Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

Still standing stupefied, the Koschei siblings finally managed to overcome their initial shock, but were now trying desperately to arrange their disarrayed emotions, as they struggled whether they should feel frightened, impressed, angered, ashamed or a myriad of other feelings fighting for dominance in their shaken hearts.

But before they could do so, the doors of the Hyacinth Moon behind them suddenly swung open, and from it emerged six woman wearing the uniform of the inn, while closely trailing behind a tall woman draped in black clothes from head to toe, without revealing even a single inch of her skin, and yes even her eyes and face, which were covered by a golden mask of a crying woman, which reminded the siblings of the man they met in the Luminous capital.

But before they could travel further down the road of conjecture, they heard Hasdrubal exclaim "Oh! It seems today is just full of surprises, to think I would finally meet a member of the legendary Gold Masks today."

"Greetings lord Hasdrubal, my apologies for not welcoming you sooner." The masked woman responded in a serene yet emotionless tone, as she perfectly curtsied.

Shaking his hand in a dismissive way, as he apologetically replied "You don't have to apologize, if anything I should be the one to do it. After all, I'm pretty sure I just ruined your mission, am I right?"

"Of course not, my lord." The woman responded in the same tone, as she straitened her back and continued "Our orders were to merely keep an eye on them without interference, but if they continued sneaking around, we would have had to eventually intervene, you merely sped it up."

The siblings tightly clutched their hands until they almost bled, as anger and shame erupted from their eyes after hearing her words, which seemed to extenuate that they were nothing more than a couple of clueless children running around were they shouldn't have.

But what infuriated them even more was the fact that they couldn't find any words to refute her claims, since even they realized the futility of their own actions up until now, as they obliviously danced to the tunes of this newly crowned emperor, like two soulless marionettes, mindlessly moving to their captor's will.

"I see, that's good then." Hasdrubal said, as he felt slightly relieved from her words.

Finally turning to face the siblings, the masked woman stated "As for you two, I have already sent one of my subordinates to deliver a message to our superior, and they should soon send a squadron of Palace Guards to escort you to the royal palace, so I ask you to remain patient for now."

The siblings merely nodded to her, understanding that resistance was utterly futile by this point, and they might as well bend to the way the winds were blowing.

Besides, they also realized, much to their horror, that if the Bloody Emperor wanted to do them harm, he would've already done so and they would've been non the wiser, still trapped in their own delusions of secrecy.

This affected Leonid especially, as he once again felt like he couldn't defend his family despite all his powers, which in turn gave birth to a new spark of determination within him, a spark he would fully ignite when he once again met with the emperor of this land.

But before any of them could dive deeper into their thoughts, they all heard Hasdrubal's voice saying "There's no need for that, I'll escort them there myself."

Hearing his words, the masked lady felt it would be slightly inappropriate to do so, but she couldn't exactly say no to him, since despite Hasdrubal not being her boss and the one she reports to, he was still her superior in every other sense of the word, so she simply replied with the same voice she has held since the beginning "As you wish, my lord."

Hasdrubal nodded his head to her in acknowledgement, before turning around and beginning to leisurely walk in the opposite direction towards the palace, while being silently followed by the Koschei siblings.

The journey was an awkward one for the party of three, as they silently traveled together with each of them preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Thankfully though this pregnant silence between them finally popped with the awed sounds that escaped Anastasia's mouth, as she bore witness to the Imperial Palace of the Eclipse Empire.

Unlike Leonid and Hasdrubal, who were both renowned and mighty generals of two of the strongest nations in the world, especially Leonid who served the Luminous Empire which is famed for it's extravagance and splendor, Anastasia's life had been far more humble, having only experienced the quaint simplicity of a rural village in her childhood, and the extreme excess and perversity of a relatively high-end brothel in the Luminous Empire for the rest of her teenage years and early adulthood.

And although the red light district of Solis Luxuria was widely famed as the profane capitol of the world, Anastasia completely believed at this moment that even if you pooled all of it's wealth together and then sold it twice over for all it's worth, you still wouldn't be able to afford even a single tile from this gargantuan palace that towered high above them, as it seemed to radiate with an unspoken pressure of authority and regality, forcing all who entered it to marvel dazedly upon it's meticulous craftsmanship.

Sadly, Anastasia's feelings of wonder and reverence were quickly engulfed by fear and nervousness as they finally arrived before the gates of the throne room, and she began to mentally prepare herself, while trying desperately to ignore her suddenly wet palms, as well as the sound of her beating heart that seemed to be louder than usual.

