Two men in scorched Valesse armor were dragged before the dais, their hands chained, as it clattered like broken bells. Their faces were hollow, eyes sunk with guilt. One collapsed to his knees, voice cracking as he wailed:
" lord eryndor ordered it! We were told to test the Heavens' Blitz. He said he would overpower Asterra, subdue the High Nobles and even the Wardens. He wanted the people to die in numbers, just as they have now, from only three bombs. He wanted to send a message!" The captain says breaking into sobs, his lips quivering, as he refused eye contact with eryndor. "We begged him to stop! We pleaded that innocents would perish. And his answer was "so will you, if you do not obey.'" His voice shook as he explained.
"No!" Eryndor roared, straining against his chains, his voice torn and raw.
"Lies! They only speak under duress, forced to save their own lives!" His gaze sank to his captains, who could barely register eye contact with him. Sorrow filled eryndors eyes as they stood against him. Alone and shackled, he tried to speak, to make them see, but the more he pleaded, the more his words seemed to crumble into nothing.
The second soldier lifted ruined hands, three fingers missing, his voice hoarse but steady. "He told us to light the skies. He dreamed of watching the explosions. I carried the crates myself as he stamped valesse seal upon them. As a soldier, I had no choice but to obey."
The crowd erupted in rage. Stones hurled towards eryndor as the soldiers pushed the mob back, their curses rose like thunder.
"Quiet!" Judge Marric's voice boomed, his staff slamming to the ground. The noise dimmed to a restless murmur.
"There is more," Marric declared. "Evidence from the Wardens themselves."
He held up a scroll sealed in violet wax, unbroken until that moment. The crack of the seal echoed through the square as he unrolled it. His voice carried, cold and heavy:
"The vault of the Wardens were White lumin was stored, was breached months ago. Only two people posses the keys to the wardens vault. The Wardens' and the Sovereign's. It proves that we trusted our sovereign implicitly… and that he has betrayed that trust."
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.
Eryndor's face drained of life, his lips parted but words couldnt leave. The desperation to prove his innocence burned in his eyes, but the mob only shouted louder, drowning his pleas in hatred.
Marric gestured calling for the three High Nobles to approach, as they stepped toward him, their heads bent together, their voices whispering as the crowd's fury raged. One by one, they nodded in grim agreement.
Marric struck his staff again, his voice slicing the air. "Silence." Lord marric says eyes rolling through the angry crowd.
"The tribunal is adjourned for now. The judges will withdraw behind banners to deliberate further on the verdict."
The nobles swept from the dais, vanishing into a smaller chamber. As the square boiled with unrest, people Shoving one another for space, curses hurtling towards eryndor who knelt in devastation. A drunkard climbed a concrete slab screaming.
" off with eryndors head! He is a slippery snake!" The man screamed as people pulled hum back to the ground, while he struggled and finally tossed the beer bottle at eryndor, the bottle shatters close to his feet, as eryndor looks at the roaring angry crowd.
"He's just another corrupt leader!" Abel of Olsmere bellowed above the chaos. "Let him face the wrath! The axe!"
"burn him alive!" someone else cried.
"Parade him around the streets! Let us show him how we truly feel!" another spat.
Arguments cracked across the crowd like fire through dry fields, each demand louder than the last.
Inside the chambers behind the banners, voices rose as well, as high nobles delibrated.
Erry O' Kael of House Drakovar slammed his fists against the table, fury twisting his face. "He is guilty! The realm cries for justice, give it to them!" His voice roared like a storm. "The north itself was spared, but the north-west and north-east burn! Their cries are mine, and I demand justice! I speak for the north"
Marien's voice was calm, her tone precise as a blade.
"If we act rashly, we dishonor the Tribunal. The evidence weighs heavy, and the people will never forgive us if we treat him with light sentence. The people are in need of justice, however, they shudder at the thought of a sovereign's blood upon their hands. I speak for the south"
Sylven leaned forward, a faint curl on his lips.
"Truth or lie, it matters little. The people already believe. And belief," he said softly, "is sharper than any axe. Strike him down, and Asterra will know order once more. I speak for the West."
Marric listened in silence, his eyes sweeping across each high noble faces. At last, he rose, his staff in hand.
"Then it is decided."
