The sky is clear, with some white clouds there and there. Blue as far as the eye can see, and the sun is rising little by little to its highest point.

In a prairie somewhere, surrounded by tall blades grass, a tent is set up. Inside the tent, carpets and couches and a bed are put, in order to establish a certain level of comfort.

On the bed, a woman lays down, wearing a one-piece long white gown with simple patterns. Her skin is pale, her hair is silver, and she has pointed ears.

A man enters the tent. He too has pointed ears, and has a muscular buildup. Right now he is only wearing brown leather pants, a belt to the waist and brown boots. He sees the woman, and with long steps crosses the tent, reaching for her hand.

“How are you feeling?” asks the man, with a worried look in his face.

The woman takes a deep breath, and with difficulty answers “not really well… ” and after another deep breath “my head, I feel it lighter…”

The man takes her hand with both of his.

Another deep breath “Alexander… ” deep breath “I don’t think I have much time left.”

“Don’t say that” says Alexander, as he reaches for her cheek and caresses it “I have seen it many times, there is still time left.”

Silence. The man seems unable to stay put, bitting his lip, while he sees the woman taking deep breaths.

“Dear… ” says the woman “are you sure this is the only way?”

“It is” answers Alexander, taking again her hands with both of his “I’ll bet everything on it Gwynevere. I’ll save you.”

After a moment of pause, the woman takes another deep breath “It is like we haven’t learned anything in these last three hundred years…” another deep breath “It is really sad” she adds, with her voice breaking a little in the end.

At this, the expression of Alexander turns from sweet to stern. He takes the hand of Gwynevere and takes it to his forehead, and closing his eyes, he answers “As always, you talk with words of wisdom, but Gwynevere, my dear sun, there is just no option left…” a moment of pause, then, opening his eyes, he adds “This will show him too, and everyone else still alive, how wrong he was from the beginning.”

“I… I understand, my dear moon, but I just… I just can’t feel well with this, seeing you doing the same thing again.” Deep breath “I can’t stop feeling that you are making the same mistakes again.”

“Not this time around, my dear sun. That time, I fought for nothing else than pride, this time though, I fight for you… for us.”

Gwynevere raises her hand from the hands of Alexander, and caresses his cheek in return “Just… be careful my dear. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“And I don’t want to lose you.”

At this very moment, the ring of a bell sounded.

“What is it?” asks Alexander, turning to the entrance.

A man in full body armor, silver and blue in color, was kneeling there, “Excuse me, my Lord, but we have a situation. Lord Falco waits for you at his tent for the details.”

Alexander, turning to Gwynevere, says “It seems I’m needed elsewhere.”

“Go, my dear. I’ll be fine right here. Not like I can move much anyway.”

Alexander nods, then stands up, and slowly starts walking towards the entrance. Once he crosses it, he directs himself to the two guards that are at both sides of the entrance “Keep her safe, you heard me? We have many ravenous rats around here.”

“Yes, my Lord” answer both guards, while putting their fists directly to their hearts.

“Good” and Alexander continues his way. The way is made of dirt, and the tent is in a secluded place, over a hill into a glade, with a fountain and the sound of the water coming off towards the pond at its feet.

Continuing the way, more and more tents start appearing, along the prairie, all the way disappearing into the entrance of the forest. The way made of dirt didn’t went that way though, but it went towards another tent, a large red one this time.

Coming close to the tent, both guards in full body armor, silver and red this time around, at both sides of the entrance announced the arrival “Here he is, Lord Alexander of house Lapis.”

From the inside, another voice came, answering “Let him in.”

“Yes, my Lord, you can pass now Lord Alexander.”

Alexander then continued, entering the red tent. Like his, this one is also a rectangle, but bigger in size. Carpets with repetitive patterns are covering the floor, with some couches, tables and chairs arranged around, for strategy meetings and other uses. At the end of the tent, there was another figure: A man, red haired, wearing full crimson armor, with only one arm, his left one.

“Here I am Lord Falco.”

“Indeed you’re, Lord Alexander” says Falco, as he turns around to reveal a scar in the place where his left eye should be.

“What’s the matter? I was with my wife.”

“Sorry for interrupting your time with Lady Gwynevere” answered Falco, adding “but something concerning came about early this morning.”

“So,” says Alexander, as he starts coming down to where Falco is “what is the matter then?”

“It has come to my ears that we have been discovered.”

Alexander went silent, making him loose his balance for a bit. Regaining his footing, he asks “how did it happen?”

“It seems that one of our transactions was discovered, and two of my fire tamers were taken out.”

“Are they dead?”

“Taken alive, it seems.”

A silence felt between them. Then, Alexander took a deep breath, and said “This is just great. I can only think of one solution to this problem.”

“We fasten our march. Get there before they have time to react.”

Putting a hand on Falco’s shoulder, Alexander answered “Took the words out of my mouth.”

Letting a chuckle come out, Falco adds “Well, I was growing impatient by the day with this approach. I mean, only Aquamarine state is left after all.” And after making a small pause, he adds “Soon the entirety of Aeris will be under my reign… and maybe we can take whatever is happening here to revitalize the nature in the other states in the process.”

“Glad to see that we are in an agreement.” Said Alexander, later adding “Well, I’ll go back to my side of the camp in order to put everything in motion and get ready.”

As Alexander started walking back, Falco turns to him and says “Aren’t you happy for this happening? You look like a kid with a new toy.”

“Maybe I am, maybe I am” answers Alexander.

As Alexander is walking back to his tent, the corner of his lips raise ever so slightly. Finally they are moving again. It may not have been under the best conditions, but the planned course of action will make sure that they stomp every opposing force swiftly.

He stops for a moment to take a deep breath. A breeze caresses his face. He can feel his heart’s beating strong and vigorously. Its been a long while since the last time that he personally went to battle, but he can still remember the smell of blood and steel and sweat and rot and burnt as if it were yesterday.

Even when he is overcome with these sensations and emotions, he raises his right hand, only to reveal a steady hand not swayed for what is to come. He will crush them. Open a path to save his wife, crushing everyone in the middle, and to reclaim that what belongs to him by nature. He will prove that fool of a King wrong, once and for all.