Bearer of Auctoritas

PROLOGUE

"B-But.. My mother is sick and my brother is only 3 years old. How could I leave them?"

"I-If you don't want to, I will go and save myself."

"A-Aeria! Please.."

"I'm sorry, Sorayael... I'm really sorry..."

A conversation between two friends from a small town called Ironwood under the Aethelgard Imperium.

She sat down at the bed where her mother was lying down. Her mother looked at her and smiled.

She turned her head to the side of the bed and there her brother, sleeping soundly.

She walked to her little brother and kissed his forehead before she went out to look for something for them to eat.

She knows that her mother doesn't want to leave Aethelgard Imperium. She doesn't have any slightest idea why, all she knows is that her mother loves this empire.

She let out a deep sigh and looked up to the flag of Aethelgard.

It was an empire forged in the crucible of conquest by the former emperor, Ashvonn Linnaeus Caspian Aethelgard.

With unwavering resolve, he united disparate dominions and kingdoms under his banner.

Yet, his ambition was tempered by a profound dream: a peaceful empire where the corrosive stain of discrimination would be washed away.

His legendary skill with the sword, a legacy of lethal grace, was passed down through generations of Aethelgard rulers.

But time, like the relentless march of burgeoning technology, had irrevocably altered the empire.

The air seemed heavier, the spirit less vibrant than in the days when Emperor Ashvonn's vision guided the realm.

Now, under the iron fist of the current emperor, Lysander Agriamante Tyr Aethelgard, the noble houses festered with prejudice, turning commoners into slaves.

The emperor, a shadow of his ancestor's ideals, had become a tyrant, his gaze fixed solely on the brutal conquest of the entire continent.

The legacy of the empire's founder, once a beacon of unity, now served as a stark reminder of how far Aethelgard Imperium had fallen into the abyss of tyranny.

'Will there be peace in Aethelgard some day?' Sora's thoughts while walking.

'Solarian Ascendency... The Kingdom of Magicians'

Sora went to a store and tried to help the nobles open the door for them so Sora could have tips from the nobles and buy her mother and brother food to eat.

When the sun sets, Sora bought food for her family. However, while walking, everyone in the town of Ironwood began to tremble as the war Sora and Aeria were talking to earlier became real.

There were magician's flying through the air, wielding their wands, chanting spells, attacking the people under the emperor.

Sora only had one on her mind and it is to run towards her family.

'they needed to be saved!'

Sora was so afraid of the thought of not seeing her mom and little brother when she goes back.

'please, goddess! god! help me look for my mother and little brother!' the young girl screams.

A beam of light sped towards her, she instinctively dodged without looking at it. She looked up and saw the magician who tried to kill her.

A fire mage.

A chilling smile spread across the mage's features as he moved to strike Sora, but his companion intervened, halting the impending assault.

Sora was breathing heavily as she continues to run to her house holding the food that fell down earlier.

Upon arrival, she fell down on her knees, confronted by the horrifying spectacle of blood emanating from her mother's body.

It was a deeply scarring experience for the mere six-year-old Sorayael.

Her mother's abdomen was eviscerated by fire, and her eyes had been violently removed.

Her hands had been consumed by fire, leaving only ashes.

Her eyes darted around, everything was a complete annihilation.

The home they had raised with their own hands was a smoldering wreck.

The tell-tale signs of dueling magic painted a story of a desperate struggle, Sora thought maybe a traveling mage's valiant but failed effort to protect Sora's mother.

In the middle of Sora's grieving, she heard something under the ground.

A sound, faint but distinct, guided her to a door hidden in the broken ground. Her lungs ached with each desperate breath as she fought to open it, anxiety clawing at her throat.

There she saw her little brother, crying.

A wave of relief washed through Sora at his survival, a single point of light in the overwhelming darkness. But it quickly hardened into a cold resolve. She swore an oath to hunt down her mother's killer.