12. Embrace the innocent, kill the guilty

The Solran expedition and the newly arrived mist walkers looked at each other with suspicion, each had their weapons at the ready as they sized up a potential opponent, but the robed figures seemed oblivious to this tension as they all bowed at Aeoran's feet, foreheads pressed to the rotting ground. Aeoran was caught off guard by this sudden show of fidelity, he didn't know who these people were or where they had come from and they were naming him their king and the champion of their god, despite it all it seemed like they had come looking for him and posed little danger.

"Who are you?" the primarch demanded, trying to portray little as he continued to assess these new comers

The robed figures raised their heads but stayed on their knees, "We are the mist seers of Aeoror, we have foreseen your ri…."

The mist seers never finished their introduction as the head of their leader, the one kneeling in front of Aeoran, lost his head, one second it was there and the next it was flying off in to the mist with only a bloody stump in its place. The mist seer became part of the ground as everyone stepped away from the primarch in shock, anger radiated off him like heat as the blood of the mist seer dripped from his knuckles.

"LIARS!" Aeoran roared, the sound certainly reaching the city far above, "You're the reason he's dead, your lies killed him"

"My lord, if we have off…."one of the mist seers tried to calm the primarch but his torso was completely destroyed in a single blow

Alrean looked on in utter shock, he had never seen Aeoran like this, they had fought together in the mist so he knew of the primarch's martial skill and power but Aeoran had always been focused and almost emotionless when he fought but this time he was fuelled purely by emotion and it was terrifying.

No one could move as they watched Aeoran unleash his full rage, grief and power on those who he blamed for his father's death. His fists were a blur as he punched the mist seers to pieces, the prophets not even given enough time to scream before their bodies was destroyed. It took only a few seconds to finish them all.

Aeoran stood amongst the pulverised remains, his bestial aura freezing every man there in fear, he quickly turned his gaze on the accompanying mist walker.

Kasadiel couldn't move as he looked in to the pitch black eyes of Aeoran, his body was shaking in fear, even more than when he first descended. For the very first time in his life he wanted to run and cry but he was too afraid to turn his back on Aeoran, convinced that he needed to keep eyes on the primarch in case he made a move even though he knew very well that being able to see Aeoran would make no difference if he decided to attack.

"Who are you?" Aeoran's rage was clear as he stared down the mist walkers

Kasadiel drew on all his courage and took an uneasy step forward, "I am Kasadiel, guild master of Aeoror's guild of mist walkers, we couldn't serve a king who would betray a mist walker as venerable and honourable as you" he fell to his knees along with the rest of his men, "Please let us serve you"

Aeoran let out a deep exhale as he calmed himself, he looked at the mist walkers kneeling before him in the bloody remains of the ones who brought them here. None of them had betrayed him like that bastard king and none of them had known about his plans, they were innocent. Aeoran calmed himself completely as he walked to stand before Kasadiel.

"I will most likely end up destroying Aeoror before all this is over"

The guild master kept his head bowed, "I know that but can I beg you to spare as much of the city and it's people as you can and focus your wrath on the King and his people, they are the guilty ones"

Aeoran looked at the kneeling force of mist walkers, they would be valuable additions to his fighting force that he certainly needed. Without a word the primarch turned away from the mist walkers, he picked up his father's body and started for home, his comrades close behind.

"Come along, we have a long trek" he called back to the slightly confused mist walkers, they quickly got to their feet and followed

Casiel, the top advisor to King Radiel of Aeoror, ran through the halls of the palace, he pushed through a crowd and in to one of the rooms in the medical wing of the palace. Laying on the bed was the commander of the guard, Kasrean, he had bloody bandages around his stomach and his skin was paler than normal. Casiel pushed the crowd of onlookers out and shut the door, he moved over to the commanders bedside.

"Kasrean, what happened?"

"The mist walkers and mist seers are traitors, all of them"

That was the last thing he wanted to hear, things were going to hell in the city and its surrounding holdings since the "death" of Aeoran, they had tried to spread the story of his death but rumours of his miraculous survival had sprung up and even stories of him building an army in the mist, now with two of the most respected organisations abandoning the city for the mist they would not be able to stop rumours of Aeoran from spreading like wild fire.

The primarch had built quite a reputation as a mist walker before he came to Aeoror and now it was helping to fan the flames of dissent, Casiel knew he would have to take drastic measures to ensure the continued survival of Aeoror, he may even have to sacrifice the king but that was the last resort.

Casiel sighed as he stood, "Rest up friend, we'll certainly need you in the coming days"

The advisor opened the door and found a guard about to knock on the other side, "Lord Casiel, the King has summoned you immediately"

Again, Casiel was running through the palace as he got to the throne room with all haste and found a gruesome scene. The small squad of guards that stand sentry in the room were completely slaughtered and sitting on the throne was the head of a giant Fenson with an axe lodged between its eyes. The message was clear, the Fenson was commonly known as the lesser Fen for its similar appearance to the great beast, who's head served as the symbol of the city, and the axe was meant to be the axe of Aeoran, the primarch was telling them he would destroy Aeoror and he had placed the message at the very centre of power without anyone even knowing he was in the palace.

