Chapter 74
851 Words
The throne room of Eldrath felt heavier than usual that morning.
Not because of silence—but because of expectation.
King Kaelor Vireth stood near the obsidian table, his hands clasped tightly behind his back as he stared at the massive doors. His expression was controlled, but tension lingered in the set of his jaw.
Eldrath was not a kingdom that panicked easily.
But today, something had arrived that even its discipline could not soften.
The doors opened abruptly.
A guard stepped in.
“Your Majesty… the surviving general has returned.”
“Bring him in,” Kaelor said immediately.
What followed was not an entrance.
It was collapse.
The general stumbled through the doorway and fell forward completely, hitting the floor hard. His armor was cracked, his body trembling violently from exhaustion. Dust clung to his face, and his breathing sounded broken—like it had been stretched far beyond its limit.
“General!” a guard rushed forward.
“Don’t touch him yet,” Kaelor ordered sharply. “Let him speak and you get him water.”
The man tried to lift his head, but failed.
“I… made it…” he rasped.
Kaelor stepped closer.
“Report.”
The general swallowed painfully.
“My journey back…” he said weakly. “Two weeks… no proper rest… no proper food… I avoided every unsafe route… I thought I would collapse before reaching Eldrath.”
His voice shook.
“But I had to report it.”
A silence settled.
Then he began.
Camilla.
The breach in Lancaster’s barrier.
The destruction that followed.
But the deeper he spoke, the more unstable his breathing became.
“She did not fight like an invader,” he said faintly. “Camilla… she bypassed the system entirely. It reacted too late. The barrier registered a wrong entity within only after it had already been breached.”
Kaelor’s eyes narrowed.
“And Percy?”
The general’s expression darkened slightly.
“Gone. No trace. Not dead… not alive… just… erased from the field by Camilla herself.”
A heavy silence followed.
Then the part that changed everything.
“The princess… Diana… became a phoenix.”
A pause.
“The prince, Dylan of Nytheris… a dark dragon.”
Kaelor’s expression shifted immediately.
“Nytheris,” he repeated slowly.
“Yes,” the general confirmed. “Not Lancaster. Nytheris.”
The distinction was not missed.
“And the twins… they took wolf forms as well .”
His body suddenly gave out.
A guard caught him as he collapsed further.
“Your Majesty—he’s losing consciousness!”
“Take him to the healers now,” Kaelor ordered sharply.
The general was dragged out of the chamber, his last words barely audible.
“…it’s already beyond control…”
One hour passed.
The throne room remained tense.
Then the healers returned.
Alone.
The lead healer bowed his head.
“We could not save him, Your Majesty.”
Silence.
Kaelor’s expression hardened.
“…Explain.”
“He arrived already critically depleted,” the healer said. “No food. No rest. Severe internal strain from travel. By the time he reached us… his life force had already collapsed beyond recovery.”
A pause.
There was no further argument.
Kaelor’s silence broke violently.
“Get out,” he snapped suddenly. “All of you!”
The healers froze.
“I said GET OUT!” his voice echoed through the chamber. “You cannot even save one man who carried truth across two weeks of suffering?!”
Guards immediately stepped forward as the healers quickly retreated, tension thick in the air.
The throne room fell into heavy silence again.
Kaelor turned sharply, breathing uneven.
And then—
soft footsteps entered.
A woman approached calmly.
Queen Elowen Vireth.
She moved with quiet grace, her presence immediately softening the room without needing force. Slightly aged but still striking in appearance, she carried the kind of composure that anchored everything around her.
She placed gentle hands on his shoulders.
“Kaelor…” she said softly. “Anger will not fix what has already happened.”
His breath was still heavy.
“They failed him,” he muttered.
“I know,” she replied calmly, massaging his shoulders lightly. “But breaking yourself will not bring answers either.”
Kaelor exhaled slowly.
“…this situation is exhausting.”
Elowen stayed close, steadying him.
“Lancaster is unstable,” he said quietly. “Nytheris is involved. And now a phoenix and a dragon have appeared together.”
He looked away.
“This continent is shifting again and Camilla started it, I should have never lent her my generals just because she's an ancestral princess of this kingdom.”
A pause.
“And I do not know where it ends.”
Elowen said nothing.
Just kept her hands steady on his shoulders.
And for the first time that day, Kaelor’s breathing slowed slightly.
But the weight in the room did not leave.
Not even a little.
We just have to hope it turns out well Elowen finally said.
And slowly the news if what happened spread across the remaining kingdoms.
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