The next day ,
The Imperium had already clashed against its enemies on three fronts when a shadow griffon from the capital cut through the cold northern sky and landed in the courtyard of the Valerius castle...
By then, the three archduchies were preparing for a coronation. The whole archduchy was booming with happy voices and excited commoners...
The Shadow Envoy in black leather, the imperial seal was still dusty due to flying, was led straight into the main war hall. He knelt and presented the sealed scroll with both hands.
Cassian Valerius took it. Varric Blackwood and Nytheira Sylveria stood on either side of him. Lucian and Selene watched from the high seats behind.
Cassian broke the seal and read aloud, so the envoy would hear his own master's words:
"...the Imperium recognizes their crowning ceremony... but we'll never bow down our head to another kingdom again. We'll fight to the end to make them bow..."
He finished. For a heartbeat, the hall was silent.
Then Cassian tore it in half. Then again. The pieces of imperial-grade parchment fluttered to the stone floor.
Varric snorted, his deep voice echoing off the banners. "Hmph! He wanted to make us bow? Dream on!"
Beside him, Nytheira's temper slipped. A flicker of her ancient aura, cold as deep winter leaked out before she could stop it. The envoy, still kneeling, began to shake so violently his teeth started clicking in fear...
Nytheira immediately pulled it back, pressing her lips together. "Sigh! I need to control my temper more... if the Ancient King knew about it he'll definitely look down on me..."
Cassian felt dumbfounded and muttered, without thinking, "Umm, mother-in-law, Silas is your own grandson..."
Before he could say anything more he felt four sharp gazes turn on him at once. They were Lucian, Selene, Nytheira, and Varric.
He gulped down the rest of his words immediately.
Lucian said coldly, "Remember it even in your dreams! HE is now the Ancient King. The most revered person, even by the first ancestors of our families. Never say his name casually even if you are his father..."
Cassian immediately nodded his head. In front of these few people he really was an ant.
To the side, Lysandra, Isolde, Auren, Elara, and Cedric all covered their mouths, shoulders shaking as they laughed between themselves... they had never seen the ferocious Archduke Cassian like this before.
Cassian sighed, straightened his mantle to recover some dignity, and looked down at the envoy. His voice turned to ice.
"Tell your emperor we received his edict... and we'll wait for him to take action."
He took one step closer. The envoy didn't dare lift his head, he just gulped hard, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cold hall.
Cassian smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes...
Cassian looked down at the trembling envoy for a moment longer, then his expression eased just slightly.
"Today the Ancient King will be crowned in the Valerius Archduchy," he said, his voice carrying across the hall. "You can spend your time here... and enjoy the ceremony."
The envoy, still on his knees, gulped and pressed his forehead lower to the cold stone.
"As... as you wish, my lord."
Varric chuckled from his seat, a low rumble. "Good. Let him see with his own eyes what a real king looks like. Then he can run back to his master's white palace and tell Caelum exactly why he will never make us bow..."
Nytheira waved a hand, and two Valerius guards stepped forward. "Take our... guest... to the high balcony. Give him a good seat. Give him the best wine from our archduchy...I want the Emperor's own shadow to watch every second of the coronation with full enjoyment...."
The envoy was lifted gently but firmly by the arms and led out, his legs still unsteady....he sighed to himself, ' why am I the one attending the coronation instead of the emperor....or the royal family.'
As the doors closed behind him, Lucian leaned forward from the high seat, his old eyes sharp.
"He will send a memory crystal back to the capital," Lucian said quietly.
Cassian nodded. " Yes ! I want to see his reaction..."
By noon, the white stone streets from the outer gates to the main plaza were packed shoulder to shoulder.
Farmers, carpenters, waiters, and every commoner were present at this coronation... Blackwood knights and Sylveria mages also attended this coronation after receiving the news a day before....
Children were sitting on their fathers' shoulders... while the old people had their own area arranged by the archduchy... from where they could see the full view of the coronation...
