1 The Fallen Hero

That day, the sun rose in the capital of Sairus Kingdom, but no one saw it. Deep gray clouds were covering the whole area and they made it rain like never before in the region. Just by seeing the rain and the powerful lightning bolts that were falling from the skies pretty much at every single moment, the residents of the capital knew that was a bad day… it was such a pity that such a day would start like that when the princess was about to give birth considering how much she was loved by her people.

In the royal garden, a new rain was falling and bathing the plants and flowers around. A red viscous liquid was dripping from the sword and bathing a single blue flower that was on the right side of a man wearing a full set of black armor. His disheveled brown hair, wet by the rain made him look like a beast, but his light green eyes showed a calm and composure that few people would have in that situation… since he was surrounded by dozens of corpses of the royal guards.

That man's name was Zaos and until just yesterday, every single person in the kingdom called his name in praise after he returned from campaigns where he successfully defeated hordes of heretics that were trying to find a way to bring back to life the demon god that was defeated thousands of years ago. Years ago, he also repelled two invasions of mercenaries. Despite his young age, Zaos was a war hero, the heir of one of the most distinguished families that have been serving the royal family since the beginning of the kingdom. He swore to become the shield that would protect the king and the future queen, and yet… Here was he, taking the lives of his old friends, after he had taken the life of the next queen.

"Why, Zaos? Why?" Shouted a man that was wearing a full set of gold armor and that also had a red cape on his back. "Why did you do this? You still loved her, didn't you? That is why you did all this?"

That man was Zaos's best friend, the captain of the royal guards. His name was Drannor, the most talented spearman of the entire kingdom. A young man who rose in the ranks of the military relying on his talent alone when he was just a teen. He assumed his position six months after being nominated a member of the royal guard and right at that time as well, the king granted him the hand of his only daughter.

Two years have passed since Zaos and Drannor had a real talk. Although they were best friends, the last two years changed both of them in many ways that no one could have predicted. For quite a while, Zaos could only feel annoyance while looking at Drannor, not only he was the most talented spearman in history, but he was also an astonishingly handsome man that always had the ladies' luck. Zaos always wanted to land a hit on his face to make just a single flaw appear on that annoying head that had perfect golden hair and light-blue eyes. Yet, Zaos never succeeded in that, at least not in damaging his face. The difference in skill was just that big and Zaos never tried to really hurt him.

Zaos didn't reply to Drannor's question. He just stared at him silently with his eyes that were showing not a single hint of emotion. That alone made Drannor feel shocked… his friend changed too much in two years. Even though he had been fighting followers of the demon god, that much change was hard to believe. Even right now Drannor was having a hard time that Zaos did what he did and what he was planning to do.

Another group of royal guards appeared and they quickly understood what had happened. Before their captain gave them the order to do it, they dashed toward Zaos in hopes to avenge their fallen comrades. In the blink of an eye, the royal guards crossed dozens of meters, but before they could reach their targets, they fell dead on the ground. A few moments later, their heads began to roll.

Drannor opened his eyes widely when he saw that… he barely had the chance to see Zaos swing his sword, even though he did it with a single arm. Drannor knew that Zaos always had been the second strongest, but two years ago, he didn't have that level of power and speed. Still, that wasn't important, what was important was that he really saw Zaos cutting down the royal guards… there were no mistakes, Zaos had decided to become a traitor and now was aiming to kill all the royal family.

"You are not the same person I knew…" Drannor said and then unsheathed his golden sword. The strongest sword forged in all history of the Sairus Kingdom. "You have become what you swore to defeat, it is my duty to defeat you."

Zaos didn't say anything again, he just raised his sword and then swung downward to get rid of all the blood in the blade. Killing intent filled the whole area and for a while, neither of them were able to hear the sound of the rain or of the lightning bolts. However, Drannor's concentration broke when he began to hear a cry amidst the rain. Due to the situation, Drannor didn't notice that Zaos' stance was weird. For some odd reason, he was using one hand when in the past, he always used two to deliver powerful heavy attacks, but now his left side was completely covered by his black cape and the cry was coming from there.

Drannor felt as if a cold hand was trying to smash his heart… that cry belonged to a child and his wife was about to give birth and the last person to see her had been Zaos. At the last moment, Drannor connected all the dots and his heart was filled with rage.

"You will pay for all of this, Zaos…" Drannor said while looking at Zaos with the same cold eyes.