2026-01-24 00:13:43The sound of swords filled the royal palace. Seven-year-old Marcus stood behind his parents, his body shaking with fear.
“Brother Cassian, why are you doing this?” his mother Helena asked. Her voice was full of pain.
Cassian laughed. It was a cold, evil laugh. The uncle who used to tell Marcus stories now looked like a monster. His eyes showed only hate and greed.
“Why? Sister, the throne should be mine!” Cassian shouted. “Father gave it to your husband instead of me, his own son. Do you know how that feels?”
Alexander, Marcus’s father, stepped forward. “Cassian, I never wanted the throne. I was going to give it to you when you turned twenty-one. You didn’t need to do this.”
“Lies! No one gives up power!” Cassian yelled. “I will not wait. I will take what is mine today!”
He raised his hand. Hundreds of soldiers moved forward with their weapons. These men had served the kingdom for years. Now they wanted to kill their king.
Marcus felt his father’s hand on his shoulder. “Marcus, stay with your mother. No matter what happens, don’t leave her.”
“Father, I’m scared,” Marcus whispered.
His father looked into his eyes. “Being scared is okay. But you must be brave now. Can you do that for me?”
Marcus nodded, even though tears filled his eyes.
Alexander drew his sword. The blade was black with silver markings that seemed to glow. “Helena, take Marcus and run. I will clear a path.”
“No!” Helena grabbed his arm. “If you die, I die with you. We are husband and wife.”
“Think of our son!” Alexander said urgently. “If we both die, who will get justice for us? But if you live and protect Marcus, our story continues. Please, live for our son.”
Before Helena could answer, Alexander used his power to push them back. Then he ran at the soldiers.
“Kill them!” Cassian ordered.
The soldiers rushed forward. Alexander moved through them like a wild animal. His sword flashed and men fell. Blood covered the white marble floor. But there were too many enemies. For every soldier he killed, more came.
A spear hit his shoulder. Alexander broke it with his hands and kept fighting. A sword cut his leg, but he didn’t stop.
“Father!” Marcus screamed.
His mother held him tight. “No, Marcus! We must go. Don’t waste your father’s sacrifice!”
They ran. Behind them, the fighting continued. Marcus looked back and saw his father surrounded by enemies. Weapons stabbed him from all sides, but he still fought.
They reached the palace gates. Alexander had made a gap in the enemy lines. When Helena looked back, her husband was on his knees. He used his sword to stay upright. Blood poured from many wounds.
“Go!” Alexander shouted. “Go now!”
Cassian walked behind him with a green sword. Poison dripped from it. “Brother, I cannot let you live. Nothing personal.”
“Cassian,” Alexander coughed blood. “You will regret this. My son will grow strong. He will return. And you will pay.”
“Big words from a dying man,” Cassian said. “Don’t worry. Your wife and son will join you soon.”
The poisoned sword stabbed through Alexander’s back into his heart. Marcus felt his chest hurt as he watched his father fall.
“No! Father!” Marcus screamed.
His mother picked him up and ran faster. Tears covered both their faces. Behind them, Cassian was shouting orders.
“Find them! Bring them back, dead or alive!”
They ran through the city. People looked away, too afraid to help. The few who tried were killed by soldiers.
Helena was breathing hard. She wasn’t a warrior like her husband. She was getting tired. But she kept running because stopping meant death.
They reached the edge of the city. In front was the Tiber River, wide and dark. A bridge crossed it, but soldiers were coming from both sides.
They were trapped.
Helena put Marcus down and pulled out a short sword. “Marcus, listen. No matter what happens, you must survive. You must live and grow strong. One day, you will avenge us.”
“Mother, what are you doing?” Marcus asked, fear in his voice.
Helena smiled, but tears ran down her face. “I’m making sure you escape.”
The soldiers got closer. Their leader, a fat general named Brutus, laughed. “Lady Helena, surrender. If you do, I promise your death will be quick.”
Helena’s eyes turned ice cold. “You want me to surrender? Never!”
She moved fast. Her sword cut the ropes holding the bridge. Then she grabbed Marcus and pushed him over the edge.
“Mother, no!” Marcus reached for her, but he was falling.
The river was far below. Marcus hit the water hard. The cold shocked him. The river pulled him under, and he couldn’t breathe.
When his head came up, he looked at the bridge. His mother was fighting the soldiers. Her sword left trails of frost in the air. For a moment, she looked like she might win.
Then spears stabbed her from behind.
“Mother!” Marcus screamed, but water filled his mouth.
The last thing he saw was his mother’s smile. Even dying, she smiled at him. Then the river carried him away.
Marcus tried to swim, but the current was too strong. His small body was thrown around. Water filled his lungs. Rocks hit his head. Everything went dark.
