Aevus

The kingdom of Aevus, one of the most advanced empires in all four great empires. It's cities are all science focused and has discovered ways to create technology that runs solely on essence

Of all the great empires, Aevus is the only one that contains a citadel where people from all around the world come to learn how to control their essence but even in this citadel only a select few are chosen to travel into the void in order to embark on a journey to achieve the pinnacle of power.

Inside the green castle which was home to the Freys, the royal family all five in number, Theon Frey, the king of Aevus. Thena Frey, The queen. Dracon Frey, the first male bastard of the king. Cassandra Frey, the First legitimate child of the king and Elizabeth Frey, the last daughter of the king.

They all sat at the dinner table surrounded by musicians playing a soothing melody to the liking of the king. The table was unnecessarily long enough to contain all the members of the royal family with and even had enough space for a few more guests.

The king noticed the awkward tension that surrounded the room and could ignore it no longer, he raised his hands and the musicians stopped their music and exited the room for the royal family.

"I would like to know the reason behind this deafening silence at my own dinner table" the king asked with a stern voice but was responded with more silence.

"Would anyone like to share how their day went" Asked the king with an even sterner voice.

"My day was quite boring father" replied elizabeth as she faced her father with a nervous smile on her face, clearly the sixteen year old was intimidated by her father.

"Same here father, just the boring old chores and all" replied Cassandra who showed no sign of fear or intimidation towards the king.

"Well I was having a boring day" said Dracon facing the king

"Until I heard the news of the massacre at old man Sergons bar today" He said as he turned his head to Cassie who paid no mind to him.

The king stared at Dracon and Cassie for a minute before replying to him.

"How tragic, I hope he recovers from this tragedy very quickly, but bar fights shouldn't be enough reason to spoil the mood of the heir to the throne"

"well maybe the heir to the throne is a little squirmish and can't handle a little violence, if you ask me I'd say a man like that isn't fit to rule the kingdom" said Cassie who began to fill the atmosphere with her essence as she was clearly offended.

"That may be true but that doesn't change the fact that a man like that has been named heir already and there's very little you can do about it" said Dracon as he also began to release essence to in retaliation to Cassie across the table.

"I'd advise him not to flatter himself, he was only chosen because he possesses a penis" said Cassie who increased her essence output.

"Well until you can grow one I suggest you keep your mouth shut and get married to some fat noble" Dracon replied as he did the same.

At this point even the musicians outside the room began to feel the essence build up, Elizabeth just sat on her seat trying her best not to pay attention and the queen tried her best not to interfere but the king has had enough.

"Silence both of you!" The king yelled releasing his own essence which totally nullified both Dracon and Cassies' combined.

"Look at you, fighting like children, you came to this world three years before your sister and she behaves more mature than you".

The king said as Elizabeth just pretended like she wasn't getting a swollen head.

"Cassandra, you will go to Sergons' bar and make any repairs to the damages you've caused" The king commanded

"Yes sire" Cassie replied.

"And you Dracon, just because I've named you heir doesn't mean you should get a swollen head for it, if anything that is most unbecoming of a king and should never repeat itself again, is that understood" The king asked.

"Yes sire" Dracon replied.

"Very good" The king said this as he finally calmed down, took a deep breath and sat back down to enjoy his meal.

"I'm full" Cassie said as she exited the dining hall.

"Me too" The queen who had watched the entire thing left in pursuit of her daughter.

"I need to get some sleep" Dracon said as he exited the dining hall also.

"Um…I need to go too" Elizabeth said as she exited the room nervously, The king just sat alone in the dinning hall as he let out a pitiful sigh.

In Cassie's room

Cassie blew open the her doors, she went on a rampage in her room, how could a mere bastard make her this angry?, She actually possesses royal blood, she is what you'd call a pure breed and yet she lost her composure to a bastard.

"Cassandra!" The queen shouted and immediately Cassie froze and turned back to reveal to her mother her teary eyes which were heavy with frustration.

"Mother, how could you just sit there and watch your child be disrespected by a bastard" Cassie said as she cried out, her frustration was clear in her voice.

"Calm down my child" her mother said as she sat on the bed and Cassie sat down beside her and rested her head on her mother's lap

"I'm trying to mother I swear" Cassie cried out. "I'm supposed to be the heir, me!" she said in frustration.

"I agree my child but what did I tell you?, In due time your wishes would come true, just wait my child" The queen said.

"How long mother" Cassie said as she raised her head to look at her mother in the eyes, her eyes were so clear and she was so vulnerable it was clear that her mother was the only person she trusts

"You will be sent to the citadel very soon, if you manage to do well there then your fate would be in your hand, just never change who you are for anyone" The queen said as she rubbed Cassie's hair gently

Cassie wiped the tears off her eyes and a smile started to form on her face, she rested her head on her mothers laps again.

"I will make sure your dreams come true" The queen said with a more serious expression on her face.

...

In the throne room

The doors opened for Dracon and he entered the throne room. The throne room of Aevus was very different than that of Castinas and that of Dawn.

Dawn focused on a more golden and red themed room with a setting that resembled that of the room of a high priest since it's a more religious country.

Castinas focuses on a larger room with a long red carpet in the center and suits of armor around the room since they possessed more military power than the other kingdoms.

While Aevus focuses on a medium sized room with automatic doors powered by essence recognition and the colors have more green and white around the room being a more technologically advanced kingdom.

"You summoned me sire" Dracon said to the king who sat at the throne.

"Yes I did, I summoned a noble warrior fit to be king, not this child" The king said with disgust in his tone.

"I apologize for my display of foolishness at the dinner table sire, it will not repeat itself" said Dracon with his head down.

The king remained silent while staring at Dracon for a few seconds.

"I trust it won't, in called you here to formally tell you that you would be going to the citadel in three weeks, you, Elizabeth and Cassandra" Said the king.

Dracon stared at the king in shock. "All three of us, I understand why you'd send me and Cassie but Lizzie?" asked Dracon.

"As a king and a father I'm proud to say that all my children are skilled essence wielders and fighters so I see no need to hold back.

Instead of sending a whole army that might fail me I will leave this to my children, come back with the power to put our motherland on top" Said the king.

"And how do you think the other kingdoms are going to take this?" Asked Dracon.

"Knowing that bastard Lagnus he's probably going to send a fleet believing greater numbers increases his chances of coming out as number one

And that bitch Freya only sent her stupid prodigy son anyways, I sent three of my prodigies so I've bested her in the numbers aspect and I've also bested Lagnus in the quality aspect" Said the king with satisfaction.

"And what about the ruler of Exodus?" Asked Dracon.

"You're talking about a king who hasn't even been seen by his own subjects, no one can predict if he'll even send anyone, but I doubt he'd even matter" The king said as he went back to his throne.

"Get back to your room and get some rest, you have to prepare for your journey soon" The king said as he dismissed Dracon.

Three weeks had already gone by like that, all the players had already chosen their cards, now the games were about to begin.

The kingdom of Castinas had sent Icarus, Adrian and eighteen skilled members of the knights of the snow, The kingdom of Aevus had sent The three children of the royal family and The kingdom of Dawn had sent only one prodigy.

Nobles from all countries had also sent their children to the citadel but only a select few of them would ever be able to stare into the darkness and come out alive. The journey has already begun.