An army stood at the ready. Each soldier stood side by side on the battleworks of the great city of Aiden, City of Kings. Their bows nocked and ready for a single command to aim and fire. Others manned the large artillery, cannons and ballista aplenty. Each waiting as their glorious leader stood ready to speak.

His golden armor only matching his long locks of hair. Many would underestimate his appearance if they knew not of his previous deeds. “We know not what comes, mighty defenders of this city upon the mountain. But it marches on our walls this day. Ready your hearts and falter not-”

A horn blared in an eerie sound, closer to what one would expect from the greatest horrors. It caused every person to shiver subconsciously; even the most battle hardened could not deny its frightening effects.

“Falter not, soldiers. Today we shall prevail!” Try as he might to keep their moral up, the Golden General knew he was failing. Because even he shook at the blaring battle sound. It drove something deep and primal in his mind to flee, an instinct created from eons of adaptation and survival before humanity took over this part of the world.

He gulped as he looked down to the far distance. Something was coming towards this wall from the great pass of the mountains. Somehow it had passed through the massive forts and defensive platforms meant to stop anything from getting close.

A foe this mighty was something that would beggar the orcs to produce and any other race would be seen before they even entered the human colony thousands of miles away. Yet, here they were, just about to begin a siege on the one city that had yet to fall.

A cloud of dust crept past the edge of the mountains, signifying how close the army was. The loose rocks along the ground shook as marching feet stomped in a rhythmic cadence. Every few moments mighty roars echoed through the entire mountain range.

The battle cries of the great drakes.

The general gulped as he recognized the distinct sound. He turned to stare at the towering castle so far high in the mountains behind four massive walls. With all his being, he hoped those monsters above would break their covenant and help their mortal brethren in their time of need.

He knew that he stood little chance against a fully grown and adult drake, much less what sounded to be multiple.

As he watched, an army made their way past the curve in the mountains. Yet, he could not see exactly who it was because of the dust. All he could see were indistinct flags fluttering in the winds.

“Ready your bows!” He roared.

He planned to give them not even a moment to prepare. With the help of mana and their advantage in position, they could fire all the way to the edge. Most enemies would, or at the very least should assume, know that if they planned anything at all.

“Aim!”

The tension was almost unbearable.

He took the deepest breath he could. His battle cry would need to bring fear to the enemies and hopefully help his men stand the overbearing pressure that seemed to emanate from the enemy.

“F-”

“Citizens of the Motherland. Soldiers of the Emperor!” Shouted the enemy, leaving him frozen in confusion. Deep within him, he knew this army was one from the motherlands, but how and why?

A man between them separated himself from the rest, quickly followed by five others. He broke out of the cloud of dust, only to leave all the soldiers even more confused.

A fire danced on the young man's head. And when he said young, he meant it. Barely old enough to have had his coming into high society.

“Lay your weapons down.” he said.

He gasped, and with him the rest did so as well. They felt the command itch at the back of their minds. Something only those of higher station than you could command. And as one of the four great generals of the colony, there technically was not anyone one higher. Only the seven noble families' majority vote could command him or any of the other generals to do anything.

“Open the gates and greet us. For we have arrived despite your treasonous blood.”

“Treason? Open the gates?” whispered the General of Aiden. He, like the surrounding soldiers, was beyond confused.

Without warning, three people showed up. They were all men of similar power status as he, though not a single one through merit of their own. None were generals, but the heads of their respective families or their representatives.

“Cothelas! You and Thariul swore this plan of yours would work!” screamed a sickly man of a tall but very thin frame. His pale skin only turned whiter at what they saw.

“Shut it, Pald. We are all in this together, even those that didn’t vote yay. Right, Jonathan.” The head of Williams family was always a sinister-looking man with a scary and wide smile that reminded him of a crazed madman.

“H-how is this possible? How could anyone overcome those odds?! We gave the Hashin a dragon’s horde to do the dee-”

“I said shut it, Pald.” Cothelas sneered at his friend. He then quickly flashed the Golden General an insincere smile. “Hello there, Titus. I’m sure you're busy over here. We’ll leave you to do-”

“You have five minutes to open the gates, nobles of Aiden. Or we swear, not a single bloodline will make it out this day!” The young man below yelled in an even voice. Titus felt a shiver run down his spin at how matter of fact those words were.

He looked back at the devil incarnate. “What is the meaning of this Cothelas? Who is that person? I know you can feel it. He holds a greater station than we do.”

The man’s wicked smile never faltered. “You need not worry about it. Just fire the arrows and protect the city.”

“You don’t command me, Cothelas. I am the General of Aide-”

“General,” For the first time Jonathan spoke up. The man was a warrior through and through. Though he was still one leader of the seven families leading the colony. And all of them were snakes. Some more palatable than the others. “We have erred, and the consequences have reached our door. Now, we have no choice but to hope for the best.”

He stared at the trio with suspecting eyes. He grit his teeth and balled his gauntleted hands. “I don’t know what you’ve done now, Cothelas. I hope it’ll be the end of you.” He gave his most frightening stare for as long as he could hold it. With a wave of his hand, he commanded his men to open the gates.

He would meet the young man out there and hope this whole situation was still recoverable, of course, he would make sure the priests of the father were present lest he suddenly find his head on a spike. They were the only ones who had the authority of the Emperor. Their oaths forced them to bring justice wherever it may lay.

Or at least, their subjective view of it.