King Radiel stood in the centre of the room, ranting and raving at the guards, Casiel reluctantly moved to his king's side as he was berating a guard and demanding Kasrean to come and answer for this breach.

"Kasrean is currently recovering from injuries your majesty" Casiel made his presence known

Radiel turned to his advisor, the absolute panic clear on his bloated features, "Have you seen this Casiel! Aeoran is alive and he's coming for me, he could've killed me!" the King's eyes were wide with fear as he ground his teeth, a nervous tick he had, "I want you to double the guard. No triple, he won't be satisfied with a message next time, WHERE THE HELL IS KASREAN!"

The king was clearly becoming unwound and the guards were starting to get nervous, Casiel placed a hand on Radiel's back and tried to calm him, he needed to get the king alone to tell him of the betrayal of the mist walkers and the mist seers. Rumours about the two orders abandoning the king were probably already swirling since Kasrean had quite a public fight with the mist walkers, so the common people have probably already figured out that the mist walkers have turned but the mist seers were quite secretive so they might be able to keep their betrayal under wraps but the king needed to be informed without the guards present.

Radiel seemed to be calming down, Casiel leaned close so only the two of them could hear, "We need to talk in private your majesty"

The king's panic flared up again as he pushed Casiel away, "No, no, no, he'll get me if I'm alone, he's here right now, HE NEVER LEFT!" The king saw the phantom of Aeoran in every shadow

The King's paranoia made it impossible to discreetly inform him of their situation, Casiel sighed as the near catatonic King gave him only one choice, the advisor turned to one of the guards, "Take his majesty to his quarters and keep guards on him around the clock, inside and outside" Casiel turned to leave the throne room, "And someone get rid of that Fenson head"

Casiel moved as quickly as he could, with the King unable to make decisions there was only one way to at least mitigate the on coming crisis. In the same wing as the King's quarters were the quarters of many other important people, including Casiel's own, and the advisor was heading to one of them.

The guards posted outside let him in without complaint, as he entered he heard the soft sound of a tulet's strings being plucked, he followed it and found who he was looking for plucking at the instrument with his back to Casiel.

"Casiel, I expected you to come after I heard the rumours" the young man put down the tulet and stood to face Casiel, he was slim and looked in his early 20s with midnight black hair and almost translucent skin, "Father has gone mad due to the recent security breach"

The only person Casiel could turn to with the King in the state he was in was his Eldest son, Prince Eroiel, with his father unable to govern it was the Prince's duty to step in. Eroiel was a smart man and very well educated but Casiel still had his doubts that the young Prince could lead them out of the ever-worsening situation.

"Tell me everything that is going on" the Prince offered Casiel a seat as he took his own

The people of Solra had been busy while Aeoran was recovering the bodies of their dead, they had been building and restoring many buildings and their little town was running without any problems. Everyone had a place to live, land to farm or graze their herds on and some people had either reopened their old businesses or opened completely new ones. They had also been busy crafting 30 stone sarcophagus' for the dead, the best stone carvers among them had worked day and night to complete them and even managed to carve the likeness of all the betrayed on the sarcophagus lids, the coffins had been placed in the great temple and stood empty, awaiting the bodies.

Aeoran returned to Solra with much fanfare as the people chanted his name and showered him with praise as he walked through the gates. Kasadiel was amazed at what Aeoran and his people had built in the cursed city, he had never visited in his career as a mist walker but he had always heard the city was swarming with beasts and no man could survive there, but now he saw children running through the streets and the elderly hobbling along as if there was no danger and there truly was none.

Aeoran carried the body of his father as he ignored the crowd and headed straight for his mother, he knelt down and laid the wrapped body at her feet, she didn't say anything as she knelt down and just looked at it.

After a few minutes of silence she finally spoke, "I always thought he was annoying when we were young" Elia thought back to when the two of them were young, "Loud and always trying to show off, he never grew up no matter how much I tried to make him"

Aeoran smiled as he remembered growing up with Aldean as a father; his strangely morbid jokes, his casual disregard for rules and the many things he taught the primarch, even the useless things. Aeoran placed a hand over his face as he felt the tears flow, it may not be revenge but at least he could honour his father and the ones who died because of him.

There was a large ceremony as the bodies were entombed in the temple and people made prayers to Urgel; the god of life, death and decay, they made sacrifices and lit incense as they finally put their dead to rest.

With their dead properly put to rest, the people of Solra planed their next move. The people had mostly refurbished and cleared out the royal palace and decided, without consulting him, to make it Aeoran's residence and their centre of government, the primarch couldn't really complain since he was planning to build an empire across his world so he had to rule from somewhere.

