Imperial Year 155AU After Unification First Moon
POV: Lucien Veyrion
Steel rang across the training yard.
Lucien moved like a shadow between the two clan warriors, his black cloak whipping behind him. One warrior swung low with a curved blade while the other lunged for his back.
Too slow.
Lucien stepped aside before either strike could touch him. His Half Eclipse Eye flashed silver-black for the briefest moment.
He saw the attack before it happened.
The first warrior stumbled past him. Lucien caught the man's wrist, twisted, and threw him into the second.
Both crashed into the dirt.
Before they could rise, Lucien had one dagger at the first man's throat and his sword leveled at the second.
Silence settled over the yard.
The watching trainees stared.
One of the fallen warriors gave a tired laugh.
"You really are a monster, Lucien."
Lucien sheathed the dagger without a word.
"Lucien."
He turned.
Maria stood at the entrance to the yard.
She was beautiful in a dangerous sort of way, with long dark hair tied back and sharp green eyes that always looked amused by something. At eighteen, she was two years older than Lucien and already one of the clan's most skilled agents.
"The clan head wants to speak with you. Now."
Lucien slid his sword across his back and tucked both daggers into his belt.
"I'm finally getting a mission."
It was not a question.
Maria smirked.
"Well, if it were up to you, you would've had a mission at twelve."
Lucien gave the faintest hint of a smile.
Then he vanished.
Maria stopped walking and looked around the yard.
"I really hate when he does that disappearing act," she muttered.
⸻
Lucien moved silently through the hidden fortress.
The stronghold of the Eye Clan lay deep within the forest, concealed beneath powerful illusions. To outsiders, there was nothing there but trees and stone. Only those with the Eclipse Eye could fully see through the veil.
The fortress spread beneath the mountain like a hidden city.
Young clan members trained in the lower yards. Older assassins moved through the halls with silent purpose. Everywhere, eyes watched.
In the Eye Clan, no one went on missions before sixteen.
Most of them spent their entire lives preparing.
Lucien had just turned sixteen.
And everyone knew he was different.
Prodigy.
Disaster.
Future legend.
Future monster.
The whispers followed him wherever he went.
Lucien ignored them.
He reached the office of the clan head and stepped inside without knocking.
Kalith Veyrion stood near the large stone window, his hands clasped behind his back. The clan head was tall and lean, his dark hair streaked with silver despite not yet being old. His Eclipse Eye glowed faintly beneath his hood.
He looked Lucien up and down.
"You're ready."
Not a question.
Lucien met his gaze evenly.
"I was born for this."
His voice was quiet, but it carried command.
The door behind him opened.
Three more people entered.
The first was Mckye.
One of the seven Warlords.
He looked to be in his thirties, broad-shouldered and scarred, with a heavy sword strapped across his back. His expression permanently hovered somewhere between boredom and annoyance.
The second was Cerion, one of the seven Novas—the strongest warriors of the younger generation. At twenty-three, q was already famous within the clan. He had q sharp features, short black hair, and the smug look of someone used to being the best.
Until Lucien came along.
Maria entered last.
"If a Nova and a Warlord are on this mission," she said with a grin, "then this might actually be fun."
Mckye snorted.
"I'm leading a squad with the prodigy. This is either going to be glorious or a complete disaster."
Lucien remained silent, watching each of them.
Cerion folded his arms.
"Can he even handle a real mission?"
Lucien looked at him.
"Can you?"
Cerion's smile vanished.
Before either could speak again, Kalith raised a hand.
"Enough."
The room fell silent.
"The Empire has requested our aid," Kalith said.
That immediately caught everyone's attention.
"The Draknia Empire?" Maria asked.
Kalith nodded.
"There have been attacks along their southern border. Villages burned. Supply lines destroyed. Small raids meant to provoke a larger conflict."
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
"The Horde?"
"Possibly," Kalith said. "But the Empire believes someone else may be involved. Someone within their own lands."
"A traitor," Lucien said.
Kalith looked at him with approval.
"Yes."
He walked to the large map spread across the desk.
"The Empire fears that if they accuse the wrong noble house, it could begin a civil war. So they want us to investigate quietly."
"Why can't the Empire do its own dirty work?" Cerion asked.
"Because they are only now realizing the threat across the sea," Lucien said before Kalith could answer. "And because if one of their great houses is behind this, they cannot move openly without tearing the realm apart."
Kalith smiled faintly.
"Exactly. You've been paying attention."
"Of course they have," Mckye muttered. "The Empire is paying us for every piece of information we have on them."
Maria leaned against the wall.
"So we travel to the capital first?"
"You will go to the capital," Kalith said. "Report to their court. Then travel south, find who is behind the attacks, and kill the traitor."
Simple.
Clean.
Exactly the sort of mission Lucien wanted.
"When do we leave?" Maria asked.
"Now," Kalith answered.
Mckye groaned.
"Wonderful. Weeks of travel with children."
Maria punched him in the shoulder.
"I'm eighteen."
"You still act twelve."
Lucien had already turned toward the door.
"We won't need horses," Mckye called after him. "We move faster on foot. With our eyes, we can travel through the forest unseen."
"It will take a couple weeks to reach the southern front," Maria added.
Lucien stopped for only a moment.
The Empire.
The southern border.
A hidden enemy.
Finally.
A mission worthy of him.
And deep inside, where no one could see, Lucien smiled.