Rise of the Lions (3)

it had now been almost a millennia and a half since the Liokonians had crossed the River Daeric and settled in the Northern Highlands, now known as the Likonian Highlands due to the Likonian Cultural group being the primary inhabitants of the highlands.

In the Highlands, due to the increased elevation, there is only one major river that runs across the Highlands, with only two minor branches coming off of it.

Due to this circumstance, the tribes that 12 tribes that separated from Tarkel and the main Likon Tribe, had to venture more up north to find land near the shore due to the small amount of land by the river that hasn't been settled already.

Although the Likonian people were not in the least afraid of a fight, they decided to abstain from conflicts for the foreseeable future due to the urgent nature of their situation.

Over a century later, the 13 tribes had been reduced to 10, the three "lost tribes" had completely vanished, leaving zero traces as to what happened to them, the leading theory is that they were conquered by some of the natives of the Highlands, that or they were wiped out due to famine or disease.

Nonetheless, the ten tribes who made it through the migration had all settled across the coast of the Highlands, most of the settlements being on cliff faces overlooking the ocean with a natural path down to the water.

Over the thousand years of separation, the now dubbed, 10 Tribes of Lyrick, had all changed in some small and other larger ways culturally, although the language, Old Likonian, used by the different Likonian city-states is still the common tongue among them.

Several dialects have surfaced among the different cities, along with different forms of the old customs along with new ones that were created in their new settlements.

Over the centuries, the Likonian Tribes had quickly asserted themselves as strong, marshal-natured people.

One native tribe after another fell to the Likonian tribes within their immediate areas, allowing the fledgling city-states to amass a decent chunk of territory around their cities.

The conquered tribes would either become assimilated with the Likonians culturally and physically over time due to their highly dominant features, or the natives would be subjugated into becoming tributaries or in some cases, full-on vassals.

Although the cultures of the different Likonian Cities had become different from each other, it was so much to where they wouldn't recognize each other, their cultures had more regional differences than anything else, hence the overarching term, Likonian Cultural group.

...

It had now been a little over 1,300 years since the Likonians "invaded" the Highlands, and through the efforts of Tarkel and his many descendants, Likon City was a prosperous city-state ruled over by its king who is simultaneously the patriarch of the Lyrickid family, the direct descendants of Lyrick, the leader of the first Likonians.

The current ruler of Likon City and king of the state, Likonia, is King Erwik II.

Erwik was currently walking through the halls of his palace speaking with one of his close friends who just so happens to also be his second cousin, Trynid Lyrickid, the head of one of the main 10 branch families.

just like before the migration, branch families had been created by younger sons of Likon Kings, not just of the Lyrickid family, but also of the families of the other Likonian City-states, however, those families have now formed their own names and cut ties from the Lyrickid family.

The Likonian people as a whole are famous for their dark hair and emerald green eyes, like mentioned before, nine times out of ten, if a likonian man has a child with a foreign woman, the chances are the child will come out with dark hair and emerald colored eyes, as opposed to the features of the mother.

And no, this is not the result of some inbreeding extravaganza like a certain platinum blonde, purple-eyed people.

The Likonian genes are just THAT much stronger, and not just the men, it's a good 60% chance that a Likonian woman and a foreign man will have a predominantly looking Likonian kid.

That's why the ruling family and their branch families are so special, Although the branch families do not keep the signature snow white hair that the main family does, the branch families at least get to keep the electric blue eyes that set them apart from the common folk.

Not only do their bright beautiful blue eyes set them apart from the sea of green, but they don't get to keep the white hair due to bloodline power reasons, most of the branch family members sport hair that is dark just like the rest of the Likonian populace, however, due to awakening a minor Bloodline power, Trynid's branch sports jet black hair that sets them apart from the other Likonians

...

Once the duo who was laughing and chatting away had finally reached the royal meeting room, which was their destination, they were met by the Chief Treasurer Alretic, and the Grand Master of the Royal Order, Samek.

The Royal Order is an order of knights whose sole purpose in life is to protect their ruler and the best interest of the city-state, whether that means to defend, or attack those who would do them harm, and in some cases, they are ready to lay down their life, all it takes is the word from their king and they will obey.

However loyal they may be, the Royal Order's creed is perceived as absolute loyalty and obedience to the king, but that is not entirely correct.

When the Royal Order was first founded half a millennia ago, the king at the time, King Harwin III had established the order as a force that was dedicated to protecting the current ruler.

Harwin III made sure to create 4 Creeds that the knights of the order would have to swear by.

In the Order, there are at first glance 4 Creeds that a Royal Knight as they are officially titled would have to follow for the rest of his life.

- Creed1, A member of the Royal Order must always protect the king to the very best of his abilities and follow out any order given to them by their king.

- Creed 2, Once you become a Royal Knight of the Order, you forfeit all claims to any land or titles that are owned by your father or family, you may never be granted lands unless discharged from the Order.

- Creed 3, A Royal Knight is under no circumstances permitted to take a wife, nor sire any children.

