Rise: First Blood

Chapter 4: Upon The Starry Shield

The Central, Capital Lézandre. 63 AE

One could not miss the Primis Castle when visiting the heart of the Kingdom of Lézandre, The Central. Even the capital city itself could be distinguished enough by the contrast of its flourish and wealthy architectures compared to the smaller villages laid clustering around its inner Sirany Wall.

Let alone the castle that oversaw the vulnerable human kingdom.

With its pearl white walls topped with azure blue domes—where a star surrounded with four chevrons inside a shield waved gracefully in the cold Tarmiréan air. The Lézandre flag, dubbed Starry Shield had become the pride and the symbol for many generations since the great King Valentine expanded a small fishing village into a mighty kingdom.

But not everything was pretty when it came to politics. Inside the Sirany wall, the atmosphere was as filthy as the river Vanushki that once flowed across Valderimi. Corruption was the only key to lead a wealthy life in The Central. The citizens were only given two choices; to be as wealthy as the merchants in Myriél or to be as poor as the slaves in Féryanaine.

Most chose to become the former, fearing their lives would be meaningless if they were to be cast out by their own people. Such was life in The Central that every humans ought to be proud of.

Even going past the main golden gates which led into the second layer of the Sirany Wall fortifying the Primis Castle itself, things were very much the same. From the King to his royal families to the damned floor scrubber, all of them were filled with the stench of political corruption.

And that was where she was posted, straight into the madness.

Emilia was hoping for her duty to finish early. It was a mistake sacrificing her precious bedtime for a front row watch; the weekly castle meeting between the ministers of the kingdom.

More like a pointless tongue fighting between them, she concluded based on the last time she was assigned here on the very same occasion. Emilia sighed under her steel masked helmet. She adjusted her white shoulder cape that was beginning to fall off—not letting her sight and her mind to be wandered off further.

"Focus, Dein!" a strong whisper from her captain who stood distinctively taller besides her, noticing her disgusted gesture coming out from her.

More than a stern warning, she thought.

Emilia caught a glimpse of her captain's posture, trying to guess if he too had the same idea that the ongoing debate was becoming relentless and pointless. But to her dismay, the man who she knew as Captain Gerald von Heldart stood still like a statue.

She took another glance. No, he was more like the painting that she saw upon arriving the Hall of Ministers. A knight in a shiny armor, with the flowing white cape covering most of his broad shoulder and his torso. She bet beneath the plates of Tyarian steel, laid a firm and rigid body—home to the scars of previous battles and assassination attempts.

Gerald nudged her with the edge of his shield. "By the gods, can you focus on the watch?" this time his whisper came out a bit stronger.

"S—sorry sir," Emilia straightened her face, not wanting another whisper that could end her career.

Again she forgot one thing about her captain; his devotion towards his job. Gerald had the natural talent for it. He knew the layout of the castle in and out, every nooks and crannies, every windows and their sizes and even the underground levels right to the flow of the sewage pipes beneath it.

Emilia had always admired him, like she admired the man who was sitting across the meeting table in front of her. The reason why she insisted Gerald to let her accompany him in the Hall of Ministers. Her hero forever; Robert Dein.