STEP
STEP
STEP
The sound of gentle footsteps echoed through the glassy ground, as a figure walked up the silvery glass stairs, bearing a blue illumination with every step.
Eventually, it continued up, until it fully reached the end, coming to a stop.
Around was a balcony that opened to the sky, and reclining on the silvery iron surrounding the balcony was a man who had his back faced to him but then turned his head as if he could feel his gaze on him.
"Auremis, my son."The words echoed through the top of the area, melding with the wind, and reaching Auremis, whose eyes flashed as he walked forward, coming to arrive by the man's side.
"Father, you're outside tonight." Auremis, the King of the Silverunics, replied to his father, High Scholar Emeris, who smiled in return.
"I have only been within, due to my endless study, and the Model fusion. Now that it's done, I thought it would be best to come taste the air," High Scholar Emeris said with a chuckle, as the King smiled before he asked,
"And how is it, father? The smell of the air?"
"Different,"
"Its scent is good and calming..." he replied as King Auremis nodded.
"The Passing of Time. It goes as fast as a blink, doesn't it, father?" King Auremis asked, looking at his father who looked into the distance, silent for a long while, before he slowly began to nod.
"It does, Auremis. From the smell of chaos and destruction. The unmistakable poison that filtered everywhere, staining the Aetheris energy of our Ancestral home."
"That War. And Now The Peace," he whispered."The Passing of Time truly goes as fast as a blink."
"You are right, Father..." Auremis replied before he also reclined on the balcony, looking far into the distance, before his gaze settled on his father, who also looked to be gazing into the future.
But Auremis loved this gaze more. This gaze that seemed so close by.
It was rare.
"I've received some good news that Eliana and Filliana have mastered the last of the Lesser Runic Pattern Memorization, Runic Pattern 999. And the rest of the remaining Royalty kids are not that far off," Auremis said, as High Scholar Emeris chuckled.
"Those little girls of mine. Touching on the precipice of strength now, aren't they? Hahahaha," High Scholar Emeris said with a proud, fatherly laughter.
"In fact, they are. The talent of Filliana and Emilian is almost out of this world. Although, now that they both were given birth to in this Era of Peace... what strength used to be is perhaps not the same..." King Auremis said as High Scholar Emeris turned to him, shaking his head.
"Don't see it in such a way, Auremis."
"To have those girls not see the horror of the past is a good thing for us both as fathers."
"They have talents, but their battle prowess might be lower due to the era they were born in, and that is good, Auremis."
"I would have gladly traded away my battle prowess in exchange for that War never happening," High Scholar Emeris said, his eyes flashing a silvery light as Auremis nodded his head.
"You are right. But now, that they have reached such a level, perhaps it is time they cross from an Average Silverunic to Defenders."
"Their Coming of Age?" High Scholar Emeris asked as King Auremis nodded his head.
"Yes, father."
"You know, Auremis. In the Past... the test from a Soldier to a Defender used to be very simple."
"Go along with a batch of Defenders into the battlefield, and if you can return alive, you will be given the Title of a Defender."
"It was the long Ancient Tradition, and a good tester of whether one was worth to be something more or remain less," High Scholar Emeris said as Auremis nodded his head.
"And remaining less usually equals death back then too father"
"The average soldiers are killed off in the battlefields, and the Defenders return."
"That's what made us so strong and why the test was important."
"It gets rid of the weak genes amongst us, leaving just the strongest."
"Cruel, wasn't it, Auremis?" High Scholar Emeris flashed a humorous smirk at King Auremis, whose eyes flashed before he responded.
"Extreme Times beget extreme means. There was no other choice back then. The Weak must be weeded out, leaving the strong!" King Auremis said, unflinching, as High Scholar Emeris' face flashed with pride.
"Very well said, my son. Very well said."
"But now, father, that the time has changed, I am in doubt of what is to be done in the New Soldiers' Coming of Age."
"Now that the battlefield is gone... how would they be tested for?"
"Why not just name them Defenders? You are the King, aren't you?" High Scholar Emeris said with a smile, as Auremis shook his head.
"No, that can't be done."
"And why is that?"
"Time may have changed, but the ancestral traditions must be held irrespective of time."
"They must be tested, and tested hard, in one way or the other."
"A Defender isn't just a name. It's a Title of Honour that must be earned," Auremis replied vehemently.
"Then what do you suggest, Auremis?"
"I'm afraid my mind is blank, and that is why I have come to you, Father. For your suggestion," King Auremis said as High Scholar Emeris flashed, settling into thought, but it had barely been a few seconds before a smile appeared on his lips.
An extremely cold one.
"You want to keep the name of Honour that the Defenders used to hold, isn't it, Auremis?"
"The War may have passed, but you want Tradition to be upheld."
"Yes father. To us Silverunics, the traditions are beyond even our lives."
"If so, then, I have an idea."
"And what may that be, Father?" King Auremis asked as he looked at his father, whose own eyes turned their gaze to him.
The air at the back of his neck rose when he saw that cold, predatory gaze. That one that he was more than used too.
"Send all of the Average Silverunic Soldiers, Royalty or common, to the Gate of Soulless Ruin."
"WHAT!?"