The skies brightened as morning broke over Calensport. Once more the common folks poured in thousands through calensports gates, swelling the streets in waves, just as they had the night before to hear the verdict. Now they came to witness eryndors judgement.
Commoners marched toward the execution field, an open expanse in calensport, dotted by few trees.
The crowd chanted and called for justice on eeyndor as they made their way towards the open field.
Drakovar soldiers formed a curved barricade-like wall in the open field, as they held back the restless crowd. Seperating the crowd from execution spot.
Eryndor of House Valesse was dragged forward at last. His eyes were lifeless, the pupils within his eyes dilated as he stared blankly.
His skin was pale and drawn, lips cracked, each step unsteady as soldiers hauled him toward a tree at the center of the field.
Drakovar soldiers fastened his chains to another on the ground, as they force him into a kneeling position.
Behind him, Sir Joras, Lady Ovelyn, and Lord Halric were pushed forward as well. Their Loose chains were fastened to iron holds in the earth, forcing them to their knees, as they all knelt along a straight line before the crowd.
Their heads bowed with terror written across each of their faces.
Soon, a troop of Drakovar soldiers started marching into the field as they forced their way through the clustering crowd of commoners. Mothers clutched their children tightly as they are pushed aside, trying to make way.
People stumbled to the ground, as the drakovar soldiers pushed violently between them.
A man's who was pushed to the ground raised his voice at the drakovar soldiers. "Watch where you push!" His words nearly ended as he was struck hard across the face by a drakovar soldier. He crumpled to the ground squealing and clutching his cheek, as other commoners gasped. Yet no one dared move.
The soldiers successfully cleared a long path that lead towards eryndor from within the crowd, as each troop od drakovar soldiers halted in formation.
With a resounding stamp of their feet, they turned sharply, standing face to face with each other, as the narrow path stood clear between them.
Then lord Erry O'Kael of Drakovar marched in between the narrow path, heading towards eryndor and his companions kneeling ahead.
Kael stood tall and broad, tightly clad within his armour, as he carried a massive geared sphere. It rattled and whirred as if it was alive.
The spheres casing is covered with bronze and patched with veins of silver and gold. Kael caressed the sphere with a jolly temperament. As he raised his voice.
"Behold!" O'Kael yelled, pacing before eryndor and his loyal nobles.
"The fallen Sovereign, and his strong men and woman." A portion of the crowd broke into mocking laughter.
"I stand here as witness of this execution, as law requires, and in the stead of the Wardens themselves," he continued.
"Marien and veynar refused to witness. Pah!" His spittle struck the ground as the crowd jeered. "They do not have the stomach for it" he mocked, then lifted the geared sphere high, tilting it so that Eryndor's reflection shimmered across its surface.
"The Heaven's Blitz bomb" he declared.
"A weapon of great worth. A weapon you used to take the lives of your own people"
With a flick of his wrist, kael cracked some switches on top the sphere. As it hissed and released a cloud of white vapor. Sections of its casing shifted, folding back and snapping into place, resetting with a sound like breaking bones.
Then the sphere trembled violently in his palm.
O'Kael hurled it forward as it struck the ground with a heavy clang, rolling toward Eryndor until it slowed and came to rest at his feet.
At the sight of the heavens blitz bomb, Lady Ovelyn shrieked in fear, pushing against her chains. "Let me go! For mercy's sake, let me go!"
Lord Halric cried out, his eyes wild with terror. "Please! Spare me! Or banish me instead!"
But Eryndor did not move. His eyes, once a warm brown, were now darkened, hollow as pitch. He stared into the trembling sphere, saying nothing.
And then memories flashed within him.
He saw himself as a boy, breaking bread in a dim tavern with his mother and little sister. His mother's arms wrapped him tight, holding him close, before she was torn away by men in shadows, whose faces he could not see. He clutched his sister's hand to his chest as his mother's cries echoed words he could not forget.
"Liora…" eryndor called out faintly his voice cracking.
As the geared sphere rattled and shrieked against the stones, vibrating like a beast in chains. Lord Halric and Lady Ovelyn cried out in terror, pleading for mergy, while Eryndor and Joras knelt in silence, their eyes empty without hope.