- Creed 4, Service under the king as a Royal Knight is a post you shall man for life, death is the only thing that absolves you from service

These four Creeds are what is shown to the populace of Likonia, however, there exists a hidden Creed that takes precedence over every Creed, especially the first Creed.

That hidden creed is as follows.

- In the event that the King is deemed unfit to rule by the Grand Master of the Order and the Royal Council, as Royal Knights, you are duty bound to protect the kingdom and people who live within it, in doing so, You as a member of the Royal Order, must exterminate the unfit king and install the closest heir on to the throne, whether that is a son, brother, or even cousin or nephew, in the event of there being no male heirs, the closest female heir shall take the throne, and the heir after, no matter the original father, will from that day going forward, take the name of their mother.

This secret Creed was a result of growing up on the story of King Harwin I "the Evil", Harwin III's great grandfather, a man who was despised by all within the city-state, the evil king went on a rampage of ordering executions and just awful things in general against the populace, that the people began to consider a revolt.

Thankfully, Harwin III's grandfather Harwin II, along with Harwin III's grand uncle Ronel, had poisoned and slain the treacherous king in his sleep, in doing so, they avoided an all-out revolution led by the people of the city-state.

Harwin III also established another secret order, the Order of Shadows, this covert knightly order is tasked with completing the more, underhanded, orders given by the king.

But that is not all, if a king is deemed unfit to rule, then the Order of Shadows must quickly investigate the claim, and if they truly deem the king unfit, then the Royal Order shall adhere to the Creed.

...

As King Erwik II and Trynid walked through the massive double doors to the royal meeting room, they were immediately assaulted by the yells and screams of two arguing advisors.

when Erwik walked up to the table where the two bickering fools, Alretic and Samek, were currently engaged in a very hostile verbal dispute.

They were so busy arguing how much gold should be going towards the military versus the infrastructure of the city atop a plateau, Likon City, their home city and the capital of the city-state, the Kingdom of Likonia.

Erwik stood there for another few minutes and listened to the fiery debate that was unfolding in front of him.

"We need to invest in a bigger standing army, we can't just continue to use peasant levies against the Oroan Tribe, they are continuously growing through the conquest of the surrounding tribes while we just sit atop this shitty plateau twidling our damn thumbs!" boomed Grandmaster Samek

"You sword-loving fool! it is thanks to this "shitty plateau" that your ancestors were able to live long enough to spawn your gods-forsaken lineage, as it stands we are perfectly able to build our strength up here and wait, and during that time we need to invest in the city to where it can grow larger and be more prosperous, there will always be a war to fight another day!" yelled Chief Treasurer Alretic

The two men went on for another minute or two throwing insults at each other, that is until Samek finally noticed the presence of Erwik due to him leaking some of his aura.

Although Alretic wouldn't be able to feel it due to not being an aura knight, Grandmaster Samek who was a 4th tier Aura knight could clearly feel Erwik's peak 5th tier aura leaking out due to his annoyance with the two men.

"What the hell are you looking at, I'm over here idio-

Right as he was about to finish that sentence, Alretic finally noticed his king standing before him, and without hesitation, he threw himself and bowed while Samek kneeled in a knightly way.

""My King!"" they both said

"About time you noticed me." chuckled Erwik with an annoyed glint in his eye

"Now, are the preparations for my hunt complete yet, or have you two children been bickering back and forth this whole time."

"Y-yes my king, the retinue who will follow you is ready," replied Alretic with a studder

"Sigh, didn't I tell you I only needed to bring Samek, Trynid, and another couple of the Royal Knights with me, hell, I'm sure there will even be a Shadow Knight or two who will follow me."

"B-but your majesty, you need to bring more knights with you, I mean, you are going towards the cave lion's territory." stammered Alretic

"I know, that is the whole idea of clearing out some of the surrounding cave lion prides, besides the native tribes and other city-states, cave lions are a major danger to our people who will be heading down to the bay to start the construction of the fishing town, not only do we need this town for the fisherman, but we can also open it up for trade with other city-states and eve some tribes around us, we do need to start making our own longships."

"But none of that will happen if we don't clear out the cave lions who inhabit the surrounding area, our ancestors had a hard enough time fending them off before they got up here, it is time we finished the job they started," said Erwik stoically

"Sigh, yes your majesty."

"My king, my men, and I are ready to depart at any time." declared a still kneeling Samek

"Perfect, Trynid, can you go round up the knights who will be joining us?" asked Eriwk

"Of course my king." bowed Trynid cupping a hand over his chest

"I already told you to stop doing that unless in public," said Erwik facepalming

"Haha, I know, but it's still funny to see your face any time someone says it." laughed a retreating Trynid

'I hope nothing goes wrong today.' thought Erwik

---------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone, I would like to start off by saying I am extremely sorry for this chapter taking forever to come out, for the past two weeks, life has slammed me in the face, first I got sick for almost a week, then I had a project for school, once again I am so sorry and I will try to start writing more from now on.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, remember, all feedback and reviews are plenty welcome, I can't grow as an author unless you the reader tell me what I'm doing wrong or right, and if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment them, I'd love to hear some of your ideas!