Marric immediately reappears in the square, stopping a measured distance from Eryndor. His face was set like emotionless, his eyes fixed on the kneeling Sovereign without a flicker of sympathy. Behind him, the high nobles filed in, the sound of tgeir marching boots echoed softly. At once, the fury of the crowd ebbed, voices dying into silence as all waited for what would come next.
"Lord Eryndor of House Valesse" marric begins.
"you stand accused of grievous crimes: perjury, abuse of sovereign authority, hoarding the forbidden white lumin, conspiracy against the High Houses, mass murder, and treachery against the realm. And evidence have shown you are guilty as charged" marric speaks with high authority.
" so therefore, By oath, by law, and by the decree of the Wardens, and by the cries of the people, you are stripped off your Sovereign status" marric commanded, as the specific gasps spark from the crowd.
" your House, house Valesse is hereby dissolved, its name stricken from the rolls of nobility. Its members branded traitors of asterra, and branded fugitives to be hunted. Rich reward shall be granted to anyone who brings any surviving memeber of your house to justice."
"By dawn, lord eryndor, together with Lady Ovelyn, Lord Dalric, Sir Joras, and all other conspirators in custody, shall face execution. Your blood shall seal the justice for those fallen in asterra"
The square erupted. Some cheered, while some wept, all voices rising like a storm. Soldiers seized Eryndor and his loyal nobles, dragging them toward the cells, chains clanging like tolling bells, the captains who testified, are taking away through an exit behind the dais.
Among the mid and low nobles, whispers spread like wildfire.
Low nobles sneered openly:
"We just witnessed history " one muttered.
"A sovereign brought as low as a thief," spat another.
Keith, mrs trinkets husband and low noble, sat among the low nobles as they muttered, as he watched in silence, his face unreadable.
Mid-nobles shook their heads with restrained disappointment.
"A man once so proud, so perfect in image…"
"And now dread and shame is all his House will know."
Even the High Nobles, veiled in grandeur, leaned together in hushed tones. Their words carried not triumph but unease, as though Eryndor's fall had cracked something in them all.
Soldiers escorted eryndor as he walked sluggishly and defeated. His chains hung slack as he lifted his head, his eyes sweeping across the tiers of nobility, the low, the mid, and high nobles.
Silence spread through the square as his voice rose raw, yet steady, carrying his words to every ear.
"I was once as you are," he said. "A commoner, then a low noble with nothing but a banner torn by rain, and a hall that leaked in winter. I worked the fields beside my men. I mended roads with my own hands when no coin came from the capital. I bled at the borders fighting in asterras name, long before my name ever touched the Sovereign's throne."
The nobles shifted uneasily, eyes darting between one another. The crowd, once thunderous, grew still, the weight of Eryndor's words sinking deep into marrow.
"I sat where you sit now," Eryndor continued, this time his focus on the nobles.
"and I remember the laughter of those who held higher chairs than mine. I remember petitions denied, the cries of the poor silenced beneath parchment and wax. I remember swearing I would be better, that the realm would be safer with me."
His gaze sharpened as it travelled across the tribunal court, looking over everyone.
"Perhaps I failed. Perhaps the gods themselves mark me guilty. But tell me… " his voice cracked into a roar, eyes locking on Marien, Sylven Veynar, and Erry O' Kael.
"Are your hands so clean? How many crowns did you hoard while your people starved? And died in numbers. How many whispers have you traded to topple a rival? How many of you sit clothed in silk while the realm bleeds in rags?"
The nobles stiffened. Some turned their faces aside. A heavy stillness spread like a fog. For a heartbeat, shame crept into the marrow of every soul that heard him.
Even the commoners faltered. For in his words was no plea for mercy, only a mirror reflecting truths none wished to see.
The silence deepened. Suffocating.
And then, Steel rang.
Erry O' Kael's unsheaths his aethersteel sword from its scabbard, as he stormed forward, voice cracking with fury.
"Enough of this filth! Take this wretch away before his poison spreads!"
He leveled the blade at Eryndor's chest, his face red with rage as he speaks.
"You are no sovereign. No noble. No lord. You are carrion, fit only for the crows."
Soldiers immediately yanked Eryndor by his chains and dragged him toward the cells.
The crowd roared again, voices surging with cries of justice, yet many avoided each other's eyes, haunted by the truths they had heard.
Thus the Trial of Eryndor ended.
And the fate of House Valesse was sealed.