Dance With Darkness And Light - Chapter 22 A Kingdom Forged By Thunder

The caravan from the kingdom of Ralun had been moving for almost a week, and they all had witnessed a multitude of sceneries while crossing a majority of the Seven Kingdoms. Many of them for the first time.

They traveled from the autumn colors in Ralun to the lush green plains of Eras, and finally passed the boundaries of Eras to Donar. From the green plains that extended into the kingdom of Donar another change occurred. Hills and mountains seemingly rose from the surface and were soon the only thing left along with the greying tone in the atmosphere and the thunder from afar.

Bazuul observed all this from his chariot. The beauty of fall, to the vivid sensation of summer’s end, back to the dark side of autumn. Melancholy, left him entranced in a timeless beauty no mortal being could ever replicate. Unlike his brothers, he rarely conversed with the others among the caravan and merely exchanged greetings along the road.

Atop a hill, they could finally see the gates of the kingdom’s capital, Leizyr. The gates were edged into a wall that resembled a little mountain, which in itself seemed to be merely the foot of the mountain range behind it. Here, the thunder was a constant, crashing into the capital city frequently as if channeled.

Karon and the crew of commoners he assembled on this trip rode next to the window of Bazuul’s chariot. Bazuul ignored them initially, but Karon could not stand for that, he began mocking and jeering as his crew snickered beside him. Apparently, he had acquired newfound power in masses, a trait of the weak Bazuul thought. He looked this brother of his in the eyes indifferently, and merely honored him with the time it took to pass his gaze onto the commoners next to him. There he remained longer, scanning them from head to toe until he looked them in the eyes meaningfully. They felt a cold spreading around their spines and fear rose in their hearts as they realized their difference in status. Dispensable, to these princes. After a short minute, Bazuul looked back to the city wall as if nothing happened, more so, as if he couldn’t care less. The commoners felt a slight relief, but Karon felt angered. He was left feeling like a fart in the wind, not worth the trouble.

Karon assumed a high and mighty look as he straightened his back, scoffed, and rode off.

An hour later the caravan finally reached the gates where they met the groups of the other kingdoms. Lines of city guards stood in front, keeping the order outside the city intact. The kingdom of Lumin, as the closest nation to the capital of Donar, was first and about to enter the city. The kingdoms of Shasta and Eras were second and lastly the kingdoms furthest away, Ralun, Ibera, and Dias. Unlike the rest, the last two appeared to have traveled together, sending a clear message to the others. Even more so considering the latest news concerning Ibera and Ralun cutting off ties.

Ibera guarded a small part of the Arch of Ruin and made rather small efforts at seafaring, whilst mostly focusing on the trade that their rich lands made possible.

Lumin was considered a kingdom of fanatics. As the nation bordered by the lands of the elves, they worshipped the moon and the elves alike. Worshipping another race was exactly what earned them the title of fanatics.

Donar and Eras were both the largest and strongest kingdoms within the union of Seven Kingdoms. The mountainous region of Shasta was the home of the royal Fujimoto family, and the Zheng family, thus the Vermillion Sword Sect.

As for Dias. it was a strong kingdom of seafarers but geographically, the smallest of all kingdoms.

Ralun, on the other hand, had similar size and strength as Lumin and guarded most of the Arch of Ruin. The bridge that once connected the realms of Ytolan and Agatha. The now demon infested homeland of the human race.

Strength-wise these kingdoms were ranked in either one of three divisions: a small kingdom, middling kingdom, and high kingdom. Eras and Donar were high kingdoms. Shasta, Ralun, and Lumin were middling kingdoms. Ibera and Dias were small kingdoms.

On the other hand, one had to acknowledge that strength alone was not everything. Ibera had a lot of economic power, whilst Dias, through their seafaring ways had forged strong ties with the Bora region and some ties Tengu race from the realm of Aroi. Now that both of them came together implicated a shift in power. Since together, they would have enough strength to topple and assimilate a middling kingdom. Although they would first have to send a request and receive the approval of the Directorate.

The Directorate was somewhat the leader of the Seven Kingdoms. They were an organization, upholding the laws and regulations created by this union of kingdoms since humanity escaped their shattered homeland. Holding them together and if needed be, sanctioning or punishing offenders. However, if one nation requested to go to war with another, then the Directorate would consult the elders and vote. All the while, considering the bigger picture of the realm, the arguments made by the requesting party, and its impact on the Seven Kingdoms.

~~~

The hooded leader of their caravan turned around and brought order into the ranks. His voice hollered loudly, and everyone was able to hear him clearly. “Listen, everyone! We have finally reached the capital of Donar, Leizyr! After we entered the city, you will all be on your own! This is also part of the trials and apart from prince Kuzan, none, not even the other princes, will enjoy any benefits!”

One could hear that the leader of the caravan was not a man of many words. Even Ibera and Dias did, as they looked over and started to giggle as if watching a show. At this moment Bazuul had just left his chariot and settled on his horse. With his sword on his back, he made his way to the front of the caravan. The group from Ralun clearly knew that these giggles were directed at them and so their anger rose. Bazuul rode forward, halting for a moment to look toward the direction of the iberan and the diasian crowd with a smirk on his face. Then proceeded to move to the front as if there was nothing of significance to see.

Ibera and Dias, of course, noticed that subtle taunt but were unaware of who this arrogant brat was supposed to be. They wanted to lash out for a bit before entering the city, but gasped along with the ralunian caravan as the latter’s leader took the hood off his head. Ignoring the other two kingdoms, he proceeded to say.

“So be careful everyone and make your families and the kingdom of Ralun proud!”

It actually was Field Marshal Faolan, the second strongest force in the kingdom of Ralun, leader of the army and most of all, the younger brother of the king. At this moment even the cold Bazuul was quite shocked, even in the memories of the former Bazuul, not once had he seen this uncle of his.

After realizing that the Guardian of the Arch, the field marshal of Ralun was there, attempts to cause trouble turned into hot air. These rascals from Ibera and Dias turned silent and as if magic, friendly smiles appeared on their faces. The fiery glow of reverence even glowed in some of their eyes. After all, the ralunians guarded about eighty-five percent of the Arch of Ruin. He – titled the guardian of the arch by the people – and his army, therefore, saved many Iberan people by default. He was in every sense, a legend.

Finally, order and silence were restored.

After about another hour, the caravan from Ralun finally and officially entered the city and thus, the hidden dragon trials began. Bazuul looked around and saw a city forged by lightning, the forms of the stones and architecture used with it, really made it seem like that. Frequently he saw poles that resembled lanterns back on earth along the streets. As he looked up, it finally dawned on him why the lightning strikes seemed to be channeled into the city. There were four big towers in the city, and on their roofs were metal constructs drawing said thunder strikes in. Bazuul wondered if they had an electrical grid beneath their city and if these poles along the streets would actually turn out to be lanterns.

As he thought about this, a thunderstrike actually landed about six meters away from him and crashed into the street. A bit shocked, he realized that the towers were not enough to divert all of them. The citizens of Leizyr may not feel threatened by those random lightning strikes, but to outsiders, this alone would obviously harden the trials for many.

Apart from the black dot on the ground where the lightning strike had landed everything else seemed unharmed. Visibly, the lightning was no problem for the streets of this city, and neither would it for him. After a bit of exploring, he entered a building named the Yamino Inn, booked a room and ordered a warm meal to be brought up to his room. As he paid, the owner, a slim but muscular black-haired young man, about the age of his Earth self, handed him the key to his room. Bazuul then went upstairs and entered the room with the same number on the key. Room seven.