What followed after the bold proclamation made by the daring man was a silence so taut it felt as if sothing was actually about to snap.
I just hoped it wasn’t my father’s patience.
Because, no, really?
They wanted my father to do what?
What kind of idiot walks straight into a lion’s den and asks the alpha to politely hand over a piece of his territory?
I honestly thought I had misheard him for a second.
So I tilted slightly toward Calliope and muttered under a breath, "Sorry, but did that man just ask Father to give up a war zone we bled for?"
"Yes," she whispered back without looking at . Her voice was tight like she was terrified we’d get into trouble for speaking right now. "And please, stop talking."
Argh. So rude.
I straightened up and looked back toward the foreigners, studying them with newfound curiosity.
They were brave, I’d give them that. Incredibly brave, even. Either that, or just incredibly suicidal.
Possibly both.
One of the Elders scoffed, showing a grin that was all teeth. "You co into our stronghold, stand before our Lord, and make demands of this magnitude?"
Another leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. "Do the independent Southern Tribes no longer rember their place?"
Ah!
So that’s who they were. Delegates from the Independent Association of Southern Tribes. That explained their robes, their tanned skin, and their... audacity.
The woman among the three stepped forward this ti.
She seed young, probably only a few years older than , and exotically beautiful. Judging by her silver hair styled in tight box braids and her sharp magenta eyes, she was definitely so sort of nobility.
And unlike the man, she didn’t bother hiding her disdain.
"We rember our place quite well," she said coolly. "Do you?"
Aaaaand she wanted to die.
I won’t lie, I almost admired her death wish.
"The region you have ’claid’ as yours," she continued, making very deliberate air quotes with her fingers, "lies within the natural borders of the Southern Coalition. Your occupation was tolerated under the assumption it was temporary."
"Temporary?" an Elder echoed, his voice shooting up to match his rising temper.
"Yes," she replied flatly. "Temporary! It has been seven years."
Seven years, in political terms, was practically a lifeti.
I shifted my gaze toward my father.
He hadn’t moved an inch. He was still lounging, still resting his chin against his hand, and still looking... bored.
But the shadows around the throne seed a little darker now.
"You misunderstand sothing," he finally said. His voice was composed and quiet, yet every person in the hall heard it clear as crystal like he was speaking directly into their ears. "We never occupied the region of Aether Claw. We conquered it. We saved your pesky tribes from the Serpent for years. And now that you’ve gathered a sowhat decent backing and acquired a few powerful Awakened, you think you can challenge us? After we were the ones protecting you, Chief Qhaf?"
Wow.
The room’s temperature dropped. Not literally, but it might as well have.
The tall foreigner’s jaw visibly tightened as he fumbled for an answer. "Be that as it may—"
"It is," my father cut him off. At the sa ti, a faint and almost imperceptible tremor ran through the chamber.
I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but was my father releasing his Spiritual Pressure?
He wasn’t seriously planning to kill these three, was he?
I wouldn’t put it past him, but they really just seed like poor ssengers sent here to negotiate.
"Still," the man pressed on, clearly deciding that backing down now would be worse than death, "the Southern Coalition cannot allow a foreign Monarch-aligned power to maintain such a strategic foothold within our sphere of influence."
I exhaled slowly, sinking back into my chair.
Never mind what I said.
This wasn’t just a negotiation anymore. This was an attempt at starting a war.
That guy was intentionally provoking my father.
Now, before you get confused, allow to explain exactly what was going on here.
Five hundred years ago, when the Portals first appeared around the globe and monsters poured out from within their depths, the apocalypse began.
As a result, the world was fractured for many years to co... until the first wave of Awakened heroes rose to snatch Earth back from the claws of beasts and crown humanity the masters of the planet once more.
Among those brave heroes were five individuals of unrivaled power. And they went on to beco the first generation of the five Monarchs.
They united the fragnted pieces of the changed and treacherous world before ushering mankind into a new era by establishing the five great Safe-Zones.
The only problem was that the first generation of Monarchs weren’t quite as all-powerful as the history books like to claim. They weren’t even as powerful as the Monarchs of the current ti.
As such, they couldn’t integrate all the habitable territories under their supre authority. Many tribes, clans, and factions were simply ignored, left to survive on their own in the wilds.
...And they did.
They survived. They thrived.
And generations later, when the descendants of those first five Monarchs — now Monarchs themselves — grew strong enough to surpass their forefathers and demand the total inclusion of all free nations... many of those independent territories refused.
Yes, so surrendered themselves seamlessly.
But most had to be brought in by force.
A few, however, were actually strong enough to push back. For instance — the independent desert tribes of the South.
They were a coalition of fiercely proud, battle-hardened clans that had endured harsh centuries in a land rife with monsters and constant strife.
Their leaders were famously skilled in combat, cunning in strategy, and unyielding in will. They had carved out their little empire from the chaos of a fractured world, building it up brick by brick and war by war.
And they were not ready to just hand it all over when the Southern Monarch ca knocking on their door.
To clarify, I’m not exaggerating here.
Each one of them — from the n and won of their tribes to the children and the elderly — was ready to fight to the last breath.
They were ready to be wiped out and go extinct.
But they were not ready to surrender.
So, after years of senseless bloodshed, the Southern Monarch of that era eventually gave up on the dream of conquering the entire South.
That’s how the Free Southern Coalition was ford.
Reviews
All reviews (0)