with his boots brushing against the gra.s.sy ground. It was the same hill Lucia where was crowned. It was not a big hill, only big enough to draw out the importance of whoever was above.

With his b.u.t.toned white coat, he must have looked nice. He doesn"t know. Lucia said that he looked good before he came here. To be honest, he doesn"t really care. What he cared about were the thousands of eyes fixed on him.

He looked to the right. The Rooster legion"s flag met him with its proud fluttering. General Marvin gave Timothy a kind smile as if congratulating him for this great day. The men of the Rooster Legion stood like immovable rocks. He felt proud of them. They were his finest.

A little to the left were Steelsword and Dawn. Two legions led by two generals with different personalities. General Hoover and General Bourgis nodded at him, giving their support.

An old wrinkly man dressed in a fine silk robe ornamented with rubies walked towards Timothy. His steps were slow and short. His movements were firm. The man was the very image of a King.

It was his father- King Leopold. Just this morning he was Timothy"s enemy. But now he was walking towards him with a smile.

His father stopped just a few paces from him. King Leopold"s hair was swaying in the wind. His old eyes were fixed on Timothy.

"You look nice. Did the Queen prepare your clothes for you?" his father asked

"Yes. She said that white symbolizes peace and unity. Also the lion in our flag was white. She wants me to be the personification of that lion"

"Smart. When I was crowned, I wore a deep blue long-sleeved shirt"

"A shirt?" Timothy asked confusedly.

"Don"t ask why" King Leopold grinned "I was going through a phase that time"

Timothy stifled his laughter. "Well if I ever go through that same phase at least I have her to pull me back to my senses"

"Good for you" King Leopold said, still grinning. He then straightened his posture "So, shall we begin?"

Timothy nodded. "We shouldn"t make thousands of people wait for a long time, should we?"

He then knelt. The dry but cold gra.s.s p.r.i.c.ked his knees.

Timothy lowered his head. He was reminded when he was crowned as the King of Western Castonia. The people supported him then, and they still support him now.

King Leopold took the crown off his head and hovered it above Timothy"s head.

"Timothy Castonia" he shouted as loud as he could. His old voice spread thinly in the wind. "I, Leopold Castonia of the royal blood of Castonia, abdicates my crown to you. With the Omniscient as my witness and the people as judge, let all men know that beginning today you are the King of all Castonia. All hail the King and long may he reign!"

The crown was placed on top of Timothy"s head. He lifted his head and rose. Booming cheers erupted, shaking the atmosphere around him. The soldiers, especially the Castonians, raised their weapons in the air.

Now the civil war was finally over. Castonia had been united once more. One King, one Castonia.

Timothy nodded at his father, giving his thanks. The old man, who looked different who looked different without the crown on his head, smiled at Timothy.

With his hands tugged behind, Timothy turned his head to look for Lucia. He saw her on the foot of the hill standing next to her father and Arthur. They locked eyes. When he first met her, both of them were not even heirs. But now the two of them were the monarchs of their Kingdoms.

He smiled at her and she smiled back. Now that Castonia is out of the civil war, there was only one thing left for them to do- destroy the fake knight.

**********

Luther was clenching his sweaty hands while watching the monster being crowned. The monster was already a King before, but this crowning confirmed his authority over all of Castonia.

Timothy Castonia yet again escaped a difficult situation. And not just that- he came out stronger. He was truly a monster.

"What should we do Prefect?" Centurion Lyn asked in an unusually courteous manner.

Luther looked down and fiddled with the reins of his horse.

"We should tell General Rickard about this"

"And after that?"

"I don"t know" Luther shook his head "I could only hope the General could think of something. Retreat to Knightsend maybe?"

"I dont think we could make a flawless retreat" Centurion Lyn said.

Luther bit his lips because Lyn was right. With the way those Knights were currently acting, there was no way for them to make a clean retreat.

"Let"s just go Centurion. We"ve seen enough. Let"s inform the General of this" Luther said as he gripped the reins and angled his horse towards their camp.