From a distance, O'Kael laughed and mocked,while the crowd roared.
"I wanted your heads!" O'Kael shouted over the rattling sound of the sphere and the crowd, his voice carrying across the field. "But Supreme Judge Marric said no. He wanted you to die with honor." He sneered.
"You should thank marric, this is indeed mercy"
The mob erupted even more spitting curses, yet not all joined in, some fell into quiet sobs, others froze while starring at eryndor and his nobles, people couldnt believe their eyes.
Eryndor's world drowned into silence. The sphere ticked. The mouths of the crowd moved, but their voices vanished from his ears.
Time slowed dramatically as the scene unfolded.
From where nobles watched, Keith watched with a chills running down his spine.
Slow and steady he made his way out of the gathered low and mid nobles, taking off his hat in the process.
Then the sphere ignited.
A blue-white light tore upward into the sky, splitting the clouds with violent force. Winds howled through the open field as Erry O'Kael stood unmoved, watching with a blank expression.
From blinding light came an expanding ball of exploding flames and cutting winds, as it swallows Eryndor, Halric, Ovelyn, and Joras.
"Liora!" Eryndor called out from flames
"Amon!" Ovelyn called out as well
Eryndor and his nobles cries drowns beneath the burning inferno. Their Flesh blistered, blackened, and flaked away as they writhed in pain and agony, their chains rattling against the earth. And then, one by one, their screams ceased.
The entire crowd goes silent as the fire died down. The execution ground laid scorched and charred black. Eryndor and his loyal nobles remains clung to their chains, as it gradually collapsed into dust.
No one within the crowd spoke, no cheer, no noise. Only silence, and the low whistle of the wind that swept through the field.
Shame and unease now dwelled among the crowd.
People could barely look each other in the eye.
Mothers wiped their tears, though guilt lingered upon their faces.
At last, Drakovar soldiers broke the stillness. One by one, the sound of their steps filled the field. One by one, they began retreating in an orderly march behind kael.
The skies now darkened.
Lightning immediately flashed within the dark skies, as a peal of thunder shook the air over calensport. With speed, the crowd broke into fewer numbers in search of shelter against the incoming rain.
Without warning, the rain begn to fall, sudden and heavy, drowning Asterra beneath a curtain of storm.
Location: Solherene mansion in the west
Through the heavy rain, House solherenes mansion stood visibly, gilded with luxury. Inside, Lord Marric of House Solherene stood before the tall windows.
Lightning flashed as its light reflects over the window, casting pale blue light over marrics face.
Marric lingered at the window for a while lost in thoughts, then he turned back, vanishing into the shadows of his chamber.
While, Marien stepped into her factory. The place throbbing with metal works and steam. Workers in heavy coats and stained aprons rushed about their works, their hands smeared with grease and dirt.
Other industrial workers paced around in yellow protective suits and masks, hauling crates marked with the word "Griuem"
"Move faster!" Marien barked, her voice roaring with anger. As Soldiers marched past, engineers bent over machines, soldiering metals together.
Then Lightning cracked overhead, spilling its blue light over her factory. As marien sat ontop a chair, her weight pressing hard against, her head tipped backwards as she stared into open space, lost in thoughts.
And finally At the calvasset mansion, Sylven Veynar of House Calvasset sat in a council meeting within a banquet stretched before him, fruits, wines, gilded dishes gleaming beneath the sway of golden chandeliers.
Nobles lounged at the table, their voices mingling in quiet debate. Servants moved around serving veynar and his guests as they dined. Lightning flared over his mansion, combined with the heavy rain.
In the north, master yerus watchtower rose stark against the rain and storm, within his small room Master Yeru sat slouched in a crooked chair. The thunder's growl rattled the windowpanes as he uncorked a bottle and lifted it to his lips.
He took a long gulp of alcohol, the sound of his swallow loud in the silence.
Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, while starring out the window.
"I do not know what the world will face with you gone," he muttered, his eyes fixed on the storm. He raised the bottle again, voice cracking as he spoke. "But as the heavens weep for you, I pray a force greater than yours rises to avenge you, old friend."
