Beyond the Void

Chapter 21, You like an easy life

The arrival of the Humans during the closing years of the Age of Fleeting was enough to turn the entire continent of Tavran upside down for the following four Ages.

of Fleeting 657 - The first humans arrive from World Engines all over Tavran. Misery, desperation, confusion and death. Hundreds of thousands die.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

KELDIN

One moon and one ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

His words were empty promises. Forge a new symbol of strength? Winter had arrived early this year, with plenty of snow and low temperatures.

Keldin, however, could not feel the cold. He was sitting in Narisa's garden, a part of the grand park that spanned all of Narris' Citadel. Few people wandered to this corner of the park, Keldin had discovered lately.

He had just escaped the Grand Council, again. He had had an idea when talking to his father, but now, a few tens later, he did not understand what he had been thinking of. Had it been like this for his father? Or was Keldin simply this inept?

Usually meetings of the Grand Council were held once a ten and urgently called together when necessary. These past moons the Council had exercised this right to hold too many meetings. The senators and warlords showed no sign of fatigue and every time continued with their requests, ridiculous drafts and proposals and demands from the royal bloodline.

Keldin had received the same teachings as his brother, they had the same teachers, but every time Keldin had stepped into the grand hall, he sat there, on the left hand of his father, stared, and listened. He felt utterly helpless.

Seldin was wrong. The two of them had different strengths and weaknesses. They were near opposites of each other. A bitter thought that made Keldin think back on the scene that had unfolded in that hidden attic-chamber.

Things had been none the better today. Another exhausting meeting had adjourned. The moment it did, Keldin had escaped to the quiet of this garden.

The Grand Council had not been accepting of the idea that a voidstone in reach would be abandoned. The Emperor had vetoed the resolution. The Grand Council refused to recognise it, but the Emperor's word is law, in the end, they had no choice.

Yet, when was the last time the Grand Council had refused to recognise the Emperor's command, when had such a thing occurred? Many, many lifetimes ago, during a different ruler, a different Age perhaps, if ever.

You could not deny it, the rumoured Doom of the Ebonveils had given way to doubt and rebellion. The rule of the Ebonveils was faltering, a sick and dying emperor, one heir a suspected queer and the other inept at his duties.

Keldin sighed and stared at the falling snow and sky. He wanted to disappear from this city. The worst part of the day had come when his father had given a speech about the approaching new Age and a new ruler. Worst of all, he had used the words Keldin had said.

"If you feel I am old enough to rebel against, to discard the loyalty and oaths you've given to the Empire, to our bloodline! You plead for changes, yet do little to change yourself or your surroundings. Changes are upon us! For the sake of the Empire, a new symbol of strength must and shall be forged! These changes should be a time of celebration! The crowning of an Emperor who stands beyond many of his predecessors!"