Speech = ``…..´´

Thoughts = … ….

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….Are we blind? Deploy the garrison!….

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Iris Midgar knew the duties that a person of her stature had to fulfil, bearing in mind that the eyes of the kingdom and its hopes were always turned in her direction. Their hopes, their inspirations, their fears...

To rule was not to win a battle…., but rather gain the hearts of those around you, to make them trust you…, believe in you.

It was inspiring as well as crushing to have to content and guard her steps with care not to stray from the invisible red lines that had been drawn. Much to her chagrin knowing that she could do just more than stay put in the comfort of normalcy.

Her father may be content on staying in his throne and let things run if they did not bothered him personally, but she was not her father.

Why should they become complacent with what they had? When they could do so much more…for their and their people sake?

Still...some modicum of caution was warranted. If only to please her father…, for now.

She sighed, leaning a bit against the wooden chair she was sitting on. Her eyes closing to a half lid, in deep thought before her lips wrapped into a thin line.

``To rule…., eh?´´

Two words that she had heard a lot since she was young and had the mind to make sense of it.

She was meant to rule and take the reins of the kingdom if something were to happen to the king, her father..

It was not like a fairy tale which using just love could lead you to the good happy ending, but rather a perilous task drenched with vigilance, it had been a bitter pil to swallow, bit this world was a lot more darker than it had first appeared behind the eyes of a young child.

And so she was here, in her own...tallying compliances and writing letters to certain noble families, not in the battlefield fighting a monstrous fiend, or polishing her sword after a fruitful investigation on the vile souls that threatened the peace of her kingdom.

Instead she was writing invitations or complimenting the people on the other end of the letter so that they were...perhaps a bit more compliant in helping keep things stable.

Something that her sister had told her would do wonders than just command the people to do. Something that had to with pride and that the cackling of chicken was more bearable when they were content rather than bitter.

She did not know about chickens though…, but nobles did have some pride. Even for the smallest things..

Perhaps it had to do with that..? She had not been able to ask her sister when she had shared that with her since she immediately walked away.

And so...here she was again.

It was an unglamorous task, but strictly necessary for the wheels of society to grind on. Though one in which she did not excel in the least...

Ironically, it was one of the few things she painfully lacked in herself, forcing her to delegate responsibilities to others.

She had tried to learn, if not out of wounded pride to ease the burden she had placed on others when it should have been hers alone.

But she had not witnessed a significant change, if any…

Her eyes darted to the side, landing on a small photo of her and her sister…, the two looked rather happy in each others embrace.

….

``Alexia...´´

Her voice broke down a little with solemnity as the name of her sister appeared form her lips, something that should have bring her joy now bringing anything but that...

How long had it been since she had spoken with her, since the two shared a heart-full meal together..? When had it been the last time she had saw her smile, not that fake, ugly thing she put as a front..but her true smile?

She did not know…

It shamed her not to know...

But she had the feeling that it had been her fault to put this wedge between them, that she had not been good enough to stop this silence from settling between them.

It had been painful to consider that, agonizing to admit it...

But she did not care how much it would torn her from inside, she just wanted things to go back like they were when they were young, when the two of them confided with one another.

When there had been no barriers between them..

She sighed, tired as she pinched the bridge of her nose. But she could not just go look out for her and try to mend things right there and then, she had never been good with speaking her heart and she could just do it worse.

There was too much at stake to just throw it all in a blind throw of dices.

But what else was it there to do?

This question continued to pester her for a long time, so focussed was she that she did not realized that the sunny day that had been shining outside had disappeared, leaving her mostly in darkness..

She was only made aware of it when the doors leading to her office burst open, a rather large man, his face seasoned with decades of experience and a large scar on his right side of his face entered the room. Though he appeared that he had been running to reach her neither his spiky brown hair nor his clothes appeared to be dishevelled.

``Glen..? What is it..? You seem out of breath-...´´

She started asking only to be cut off immediately when the man open his lips. His voice rough and clearly still out of breath, yet resolute.

``The kingdom is under attack, your highness...!´´

The vice-commander of her crimson knights sputtered out loud, the words almost going over her head until the gears in her mind clicked.

``What...!?´´

She exclaimed, dumbfounded...not really believing what she had just heard. In fact she believed she had heard wrong and that there was n one attacking the kingdom.

Sadly another explosion could be heard on the distance…., making such hopes vanish into thing air.

Suspicion and dread taking its place in return..

….What was that...?...

``Yes, an enemy has started an assault in the northern streets, the people are panicking all around the city..!´´

Apiece of ice seemed to sunk inside her guts. Her heart started to beat faster…, her chest slowly heaving up and down while her eyes darted from one place to another. A myriad thoughts of crossing through her mind..

The capital was under attack? It did not make any sense…, no one had ever attempted such fool hardy action in centuries, not even the most vile and reckless of criminals hiding in the underbelly of their society would not think twice before causing such a ruckus...