He drank again, heavier this time, then slumped back, the wood creaking beneath his weight.
Far to the west, in the town of Olsmere, Mira sat quietly within a dim tent as rain hammered on it from outside. Other women gathered within the tent as well, each laying on their respective cots.
Then mira stared at the storm through a slit in the tent, her mind drifting back to memories of the attack. Images of her dead child also flashed before her, as she clenched her teeth in pain. Tears brewing within her eyes, and her heavy heart choking at her throat.
Suddemly she felt a gently tap on her shoulder. It was Mrs. Trinket.
She sat beside mira on the cot, as she spoke with a soft and tender voice. "Mira… you should eat something." Trinket says, as she set down a plate of bread and salted fish before her.
Mira glanced at the food and forced smile, but her eyes still felt dull, and exhausted. Around them, the other women started eating in silence.
"The rain does not seem to be slowing down" Mrs. Trinket continued, pulling a heavy blanket from beneath the cot. "And I worry for my husband, Keith." She says as she spread the blanket over Mira's shoulders and gave it a gentle tug.
"But I worry for you too mira"
Mira leaned into the warm blanket, as she responded "Your husband should be fine. He survived the blast. Surely he can survive the rain," she said softly, as they both laughed gently.
Then Mira lifted the bread, and bit into it, chewing softly.
Mrs. Trinket sat in silence for a while, her gaze fixed out the rain that trashed the tent. "I worked as a nurse once," as she spoke while lost in thoughts.
"In the infantry of House Calvasset. I was part of the emergency unit that tended to the wounded, at the wars fought outside asterra"
"That was where I met Lord Keith. He was a volunteer soldier then, aspiring to become a noble." She says, as she rubbed her hands together, warming them against the cold. "I was twenty-three then, most soldier wanted to be with me, some leered. Some threw gifts at me, But Keith… Keith was different. He was gentle and Kind, he didnt speak to me like a man in need to satisfy his urges, he treated me more like a friend."
Trinket continues as the rain pressed harder, while Mira listened quietly, amd chewed in silence.
"When his troop marched to the war fronts, I would get scared thinking i would never see him again, then id sneak letters into his pocket to encourage and comfort him" Mrs. Trinket said with a small laugh.
"Days and weeks would pass, before we got news about their survival. It was terrible mira, saying good bye to someone everytime not knwoimg if he would come back" trinket laughed again, shaking her head. "And when he made it back, w was always too eager to tend his wounds. Although i was mocked for it. Some calvasset soldiers said I needed a real man, not a someone like keith"
Her eyes fell to the ring on her finger, which she turned slowly. "I didnt care, but I was really shy then, afraid to say what I felt"
Her voice dropped, hushed by memory. "Then one day, he told me his house had been summoned to Calensport and he might never return to the war fronta. I was happy and sad at thesame time, i didnt want him going to war but i wanted to stay close to him"
She said as she sat back adjusting her weight. "That night, rain falling just like this, I went to him. I spoke about my feelings for him, it rained like this back then too" she saids.
" I still remember his face, the shock, the joy. And that night, in an empty guardroom, we made love. Turns out he had been waiting for me all along."
The tent had grown quiet. Every woman in the room had been paying close attention to the story and forgetting their food.
Mrs. Trinket blinked, cominh back to reality, as she noticed the whole tent had gone quiet. She lets out a small laughed. As the other women resumed eating their food like they never paid attention before. "Enough of that. I've spoken too much." Trinekt says
Then Mira reached forward, clasping her hands firmly. "Thank you, for the food, and for the story. You are the first to put a smile on this face since the night of the attack, im really grateful for that mrs trinket, but If you don't mind… I would love to hear the rest of your story another time. for now… could I be alone?" Mira asked politely.
"Of course," Mrs. Trinket replied warmly, rising from the cot as she scooped empty plates from around the tent.
"There are other women who might need my service. However, i am glad you are stronger and healing faster."
She said as she pulled open the flap, stepped into the storm, and lifted her umbrella against the sheets of rain then vanished toward the other tents.
Mira laid back, curling beneath the blanket, tears slid quietly down her cheeks, soaking the fabric. As she drifted into sleep.