PROLOGUE

The cold gust of wind has hit the knight's face, feeling the air of winter close by, the disdained faces of the knights that were shivering in the cold, one has suffered frostbite, two has died due to hypothermia, and nobody can stop the danger of being in the cold circumstances, the highest ranking commander of House Taryn was leading this pack of knights, one of the knights ran up to the commander,

"Sire Stolas!" he ran to him, gasping for air, looking awfully tired from the long walk of the journey to deliver a distress letter to House Alastor, telling them that the instability is nearing, Stolas looked back,

"What?" Stolas replied to the tired knight as he stopped in the cold winter air.

"A group of corpses has been discovered in the vanguard." The knight said whilst he was still gasping for air from running up to the commander, "There was no blood spotted around the bodies as the scouts said,"

"Were there any opposition walking about?" Ser Stolas asked the knight,

"No, sire...just some corpses in the area, lying and about." The knight replied to the question asked, as he held out a sigil that he cut out of the corpses, giving it to Stolas, with a look that made him scared and worried, "They were the soldiers from house Rosen." He said, while Stolas was looking at the sigil that the knight gave him, the sigil matches the banner found in the forest they've passed through, the background is a dark purple with stains of white, a cross that divides four corners, with the creature in the middle resembles a dragon whilst the shape of the exterior sigil is a diamond, with the outer lines being colored black. It matches the colors of Rosen.

"Alright, warn the others in the back, we're going to check on the bodies, yeah?" He told the knight as he looked back at the path in front of him, the sound of the knight running back to the end of the pack and the sound of the cold winter wind played like a soft tune in his ears, he took a deep breath and started walking again. They kept walking until they saw the dead bodies on the cold, snow-filled ground. What the knight said was true, there was no blood anywhere, or perhaps the cold snowfall has covered the blood up, that's one possibility,

"Spread out!" Stolas shouted out as he got off his horse, Birch, in which the lower ranking knights did so, "Search the bodies!" He added as he walked over to one dead body of a Rosen soldier, The Ravens, he thought as he examined the body, there were rather...some strange stab wounds and cuts around the torso and arms, the stab wounds on the torso look so deep yet so shallow, Stolas looked confused, but he'd never want to put too much thought into it. Instead, he had heard footsteps in the snowy area.

The horses neighed, all of them, perhaps, then the sound of hooves has him look back to check on his soldiers, but all of them disappeared, except for one who had managed to escape, he stood up to talk to the knight, but as he walked over, an unknown being had appeared behind the knight, the scared knight kept running, but Stolas stopped, pulling out his long sword, the unknown being had pale, grey skin, with eyes that strike fear into its victim's eyes, the bright, red eyes glow in the mist of winter air, the clothing of the unknown being is like the Rosen Soldier's armor, it looked like an Eidolon, the Eidolon was holding a great sword in its hand, but Stolas showed no fear, but he gripped his long sword tighter, getting ready to swing the sword, the figure continued walking towards Stolas, He walked towards the figure as well, he walked and walked until the fog disappeared, still gripping the hilt of his sword, and came face to face with the figure.

Stolas got into a state of panic, he swung but the Eidolon parried his attack, Stolas released a sweat, it felt cold, and he starts to panic, a first time for a pleasant and calm knight, Stolas kept striking at the ghoul, but he can't seem to get a hit on its supernatural body, he strikes the Eidolon one last time, then made a run for it, following the footsteps of the knight that ran away, this was the first time Stolas had become a coward. He continued running, he had run into the deep depths of the forest, the snowfall has stopped, but the cold winter air was still there, he looked back and the Eidolon disappeared, Stolas nearly cried, but he didn't, he still showed shines of courage despite of the fear that built up in him had become larger and larger.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He muttered to himself, is this going to be the last of us? He thought, but he doesn't want to give up, he had to deliver the letter to Queen Ichna regarding the arrival of dragons. But he doubts that the queen will listen, she's a no-good, hardheaded whore. He wishes that she will so that the safety of innocent women and children will be safe from the upcoming war. Thinking about it gives him a chill down his spine, If the war happens, then the casualties will be near or even higher than the 500-year war. The Rose that Burns.

Stolas sat down on the bark of the tree, to rest from the long run he had taken from the Eidolon, his sword wasn't made of a metal that kills ghouls, it wasn't silver. It was made from the ancient steel of Majora in Penkurt, it can kill a thousand men, but never a thousand ghosts.

As he stayed seated under the tree, a group of footsteps was heard in the path behind, possibly two or three people, or monsters. He peeked behind the tree he sat on and saw two soldiers "Fuck!" One of the soldiers shouted out, "What the hell were those?" The other said, Stolas couldn't identify from what house they were from, if Stolas had shown himself to them, there was a fifty-fifty risk that he'd either get back to Taryn, or he'd be killed by whoever knows they were from. The only choices are either to fight or flight. Being as stubborn as a rock, Stolas chose to fight the two, He grabbed his sword, Solaris, and went at the two unknown soldiers, the soldiers took notice of Stolas and wielded their short swords, those swords hurt like the deep sting of a hornet, the way the tip of the sword pokes through your body feels like it has made a hole in you.