And yet it was the only thing that could explain the chaos that had taken and rip out from her grasp the calm and tranquil moment of her day.

She stood up from her seat, moving away from it as she retrieved her sword that had been resting against a wall as she made her way through the corridors.

Still, to understand and acknowledge that someone was attacking the city did not answer many questions, in fact, it created more.

Too many for her liking...

``How many..? Where...? Do we know their intentions...?´´

She asked rapidly as the two of them made their way out of her office an into the halls of the castle, servants and knights alike were moving from one place to another, whispering to each other as they too had taken notice of the strange things occurring outside the castle walls.

She would not blame them, but it seemed that she had been the last one to realize what was happening.

That was not good in her book.

It took her a moment to realize that Glen had not answered her question.

``Well? What are you waiting for...? We don't have all day...´´

She pressed on. Time was of essence, the more they knew about their foe the more she could prepare her and her forces to apprehend or stop them.

This silence was helping no one.

The man bit his lip, that was not good.

``We...we don't know..´´´

``You mean..you don't know or that no one has any idea of what is going on...?´´

No matter which one Glen choose, it would be shameful to admit it.

Glen grimaced, his head hung low in shame as he tried not to look at her in the eyes.

The act hurt more than the very words she knew were about to come out.

``My apologies.., princess Iris...´´

She bit her lip, clenching her fist tightly...but she did not stopped walking through the corridors. She merely increased her pace.

`` Have our security grown so lax that the safety of our citizens have become a mere nuisance that we can dismiss our failures with just a simple half added apology!?´´

She would normally not have lashed out like that…, try to keep a level head knowing that Glen was not a man for making up excuses…, but it bothered her the simplicity in which he had stated the magnitude of their failure.

As if it was her who should forgive him, forgive them all for this chaos...

The people depended on them for their protection, they were the ones between them and evil...what would they think if they knew that none of them had the smallest idea of what was going on? That they could have been suffering for a while an one here was none the wiser..?

Anger would flare in their hearts…

Fear would sink in their souls…

Hands would be pointed to look for the culprits...

It would be chaos…

``I am sorry Glen..., I should not have sa-..´´

``Is ok, I do understand. No other than me is more bothered by these circumstances, princess Iris..´´

He said, offering an apologetic glare at her before he resumed to look forward. Some more knights when they saw them joined them..

Making their group start growing exponentially.

`` It just..it was too sudden, no one was expecting that the chaos would happen from the inside the walls and so fast. There was nothing we could do.., and now...chaos´´

She wanted to rebuke his claims, they felt as if he was speaking as if the entire city had been well one second and the next was nothing but a broken wasteland. Laughable at best, and yet she could not do that, not when the clues that things had been going wrong were too many too count.

It had been a rather sunny day in the middle of a heat wave, with no clouds in sight and from nowhere it had become cloudy and dark, a terrible rainstorm been unleashed all over their heads as the wind blew harsher and harsher, howling like a shrieking, wounded beast…

Now someone was laying waste to their city…

What would be the next thing to happen..? She dreaded to think about it..

Soon enough they reached a large balcony that led them to get a clear view of the outside.

A place where she usually went to partake in a cup of tear with or without her sister if there was the chance when she was not busy with her duties or training, the wind brushing against them...tugging the loose strands of her crimson hair back as the air smeared the cool humid air against her face as they made their way towards the edge of it.

But the sight that she would find today would not be of any beauty she knew of…., but one she would become well acquainted in the following hours.

The devastation gripped her heart with an iron grip. Fires had broke out everywhere, columns of smoke rising all over the flames would give them the chance, defying the winds howling around them, the flames burning even more brightly and strongly even when the rain tried to snuff them out.

The ground shuddered under her feet, some buildings fall apart...others had their windows burst into a million pieces.

She could barely hear the sound of steel clashing or breaking apart, but the sound of gun fire was easier to pick up from.

What..what the hell were they facing?

``My princess..?´´

``Deploy the Black Knights and the Crimson Order…, we must protect the city from this unjust onslaught, we have to start evacuating them as far and quick as we can to avoid them getting caught in the crossfire while we try to face this threat.´´

``But…, how many your highness…?´´

She looked at the devastation down below one more time, making sure that she would never forget this sight in her life before she looked back at Glen. A look of utter determination behind the depths of her red eyes.

``All of them...!´´

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A/N

I know the story as it is now seems a bit too focused on a walking land-mower pushing through everyone with almost no impediment or cause than they were there. Or that the series as it is now does not have the humour or misunderstandings than others out there.

But right now the Oc is, pardon my language..like a junky looking for his next fix of violence and that some people may not like this take..., but in truth the oc he doesnt care who the bandits/diabolos or anyone in his path are, what they are doing, he is just going through with the info he took from those he slain as he makes his way to the arm.

The misunderstandings will start when Alpha gets out of the possession..we need of course, two people to get there..

Feel free to coment to let me know your thoughts and sorry if something was not of your liking.

:)