Julian pushed the cracked wooden shutter open just enough to peer down into the plaza. Armor clattered against the cobblestones as lines of Vanguard infantry marched through the main thoroughfare. No one raised a sword against them.
The local laborers eagerly accepted wrapped blocks of nutrient paste from the invaders while Gildreath guards discarded their insignias into the gutters.
"Kronos surrendered," Julian whispered, stepping back from the window. "He handed them the entire empire without a fight."
Julia stopped pacing across the cramped tavern room. She stared at the closed oak door, her breathing shallow and erratic. "We need to leave right now. If they secure the perimeter and start searching the inns, we are dead."
Julian reached inside his cloak and withdrew the crimson crystal. Deep red light spilled across the dirty walls of the rented room. The weaponized artifact pulsed with the trapped souls of Aethelgard's slaughtered citizens.
