23 THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE

"Evacuate the empire! Hurry up!" a Kydus knight said as he was fighting his own comrade, however, it wasn't his usual self, his eyes had a red glow inside it, his skin turned to a pale violet and his strength was three times stronger than it was before.

"Crap, the blows are heavy, I would be finished if I get hit by one of that" he looked at his other comrades that were still sane fighting against their crazed comrades.

"To think that even us - the strongest order of Kydus could hardly do anything but to stall time for our emperor to escape tch, this is horrible, they don't show any signs of stopping no matter how much we cut them!"

Swords hit each other, the crazed knights attacked relentlessly however the sane ones stood their ground, they were the emperors royal guards, the cream of the top.

It all started when the emperor ordered the capture of the prince Glanus, when the guards were on their way to put him in his cell a sudden outburst of negative energy colored in pitch-black aura covered the crazed prince.

The guards were the part of the highest order of knights of the Empire of Kydus, they immediately let go of the prince and started to chant, sealing light magic, knowing that the prince was engulfed of black magic.

The four guards immediately stood back, knelt with one leg while their sword pierced the ground.

"Mundos sacratos lumos let the angels hear the call to defeat the fallen! Aura of Cleaning!"

Together they chanted and lights shone from the magic stone in their swords, and it converged into one ray of light, the light enveloped the prince and an outburst of it strikes him. The prince screamed and his voice gradually became different turning into a deeper and deeper voice as he was screaming from the pain.

When the light magic disappeared, large smoke covered the area where the prince suffered the blow. Thinking that the prince has already been defeated a knight went closer to him. However as he couldn't see the prince anywhere.

As he moved his eyes through the area, a hand came from the smoke immediately reaching to the knight's helmet, he was startled at first but he realized that his helmet was made from the strongest metal in Kydus, he raised his sword in order to cut the prince's hand, however, before he could do anything, the hand was so strong that it crushed the helmet together with the knights head like a tomato being crushed and its juices spilling out.

Blood scattered everywhere and the knight's dead body fell to the ground in a thud, the three other knight guards that were watching was startled and tried to cast another spell. However it was too late, an immense black aura enveloped the dead body, making it pale violet, it rushed to them with a sword on its hand, two of the knights had time to raise their shield to defend themselves, however, the slash was too heavy, the strength of the dead body was times higher than when it was alive, the sword broke the shields and the second swing killed two of the knight guards, the black aura enveloped them and turned them to the same state as the dead body was as if it was possessed.

And with this chaos spread within the castle, with knights fighting against their own comrades dead and controlled.

Some of the sane knights fought to fend off the numerous corpses that are attacking who are stronger than them in order to give time for the emperor to escape.

"Close the gates immediately!" shouted a person who guarded the secret chamber of the emperor, where a safe route existed.

"To think that there would come a day that I would be using this escape route" he deeply sighed, as the knights locked him in the chamber.

The emperor with a lamp on his hand, went through a secret door where a staircase existed.

"Glanus, whoever did this to you I will cut their heads and feed their bodies to the pigs! Just wait for me my son" he declared and disappeared into the path.

When the emperor reached the surface, he was on the wilderness, his youngest daughter Larierara was already waiting for him together with an army of 20,000 strong.

'Father, I've heard from the soldiers, I will fight with you"

"No Rara, you musn't! I will take half of your forces in order to try and retake the castle"

"Then what should I do father?"

"Wait for me outside, if I do not come until the sun sets, bring as many people as you can and ride towards Ethareri, they should be able to help you there"

"Father we are the strongest army in the land, why should we back down?"

"THAT'S BECAUSE THE ENEMY RIGHT NOW IS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN'T DEFEAT! WE ARE WEAK!"

"What are you saying father?"

"The enemy right now is not human!"

"Then are they trolls? Goblins, whatever they are we can defeat them! Are you really the emperor who conquered four nations in his youth? Give me the command! I will do my best o eradicate the threat!" She put her hand in her chest bravely as if making an oath.

However the emperor just shook his head.

"No, they're not those weak trolls either… the conqueror you mentioned conquered nations, the enemy we are fighting now, at least in ancient scriptures have captured worlds!"

"Do you mean?"

"Yes, the race that according to the ancient scriptures had conquered the world of the dwarves and light elves"

"Yes, I have read of them in the library, but aren't they just hallucinations of our ancestors as mother have said?"

The emperor didn't answer anymore, and just shook his head.

Silence filled the tent where the emperor and his daughter stayed, with terrified looks on their face.

"Then father, you're gonna take on such a dangerous enemy, what if something happens to you? the Empire will fall!" the princess asked in a calm manner finally breaking the silence.

The emperor then patted her head and looked at her in the eyes,

"Listen Rara, there are scary things in this world, or maybe they reside on the other worlds, but Rara, you must remember that no matter what happens as an emperor, or whatever you will be doing in the future, as a leader you must take responsibility for the people you are leading, you must protect them no matter what it takes. And about me being the mightiest emperor you say?"