Stolas struck the soldier on the left side, but he parried it, the other soldier attacked and sliced Stolas' arm, the cut was deep, it wasn't a short sword that cut him, it seems like the other one had a longsword, Shit! Stolas grunted in pain, but he stood his ground, he moved back and looked at his attackers, shit, the ravens of House Rolfe, I better kill them now and make sure the news doesn't reach their king. He had thought, he continued attacking the soldiers, the sounds of metal sounding between each hit and between each strike, he managed to put Solaris through the heart of one soldier, he removed his sword and the blood on the blade of Solaris dripped off, making the greener grass turn red.

"C'mon!" The last soldier shouted at him, wiping the blood off his sword, and preparing to attack him.

"Go on, then." Stolas said calmly, then positioning his stance like Maester Warwick taught him, the stance of the Roses, a quick, but deadly stance, just one swift move that can kill an uncoordinated fool, The Burning Rose will cause pain to the ones that are struck with it, it's a painful and slow, only a soldier will kill his opponent out of mercy to stop the pain.

The Rosen soldier ran up to Stolas, Stolas kept his stance. Waiting for the soldier to get in range for the Burning Rose to be effective. At last, when the soldier was in range, he strikes, Solaris made very deep cuts in the skin of the soldier, and the right arm of the soldier was barely hanging on the Raven's shoulder, he noticed the eyes of the soldier go from courageous to scared, the soldier fell on the ground, picking himself up, putting him in a kneeling position, he begged Stolas to spare him, as merciless as Stolas is, he wouldn't let the news get to the king. No matter what, he won't risk the safety of the King and Queen of House Taryn.

"Spare me!" The soldier begged for mercy, kneeling on the ground, then taking a glance at the carcass of his fellow Raven

"No, I'm afraid I won't be able to." Stolas replied, gripping Solaris as tight as he could, getting ready to execute the Rolfe soldier, his merciless act will soon be heard by the other houses someday, but not today.

"Please send your regards to Lord Ylgamesh." He said as he raised Solaris into the air and beheaded the soldier, the head rolled like a ball that was purchased from the peasants in the marketplace in a city as a souvenir. Child's play, a toy for children, but this is no game for a child to see, this is a game for survival, a matter of life and death. The head stopped rolling, Stolas had put Solaris back in the scabbard, then put his scabbard back on his belt, the pommel bearing the lion, representing the sigil of House Taryn.

Stolas starts to walk on the path, leaving behind two dead Ravens. His boots left footsteps of blood, a trail, perhaps, the blood on his cloak had dried, the rays of the sun shines upon the path, the dirt-filled trail of wherever he could be, he looked around the forest as he walks, there were a lot of pink flowers, Am I at bloomflower? He had thought to himself, wondering where he was. His horse, Birch, had probably escaped the Eidolon when he engaged in a fight with it, but he'd rather not think of it as it makes him shiver, Bloomflower is a forest that never snows, no matter what season it is, yet the cold air of winter is still felt.

He continued walking on the path until he got out of the forest, the snowfall has started again, and Stolas had wrapped himself in his cloak tightly again, the black tunic under his black armor isn't helping against the cold, and the black pants as well, but he thanks his boots for keeping his feet warm, winter is close by, and he had to deliver the letter to Queen Ichna, he kept walking again, and again, until the night came, the snowfall had stopped, Stolas had lit a torch, the dark path is being lit by the bright moonlight in the sky of Eldevier.

He had remembered the time when his parents and siblings were slaughtered in the village of Wesley near House Rolfe, it was the time when the mad king Alan Rolfe the IV was still leading the soldiers. He had seen the grisly murders of his family, only he had survived, because of one soldier taking him in, that specific soldier had become a thief, he betrayed the mad king and relocated to the kingdoms of House Taryn, Martell had become his own father figure until he was picked out to fight in the War of the Houses until Stolas had never heard from him ever again, Stolas grew up to be a thief. The worse ones of them all.

But he'd rather forget about his childhood and move on, it was not the time to remember the past. He's sure father would've liked that, anyways. Stolas had wished that Birch would come back for him, he was already tired from the fighting and walking he had to take during this journey to deliver a distressed letter to the Queen of the West. I could've had a nice, long nap and good mead and bread for breakfast, but what did I get? Fuckin' hunger and fatigue, He had complained in his head, but his desire is to prevent the War of the Dragons from the beginning, A War for Roses, perhaps, the cut on his right arm hurt very badly, and he would have to seek medical help soon, but he had stopped the bleeding by tying a piece of cloth on his arm very tightly, he had no map and compass, but hoped for the next village that he would come across have a medic, the cold wind has helped to slow the blood flow, thus the bleeding has stopped, but he can't help but still feel the pain of the cut on his arm. Fuck, He thought, there's no way they had disguised the short sword into looking like a damned long sword! He had thought of it clearly, but the Ravens were smart to do so, was it magic? There's no way they allow sorcerers into becoming knights. That's blasphemy! He had thought of it again, but he knew it was useless to think about it.

The only thing Stolas cares about and worries about is the war, the letter. The letter to end all wars, the letter that keeps every house in peace and unity, and that's the only thing that's making Stolas motivated to finish this quest. He hopes that the Queen will listen to him and read the whole letter to prevent the War for Roses from happening again.