Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile

Atrox Soryu was six when he declared he would become Emperor of the Eternal Skies—no one believed him or took him seriously, of course. Some even laughed at him. The first and last Emperor had disappeared hundreds of years ago, but that didn't stop the bright, green-eyed boy from proclaiming his dream, determination and will shining in his steady gaze.

Now that he was fifteen, it was still what he wanted, and today, he would take the first step toward proving it by earning his Order Mark and achieving the highest potential.

"You don't look particularly nervous," Nadia said in a hushed voice, glancing at him from the corner of her brown eyes. They were standing in the hall of the Knight Assembly branch in Kazekiri, the capital of their Clan, where they would manifest their Order Marks.

Atrox's eyes traced the crowd below them—the Clan leader, the Elders, and all the important people gathered to watch him and the others manifest their powers. They stood on a platform, along with nearly thirty other aspirants, waiting for the Holy Knight to begin the ritual that would release their Marks.

The hall was vast, a sprawling space filled with chairs painted with symbols that hummed faintly with power. Stained glass windows cast colored light across the floor, and the air smelled of old ink and incense smoke.

Atrox smiled, carefree. "Why should a Young Master of the Soryu Clan be nervous? We're a family of powerful Knights—we breed warriors who have shaken the Highlands. I'm about to become the most powerful of them all."

Nadia, his childhood friend, rolled her eyes. She was used to his way of speaking—such was the privilege of being a prince of the Clan. "I'm not talking about how much power you'll have. I'm talking about what type of Order you'll get."

Atrox shrugged. He wore a white robe like the others, with a sword strapped to his waist. His black hair, thick and untamed like the mane of a Highland lion, was combed back and tied with a string. He glanced at his father again, the Clan leader seated with a flat expression as he listened to the Holy Knight drone on about the Knight Assembly.

The Order Mark determined which type of Knight Order they would belong to in the Assembly—the type of magic they would wield. There were the Elemental, Holy, Prime, Mystic, and Dark Orders. And then there was the Forbidden Order, reserved for outcasts.

Atrox nodded at Nadia. "Every Order has the potential to be strong, so it doesn't matter. Maybe the Dark Order, like the Clan leader, wouldn't be so bad."

"Or the Holy Order, like your brother," Nadia whispered.

"Stepbrother," Atrox said firmly, his eyes darkening. His stepbrother, Thrain, was a year older, a contender for Clan leader, and already a Squire after his manifestation the previous year.

"You two will get thrown out if you keep at this," came a hiss from behind them. Mark, the grandson of one of the Elders, smirked. "But we'd miss Prince Atrox's flair."

 Atrox patted his sword. "Haven't I shown enough already? I'm the fastest sword for a reason."

 Nadia stifled a sigh. Yes, he was a brat, but he'd earned the right. At ten, they began training for knighthood, and she knew just how effort much effort he put into it, Atrox was the best in their set through sheer hardwork. So maybe he'd earned to be arrogant. 

Mark smirked behind him. "Do you think you'll continue to be a star after this manifestation? There are monsters in the world!" 

 "There are monsters, and there are monsters," Atrox snapped, raising his voice. Groans echoed behind him, this was just the type of thing expected of him, and the Holy Knight glared.

 "Do you have something to say, Atrox Soryu?" Castellen Windsor asked. His wrinkled face tightened in warning. The leader of the Knight Assembly branch here and he had taught Atrox enough to know just how much trouble he was. 

 Atrox smiled easily and stepped forward, heart beating fast as he felt all the eyes in the room settled, sharpened on him, today won't be only for getting his mark it would be the start of his path to power and becoming an Emperor. He must outshine his brother! 

Atrox clasped his hands together gently and then bowed. "Of course, Castellen. The History of the Knight Assembly also known as the The Grand order began long ago when the first and last Emperor of the Eternal Skies forced the different Orders to come together and share to fight for him. He was known as the greatest human to ever lived, the strongest. He brought the Orders together and with his might united all the Clans under one rule." 

 Castellen Windsor cleared his throat, his hand on the stone altar beside raised to silence Atrox quickly. "Stop, don't talk about how he unified the Clans. Tell us about the Grand Order!" 

Atrox liked to talk about the unification of the Eternal Skies as it was far more interesting but he forced himself to talk about the Knight Assembly. "The History of the Knight Assembly is also the history of the Emperor because he brought them together to protect his territories, the Empire and to fight against the monsters. He forced the different Knight Orders to share their knowledge to each other and to train Knights. 

"But after the Empire fell seven hundreds years ago, the objective of the Knight Assembly changed. They now focus on exterminating monsters. And train Knight aspirant as well." 

 Castellen Windsor looked disappointed but with Atrox already in his grasp, he wasn't ready to let him go that easily. "What about rifts? What can you tell us about them?" 

Atrox hid a smile, he took both his martial arts training and theory very seriously and he won't miss this opportunity to shine. "Rifts were created by the Arcane Wizards who ruled this continent a long time ago. They want to make contact with other plane of existence, and they did because the rift they created came with monsters and ruins. The monsters are always intent on taking our lands for them and so any Clans with rift in their territories formed the Borderlands where they fight against the monsters. 