The emperor stood up from his seat, and faced his daughter.

"Being a conqueror doesn't just mean being strong enough to invade other nations, it also comes with a strong will to protect them when they come under your rule, you mustn't forget that Rara, if you're aiming to become someone like me in the future.

Strength is not the only power, that could rule this world, kindness could become a frightening power if used well"

"But aren't you scared father? An enemy who can control corpses, moreover we do not know anything about them except for the little details we have read in the scriptures"

"Didn't you had a clear look at my face when I came out of the secret escape tunnel?" The emperor let out a giggle.

"Yes father, it was horrible, doesn't suit you at all" the princesses relaxed her nerves and let out a similar giggle.

"Yes, I'm scared, definitely… scared, but just as I've said earlier, it's my responsibility to take care of my people, I must do whatever it takes"

"Then father, take the whole force! Just give me five knights to assist me"

The emperor shook his ahead in disapproval.

"No Rara, just as you've said earlier, in the worst case if something bad happens to me, forget about retaking back the castle, the whole empire will fall into ruin if they kill all of us.

If I succeed I will have the magic caster light the colors that you love at the sky, if not then do as I've said"

"Then… my colors are-" when she was about to tell her father her favorite colors the emperor put his index finger on his lips.

"No, the whole point of making a caster shoot those lights are for the case that the enemy might be able to control me, they may be able to control my mind, but I do hope that they won't be able to see through what's in my heart"

"But.. father"

"Rara, promise me, if something happens to me, do not go after me" the emperor held his daughter in his arms.

Tears started to flow from Rara's cheeks, as she knew that nothing could stop his father from doing what he wanted to do. In order to hide the pain of her father going away to a battle that will most probably kill himself she immediately wiped her tears and acted on her normal demeanor.

After the short deliberation the emperor's force marched to the southern gate, the gatekeepers immediately let them in, the princess' force waited outside of the gate, there was nothing unusual happening on the towns, however, everyone could feel an unusual ominous aura lurking within.

Sunset came, and the emperor and his forces weren't anywhere to be found. Rara grew more anxious.

"Your highness, I think we should do what the emperor wants us to, that is to evacuate as many people as we could, I don't know what the emperor meant by this, but we should trust his decision" Rara's chief knights suggested.

"Let's wait a little bit more" Rara still wished his father would successfully retake the throne without getting killed, she worried so much that it caused her great pain while waiting. His father wasn't just a mighty emperor, but he was also a great father to her and her siblings.

No screams of fighting could be heard from where they were waiting, as the castle was far away from the southern gate. When the sun had finished setting, suddenly balls of colorful lights flashed out of the sky, the knights and Rara could see it and were amazed, but only Rara could understand what it meant and happiness filled her heart that she would almost cry at the appearance of such lights, however, something was different, something was out of place.

"Those… aren't my favorite colors" she muttered.

"Your highness?" her chief knight asked wondering what the princess meant.

She remembered what her father said, and looked back at her army.

"My father would have known what my colors was," she muttered as her heart fell into despair.

Carle the chief of knights, with his experience could deduce what had happened to the emperor, and decided to not say a word.

"Everyone! Evacuate as many as people as possible! Your families your neighbors, bring everyone you could bring on carriages!"

"But what should we tell them your highness?" one of the knights asked her.

"Ahh that's rights, tell them the emperor has fallen and is being controlled by dark magic if should they stay here, what awaits them is to become food for the enemy!"

Fear struck everyone who heard the proclamation, they couldn't believe that the mightiest emperor has fallen, however the daughter herself said so, they believe in her.

"On me!" the princess unsheathed her rapier and pointed it forward to the gate.

"I will give you three hours to gather as many people as possible, if you do not come within that time, we will march ahead of you! Now… go!"

At that moment the force of 10,000 strong ran as fast as they could inside the gates to fetch their loved ones and evacuate the people.

The princess was left with her chief knight, she maintained her normal demeanor, with raging flame in her red eyes, and her silver-white hair that flew through her back, the aura she showed was as mighty as her father's.

"Father, this burden, I will carry it for you, someday, I will retake this empire and free you from the spell"

The chief knight Carle looked at her with awe.

"This is… the birth of an empress, Hadethius, you've raised your daughter well, I'm sure she'll be able to retake the empire soon, I'm sure of it" he thought. At his youth, before Hadethius became an emperor he was Carle's childhood friend, they grew up at the same time in the same village.

In the three hours, panic could be heard within the city as the news spread, some even fought and stole horses and carriages.

The force of 10,000 went back with the a large number of civilians.

"Your highness, some refused to go so we left them behind" a knight reported to her.

"That's fine, as long as you've told them, now let's march! Onto Ethareri!"