Left with Skulls (Julius X Death!OC)

PART I - THE OMEN

A Thunder struck, cutting the night sky in half. The heavy rain bombarded the royal castle at the top of the hill, wherein one of its massive windows stood a tall man with long grey hair and intelligent eyes. His muscular figure wore a red robe with white fur and gold medals. He observed the storm, his absent eyes wandered down and stopped on a big oak tree fighting with the wind and barely holding onto its leaves.

This man was the magic Emperor of the Clover kingdom, William Alexander. His appearance, although still proud and strong, started to show signs of tiredness and old age. He was one of the longest-serving emperors, he knew his time was creeping towards the end but he couldn't walk away before he took care of one last case.

A firm knock on the door filled the room. The man took a deep breath and linked his scarred hands together, 'Come in'.

The doors opened, and a magic knight stepped in. He bowed, 'Sir, you wished to see me?', his deep but soft voice ringed in the older man's ears.

The Emperor turned to face the blond Capitan. He was wearing noble, white clothes with blue accents and his squad's grey robe. The name was Julius Novachrono, a talented Captain of the Grey Deer order of magic knights. Unknowingly to him, William thought of him as the number one candidate to replace him.

'Yes Julius, yes I did.' He said and smiled sadly, 'There is a matter that needs to be taken care of.'

_..._

'In the last three months, we have received many disturbing reports from the western part of our kingdom. The percentage of deaths in that region has risen by over a half.'

Julius's eyes widen, the moonlight illuminating his soft features, 'By over a half? I have heard about problems on the west, but I never thought it would be that bad.'

The Emperor nodded as he handed over the folder, 'There is no logical explanation for this occurrence. Some people died from unknown sicknesses. Others were victims of brutal fights or murders. The last update reports about spreading severe malnutrition amongst the children.'

The young knight frowned, he opened the file and scanned the pages, his fingers brushed the burgundy stain at the bottom of the paper. 'It does sound unusual' he trailed off, still looking at the spot. Julius was sure it was blood but the sheer energy of it chilled his bones. He couldn't understand why it bothered him so much.

'I understand that you want me to find the origin of the problem.' His eyes returned to the Emperor who stared blankly at him, a moment of silence filled the air with heaviness.

'I've sent two men there when I first received reports.' He said finally. Julius looked at him puzzled when Emperor leaned back sighing, 'Two weeks ago, I lost all contact with them, and yesterday...' He looked down and his eyes filled with sorrow, 'Yesterday, we received their heads.'

A lightning bolt growled and filled the room with white light. Julius' shoulders tensed as his grip on the folder tightened.

'As you can see, it's a dangerous mission. I'm giving you this case because I believe in your skills. However, if you want to step out...'

'Step out?' Julius asked himself, never in his time he has been given an option like that. He was confident in his skills to handle every mission and the Emperor knew that. 'What is about this mission that seemed to worry the old man so greatly?', Julius could only wonder.

He straightened his posture and looked straight into the Emperor's eyes, 'I'll take this mission, Sir. We can't allow this to be happening in our kingdom and to people that I swore to protect.'

The older man smiled sadly and heavily stood up, 'Julius Novachrono, Captain of Grey Deer, I assign you to investigate the west region of Clover Kingdom and to bring justice to this land.'

Julius saluted with a determined look in his eyes. The older man nodded, and the young knight left the room already lost in thought.

The Emperor stared at the door for a long moment, and when the next thunder resonated in his ears, his attention went back to the outside world. The wind hit windows almost breaking the glass, the Emperor neared them and looked at the sky, which seemed to forget what peace was. When he lowered his gaze, he saw the almost bare oak tree losing leaf after leaf.

'Be safe, Julius.'