The capital of Valtheris stood tall like a knife pointing up at the sky.
The city had high towers that touched the clouds and big black walls that went on forever.
There were wyverns flying around all the time casting shadows on the streets that were crowded with soldiers and flags with the symbol on them.
The kingdom of Valtheris had three things.
Order. Power. Fear.
They were really good at all of these things.
At the center of the city was the Palace.
Inside the palace was a big room where the king sat on his throne.
The room was really quiet.
There were a lot of people standing around like nobles and generals and big pillars that went up to the ceiling.
There were also fire pits with blue flames.
King Lucien Valtheris sat on his throne.
He was the king of Valtheris.
King Lucien was young. He looked really sharp and had silver hair.
He did not look happy or mean just calm.
All the nobles were scared of him because he never got angry.
King Lucien did not need to yell he was in control.
The big doors to the throne room. Captain Vaelor came in.
He was wearing his armor. Had the symbol of the Wyvern Riders on his shoulder.
He got down on his knees away.
"Your Majesty " he said.
King Lucien put his hand on his chin.
"Get up Captain " he said.
Captain Vaelor stood up.
The room was still quiet as King Lucien looked at him.
Then King Lucien said, "Tell me what happened."
Captain Vaelor took a breath.
"Sylvaris has betrayed us and sheltered the hero." he said.
Everyone in the room was shocked.
Some of the nobles started whispering to each other.
"Foolish elven people." they said.
King Lucien did not move.
Captain Vaelor kept talking.
"We order their adventurers to capture the escaping party off Hero Ronan and Princess Elira…"
The room got more upset.
"Yet they didn't obey the treaty we have with their nation." Captain Vaelor added.
One of the generals got angry.
"So Kaelmyra and Sylvaris is now working against us." he said.
Captain Vaelor shook his head.
"We do not know that for sure " he said.
"But the Elves helped them." he said.
This made everyone more upset.
"Those foolish elves are getting involved." they said.
"This could mean war."
Then King Lucien smiled a little.
"Well, this is good, isn't it?" he said.
The whole room got quiet again.
Even Captain Vaelor looked up at the king.
One of the nobles was confused.
"Why your Majesty?" he said.
King Lucien got up from his throne.
His long cloak went behind him as he walked down the steps.
"Now we have a reason that Kaelmyra is trying to rebel against us." he said.
"If anything, it makes things happen faster than I predicted it."
He walked through the room.
"Kingdoms only show what they are really like when they are under pressure, I only have to do is make an assumption and they are desperate to take any precautions to find hope." he said.
"Kaelmyra is hiding behind words." he said.
"The Elves are hiding behind being neutral." he said.
"Now they are starting to choose."
The room was really quiet.
Everyone knew what King Lucien meant.
This was not about the Hero it was about Valtheris getting control.
Fear was a big part of that control.
Then another door. A man came in.
He was tall and lean and wore clothes.
He had a cloak on his shoulder and magic around his boots.
This was Cael, the former member of the Hero's Party.
The room got quieter.
Cael did not look scary. He made people nervous.
Everyone in Valtheris knew that if Cael showed up something big was happening.
Captain Vaelor moved aside.
King Lucien looked at Cael.
"You heard what Captain Vaelor said?" he said.
Cael nodded.
"So, the Hero finally showed up and start picking sides." he said.
His voice was calm. It sounded a little off.
King Lucien looked at him for a moment.
"You were expecting this?" he said.
Cael said, "No, but now it's more entertaining now, is it?"
For a second something weird crossed Cael's face.
Then it was gone.
King Lucien turned back to the room.
"The Elves are at a crossroads." he said.
"They need some guidance."
Everyone knew what he meant.
They would. Be nice to the Elves or do something bad to them.
King Lucien looked at Cael.
"You will go to Elarion." he said.
"You will talk to the Queen of the Elves." he said.
Captain Vaelor looked a little surprised.
King Lucien said, "Captain Vaelor will go with you."
Captain Vaelor bowed.
"At your command your Majesty." he said.
Cael did not say anything for a moment.
Then he nodded.
The meeting started to break up.
As Cael was leaving, he stopped at a window.
He looked out at the city.
Then he pulled out a broken knife from his cloak.
It was the Heros knife.
Cael looked at it for a moment.
Then he said quietly "Why did you even come back Ronan?"
below the wyverns of Valtheris were screaming in the sky.
The world was one step closer, to war.