"King of Sparta"
The quiet and kind dawn approaches over the kingdom of Sparta. The king of this kingdom is the never forgetful King Leden. King Leden is known for the King "without fear". Now a king with this much power has to have his knights behind him. For three years straight Leden has been taking over many kingdoms and villages that don't follow under his laws or ruling. King Leden is known for his strong firm and impressive leadership.
That's when he sends his knights to take care of his people's opinion. With this glory comes competition. Now the time has come as Leden must compete with an old friend, but now an enemy, King Ben. Old friendship, of course, isn't going to get in the way of any of these two kings.
In the Assembly Hall
"Knights it has come to my attention that my old friend King Ben is on the move" said Leden walking back and forth in front of his knights and beside him is his wife Serenity sitting on her throne, "Now we never really had competition before so this will be really interesting and exciting for all of us!"
They all give smirks to one another as Serenity stands from her throne and approaches Leden. "Clearly war is amongst us, so we need to eliminate all of Ben's alliances" said Serenity as they all agreed.
"Our queen is right, my lord it has come to our attention that the alliances must be eliminated as soon as possible" said Zion, one of the commanders of Leden's knights. Zion has a fit body and brown spiky hair. He has green eyes and he wears the royal knight armor.
"Then it's decided, we are to tell the other knights that preparations of war are going to be required" said King Leden as he dismisses the knights as they are about to leave when Leden stops them with a cough.
"Also let's not forget the festival we have tonight!" said Leden as they all then rejoice for the festival is moments away. After they all leave the castle, the knights separate to get ready for tonight's festival.
Meryl, the other commander of the knights, walks in her house not to far from the castle as she finds her sister, Libitina, still sleeping. Meryl then heads straight to her room to get prepared for the festival. Zion and his friend Deimos head towards Julia's bar and they wait for the ladies to arrive to prepare for the festival.
While everyone is getting ready for the festival King Ben is in his assembly hall preparing for the biggest war to come between the two kingdoms. Two other kings are present as they form a plan to get Leden for destroying most of their conquered villages.
"Leden must be taken down along with his kingdom!" said King Lavatos with an angry tone. "We will get our chance Lavatos, but first things first, we need to strategies on how to take him down" said King Hertes as they both look at King Ben.
"Well that's why we are here, not only are we up against Leden but his knights and kingdom as well" said King Ben as they continue to come up with a plan of destroying Leden and Sparta.
Leden walks out his castle with Serenity by his side as they head towards the village for they have a festival in honor of Dionysis/Bacchus. Once every year they have a Bacchanalia Festival. The whole village is outside waiting for Leden's arrival. Leden's servants already set up his throne and his wife's throne to face the whole festival on a platform.
And they set up tables with plates and dishes of delicious food and fruits. Everyone takes a seat but they wait until Leden gives his year speech of success and celebrating it with the god of wine.
The knights have their own table under and close to the platform Leden will be on. Meryl, Zion, Deimos, and Libitina all are wearing their knight suit and stand by and wait for Leden.
They wait for a while as trumpets start to play introducing Leden's entrance. Everyone then stands up and looks towards the direction where Leden had entered from.
The knights then stand as Deimos is about to eat some fruit when Meryl slaps it from his hands. Deimos then gives her a sexy smirk when Meryl gets disgusted as she rolls her eyes and she switches places with Zion. Leden and Serenity then heads up the platform as they both look towards their people as Leden gives them a big smile.
Everyone then claps and cheers as Leden then waves around as the cheer fades then Leden gives them the signal to sit down.
"Now every year we celebrate two great leaders ever know, the god of wine Dionysus and me of course," said Leden as they all start to laugh, "So here is to Dionysus and your favorite king to ever rule, now let's have a good time" They all cheer for Leden as they all sit and celebrate as they all drink up and eat up and by almost at the end of the party everyone is already wasted.
Half of the villagers are sleeping, others are singing while being drunk, and Leden and Serenity had left along time ago. While the knights still drink up as they talk about the war that is to come.
"Not only is this party amazing, but the war that's coming is twice this exciting!" said Zion as he continues to drink. "It will be easy, King Ben's armies aren't as strong as us" said Deimos and he continues to eat and drink at the same time. "Learn how to eat you pig!" said Meryl as they all laugh.
"I love it when you talk dirty," said Deimos as he throws a huge burp, "Whoa, did anyone hear that frog?" Everyone then looks around and they start to laugh. "I think we should head back home before we get to drunk and not wake up early to meet with the other knights" said Libitina as they look at her and laugh.
"Look around Libi all the knights are as drunk as we are" said Deimos as they all look around and everyone seems to have passed out all over the ground. "Anyways we shouldn't over do ourselves" said Libitina as she looks at her cup and checks if there is anymore.
"Libi is right, I have errands to run in the morning" said Meryl as she gets up and looks around. "I love this festival" said Meryl as she grabs Libitina and they both head home.