Above them, on the castle towers, three ancient flags were now waving together.... a wolf, a serpent, and the black tree were carved beautifully on those flags...
The whole area was decorated with small charms of these three symbols made of pure silver, shining in the bright sun...
Above everything else, a new flag much bigger than the other three was waving like a terrifying entity... fully black with golden designs on it.
A triangle in the middle with three circles at each point filled with a silver wolf, a serpent with a star on its head, and a black tree..... and in the middle of the triangle was an ancient book.
It was the same symbol as on Silas's hand.
On the high balcony, the Imperial envoy clutched his wine cup with white knuckles, a memory crystal already recording from his breast pocket.
Drums began.
Not the bright imperial trumpets of the capital. Deep war drums, slow and steady, like a heartbeat.
The crowd parted....
First came the powerful members of the three archduchies.... Lucian Valerius, Selene Valerius, Nytheira Sylveria, and Varric Blackwood.... alongside the other powerful members of the three archduchies and branch families.... They did not look at the crowd. They looked straight at the dais.
At the center of the plaza, on a platform of uncarved rock, sat a magnificent throne even bigger than the throne the Emperor used himself.... the envoy gulped down his wine... looking at that magnificent throne....
one armrest was a silver wolf and the other was a serpent..... while the backrest was the trunk of the ancient black tree... made out of pure gold and mithril, a magical metal....
Then everyone stood aside respectfully, looking at the entrance of the ceremony...
An elder announced in a high voice,
"The Ancient King, Silas Valerius, entering the plaza..."
And with it the drums started beating with a more profound and heavy tune... the people gasped and stopped, looking towards the entrance, and the moment they saw a glimpse they started shouting crazily...
Their voices were so loud that even the envoy looked towards the entrance in awe... he had never heard the people cheer for their own emperor like this before...
The nobles also looked at the entrance to see Silas's entry...
The great gates at the far end of the white stone street opened slowly, without a touch.
Silence fell for half a breath. Even the drums paused for a few seconds.
Then he walked in.
Silas, his black hair was combed back, was wearing a black imperial robe designed with the symbols from the three ancient families.... a symbol the same as on his hand was made on the back of his robe... he was wearing full black.... golden ornaments were dangling from his body...
He was looking like a real king... His deep black eyes swept the plaza once, calm and absolute.
But no one was looking at his clothes.
Because he did not walk alone.
To his left moved the Silver Wolf. It was massive as a warhorse, its fur like moonlight made solid, each paw leaving a faint frost on the stone that vanished in seconds. Its golden eyes scanned the crowd, and grown men stepped back without knowing why.
To his right slithered the Black Serpent. It was long as three carriages, its scales absorbing light, a single silver star burning cold on its forehead.
It did not touch the ground; it floated a handspan above it, silent, its tongue tasting the air.
And behind him walked the Black Tree. It was not a tree at all, but a spirit in the shape of one, its trunk like ancient bark, its branches spreading wide like antlers, roots dragging like a cloak.
Every step it took, small white flowers bloomed on the cobbles and withered instantly. It had a face in its trunk, which looked coldly over the crowd...
The three Guardian Spirits he had summoned outside the ancestral land now walked openly in the capital of the north.
The crowd, which had been screaming, fell into a choked, reverent roar...
"THE KING!"
"KING SILAS!"
"OUR KING!"
Aleric, Torin, Ronald, and Seraphina looked at Silas with glittering eyes...
Aleric chuckled, "and now even I... can't recognize my own brother!"
Ronald grinned, "look at the people, even before his coronation they have accepted him as their king."
Seraphina covered her mouth and chuckled, "he always wanted to live a peaceful life.... do you think it'll be peaceful anymore?"
Everyone shook their heads in denial.... Aleric sighed. After his brother changed the family rule... now he has regained his family's status... and after he gets crowned he'll take his place as a duke.
His responsibilities are also getting bigger and bigger....