His last thought was a promise: *I will survive. I will grow strong. And I will make them all pay.*
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 170: From Ruin to Reign
Marcus woke before dawn on the morning of the summer solstice.Not from anxiety. Not from crisis. Just from the particular alertness of someone whose body had learned over decades that early morning was when thinking happened most clearly.He dressed quietly. Left Lydia sleeping. Walked through the palace in the dark the way he had learned to walk through it as a child. The floors remembered him. He remembered them back.He went to the kitchen garden first. Habit now. The place where important things settled into clarity.The garden was grey and quiet. The herbs small and dark shapes in the pre-dawn. The bench where Helena sat on her morning visits empty. The wind had dropped completely. Everything still.Marcus sat on the bench and looked at the sky lightening in the east.He thought about the boy who had stood in this garden thirty years ago. Not quite this garden. The garden had changed. The palace had changed. The boy had changed most of all. But the east horizon looked the same a
Chapter 169: The Kingdom in Spring
Winter passed quietly.Marcus governed. Not dramatically. Not through crisis management or cosmic intervention. Just the daily sustained work of attending to a kingdom that was learning to trust that attention would continue.The citizens review board met for the first time in February. Twelve people selected by lot from across the realm. A baker from the western district. A teacher from the northern provinces. A retired harbor worker. A young woman who had emigrated from the second convergence during the merger and had lived in Aurelius for three years. Eight others, each from different circumstances, each bringing a different window onto the same kingdom.They sat in the formal council chamber for the first time with visible uncertainty about whether they were supposed to be there.Marcus opened the session by telling them directly that their uncertainty was appropriate and that anyone who felt immediately comfortable in that room probably had not understood what was being asked of
Chapter 168: What Forgiveness Actually Looks Like
Helena came to the palace officially for the second time on a Friday.Again through the front entrance. Again announced properly. But this time Marcus met her in the entrance hall rather than waiting in a sitting room. The difference was small and they both understood it.He led her to the small library off the east corridor. His father's room from before. The one Mara had maintained. The one that still carried the quality of careful preservation even now that Marcus used it regularly as a reading room.Helena looked at it when they entered. Recognised it. Said nothing about the recognition.They sat across from each other. Tea on the table between them. Outside the corridor Mara moved quietly doing morning tasks that did not require her to be in the east corridor but which had somehow positioned her there anyway.Marcus had spent three days deciding what he wanted to say. Had written and discarded several versions. Had finally understood that the discarding was part of the process. T
Chapter 167: The Conversation That Finished Things
Julian found Marcus in the throne room the next morning.Not sitting on the steps this time. Standing near the east wall. Near the column Marcus had mentioned once in passing years ago during a conversation about childhood. Julian had remembered. He remembered most things.Julian stood in the entrance and looked at the room with the expression of someone taking it seriously. Not as architecture. As a place where real things had happened."You have never shown me this room," Julian said."No.""Why now?"Marcus looked at the column. "Because I have been working up to it for months. Understanding the other things first. And now you are here and you are the person who should see it with me."Julian walked into the room. Stood beside Marcus. Looked at the space."Tell me about it," Julian said. "The night of the coup. You have never told me directly. I heard pieces over the years. But not from you."Marcus had told Cassian's version recently. The strategic version. The version that explai
Chapter 166: Julian Arrives
Julian arrived on a Thursday with Isabella, Cora, and considerably more luggage than Marcus had expected.He stood in the palace courtyard looking exactly like himself. Slightly greyer at the temples. A small scar above his left eyebrow that had not been there before and that Marcus suspected came from the third realm mission years ago and had never properly been discussed. Otherwise Julian. The same steady quality. The same way of standing that communicated both readiness and complete ease simultaneously.Isabella stepped down from the carriage with the efficient grace of someone who had learned to manage long journeys with young children through systematic organization rather than optimism. She was composed and warm and looked at the palace with the frank assessment of someone who had heard about it extensively and was now forming her own opinion.Cora was handed down last. Eleven months old. Round faced. Surveying the courtyard with the serious focused expression of someone encount
Chapter 165: The Southern Coast
The southern coast smelled of salt and pine and the particular freshness of air that had come a long way across open water before reaching land.Marcus had forgotten that smell. It arrived before they saw the sea. Just present suddenly on the road, and something in his chest opened slightly in response to it without being asked.Octavius lived in a small house set back from the cliff edge with a view of the water that changed completely depending on the light and the weather. Marcus had visited twice before and both times the view had been different. Today it was grey and quiet with low clouds sitting on the horizon and the water moving in long slow swells that had the patient quality of something that had been moving exactly this way for longer than anyone alive could remember.The house was exactly as he remembered it. White walls. A garden that was less formal than the Iron Sword Academy grounds had been but maintained with the same underlying care. Wind chimes near the door that O
You may also like
Into The Unknown World
Einvee15.7K viewsDivine Cultivator: Rebirth of the God Emperor
Dragonix Loki41.9K viewsI am the King of the Undead
Matthew 27.4K viewsThe Guardian of Evil Goddess
IEL37.6K viewsThe Academic God
NB LMO446 viewsSoul of the Dragon Emperor Reincarnated to destroy
Jovial chirpy489 viewsReincarnated as the Dragon Who Needed a Harem
Manish Bansal701 viewsThe Rune of Eldrath.
Soft532 views