He took a deep breath. "Also we can trace the origin of the Knight back to the Arcane Wizards because they made use of Knight to fight the mess they created because they couldn't be bothered. Some people even say they created Knight. The records of events that followed after that was flawed because everyone was trying to contain the monsters and a lot of libraries got burned to the ground and...." 

 "Thank you so much Atrox Soryu," Castellen Windsor said grudgingly. "You are indeed of the Soryu Clan." 

 Atrox only bowed and stepped back, his smile still firmly in place, his gaze flickered to his father but the Clan leader was looking as flat as before but his Elders, some of them were looking at Atrox with a slight frown. 

 He hid his smile, yes today was only going to get better. 

 Castellen Windsor turned to his stone altar which every surface was covered in runes from an Enchanting Knight from the Mystic Order. It's an enchanted tool of great power that will inject essence forcefully into the body and unlock the essence core if the individual has it and then it'll give the mark of the Order. 

 It will also measure the potential power of individual. 

Castellen Windsor tapped some of the symbols on the altar and each one glowed a deep red in reply and he whispered some words before he turned to the aspirant. "You've all been taught on how to conduct yourself here." 

 The aspirant shifted, murmuring. Tension hung among them so thick it could be felt. Even the bravest among them felt as if they were on a cliff's edge. This was it. Either they became a Knight, even a weak one with low potential, than to fail at activating their essence core.

 Atrox smiled, a forced one and he clasped his slightly trembling hands together behind him. He won't show weakness here, the only thing to show is how powerful he was. Yes, he's a Soryu, a Clan powerful enough to rule over millions of people. 

 Castellen Windsor continued after he got their nods. "Just put your hands on this altar and the essence will flood into you. Don't forget, you should not fight it. Your core will be activated and then a feedback will create your Order and your potential will be shown." 

 "Eadbert Alred, come here." 

And so it began, a tall boy, taller even than Atrox with a mop of hair that covered his eyes came out with all the joy of a pig in the butcher house. But come he did and Castellen Windsor instructed him to place his right palm flat on the altar. 

 Eadbert's hand hovered above it and everyone sucked in a deep breath. Atrox's eyes focused tightly on the altar and he forgot to breath as the boy slowly placed his hand on it. Nothing happened for a few seconds and the silence was almost too much on the aspirant but then it lit up, every single symbols on the altar lit with deep yellow and vibration that washed over Eadbert and painted the surrounding golden. 

 Atrox studied what's happening closely, he watched as Eadbert stiffened as his face went slack and then he suddenly jerked as if shocked. The golden light around him gathered together and then shot forward in a thick pillar that reached Eadbert's chest. 

 The reaction from the people seated in the hall was instant, sighs and murmuring. Eadbert did well if acreage. But now, he's truly began his journey as a Knight. But it's not over. The boy shoved his hand away as if burned and then raised his back of his hand to his widening eyes. 

Right there on the back of his hand glowed a purple circle with a Scythe inside. The Dark Order. 

Castellen Windsor clapped his hand. "The Dark Order gained a new Knight today!" 

 And those Knight that carries the mark of the Dark Order siting in the crowd and those that lined the wall shouted back in reply. Even the Clan leader nodded. 

 Eadbert didn't join the aspirant as someone was quickly there to whisk the still stunned boy away.

 It was as if the first one was an icebreaker because the aspirant relaxed after that and they began to call them one after the other at random, most of them were average knight but they've seen two who's glow blazed higher than them. And one of them was in the Holy Order which made Windsor smiled for the first time. 

 "Seems you've pissed Windsor off and he's making you wait till everyone is done." Nadia said. 

 Atrox rolled his eyes. "What about you? You've not been called as well."

 "Everyone knows I'm your oath-knight, well, I will be so it makes sense that I'm still here beside you...." 

 "Nadia!" Castellen Windsor snapped after he'd called her twice as she was too busy talking. 

She shoot Atrox a glare when he tried and failed to contain his laughter. She hurried away, bowing twice at Windsor before she placed her hand on altar.

 Atrox pretended he wasn't worried as he watched her place her hand on the altar. He held his breath as she activated her core and then golden light gathered and shoot up far above her height. The highest yet. 

 A purple circle shone on her hand, inside it gleamed three silver stars around a crown. The mark of Mystic Order. 

Atrox took a deep breath and shoot her a smile as she was led away to stand beside the wall. And even through the distance he heard her voice, 'try to beat that'. He took it as a challenge. 

 And then finally, Castellen Windsor called. "Atrox Soryu." 

 The hall went silent immediately as eyes settled more on the Clan leader than Atrox. It was as if this was what a lot of them had been waiting for today. The boy that might be the future Clan leader, would be he worth supporting? Will his potential be high as his skill with the sword? 

 Atrox made himself relax as he walked forward and then before he placed his hand on the altar he made sure he stared at everyone and they saw the smirk on his mouth. And then finally, he placed his palm on the cold altar.