Scene: Orvanu Presidential Cabinet Emergency Session — President Levan Torell's POV
The room was in chaos.
Papers scattered. Tablets pinging with alerts. Voices clashing like knives. I had barely ended the call with Chris Blackwood when the cabinet exploded with arguments.
> "You spoke to him directly?" Foreign Minister Kesa shouted.
"He's a tyrant, not a diplomat!"
> "He's a conqueror," I corrected quietly. "And now the skies answer to him."
The Defense Chief, General Varric, slammed his hand on the table.
> "We cannot surrender just because he throws bombs on Delvaron. We are Orvanu — a nuclear state, with the third-largest cyber defense unit in the world."
> "And where will that pride be," the Finance Minister snapped back, "when our markets collapse? When trade freezes? When our satellites drop from the sky and B.A.M. troops patrol our coasts?"
I remained seated, eyes on the floor-to-ceiling screen displaying Delvaron's satellite feed.
It was... already over.
They didn't even last two days.
The capital was burning.
And the King?
He hadn't even touched the ground yet.
> "He wants us to kneel," I said, softly but clearly.
The room fell still.
> "And if we don't," I continued, "he flies east — which means here."
The silence was so loud I could hear the clock ticking in the corner.
> "So, what's the decision?" Kesa finally asked, staring at me.
I closed my eyes.
And I remembered the sound of his voice — steady, unbothered, final.
You think this is about trade? This is reminder.
I stood.
> "We bend now, or we burn next."
---
Cut To: War Carrier – Briefing Room
Amara's POV
I burst into the room, cloak still wet from the sky dust of Delvaron's fall.
> "You took the Orvanu call," I said, barely keeping my tone civil.
Chris didn't look up from the war map.
> "Yes."
> "You told them to kneel," I said again, approaching. "That was supposed to be my directive. My negotiation."
He finally looked at me. Calm. Controlled.
> "It wasn't a negotiation. It was a warning."
> "They were mine to handle," I said firmly.
He stood now, walking toward me with slow steps.
> "And you handled Delvaron beautifully," he said, eyes never leaving mine. "But this—Orvanu—this is where I return to the world. Where the King becomes legend again."
I studied his face, the hard lines of war carved deeper than before.
> "You're enjoying this," I said.
> "I'm reminding them," he replied. "That I'm still the blood beneath the crown. And you… are the flame beside it."
We stared at each other in tense silence. Not anger. Just friction... like two empires rotating too closely.
Then finally, I nodded once.
> "Next time, warn me."
He leaned forward.
> "Next time, you'll be beside me when I do it."
---