Chapter 4- Broken Throne

Crimson Dragon Imperial Palace Compound- Official Residence of Imperial Family and Harem; Blazing Lotus City

A scream pierced through the gilded walls of the palace. Before the Imperial Court on the very day that Emperor Ferdinand X came forth to announce the his successor and Crown Prince to the court a daylight assassination took place.

In a nutshell, the enormous elaborate red drapes that framed the massive gallery windows in the room all fell blotting the natural light. A murmur and hushed shift of shock shot through the crowded hall of aristocrats, servants, and guards. As the Imperial Guards swiftly encircled the Emperor and Imperial Family.

"Someone open those curtains, immediately! Lords and Ladies of the Court calm yourselves and regain your composure!" Emperor Superbia ordered

The murmur quieted and just as the the first drape was pulled back to reveal the Throne a shadow clad in black wielding a broadsword, landed before the Emperor just behind his ring of Guards, speared him and stapled him to his golden throne. The shadow leapt back into the darkness. By the time the final drape opened, the Emperor and Council, all had been murdered so violently they died on the spot. Nothing but silence filled the cavernous hall. A young girl who attended court with her grandfather, who unfortunately happened to be the Prime Minister of the Empire, ten year old Miranda Silvia, was the first to break the silence as her Grandfather, lay dead in his own puddle of blood, staining the marble floor.

From now to the end of the time for as long the empire lived and was recorded in history, that day was known as the start of the Shattered Crown Catastrophe.

In the next week, Empress Catherine Julia Lightwood Regulus von Superbia, was found dead dressed in full imperial regalia in her respective throne beside her husband's through poison. The Captain of the Imperial Guard, drowned himself after leaving a lengthy letter to his family and the Imperials of his failure in service. That the who was thought to be the only surviving member of the Imperial Council Duke Alexander Quinzel of Kinterra, war hero and Minister of War died of illness the 3 days before the Catastrophe. Also that before his father's death the First Prince, Louis Henry had an illicit and incestous affair with the Emperor's most favored wife second to the empress, Queen Consort Regina Vincent don Superbia, and after he proclaimed himself Emperor, married her as Empress Regina Arabelle Vincent von Superbia. And started what became a 4 way Civil war between the First Prince, Fourth Princess Kathleen, Third Prince Emmet, and Seventh Prince Zachary.

In a matter of seven days the most powerful empire in the world, shattered with a single assassination into a series of succession conflicts.