878 AD
He is a young kingdom, but Wessex will learn.
He is a small kingdom, but Wessex will grow.
He is a weak kingdom, but Wessex will be like metal and stone and the malevolence of the night.
It is coming. Ten, nine, eight, seven, now. The dogs come hungry in the night, and this bastard child of Rome and Britannia and a thousand other ghosts (aren't they hungry? Rome and Dane and Jute and Angle and and and one day it will be his turn to devour) seems the fool.
Call me the dark horse and watch me run.
Wessex smiles into the night. He already dreams of the future, and it shines. He can taste it between his teeth, like earth and bloodlust and dying flowers.
Among the first things that any Nation learns is how to tear the sky in half.
AN: history note:
Prior to the unification of England, it was divided into three kingdoms, Northumbria, Wessex and Mercia. This one-shot assumes that Wessex, the kingdom that won the power struggle, is the younger version or predecessor of Arthur Kirkland.