The setting sun of Acadia was slanting toward the horizon, painting the marble columns a golden hue that cascaded over the vast courtyard. In its center stood Linus, the heir to Athens, brandishing a wooden sword, attacking his teacher, Romulus, who calmly parried the blows.
"I got you this time!" shouted Linus with a broad smile, sweat dripping from his brow.
Romulus, the blond, green-eyed man, smiled and replied in a calm voice:
"Enthusiasm isn't enough, Linus… A sword needs a mind to guide it."
Linus laughed as he charged forward again:
"Then I'll be a king twice over… with both sword and mind!"
With a single step, Romulus swept his wooden sword aside and knocked Linus to the ground. He sat on the dirt, laughing loudly, as his teacher reached out to help him up.
"You know, Master?" said Linus, catching his breath.
– "What, heir of Athens?"
– "One day I will return to my city and unite Greece under my banner. I will not just be a king… but a leader who changes history!"
Romulus looked at him with eyes filled with a mixture of pride and anxiety:
– "Great dreams, Linus, require greater patience. It is not enough to want; you must know when to act and when to wait."
Before Linus could reply, the sound of a huge bell, not rung in years, echoed throughout the city. The square stopped, and people whispered:
– "The Council Bell… It only rings in times of disaster!"
– "What happened? Have the enemies attacked us?"
The people gathered in the great square, where an official messenger, dressed in white bearing the Athenian crest, ascended. His face was pale, and his voice trembled as he shouted:
– "O people… O free people… The king of Athens, Silius the Great, has fallen treacherously by the hand of treason!"
A heavy silence fell, as if time had stopped. Then the arena erupted in tumult: screams, wailing, calls for revenge.
As for Linus, he froze, as if the wooden sword he held had become heavier than a mountain. It fell from his hand to the ground, the reverberation of its impact like another bell ringing inside him.
Romulus approached and placed his hand on his student's shoulder. He said in a low voice, "Your true test has begun, Linus... From this moment, you are no longer just an heir, but a man standing on the brink of his destiny."
Linus raised his head, his blue eyes shining with a mixture of sadness and anger, and whispered, "Athena calls to me... and I will not delay in her call."