A few days after the coordination council, another dawn broke over the plain of Pasargadae.
This dawn began not with the silence before battle, but with the coordinated roar of the drums.
The majestic sound of the horns was not a call to war, but the herald of the beginning of a great march.
The united army of Pars and Media began its historic march towards Ecbatana.
This was no longer a campaign of conquest.
It was a massive and magnificent caravan of a nascent union, setting out to announce its birth to the world.
At the head of this roaring flood, the new flag with the emblem of the golden eagle waved in the morning breeze.
Behind it, Kourosh, mounted on a tall, white horse, moved with a simple but dignified robe.
To his right, his father Cambyses, with gleaming armor and a face full of pride.
And in the royal chariot behind them, his mother Mandane, with a firmness befitting a queen.
But the image that captivated all eyes more than anything else was the presence of Azhidahak.
He, with royal respect and in an aristocratic robe, rode calmly on a gray horse beside his grandson.
This image, which had been carefully designed by Kourosh, was itself a powerful political message.
A message that was transmitted faster than any messenger to all the cities and villages.
This caravan showed everyone that this was not a brutal conquest.
But a familial transfer of power and a union between two brotherly lands.
This scene, for the Median soldiers, was the final seal of approval on the magnanimity of their new conqueror.
They saw that their former king was moving not in chains, but with respect beside the new king.
As the caravan passed through the first villages of the land of Media, the people came out of their homes with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
They had expected to face a plundering army.
But instead, they witnessed an unprecedented order.
When their eyes fell upon Azhidahak, riding freely on a horse beside Kourosh, a whisper of astonishment spread among them.
An old villager, while looking at this scene with his dim eyes, said to his son:
"I have never seen such a thing in my entire life."
"A conqueror who treats his vanquished with such respect."
"Perhaps... perhaps the gods have ordained a better fate for us."
The presence of Azhidahak beside Kourosh guaranteed the legitimacy of this new kingdom in the eyes of the Median people.
He paved the way for a completely peaceful transfer of power.
He was like a key with which Kourosh, more than before, was unlocking the hearts of the Median people, one after another.
Every city and village, instead of resisting, opened its gates to this caravan.
During one of the midday stops, Cambyses approached Kourosh.
"This was your most intelligent move, my son."
"By keeping him alive, you have conquered all of Media without bloodshed."
Kourosh looked at his grandfather, who was staring at the horizon in silence.
"He is no longer a threat, Father."
"He is now our greatest symbol of unity."
"Seeing him, the people look not to the past, but to a future in which two lands stand together under the banner of one all-encompassing government."
This march was not just a military movement.
It was a precise and calculated political performance.
Every part of it, from the discipline of the soldiers to the new flag and the presence of Azhidahak, transmitted a message to the world:
The era of kingdoms based on fear has ended.
And the era of a government based on compassion, wisdom, and unity has begun.