"Well night ladies" said Zion as the girls hang on to each other and walk home slowly, "It's just us then Deimos" As Zion looks towards Deimos and he sees him already passed out on top of his food. Zion then takes a last sip and smiles. As he takes a while and he then passes out as well. The night passes away and everyone sleeps silently and happily as they let the party passes by.
In the Morning,
Meryl wakes up and freshens up as Libitina does the same. Leden then walks towards the village as he witnesses the after party his people had. He then smiles to see that his people had a good time. Leden looks around as he witnesses Zion and Deimos sleeping on their food. He walks up to them as he smiles and starts to think for a while. He then gets close to their ears as he screams out loud, "The enemy is here!"
Both Zion and Deimos wake up quickly as they both say "Prepare for battle!" as they head towards the end of the table and they trip on the side of the table and they fall flat on their face.
Leden then starts to laugh as Meryl and Libitina enters. The guys then get up slowly as they both look at Leden. He then stops laughing as he then coughs and the girls walk up to the guys.
"Morning gentlemen!" said Libitina as Zion and Deimos clean up their faces and they nod to the girls. "Leden isn't it about time we strategies for the big battle" said Meryl. Libitina then helps to clean up the guys as Meryl takes Leden away from them to strategies.
"So Meryl what is it that you need to talk to me about?" said Leden as they walk towards the castle. "Well sire, first things first, do you know who King Ben has as his alliances?" said Meryl as Leden looks at her. "The other kings that detest me are King Lavatos and King Hertes, does are the only ones I can think of, why?" said Leden concerned about her question.
"Well there are two things that bother me about this war, one is we can't just kill any king just because we think they are on Ben's side, and second if we do kill then all then we won't have alliances ourselves" said Meryl as they both stop in front of his castle.
"Good looking into this Meryl…but we don't need alliances, our armies are well equipped and skilled" said Leden as he stands in front of her. "Yes I understand sire but isn't it in the kingdom's safety that we gain alliances of our own?" said Meryl as Leden starts to laugh. "Meryl, I know Ben, he isn't that tough in battle tactics, alliances aren't needed!" said Leden as he leaves Meryl and he enters his castle in rage.
Meryl then gets frustrated and punches one of the ears of Leden's lion statue. Meryl then gets nervous and tries to reattach the ear when she can't as she throws the item away and she runs towards the village.
Meryl walks slowly as she then suddenly stops. She feels as though someone is watching her. She looks around slowly with her eyes as she doesn't notice anyone. But behind her is a tree and someone is on the branches looking down towards her.
The person then jumps backwards as Meryl then looks behind her and sees the tree. She then notices that leaves are falling from it indicating someone or something was on top on the branches. She looks around one last time as she continues to walk back to the village.
Meryl then heads towards Julia's Bar and she sits in the Knight's reserved table.
She sits down as the other knights sit in front of her and her sister, Libitina, sits by her side. "So did the alliance speech work on Leden?" said Libitina looking at her. "Well same as always Leden with his selfish ways" said Meryl with a slight of sarcasm as they all sign. "It seems Leden never learns that's how we lost Lyanius" said Zion as they start to think about their lost friend.
"Anyways to prevent that I have good alliances on our side" said Meryl as she looks at them and smiles. "I love it when you smile, believe me I do, but this smile I don't like" said Deimos as Zion looks at her.
"I have one man in mind that you would probably ask, and let me tell you now, if you're going to us his help try not to fall for him again" said Zion sarcastically as Meryl turns her smiles into a frown.
"Believe me, I won't!" said Meryl as they all head outside. Meryl then whistles as her beautiful black horse gallops towards her. "I'm heading towards the three alliances I know, stay here and just strategies with the other knights and Leden" said Meryl as she gets on her horse and rides towards the gate.
They open the gate for her as she rides along the Legion Fields. Zion then takes the others towards the Knight's Cabin as they announce Leden's plan for war against Ben's armies. They then all head towards Leden's castle and into the assembly hall. While Zion and Leden talk about the mission, Meryl is on her way towards Mt. Ghuast. Half way up the mountain she gets off her horse and walks up the rest of the way.
The knights are dismissed as Zion, Deimos, and Libitina stay behind with Leden. "Sire, this plan is bulletproof but shouldn't we have alliances so that it can be even" said Deimos as Leden looks at him and he sees that he is looking into a map of his. He then takes it and he starts to look at it and he starts to think.
"You're right it seems from here" said Leden as he points to the castle at the eastside wall, "We could get hit hard, what do you suggest Deimos?" Deimos then is shocked by the response as he smiles and shows Leden his plan. "Now it's simple just have an ally strike from that point" said Deimos.
"Wow, you're right" said Leden as he thinks again, "But do you know what's the problem?" his question makes them look at each other and then at the map. "I see no problem sire" said Libitina as Leden looks at the map.
