A Guide to Kingdom Building

Jovis, Year of Severus, 15, I.R., the 29th day of Fall, Arenfall Castle

--------------------

Lord Prestonheim woke up on a cold morning with the sun's rays kissing directly on his face. He tried to close his eyes but the warm sunlight hitting his face was too irritating not to notice. He rose up and sat at the corner of the bed as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

The days inside the castle had past rather slow. As far as he could recall, it's been more than a week or maybe more since he was put on house arrest by Lady Bieroff. Everyday had been a weird experience for the Commander.

A few days after his conversation with Lady Bieroff, he overheard whispers while passing by a huddle of handmaidens. The freed slave held by 305-M had been reported missing by the redhead and was yet to be found.

Lord Prestonheim remembered asking Lady Bieroff about the news later during their dinner and was enraged. She called the handmaidens who "started" the rumor and got them decapitated on the spot inside the dining hall by her knights.

Even as an experienced Commander with a lot of blood-curdling experiences, this was the one experience that topped it all. After decapitating the handmaidens in front of them, the lady of the house simply went back to her food as if nothing happened.

The heads stayed on the floor until the lady and her family finished eating. Lord Prestonheim had to strengthen his will while he sat on his seat. This was not his house. He was under arrest on a pretentious claim but even if he could easily dominate each and every member from the Bieroff household, he chose not to do it no matter how odd their actions were.

He would rather stay silent than create a commotion that might cause a civil war within Arteria. That was the last thing he would like to happen. Even if House Bieroff was nothing more than dirt compared to their House, the Lucresias was a different story. They have the influence and power enough to rival theirs and even that of the Primas and that was an event that he wouldn't like to happen.

He's afraid that Arteria might go back to its dark century with civil wars and invasions from capitalizing foreigners coming from the Eastern Kingdoms and the Northern Continents.

He sighed at the thought of it. He peeked through the window and saw the clear blue skies of the Crescent Isles. His heart was filled with hope just by looking at the cloudless sky. The past week had been gloomily depressing and disheartening.

He slowly massaged his neck and drank his water by the nightstand. He washed his face and began his day by dressing up with the dreaded castle clothes. The clothes fitted perfectly on him but the way they were designed, was the same design that his brother forced him to wear for him to look more charming towards the court ladies.

He hated the doublet so much because of how it chaffed his underarms, and the neck collar was too constricting and itchy for him. He had to make do with what he had. But if he was given a chance to go back to the old-fashioned toga, he definitely would've liked it that way. It was easily to wear and doesn't have complicated strings which he needed to tie and untie each and every time.

His stomach grumbled by the time he finished dressing himself. He wore the tight-fitted boots he had to use after he woke up with his boots missing, the day before yesterday. He tried reporting it to Lady Bieroff who simply laughed it off.

"The ghost in this castle might've acquired a taste of some expensive boots!" She giggled. "I shall get you a pair of boots from my household."

Yes, indeed those boots were expensive, and it was the only good thing that came during introduction of new fashion in the capital. It was comfortable, light and does not squeeze your toes, unlike the ones he had at the moment. Still, he was glad to have those ill-fitted boots, at the very least it kept his feet warm from the unforgiving cold castle floors.

He was still trying to figure out who might have stolen his pair of boots but was disturbed by a knock on the door. Lord Prestonheim walked up wincing at the tightness of his footwear but once he opened the door, he put on a neutral façade.

Another handmaiden greeted him as he opened the door. The comely handmaiden led him to the garden for his breakfast.

"Will I be joined by your Lady today?" He asked the silent girl.

The handmaiden stopped and looked at him, "Our Lady has already eaten her breakfast and is currently on her spiritual meditation along with her sons. She doesn't want to be disturbed."

"Spiritual meditation…huh?" Lord Prestonheim mumbled. This was already the third day that he had been eating alone since the dinner incident. Since then, he would eat breakfast alone in the garden and get his lunch and dinner delivered to his room.