Unfortunately for her though, before she could completely get a hold of her nerves, the doors before them opened as she held her breath in anticipation, and what she saw was the complete opposite of what she had envisioned.

The recent rumors around the infamous Bloody Emperor has led people to believe him to be a true monster inside and out, with scaly skin, reptilian eyes, long claws, sharp fangs with a pair of goat horns and a forked tongue to boot.

And although Anastasia wasn't foolish enough to believe such wild tales, she still thought he would be something a bit more sinister looking than this. Since the person sitting on the throne before her was barely more than a kid!

Yes, a kid with a very unique and oppressive air about him and frightening eyes, but a kid that's just about entered his adolescent years nonetheless.

Leonid and Hasdrubal quickly knelt when they were a few steps away from the staircase that led up to the throne, while Anastasia politely curtsied like the masked woman she met today, while desperately praying to all the gods she could think of that this was the correct etiquette a lady must perform when she is before the emperor.

"It's been a while, sir Leonid." Alexander lightly said.

"Indeed it has been, sire." Leonid responded.

Happy with the way Leonid has begun addressing him, Alexander jokingly asked "Did you enjoy your time in the capitol?"

Slightly flinching at his words, he awkwardly responded with the only words he could find "You have my deepest apologies, sire."

"There's no need to be so serious, if it truly bothered me you would've known." Alexander pleasantly said, which sounded like nothing less than a blatant threat to Leonid, whose better judgement seems to perish when his sister's safety is on the line.

And so he gathered all the bravery he could muster, as if he were about to plunge headlong into the enemy lines alone, as the spark of determination that had been ignited earlier today within him began to brightly burn, further fulling his courage and quickly saying "My liege, though this might be presumptuous of me, but I have a request."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Alexander curiously asked.

"I want your word that you will never do any harm to my sister." Leonid boldly said, as he raised his head to stare directly into Alexander's eyes, knowing full well that his words were not appropriate.

And even though Leonid knew that his request was foolish, since ethereal things like honor and morals held very little sway to men of such high position like Alexander, but Leonid still chose to put his trust in him, like he did when he helped him find his long lost sister.

After a few seconds of suffocating silence, were each breath one took felt like they've just swallowed a handful of razor blades, they heard Alexander respond calmly with a hint of disappointment "Wait, is that it?

Very well then, you have my word that neither I, nor any of my subordinates shall ever harm your sister."

"Huh?" Was all Leonid could muster as a response after hearing his words, not expecting it would be that easy.

"You seem confused." Alexander stated.

"Well...I...I just thought..." Leonid struggled to find the correct words.

"I am not in need of a useless pawn, Leonid Koschei." Alexander resolutely declared, as his once oppressive but restrained air around him exploded outwards, as if a once calm slumbering volcano suddenly erupted, but instead of spewing out infernal heat and ash, it unleashed a blizzard's haunting chill as everyone present felt their own blood abruptly freeze in their veins.

"I have no desire to own a soulless blade or a mindless puppet. Nor do I have any aspirations of keeping a vengeful slave by my side. I want a champion. A herald of death and carnage, who can swiftly enforce my will on all who dare defy it.

But most of all, I want a loyal knight who I can entrust my back to when the time is dire, and the wolves are at our door. Do you understand me, Leonid?"

Stunned by the profound and heartfelt words he'd just heard, Leonid simply lowered his head almost to the point of his noise touching the floor, as he contemplated his response for a few seconds, before calmly but powerfully saying "I swear to you my liege, and let all the gods and those present here today be my witness when I say that I shall meet your expectation without fail, or die in it's pursuit."

Despite Leonid's raspy and unpleasant voice as well as his short reply, an air of somber sanctity was unexpectedly formed between the two, one a mighty emperor and the other a roaming warrior with no place to call home.

Appreciating this remarkable scene before them, the people present here today decided to remain silent and simply bask in it's beauty, until it was suddenly and rudely shattered by the hearty laughter of non other than the Archpriest of the empire, lord Adam Sekhmet.

"Sorry, sorry." He repeated as he slowly calmed down, when he noticed all eyes were pointed at him questioningly, before he happily clarified with a smile that could only be described as jolly "It's just been such a long time since I've seen such resolve from such a young man."

He finished as his glowing green eyes burned even brighter, and blew a deep breath towards the siblings, who despite being several meters away still felt the wind brush by them, as a serene and peaceful energy enveloped them in it's embrace, giving them a cool and refreshing sensation, as if they were laying comfortingly on a cool summers day in an open field, surrounded by blooming flowers and covered by the sun's golden rays, especially around his throat and her face.