"I am King here, I make the battle tactics here, not you!" said Leden with anger in his voice as he rips the map up and throws it on the floor. "I don't think Deimos meant it in any way of over controlling your plan sire" said Zion as Leden looks at him.
He then looks at all three of them as he looks back at Zion. "Where's Meryl?" said Leden as they all get nervous for they don't know what to respond. "She is paying her respects to Lyanius my lord" said Libitina as Zion and Deimos are shocked by her response as they look at her. Leden is also surprised as he hides it by giving them a small smirk.
"Well then you guys should join her" said Leden as they all are surprised as well, "Go now!" silently they bow to him and they leave. Leden then heads back to his office as he starts to think about how Lyanius died.
On the way out Zion stops Libitina and looks at her. "Why did you say she was paying her respects to Lyanius?" said Zion with a sort of anger in his tone. "Well we were talking about it before and it was the first thing that came to mind" said Libitina.
"Chill out Zion" said Deimos as Zion tries to calm down. "What is the problem anyways?" said Libitina as Deimos takes Libitina away from Zion. "It seems your sister hasn't told you about how Lyanius died and why it affects Zion, Leden, and Meryl" said Deimos as Libitina looks at Zion.
"All she told me was that he was like a little brother to Zion and her…but she never told me how he died" said Libitina with a sad tone. "Well Lyanius was the youngest knight we had but ever since the last war we had with Ben, well the thing is that Zion and Meryl were fighting and they ended up witnessing Lyanius' death by him sacrificing himself for Leden" said Deimos as Libitina is confused.
"So he died to protect Leden, what's wrong with that?" said Libitina as Deimos looks back at Zion and then back to her. "Well that's what Leden told me…but they told me that Leden used Lyanius to block an attack, it wasn't a sacrifice" said Deimos as Libitina is shocked.
"No…our King wouldn't do that!" said Libitina as she is confused.
"Hey relax, we all had to deal with his death, we can't judge Leden by this death, we just forgot about it, besides this is our King and we can't have any reason to hate him. This is a huge thing, of course, to hate him but we must stay pure to him" said Deimos.
Libitina still confused then looks at Zion still trying to calm down. "War is ugly, as long as we prevent any ones death then its worth it, that's why Meryl is getting alliances because this war we would could lose more than what we lost with Lyanius" said Deimos as he then leaves her and he heads towards Zion.
Meryl is on her way towards a temple as she sees someone waiting outside the door. Since she is so high it is a lot colder and the air is thin.
"Hello, is this the temple of Aether?" said Meryl as the old man looks at her and smiles. "Who are you?" said the old man as Meryl smiles at him while trying to endure the coldness.
"Well I am Meryl, commander of the Knights, servant to King Leden!" said Meryl slowly as the old man let's her in. She is shivering for it's also cold in the temple. "Here wear this" said the old man as he gives her a warm trench coat.
"Thanks" said Meryl as she puts it on and she walks to the center of the room and she sits in front of a big statue. She looks around and she notices all the gifts people must give to the god. Meryl then sits down and she begins to pray. The old man watches from behind as Meryl feels a warm feeling around her as she opens her eyes and she sees the room but with candle lights lit. She then looks back and the old man is no longer there.
She then looks in front of her and a young man is in front of her. He has blue eyes, black hair, and looks close to Leden's age.
"I heard your prayer and I am here to help you in anyways I can!" said Aether as Meryl smiles.
"Do you really have to sound all godlike in my presence?" said Meryl as Aether has a serious face on for a while as he then breaks out a smile and they both hug. "Well I can practice to become a better god, don't you think?" said Aether with his charm as they both smile at each other. "I'm glad you still haven't changed" said Meryl as Aether then looks at her and then towards the ground. "So you're here about the big war that's about to break out?" said Aether as he gets straight to the point.
"Yes, I would like your help in this one, it seems King Ben is more serious about this one then Leden is" said Meryl with a serious tone as Aether looks back at her. "So it seems you want to prevent the mischief from the last war your kingdom had faced?" said Aether.
"That...and I am afraid that we may lose if we don't take this seriously" said Meryl. "You're right, as the god of light, all I can do is to give you my support" said Aether as Meryl then gives him a hand shack. "I'm glad I have a good friend by my side!" said Meryl as Aether blushes.
"Um…same here Lady Meryl" said Aether as Meryl then looks around. "Well I guess I shall leave you now, and I will summon you, so pay close attention when I say your name" said Meryl as Aether nods his head agreeing with her as they both close their eyes.
"Oh before I go," said Meryl as Aether opens his eyes except Meryl, "You weren't lying to me about the prophecies of my family right?" Aether shocked by her question then looks at her seriously as she doesn't open her eyes.
Meryl then takes a moment as she opens her eyes and she sees the room the same way she saw it when she came in. She then looks at the old man as she heads out the door. Before she goes she looks back at the temple and smiles.
End of Chapter