Aeoran sat on the throne of Solra, he cut the imposing figure as he held his axe and looked down at those assembled in front of him. His mother stood to his left and Alrean to his right, the elders of the village were present as well as some of the most skilled men they had. Kneeling before Aeoran was Kasadiel and his assistant, Samiel, their heads bowed as the king decided what to do with them and their mist walkers.

"Why have you come to me?" Aeoran asked

"Our King betrayed your trust, he attempted to kill you on baseless rumour and lied to his people about it" Kasadiel explained as he kept his head bowed, "Many in the city know the truth but can't speak out for fear of being silenced but I couldn't serve a King who would be so underhanded, I and everyone who followed me know you'll make a better king, of Aeoror and our whole world"

Kasadiel looked deep in to Aeoran's eyes, pleading with him to recognise the truth and not kill them solely because they were from an enemy city. He could almost see Aeoran deliberating with himself as he came to a decision on Kasadiel's fate.

"How many in Aeoror do you suppose oppose the King?" Aeoran asked

"I can't give you exact numbers but there was always a group of men complaining about him in the taverns, if I had to estimate, almost half would turn coat if given the option, more if faced with you"

"Well that is good news" Aeoran thought carefully on the idea, "If you betrayed your king, I don't think you walked out of the main gate"

"No, the mist seers showed us tunnels under the city that led to the mist" Kasadiel understood what Aeoran was thinking, "They were complex but I know some of the men would have memorised them"

"Alrean, gather a small force of men"

"Yes, I'll brief them on their mission after the meeting" Alrean bowed his head slightly

Pretty much everyone understood what Aeoran was planning without having to ask. Knowing there was anti royal sentiment, all they had to do was send in a few agents who could discreetly stoke the fires and when the time was right for their invasion, those agents could sabotage the enemy as well.

"Kasadiel you and your men are welcome in Solra, they will lead my agents in to Aeoror and aid them in building a movement against its King"

Kasadiel quickly bowed his head in thanks, "Thank you, although my men are most likely wanted and will need to stay out of sight"

Aeoran simply nodded and sent them out before turning to one of the men that stood in on the meeting. He was a middle-aged man with the same pale skin and black hair of everyone on their world, he had strong broad shoulders and calloused hands, he was Fariel and, after Aeoran, he was the smartest man in the city.

"And how is your project going?"

"It's hard to study the black stone ward without deactivating it but we have found some research that the old Solrans did on it, we're still trying to figure out most of it but I do believe we can remake the ward, with enough time"

Aeoran had expanded the group that knew about the black stone ward under the great temple and had tasked Fariel and a small trusted group with figuring out how it functioned and building one of their own, and maybe making it portable. Fariel was also tasked with discovering and deciding what to do with what ever was powering the palace.

"How about finding the power source?"

"We discovered a reactor under the palace, its systems are a mystery to us but we believe that when the city fell and people stopped maintaining it, it went it to some kind of reduced power mode" Fariel explained what they had found and what conclusions they had drawn, "It might have been responsible for powering the whole city but with its current output it can only power the palace and the ward"

"Can you get its output up?"

"Not right now but I have people working to understand the writings that were left behind on it, we will be able to mostly understand it in maybe two months"

"Good see to that" Aeoran sent Fariel off to see to his duties as he turned his mind to the final matter of business, and the most important.

They have recovered their dead and sent a message to Aeoror, Radiel would quickly figure out they were in Solra but sending any force would be suicide and the city no longer had any experienced mist walkers, so they were safe but they still didn't have the numbers to take on Aeoror. Aeoran considered his position and options for a few seconds before he came up with a plan.

"Where is the closest city to Solra?" Aeoran asked

"Well the closest city is Aeoror to the north" One of the elders spoke up, "But I assume you mean any other city, the closest should be Waloror, it would take you almost 2 months to trek that far through the mist"

"I will take 200 men and go to Waloror, they will bend to me" Aeoran declared

"200 men will not be enough to force a city to surrender and many of them will die in the mists" Another elder pointed out a flaw in his plan

"There are many villages and towns between us and Waloror, if my legend isn't enough then I'm sure 200 men will be enough for them"

Alrean smiled at his friend and king, "I'll get the men ready, we'll leave in a month"

An overly eager Alrean was about to head off before Aeoran stopped him, "I'm sorry Alrean but you have to stay here"

"What!?" he was shocked, "I'm completely healed you saw that when we recovered the bodies"

"I know" Aeoran knew Alrean's injuries were healed but his friend would never be combat able again but there were other things he could do, "I need someone I can trust to look over our people"

"They survived while we were both gone and your mother is here" Alrean debated

"I know but we can't fully trust Kasadiel or his men, you're the only one I can trust to keep an eye on them" Aeoran placed a hand on Alrean's shoulder and looked him in the eye, Alrean saw the emotion in his eyes and the desperation to keep his friend safe. HHe sighed as he relented, he never could say no when Aeoran insisted on something.

"Fine but you have to come back, I don't want to be king of this mess forever"

Aeoran laughed at the joke, his friends dark humour reminding him of his father.

Next time: Ascension of the Emperor