For the longest time, he never thought of Lady Adrena to be a woman of faith. Knowing the logical Lucresias, they were not the ones to pray to any gods, either the old or new pantheons. Their estate as far as he could recall doesn't have any temples or sculptures of any gods. Senator Lucresia was also easily mocking the representatives of the Temple for worshiping made up gods.

"We are the gods of this world!" Senator Lucresia stated to them one time during a heated debate on one of the temple's luncheons. "We are the living rule in this life, not some invisible force that your mind has made up!"

His arrogance and defiance to the temple's tradition was a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Due to his wealth, power and a close connection to the Imperatur, the temple turned a blind eye over his comments whereas, to some unfortunate citizen would've been punishable by death.

After eating his unfulfilling breakfast of bread and cheese, he went back to his room where he laid down on his bed for the rest of the day, contemplating on what he could do to convince Lady Bieroff to release him without jeopardizing the mines.

Lord Prestonheim continuously pondered about it until noon where, he paused and had his lunch. After the light meal, he continued on thinking of ways and things to help him with his bargain. He knew all to well that Lady Adrena's eyes were on the mines and the power it has to bring the Principalia down on its knees. He must find a way to divert the Lady's attention from the mines. The greedy Lady wasn't even deterred after hearing about the monsters that lurked in the mines. At this point, he was on the edge to figure out a way to convince her to let the mines go. He let his mind wonder in the ideas and stratagems he had until he dozed off late on the highest level of the Andenoon.

Lord Prestonheim seldom dreamt in his sleep. Too often he wished he would've dreamt about his son or the happy memories of his wife. But this was different—he shouldn't have dreamed at this time. The dream was weird yet so vivid.

He saw himself on a barren landscape with a glowing blade sticking out of his back. He was hugging a person close to him, whispering something in his ear before finally dying in their arms. Lord Prestonheim stood there speechless. The stab felt so real to him that he suddenly felt a cold sharp sensation piercing his chest. The pain winded him for a moment and he thought he was about to die as he felt his heart stopped by the pain. However, that didn't happen.

He fell down on his knees as he tried to breath from the pain. Somehow it eventually stopped, but by then the scenery changed. As he looked around, he saw a campfire similar to the ones they had on the mines. There were no people around the campfire but there was something significantly different about it.

He knew it was nighttime, but it shined almost as bright as the mid-day. He knew Arteria didn't have the same time as that of the Northern continent where he heard that the days in the summer were longer than the nights.

He was still in Arteria and in fact, he was standing exactly at the Arenfall mines. He looked up and there he saw something; an image of two moons ruling the sky. One from the east which was the same moon he saw every night and a smaller, yet brighter one from the west.

Lord Prestonheim squinted his eyes as he tried to stare at the brighter moon. The light from that moon glowed brighter and brighter until he was no longer able to stand it any longer. He closed his eyes and suddenly woke up on the cold floor of a dark room.

It wasn't the same room where he remembered he took a nap from. He tried to pinch himself and see whether he was dreaming or not, but it seemed like he was already wide awake. He looked around and saw a faint glow slowly approaching him from the edge of the room.

"Who's there?" Lord Prestonheim asked as he slowly pulled out the dagger he hid near his ankle. "I will ask again, who's there?!" His voice echoed from the room.

"Lord Prestonheim, is that you?" A familiar voice broke from the darkness.

"Y-you! How did you know my name?" The Commander asked the stranger while he hid the dagger on his arm.

The light glowed a pale blue color as the stranger approached him. The glowing light began to take shape in a form of a sword. Suddenly the image from his dream burst from his mind. He felt a certain dread as he began to realize who the stranger was.

"Adaloun, is that you?" He asked.

"Yes, my Lord it is I!" Adaloun emerged from the darkness. He knelt down and offered his hand to the Commander.

Lord Prestonheim was still bothered with the dream he had and opted not to take the freed slave's hand. He hastily stood up and asked, "Where are we? And what are you doing here?"

"It seemed like a hall, my Lord." Adaloun was as baffled as he was. "I was just about to ask you the same thing as well. What are you doing here?"